Stories from disabled students who came forward because of the protest.
I was told at Carey that Johns Hopkins University cannot accomodate my disability because, "they are too prestigious for it" I am an MBA student with brain cancer and I get potential seizures from their online exam platform but "it's my problem because I'm the one with the cancer."
Only three weeks into my FIRST ever term at Johns Hopkins University, I got reported for "lying" AND using my accommodation. At the academic ethics committed, I was told that two violations meant expulsion ... this was why I fought so hard to show I am not guilty.
What happened was Hopkins decided to test their alternative platform on me. (They refused the accommodations I received at my previous school because they are "too prestigious" to do what my previous school did.)...at this point, I just cooporated with JHU and did what they wanted, but during the event, I started slurring my speech, drooling, and gasping for air... but what guess what? JHU kept pushing me to finish their "alternative" and I felt a seizure coming on, and JHU reported my behaviors (how I act when I have a seizure coming on) to academic ethics. So I got reported for "lying" AND using my accommodations. They found me guilty because I had the symptoms of a seizure coming on, and therefore tried to stop using the platform, but then did not have the seizure. Because I didn't have a full seizure, they accused me of lying. That's why they wrote me up on an ethics violation.
I was told I can appeal to their decision with the dean, but JHU refused my request to speak with the dean.
The way I see it, my case is like putting a person with epilepsy in a room with flashing lights on purpose adn claiming it is not the school's fault because the person did not progress into a full seizure.
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I had a Java Course in the Whiting School. I'm supposed to get all audio transcribed as a disability accommodation, but I didn't ask for it at the beginning of the semester because it looked like all the videos were already transcribed and came with the transcriptions. Then videos appeared that weren’t transcribed—about 6-7. Unfortunately these were the videos for the major project. I asked the disability coordinator to have these transcribed.Instead, he sent all 93 videos for the class out for transcription. Instead of simply transcribing the ones that weren't transcribed, he sent them all. He said I'd have to wait 2-3 weeks for them all to come back. Instead of taking the time to send off the ones I’d listed, he had Hopkins pay to have everything re-transcribed. (The original audio transcriptions were fine.)
I complained that I only needed the six or seven untranscribed videos transcribed—and that I needed them right away because they were for a major project. He said that wasn't his problem; I'd just have to wait. So I had to wait for Hopkins to transcribe 93 videos--most of which already had been transcribed--in order to get transcriptions of the ones I needed immediately. I tried to get the disability coordinator to prioritize the ones I needed for the major assignment. He wouldn't. He didn't see a problem with me getting materials I needed to do an assignment after the assignment was due.
This was a shortened semester, with six-day weeks. Every six days, the professor would release new material. Nothing was released in advance. Sometimes the videos would be transcribed, sometimes they wouldn't be. And it usually took several days to get the videos transcribed. So I’d end up with 2-3 days to do the work, instead of six. Often the transcribed material would appear after the assignment came due.
None of this bothered the disability coordinator. He didn’t see a problem with transcribed material arriving after the assignment it was based on was due.
To get access to material for the major assignment, I actually paid for my own transcription. Had I waited, I wouldn’t have been able to get the assignment in on time. As it was, I still didn’t have all the system requirements for the program in time to implement them, so I ended up not implementing them all because they were only described in the videos for which I didn’t have the transcripts. I ended up making a much lower grade that would have had I implemented what was in the video I didn’t have access to.
(Having material released only a week at a time is really hard on disabled jhu students if the school does a bad job with disability accommodations. It takes a week to straighten out all the problems, which means you don't have access to the materials to do the work due that week. It’s like they want us to fall behind.)
I ended up falling behind and having to negotiate extensions with the professor to take into account the material I didn't have access to because the transcriptions weren't coming in on time. However my disability coordinator opposed me getting extensions. He didn’t seem to understand that I need audio transcription to have the same access to material that other students in the class had. I don’t know why this was so hard for him to understand. I finally cut the disability coordinator out of my emails with the professor. He was a poor negotiator. The last straw was when he shared medical information with my professor without my consent. At that point I decided to negotiate with the professor myself.
I ended up taking an incomplete. This was a monstrously hard course, with 35+ hours of homework a week. I also ended the semester really, really ill because of the all-nighters. This was unfortunate because I had to have an operation early September. Because I didn't know if I'd passed or not, I signed up for the same course again and for Data Structures, the next course. I made an acceptable grade, but because the grade came in late due to the incomplete, I wasn’t able to get full tuition back. That I took an incomplete because Hopkins' bungled my disability accommodations didn’t seem to matter.
Hopkins also didn't reimburse me for the audio transcription I'd paid for. Apparently even if Hopkins promises you audio transcription, fails to get it to you, and you pay for it yourself to keep from failing behind, Hopkins won't reimburse you. It was only a few hundred, but for a poor person using student loans, that could be a problem.
A few weeks later, I had the operation; but was still ill from the previous semester. I ended up doing poorly with the operation because I was so sick going in, and had to do a medical drop on Data Structures
I told the department head what was going on--including about the privacy vioaltion. They were fine with what happened. So was the Executive Director of SDS. At that point, I decided to leave shit alone. You can't make people care, right?
Best practice is to probably lay low, deal with Hopkins not getting you your accommodations, and pay for your own shit if you have to.
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I was taking a Data Structures course. I'm supposed to get extra time on tests. Student Disabilities Services put this as one of my accommodations for adhd, but the professor simply wouldn't put it in as an accommodation. I kept asking her, but she wouldn't. Telling my disability coordinator didn't help.
I was taking my tests separately--at APL. In a separate room--I'm supposed to have a quiet testing environment as an accommodation. People kept coming in and bugging during my exams. It's a public building, and people wanted to see the equipment in the optics lab where I often took my tests. I was supposed to be in there alone (private testing spot), but people would come in and ask me about the equipement.
The main problem was that, because of my disabilities, I can't hear when there is background noise. But this professor kept breaking us into groups to disucss things--this was how she did most of her teaching. This would be fine, except everyone in all the groups spoke at once, effectively rendering me deaf. I kept asking her to talk to the class. She kept refusing, or she's say something quiet, so no one could hear. Finally I got up and told the class--look, I don't hear very well. If everyone talks all at once, I'm effectively deaf. So, guys, only one person talking at a time. That worked. People only talked one at a time, and I could heard. That was all the professor had to do, and she wouldn't. We still had group discussions same as before, but only one person would talk at a time in the group.
The professor was also supposed to use a microphone when she taught--as one of my accommodations. She'd do it sometimes. I told my disability coordinator, but she wouldn't listen to him. Finally I threatened to go to some old journalist friends at a radio station. Suddenly, she started remembering to use the microphone.
I'm glad they had the protest. Hopkins professors can refuse to provide accommodations. They won't do what your disability coordinator tells them to do.
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