Opinion: Struggling with school is normal and so is getting help
A long time ago, a couple states away in a kindergarten classroom, I struggled with basic school tasks. I remember it vividly. Addition and subtraction was confusing. When I was spelling, it was hard to remember what letters to use or how to arrange them properly. Sitting still or waiting in line made me anxious. A lot of those struggles I experienced as a child in kindergarten are extremely similar to the struggles I experience at college now as an adult. Kindergarten me and adult me both have ADHD. For that reason, my relationship with school has always been a bit complicated.
The reason it’s complicated is because my attention not only fizzles on and off, like a light bulb struggling to stay alive, but my ability to focus and even process information doesn’t always work. Many times, even though I’m actively trying to focus, things people say to me won’t “stick.” I have to constantly ask questions before I can understand basic concepts. Oftentimes people become frustrated with me or judge my ability to perform tasks simply because I want to make sure I’m doing something correctly.
So you can understand why going to college has been quite challenging. However, it’s also been really healthy for me, and the reason it’s been so healthy is because USU has something called the Disability Resource Center, or the DRC. It’s where I was officially diagnosed with ADHD, something I had been wondering about for years, but couldn’t pursue until I found resources here on campus through the center.
The staff there work as advocates and mediators for students with mental and physical disabilities. They can arrange a variety of accommodations so that Aggies can access their learning material and classes more fully. The consultant who I work with there is named Karma Black and she agreed to do an interview with me over email.
One of the first things I asked her is what sort of accommodations the center can provide students. She explained how consultants meet with students one on one and how accommodations are individualized depending on what obstacles are preventing students from participating in their classes.
“They may ask for documentation to understand the student’s limitations. Accommodations are directly related to the limitations and provide students with equal access to participation in USU courses,” Black said.
She said some common examples are exam accommodations, such as extra time or distraction reduced space and classroom accommodations, such as captioning, accessible furniture or permission to record lectures.
Not sure whether you have a disability but want to find out? They can also help with that, but you have to make the decision to come in and meet with them first.
“The DRC is a good place to start if you are struggling in a class,” Black said. “You may not need accommodations, but you may learn about other services and resources on campus that can help.”
The DRC works closely with several specialists on campus from both the Counseling and Psychological Services and the Student Health Center. Whether you’re navigating challenges you’ve had for a long time or are now just starting to explore, the center wants to be a resource for you, as well as connect you to other resources that can help you move forward with your education and wellbeing.
Wellbeing, by the way, isn’t something we should feel ashamed about. Neither should our health or our personal development be cause for embarrassment.
Black said some common reasons students decided not to come is they often thought their diagnoses wouldn’t count as a disability. She also said students didn’t want others to think that they were getting any special privileges or unfair advantages. The last one she told me was particularly saddening: “I didn’t want my classmates to know I have a disability.”
We need to do a better job, as members of our friend groups and families, to normalize struggling with school, identifying what those struggles are and utilizing resources to overcome challenges. We can normalize resources like the DRC by listening to others’ stories, validating their experiences and encouraging them to take advantage of all the help that’s available to them.
The DRC shouldn’t be something we resign ourselves to, like a sentencing after we’ve broken a law. We should all scream from the that everyone goes through hard things and everyone needs help with them. Getting and giving help is a basic — and wonderful — function of communities we should practice together.
So if someone you know is having difficulties with school, let them know about the DRC. Not only is it good to include people with disabilities in academia, we desperately need them because of their perspectives and unique experiences. We can gain so much from people of all backgrounds and abilities and we can make our university more inclusive by ending the stigma surrounding students accessing school resources.
As someone with ADHD, it’s easy to compare my academic experience to another person’s academic experience, and to ask why I just can’t “do school” like them. Something amazing that the disability center has helped me realize is that comparison is the great and invisible poison of college kids.
Trying to make your story identical to someone else’s inhibits your ability to grow into the grand potential inside of you. So don’t use grades or percentages or class load to write who you are. Use the essence of your character, your determination to overcome, as the guide to your personal story. We focus so much on the outward trimmings of school, we forget about why we put ourselves through its gauntlet in the first place: to experience and learn about the abundance that life offers.
And learning about that abundance shouldn’t be excluded from those that deal with depression, Asperger’s, multiple sclerosis, endometriosis, dyscalculia, fibromyalgia, chronic migraines, PTSD or anything else. What I’m trying to say is that struggling with school is incredibly normal and getting help with school is normal too.
It can feel confusing and overwhelming to address something really big in your life like a disability, but as Black said at the end of her email, “Never let your fear decide your fate.”
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Natalie Hawes was born in Eugene, OR and found her way through the mountains to attend USU. She’s a liberal arts senior and hopes to become a published poet and film critic someday.
— A02365302@usu.edu