its so awkward when people ask me why i dropped out and i have to be like "inadequate disability support" bc no one wants to hear this. they're always like i thought they had to provide that though isn't it the law? girl you might want to sit down i have some bad news about the litigation-based enforcement of the americans with disabilities act
then if i do say that theyre like, couldnt you sue? well theoretically maybe but not without spending more money than i have and putting myself through absolute hell. so no. no i can't.
the minute u start trying to explain what the actual practical day to day of these systems look like to ppl and the crazy inefficiencies and roadblocks and stuff are it really becomes clear how most of them are useless to impossible like the amount of professors that will forbid u from recording their lectures, even just audio, because those are their "intellectual property" with zero exemptions even if u have signed and Official letters from the SWD office on campus. let alone the ones who wont allow laptops or tablets or other note taking or dictation software. despite the fact that one of the things that makes the biggest difference for so many students is the ability to go back and revisit lecture points. being able to relisten to the lecture without having to recall it from memory in the moment is so crucial and i know u obviously know this but like its WILD the way universities treat that like ur committing some kind of cardinal sin our university used to try and get around this by saying that for those classes they would hire students to take dictation notes in the class, which in an actual functioning system would look like "disabled student puts in a request for notes from class x. office sends a hired note taker to that class who takes clear, accurate, word for word dictated notes that the student can then use"
what it actually often looks like tho is "disabled student puts in a request for notes from class x. office posts a Job Request on the SWD board/website asking for anyone already taking the class to submit their personal notes for pay regardless of the quality and usability of those notes. if no one applies, ur shit out of luck. sowwy they tried tho!" and legally, the university is in the clear because """"""technically"""""" ~legally~ they did do the bare minimum and attempt to provide u with something and trying to argue or litigate the usefulness vs uselessness of their support would be a scope so difficult no average lawyer would take it even if u did have the money, which ofc no one does. its so infuriating
god yes, this is all so exactly correct. it is such a thoroughly dehumanizing experience.
