#phdisabled

[abarfulstrife]

[Caption: art of a skull with a brain sticking out. Atop the brain is a black creature with it’s tongue sticking out.]

THE HEADACHE & HEARTBREAK OF DOING ACADEMIA WITH CHRONIC MIGRAINE

“No-one talks about it being difficult for students with disabilities/chronic illness. No one discusses how these things are dealt with – or not – by the academy at large. No one explains that your inability to “keep up” due to your illness will be perceived as weakness, or that this will be communicated to you implicitly, insidiously, so that you come to believe it and question your place in academia.”

[abarfulstrife]

[Caption: art of a bird’s nest. Inside it are two white eggs, and a small earth.]

DEVELOPING A MYSTERY ILLNESS IN GRAD SCHOOL

“Your body starts to fail. At first it is vague symptoms that can all be attributed to doing a PhD. Start to get double vision? Clearly you must have been doing data entry for too long. Fatigue? Not sleeping well? Weight loss? It’s just stress. Joint pain in the hands and wrists? Must be sore from all that coding.”  

[abarfulstrife]

[Caption: photo of a light beaming down through a spiraled floor.]

GET HELP: HOW THE MYTH OF SELF-SUFFICIENCY FAILS PHD STUDENTS WITH MENTAL ILLNESS

1. Get help. 2. ?? 3. Cured!

[abarfulstrife]

[Caption: bluish leafy plant growing from the crack between a sidewalk and building.]

FINDING MY NICHE DESPITE CHRONIC ILLNESS

“I felt that the default response from the academy was one of distrust. I sensed the implicit suspicion that I, and others like me, were trying to buck the system.”

[abarfulstrife]

[Caption: image of two multicolored heads facing each other, a couple dozen squiggly intersecting lines connecting the tops of their heads.]

EVENT ORGANIZERS: GIVE ACCESS INFORMATION UP FRONT. PLEASE?

“For the disabled and chronically ill researcher who needs any form of adjustment to access an event, you need to know what access is available. And nine times out of ten, this information isn’t provided by organizers of academic events in the information they send out about academic events, including what they publish on the internet.”

[abarfulstrife]

[Caption: image of rows of skateboard wheels on pegs.]

THE ADJUSTED PHD: WHAT ACCOMMODATIONS WORK(ED) FOR YOU?

“When it comes to studying for a PhD, even the most experienced student won’t know how their disability will affect their work strategies since their experience of academic work will (generally) only be in the context of taught courses, i.e. taught undergraduate degrees, and in all likelihood, a taught postgraduate Masters-level course.”

[abarfulstrife]

ASKING FOR ACCESS AFTER DECLARING DISABLED: AN INTERVIEW STORY

“...you are forced to foreground your disability. This is the thing that requires adjustments, reminders, sharp nudges in the ribs. It can be tiresome, let alone painful, problematic while trying to maintain an expansive conception of yourself filled with possibilities beyond the small matter of being able to get in the door. Literally.”

[abarfulstrife]

[Caption: image of two tin cans attached by a long black cord to make a telephone.]

WE NEED TO TALK ABOUT STUDENT MENTAL HEALTH MORE, NOT LESS

“Many people with neurological differences live ordinary, fulfilled lives – and are capable of doing well at university. But we need a good support service at university, so that we can access higher education on a level playing field with other students who don’t face these difficulties.”