Hi everyone! My name is Angela Lumpert, and I am a 23-year-old Occupational Therapy Bachelor’s student in my fourth year and I am based in Spain. In honor of International Persons with Disabilities Day I would like to share some key aspects of my experience as a university student with a disability and help create conversation around this topic.
For some context, I live with an organic disability, meaning that it is mostly caused or related to symptoms from a chronic illness, and also have a diagnosis of attention deficit with hyperactivity disorder (ADHD). More specifically, I was diagnosed with ADHD at 19 (4 years ago) and have been dealing with my chronic illness, an autoimmune disease, since I was 16 years old (6 and a half years ago).
Disability and Accommodations in highschool VS University in the Spanish context
I first started developing symptoms from my chronic illness at the very start of my last or senior year of highschool, a very stressful period of time for students who are aiming to get into a university degree in Spain, and quickly realized no one in my school was prepared to deal with and accommodate a student with a disability, and beyond that the assumption most people had that disabilities could only be very visibly obvious to even count as one.
In regards to the accommodations during highschool there were two issues that stemmed from lack of knowledge and proper education on the topic from teachers and other professionals, who would inevitably be accompanying me through my experience in education with this new life and body. The first one was the insufficient knowledge on the law regarding accommodations, and with that the reluctance to accept my need for them even with my diagnosis and letter from my doctor in hand. The second one being the fact that some accommodations are either not compatible with the teaching system or simply not contemplated by the law at a highschool level.
These two factors combined meant that, having severe pain and limited mobility in all extremities, other at the time debilitating symptoms and ADHD, I would navigate my senior year of highschool without barely any accommodations, which resulted in me retaking this year almost entirely. During my second attempt at finishing highschool, there was a clear acceptance of the situation by most of my teachers and team, and although insufficient, some key accommodations were granted, such as:
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- Extra 10 to 15 minutes on tests, meaning I could now get past the first half of the test and have a chance at passing
- A little more flexibility on the time given to take notes during class, sometimes even allowing me to take pictures of the blackboard
- Sitting in the front row, making it easier for me to stay engaged when possible
- Giving me a pass if I had to rest my head on the table or was sitting in a weird position, as staying still and holding my head up often became too painful
- Allowing me to sometimes take the elevator, since it was a 3 story building, although I wasn’t allowed my own key and so it became too much of a hassle
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Fast forward to university, although I did end up having to split my first year into two due to my chronic illness, I was greeted with understanding, a clear and easy process to apply for accommodations (in my case, I believe you do need a diagnosis to be granted accommodations with ease), curiosity from classmates and little to no judgment from the community that surrounded me there. Needless to say, this was a life changing experience.
As the only downside, up until this school year the accommodation that allowed for flexible deadlines did not exist; it has come at a time in my life where I no longer need it, and I still wonder how it could be applied to the abundant group projects.
People with disabilities as classmates and colleagues within healthcare professions
The thing that struck me the most at university was that it hadn’t occurred to a lot of people that disability wasn’t only a topic to be learning about in school to apply with patients and clients, it was also just part of the diverse society and life had to offer.
All of a sudden many of my classmates were faced with the idea that they could in the future be working with other occupational therapists with disabilities, that they might be hiring or might be hired by them. In other words, it was one step towards thinking about disability beyond the patient role.
With this, I hope you can take away these different points of view and integrate this into how you interact with classmates and future colleagues knowing that they could too be disabled. For any fellow chronically ill, neurodivergent, disabled students/students with disabilities or professors interested in learning more or collaborating feel free to reach out through my email at angelalumpert@gmail.com
