University Challenge: Part Four
March 31, 2008 by shatterboxx
Suggestion To My Uni: Have a better student information system.
Talking to official people about personal problems is always nerve-wracking, obviously. But what really doesn’t help is if every time I have to go and see a new person at uni about something relating to my mental illness, they have no idea who I am.
A few memorable times:
- Having to go and meet with my lecturer in the first year after I was experiencing severe panic attacks and having to run from his class each week. I tried to explain my problems the best I could. He was silent for a while and then nervously explained that he didn’t know very much about depression but when he was at university something similar happened to him. Cue awkward silence.
- Discovering I had to give a presentation to the whole class for one of my modules. I panicked and told my teacher I would almost definitely have a panic attack if I was made to do it. She sympathised but told me it wasn’t up to her and I’d have to make an appointment to see another woman. This took a while and in the meantime I worried about failing the class. Eventually we met and I tried to explain to her what my problem was. She gave me the option to do an essay instead but didn’t seem to understand why I couldn’t do the presentation.
- Sorting out the deadline extensions for three pieces of work I couldn’t complete on time. I completed the work shortly after the deadline but I wasn’t sure how I was supposed to submit it because no one had told me. I made an appointment to speak to a member of the admin staff who sat in silence as I explained why the work was late and then coldly told me I should have submitted the work to the registry office weeks ago (despite my revised deadline being several months away) and that ‘no one will take it now’. I was told to post the work to a man I’d never heard of in a different department and the woman then went on to insinuate that if I couldn’t get the work done on time then maybe I shouldn’t be on the course at all. Horrible experience.
- Having to talk to one of my lecturers this year about why I had a) joined his class late (Answer: Because the university had thoughtfully programmed my timetable so that I was in from nine til five on a Wednesday with no breaks and I was forced to swap classes) and b) why I had been in his class for two weeks without handing in any work yet (Answer: Because I was going through a particularly rough patch and finding it very difficult to keep up with work). I explained my problems again to him but, just like the others, he didn’t seem receptive. He told me that if I couldn’t get the work done, then I shouldn’t be on the course. Fighting back tears, I tried to explain to him how much I wanted this degree and how I knew I could get the work done for the class but I just needed a little more time. Eventually, he seemed to grudgingly accept this and told me I had another week. I went home feeling shaken up and upset. I later thought that it seemed absurd I was having to prove my worth yet again in the second year of my degree. Surely completing a year of university was enough to show that I was entirely capable of doing the work? I gained two distinctions in my first year! Why wasn’t this information available to my lecturer as proof that I wasn’t simply being lazy?
These are the main ones that stick out in my mind but there are dozens of examples I could mention. It has not been easy to get people to understand, but the main point is that there is plenty of information about me within the university (my Disability Assessment report, for example) that makes it obvious I am living with a mental health condition. I shouldn’t have to feel like I’m dragging round a filing cabinet about myself every time I talk to someone new! It is important that I mention the few lovely lecturers who were completely understanding when I went to them for help. But there’s a definite emphasis on ‘few’. For the most part, I have had to fight my own battles. I suppose that in order for the information about me personally to be made more available, attitudes towards mental health in general would have to change also.
I can totally relate to this. I am in my second year of a graduate program (my sixth year of post-high school education total) and I still have to deal with this kind of stuff. It’s so frustrating! Unfortunately it seems like this is the norm in the rest of the (job) world too. Kudos to you for sticking with it.
With regards to your information being more easily available to all your lecturers… I think quite a few places are paranoid about breaching the data protection act, which might be why the burden of disclosure keeps landing on you.
Working at a University I’ve found that there is still a great deal of misconception about mental health, unless you encounter people who have suffered themselves, or know someone who has… I’ve been lucky in that my close colleagues have appreciated my openess about my conditions, and the emails I sent round when diagnosed with CFS explaining how it might effect me and my working relationships.
I believe that all of our Academic Depts have a lecturer who takes on the role of disability officer, and they are suppossed to support students with issues. Plus we have an accessibility centre and counselling service…. do you have those kind of support mechanisms? Or do those kind of things not work in reality?
I didn’t mention this in the post but the lecturer I saw in the first instance was actually the Disability Officer for that particular department. He wasn’t really sure what to do with me and I actually felt guilty for going to him in the first place as he was so nervous. Surely that isn’t right!
As far as the Data Protection Act goes… My Disability Assessment Report didn’t cover personal details such as why I was depressed in the first place, my family history, my childhood etc. It was entirely to do with what I need help with NOW, which is basically all my university needs to know, and I have no problem with them knowing about my communication problems, the fact that I may occasionally need to leave classes because of panic attacks and I won’t be able to do things like presentations etc. The welfare office has all of this information, but it extends to all areas of my university life and I need my lecturers to know about it. If I give my consent for this information to be available to lecturers (which I would if it was an option!) then there’s no problem.