Disabled student with mental health problems having to quit?

eira

Total common sense advice from someone who knows the situation and possibly some of the associated feelings.

As I've said I do hope you have taken some of the advice/ideas on board. This really is crunch time , unless you want to run on the hanster wheels until your paws wear out

Duffas27

I am sticking my nose in here where it may not be needed, but i thought i would anyway.

I actually do the job of an assessment officer in a College (excuse any bad spelling or grammer as i am typing quickly) we have students who complete Foundation Degree's. The protocal is that the student discloses during admissions (where possible, also anytime after, although this is difficult to facilitate due to DSA lenghthy waiting lists)) when they do that, we meet with them, give them info on Disabled student allowance ( HE learners have to have this funding - it is not only supports their "help" but it could support financial issues such as ink, paper, internet connection payments etc, which may relieve finacial pressure) this should be your first port of call....your learning support centre in your Uni.

Lots of support is available, and yes the support service will act as a go- between and collect any info that you request HOWEVER:

1. - Your lecturers may have 60-70 + students to lecture and support through Uni.... 10-15 of those at least will have some kind of support needs - your lecturers are human too...they only have limited resources and limited non teaching time.

2. If you haven't had an assessment from the DSA, then you are not funded for support.

3. The support service ( ours has over 800 learners with a difficulty / disability that requires support) has many students that require support and they work hard to support students to be successful on their course.

4. No Uni wants to fail a student, it look bad on the Uni, that may be the reason that you have heard nothing from them, they may have withdrawn you to make their figures look good.

5. No-one and i mean this with the greatest of respect, can guess your needs, and your everyday mood...one day someone might say something negative and have an impact and the other something encouraging? where is the consistancy in that? i know you have said that you explained everything to your tutors. If i have 30 students working hard, having mental health difficulties, I have to meet with 30 - 40 (possibly more, depending on the course) different tutors, ring students and email, write reports to tutors to explain the students difficulty If they are showing the determination even if they don't make it in for 2 weeks to email and say " i'm struggling, help" i'll ring and do whatever i can. I am not phsycic, ( although i do make a point in ringing people, but some of my students find constant ringing and checking up on them a hinderence, pressure too much)

I suppose what i am trying to say is.....no-one in life is going to modeycoddle you, life is hard. YOU CAN DO IT, AND WHATEVER ELSE YOU SET YOUR MIND TOO, but you have to take some responsibility of doing it yourself. I have had many students that i have cried when they passed, because you would never believe what they had been through....some tough tough cookies. And yes, they missed weeks and still passed.

What i am trying to say is that, we are all human, and there is nothing wrong in saying i need help.....leaving things for months on end is not going to distill faith in you. You need to really think about strategies that work to motivate your self, to focus yourself, because who will email or ring and motivate you once you have left Uni?

Sorry if this isn't what you want to hear, i do hope that you do what you set out to achieve, just remember, small steps.....