As a professor, I am often asked (nay, demanded) to provide accommodations to students with disabilities. Although it is time consuming, I am willing to comply, because I do think that education should be accessible to people of all backgrounds. Overall, I think our disabilities office does a decent job in providing us with the resources to make this manageable, except in a few edge cases that I've been a part of.
However, one feature of the policy is upsetting to me. And that's this idea that we should never ask a person why they need accommodations. I think if a person is going to ask for a special benefit, it is only natural and respectful for them to be willing to explain why they need the special benefit. I understand how it can be scary, but overcoming fear is part of education. I also understand how it can lead to discrimination, but to prohibit natural human questions is to start from a point of suspicion rather than starting from a point of trust. I'd rather allow for natural human interactions, and only intervene when real discrimination occurs.
That being said, it's created a culture of entitlement where the demands are becomingly increasingly strident, with a tone of indignance and expectation. Moreover, we are expected to simply accede to these demands without even so much as a question for why it's needed. You can see how the policy of prohibiting questions puts the professor in a subservient position; required to accede to demands without the ability to ask for more information.
What do stackers think? Do you think professors should be banned from asking why someone needs an accommodation?
For the record, I am a parent of a child with special needs, so I know what it's like to ask for accommodations. I hope that my child would be willing to explain to anyone why they need accommodations, without fear of shame. I hope that they would not be the type of person to demand and expect accommodations without being willing to engage in normal human interaction.
No you should not be banned from asking, I think.
If you're really going to help someone with a real disability, they need an actual plan, bespoke to their situation, so that it can work. The whole point of providing accommodations is providing the right accommodations. Like sure if someone is in a wheelchair and they need to be allowed in before the rest waltzes through and over them, that's easy. But in cognitive cases, you need more than just some lenience on deadlines or whatsoever. If you're going to overcome a serious disability in that, you're going to need something fit for purpose.
You cannot measure the effectiveness of an accommodation by assigning it only, and thus you need to know what the problem is. So that it becomes meaningful, and changes lifes for real.
Good point. However, from my experience higher education administrative personnel rarely seem genuinely interested in measuring effectiveness. There's not much in the way of good incentives for them to do so.
Incentive structures in higher ed are perfectly f'd up.
Very little stops me from just making my course super easy, students happy, i'm happy, don't do much work, and just coast. For those who actually care, it often makes you wonder why you bother caring.
Meaningful change is hard work and takes tons of care. What % of your colleagues do you estimate burn out on the caring part? 40%? 50%?
hard to say because it's a continuum of what burning out or caring means
I'd say 100% of us have had to compromise on our standards because we just aren't properly incentivized to maintain them.
What might be up for debate in my mind is whether or not the student needs to give you that explanation. What makes no sense whatsoever is not being allowed to ask. It ties your hands as a mentor in so many ways.
I had a student once that was offended by the word "slave". She said I should always say "enslaved person" and it just made discussion absolutely silly, as my courses discussed serious issues quite a bit. Fortunately, I was able to convince her through demonstration how dancing around terms like that creates more problems in honoring dignity than it solves. That said, I'm sure that if it had come to a higher power in the school, I would have been toast.
In which country do you teach? I’m amazed by videos I’ve seen from the United States and Europe where students get outraged over the slightest thing; they want to publicly shame and sue teachers for anything at all. You can’t say "Black," "poor," "slave," or "yellow," or even mention a religion they mistake everything for an offense. Obviously, respect and professional ethics must always be maintained, but they want to turn absolutely everything into an issue.
in America, there are some majors where it seems all the students are taught is to find ways to be offended
(they think they are finding examples of oppression, but the line between "I'm oppressed" and "I'm offended" is quite subjective)
They get annoyed if they’re assigned homework, they get annoyed about the schedule, and they get annoyed if there isn’t enough diversity in the classroom.
I agree, if a student is not comfortable talking about it they should not be forced to. And the provision of accommodation should not be conditional on their willingness to disclose.
I just think the idea that you can't even ask to be silly, and I honestly feel a bit dehumanized. Like they can't trust me to have a normal conversation with someone.
My understanding (as university staff that sometimes works with disability services) is that while you might not ask, the disability services folks absolutely have to and do. Is that not the case there?
Yes, they do ask, but my issue isn't with whether or not the disabilities are real or if the accommodations are needed.
My issue is with treating me like I can't have a normal conversation with a human being about why they are making a request.
Ultimately, you are the one assessing and attesting to how well your students have mastered the material.
Actually understanding what particular handicaps they’re dealing with seems relevant to that.
Some things seem especially tricky, like understanding supply and demand graphs for those with visual impairments. I have no idea what the right solution is for that. Obviously, someone can understand the underlying concepts without being able to see the graphs, but the graphs are a major part of economic literacy.
Right, I think we should be able to have open conversations about it. I understand how some profs act like jerks about it, but deal with them when they're jerks rather than prohibiting respectful conversations.
Yep, that was the case I was referring to. You won't believe the solution I was required to do...
Did you have to provide the intersection coordinates to the student?
"A demand curve passes through the points (0, 10), (1, 9), (2, 8), ...
A supply curve passes through the points (0, 0), (1, 1), (2, 2), ..."
I was forced to do this for every single graph in the course. I probably spent an additional 2 hours a week just to accommodate one student.
Initially I asked if I could print the graphs on embossed paper, but the disability office insisted otherwise, I'm not sure why. Resource cost maybe?
Tangible graphs would be the perfect solution.
Wait a minute are teachers seriously forbidden from asking questions about why a student needs special or different attention?
It is a completely absurd rule; asking ≠ is not the same as discriminating. Surveying parents and students who are requesting different treatment or educational arrangements is essential to determine what adaptations the teacher in this case, you needs to make. I am appalled. In some places, people even have a card identifying whether they have a special condition.
Yes, we are explicitly told that we cannot ask a student about why they need their requested accommodations
And what if the student lies, claiming to need a special accommodation because they have "autism"?
I still can't believe it; this is a lot like the case of that teacher from France (I think it was France) who was arrested for not using gender-neutral pronouns. What rubbish.
to be fair, it's not as bad as you think
there is a Disability Office that must check their status and approve their accommodations... but then they tell us what the accommodations are and we are not allowed to ask why.
So there is some checking, but of course a lot of abuse still probably does happen.
That makes me feel more relieved at least there’s a filter for these situations but not being able to ask questions still doesn't make sense.
As someone who had accommodations in College (and the last year of high school), I never understood why people are so hesitant or against saying why. For me, with the issue of my traumatic brain injury and then subsequent brain surgeries, I think talking about it and explaining it to my prof helped both of us figure out how to best meet my accommodations. I had professors who came up with other ideas/ways to help that I never thought of that worked way better, especially in a subject like math.
As you said, talking about this stuff can be really uncomfortable, but in my experience, to get the best help, you have to talk about it. Most of my profs never had a clue what it was like, but I did have a couple who had family or friends who had dealt with a somewhat similar situation, and it immensely benefited me. Life is uncomfortable, and it's not like you need a play-by-play or an in-depth explanation, but some basics go a hell of a long way!
*edit
Yes of course someone could take the information and abuse it, but at the same time if a prof was going to do this or it crossed their mind, that is a whole other issue about that person honestly not needing to be an educator
Yeah, good to hear from someone who's been through it.
I just feel like policy is being made to protect against the 1% of bad interactions. Most students are respectful and don't mind discussing their needs; and most professors are willing to help. It just feels like the institutional management side of things is just about standardizing everything to minimize any risk at all of hurt feelings (and probably the real reason, liability)
Yeah for sure! A piece of paper can only explain so much, and at least with me, since to get some accommodations you had to get others (it was kinda dumb, but whatever), telling my prof what was going on was much more beneficial than just ignoring the whole thing.
Of course it makes sense to ask for those explanations... besides, parents ought to discuss these matters openly, understand what their children need, and know where the limits lie.
I am also the father of a child like that—I have a son with Down syndrome—and we know what he is capable of doing at two years old, as well as his limitations. Although he doesn't attend school right now, my wife is very clear with the therapists so they know how to work with him.
It’s a complicated issue, and it depends on your point of view.
Absolutely you should know, otherwise how can you correctly adapt your classes for them. While they may not want to discuss with you individually, surely as part of their induction this should be covered. At least then the ‘relevant’ information can be shared with you.