Alright, so here is the deal. I started this particular community college August, 2014. I was traditional at that time and long story short, my body went bonkers. I kept having to go back and forth to a doctor and from that time, it took til June of 2015 before we knew what the problem was, celiac disease. I had done actually quite well online for a noob to it, but yeah I had one teacher that mandates the final exam to be taken on campus (the class was all online except for things called checkpoints). I told her about my problems (which, the easiest way to sum it up is I constantly feel like I have the stomach flu and have since December 2014). She didn’t want to do anything for that class, precal, so of course I got there, felt like crap and had to leave so I rushed and make 78 dropped to a worthless D. Being it is a small community college and just not wanting to go back and forth while earning an AA, I decided to just stick it out and try another math. Well, last fall I ended up taking statistics, and guess who the only one that teaches online mathematics is? I showed her proof from my doctor, sent it to the disabilities department, filed a grievance with them. I have done everything and I am at an “Incomplete” with that class because I am not going up there and dropping a B to a D for nothing. Their only resolutions are: Get a refund, which doesnt account for the time I spent (and that was EASILY 10+hours a week), the math code, book, etc. The other resolution, which is what I am caught in now is, she gave me til April to “get better” and come up and take it. I am not better. I wish it were that easy, but I cant control my body. The Dean, president, teachers, etc. wont even email me back… All I initially wanted was to take the final online. I had NO problem being skyped with or even being recorded while I took it because cheating in college is pointless to me because what good is a degree if you haven’t got the skills?
Well the school has an obligation to be fair to all students not just those with a disability. There is no way this side of -ll I’d be ok with the idea of one student taking an exam on line and out of the sight of proctors. Is that what you are asking for? Well that isn’t an accommodation. That is an unreasonable request. The school has no obligation to give you exactly what you want. That is not what the Disabilities Act requires at all. It isn’t credible that you have not been out of your house for a 90 minute stretch. There are bathrooms in the school. This smacks of something less benign than your wanting an accommodation. That is especially true because of your disingenuous comment “cheating in college is pointless to me because what good is a degree if you haven’t got the skills?” . Oh please!
Dude, I haven’t been able to leave the house even for a haircut in months. I don’t mind being watched, let them even send someone over to watch me in person. Educate yourself on a disease before you critique because its more than using the bathroom.
I understand that it is more than using the bathroom but I think that your solution is unreasonable. I can understand asking for an extension to give you more time. What I can’t see is demanding that a school allow you to take a take home closed book test. Getting more time to recover seems to me to be a perfectly reasonable thing to request. A take home…no. That is inappropriate. And yeah, I know about the disorder.
I get it. If I were an instructor I don’t doubt I’d be the same but I just am losing my mind. I can’t stop college because I can’t do anything else at the moment and I’ve seen where healing can take 2-5 years. I literally A and B all other classes and most of the classes do offer online tests (i’ve taken probably 15+ online classes and all but the maths have had online finals)
Have you considered transferring to an exclusively online school? Southern New Hampshire U and Western Governors U could be options. But it sounds like this is not an on-line school/class but rather a hybrid- so you may need to look elsewhere.
That’s what I am doing. I’m hoping to do UF but I need this stuff situated first. No matter what happens though, I will be at an online college this summer or fall because I need one that specializes in it.
Are you registered with your disabled student services on campus? Every community college that I know of has one. If you didn’t use their intervention, then you are stuck.
- Accommodations are never retroactive. If you are not registered with Disability Services at the start of the semester and do not register until you have a C or D, you will be stuck with that grade. Accommodations can only be made to future classwork.
- If you do receive accommodations from Disability Services, what are they? Professors will only provide what that department says, so if you need more support and are going to the professor or the dean, the real department you need to talk to is Disability Services. Now, if you are being denied agreed upon/written accommodations, then you would take it up with the Dean.
- Attendance is a sticky issue when it comes to accommodations, primarily because the accommodations have to be reasonable. It may not be reasonable for a person not to come to class, regardless if the person has a disability or not. Some classes the professors require attendance, and some online classes do require people to come to campus for the exam--Did you know this at the beginning of the semester? Was it written on the syllabus?
A reasonable attendance policy is something agreed upon by Disability Services and the professor.
- I can guarantee that a college is not going to agree with you taking the exam at home, they may allow you to take it in a testing center but at home is generally not allowed and they will not pay for someone to come watch you take it. Even students who are hospitalized have to take an Incomplete and come in the summer or during break to take the exam on campus.
My suggestion: take the refund and either re-enroll when you are okay with the accommodations provided by Disability Services OR enroll in a online program. Either way I’d probably take the refund because I don’t think the college will see your request as reasonable and there is a limited amount of time before an Incomplete will change to the D.
Have you talked with your doctor to find or implement a treatment plan for Celiac? It sounds like your food, utensils, or things you are cooking with are still contaminated with gluten. So, are you sure that you are eating completely gluten free?
A more common accommodation for people with issues like yours is “stop-the-clock” testing. You take the test in the environment the teacher wants (sounds like here that is the classroom or some other monitored area). If you need to be excused to use the bathroom, the time for the test is stopped while you are out of the room. There are typically restrictions such as not being able to take anything out of the test room with you when you need to leave.