College Is Hard Enough Without A Learning Disability: An Insider’s Guide To Navigating College’s Hidden Curriculum
Part 3 of a 5-part series
Co-authored by Adam Wouk, Jake Weld, and Joanna Lilley
Higher education vernacular sometimes references students having cultural capital. Where you will most-often hear this phrase is in distinguishing the difference between a first-generation student or a young person whose parents are college graduates. To have cultural capital in higher education means that you were raised to believe you would attend college as well, and that you may have had help preparing for the college transition. In a nutshell, those with cultural capital have an advantage. So why do incoming college students with learning disabilities, who have cultural capital, still struggle on campus? Let’s talk about it.
First, college is full of hidden rules, and many of them are flexible. Except for the ones that are not. For students who love explicit rules, acknowledging that hidden rules exist could be incomprehensible, and understanding that some of them may be flexible is inconceivable. For instance, one hidden-but-generally-accepted rule in higher education is that what is stated on a class syllabus is law. What this means is that students should figure out what a syllabus is, read it, put dates in their calendar, and not lose their syllabus. It also means that assignment deadlines with specific details can be followed religiously by those who thrive with structure. What magnifies this problem is that students who have five classes have five different syllabi. Each syllabus has a different set of rules, with variability ranging from strict interpretation to the other end of the spectrum which is loosely followed expectations. All the while, knowing which professors will deviate from their own previously stated rules and which will not takes trial, error, and a judicious use of either after-class or scheduled office hour time. Knowing which approach to use is another hidden rule.
After Class and Office Hours: Professors have unique schedules, and while they may not be in class all day long they often have somewhere else they either need to, or want to, be after class is dismissed. Even so, it is advisable to introduce yourself, briefly and succinctly, after the first or second class meeting. An initial brief introduction is great, but take the time to inquire about preferred office hours. That is the time a professor has set aside for chatting with students. Make an appointment and go meet a professor during their assigned office hours. If you have accommodations, you will want to share this paperwork with your professor during this time. The reality is that professors want to see students do well, and they take an interest in students who show (any) effort, especially those with learning disabilities. College faculty expect you to seek them out when you need help which greatly differs from the K-12 setting. An after-class conversation followed by one or two strategically-scheduled office hour meetings could be the X-Factor in whether or not you have to take Descriptive Statistics a second time, or not.
Self-advocacy is important, but it only comes after self-awareness. It sounds simple, but it’s the furthest from it. High school students have been hammered with “the need to self advocate” without much thought to the critical components of self advocacy, which include:
knowing what you need
knowing how to ask for it
knowing how to use it once you get it.
Self-advocacy only comes after awareness, and asking for help does not mean that expectations evaporate only that you might get some support in meeting them. Get ready to get honest with yourself, be brave, and practice applying support. We excel when we accept our weakness, build on our strengths and focus on reaching our goals.
Awareness of resources: Colleges do a great job during recruitment and outreach describing all the great amenities and services that exist on their campus. That they exist is great, but to seek out and utilize the resources on campus is an entirely different animal. Honest self-assessment and having the self-awareness for what you need as a student are important steps. Once you know what you need, how do you go about finding those resources available to you?
For instance: if you are struggling with math, you may want to see if there is a Math Lab or Math tutor available. Does your professor offer a study guide? Is there a study group that has formed, even if it means studying with students from another section of the same class? If you try one avenue for support and it wasn’t a good fit, do you have the drive to seek out a different resource? Campuses can often feel like a maze too. You may know immediately what you need, but not know how to find the staff or the location, and college buildings can feel like you are lost in the minotaur's labyrinth. Pro Tip: Always start inquiries with the Secretary of an academic department, because they are usually the smartest person in the building and take notes of every tip they give you. This will go even better for you if you have introduced yourself to them, with a glaze donut or homemade banana muffin, before you actually need their help.
For a student struggling with mental health challenges self-advocacy can be the make or break of remaining on campus. Students may know they are anxious or depressed and need to seek counseling, or a student may be in complete denial of their situation. Regardless, most students do not know how to advocate for academic support when facing mental health challenges, and nothing in college is provided unless you ask for it!
Understanding Departments, Offices, and Bureaucracies: Need a waiver on your student loans so you can pre-register for classes? There is a form for that. Need your course list so you know which books to buy? Go get in line for the form. Not allowed to buy books without a course listing? Go get the form. Cannot get a course listing without your student loans? Go get a form. Cannot get your student loans unless you can prove you are registered for classes? Cannot register for classes without the student loan block lifted from your account? Ready to quit yet? Don’t. You will figure it out.
Even small colleges have big bureaucracies. And big universities, well, let’s just say that the words “Kafkaesque” and “Orwellian” were not coined by a contentedly-meditating fly fisherman along a quiet trout stream. They were created by academics and professors who, like few others, know the true meaning of the words. Bureaucracies extend throughout every corner of a college, and yet college bureaucracies are made up of people who really do want to figure out a way to help you. Take your time, take a deep breath, acknowledge that this is a part of your college education, and unravel the puzzle one office at a time. The nicer you are, the quicker it will go.
How to Get Your Accommodations: Some offices play nice in the sandbox with other offices and departments, and some do not. While not universal, there is a longstanding and often contentious relationship between Academic Affairs and Student Affairs. This conflict dates back to roughly 1088 AD, when the first university was founded in Bologna, Italy, and it has absolutely nothing to do with you or your challenges. Learning how to navigate this hidden (un)rule(liness) is a part of making it through college with a learning disability.
Students who had Individualized Education Plans (IEPs) in high school are encouraged to request accommodations in college. If you aren’t familiar with the difference between high school IEPs and college’s ADA accommodations, circle back to this earlier article. If students want to take the step to get the accommodations they have to submit paperwork and a written request. If accommodations are granted, students have to then present a letter to each professor at the beginning of the semester. Then, students have to advocate (aka ask) to ensure that the professor is supporting them by following their accommodations. Not every professor is supportive. And if the professor is not supportive, the student has to advocate for themselves, which could include going up the food chain within the appropriate departments. They need to know who to advocate to, and what to say to get the support. And this will, inevitably, put them in the center of a conflict which dates back almost 1000 years.
To summarize, there are a lot of steps a young person has to do to get accommodations for classwork in college. There’s a lot of steps along this path where they could get tripped up. And this process must be repeated for every class, every semester, the entire time a student is in college. All of this bureaucracy and red tape can feel very daunting. You do not have to do this alone. When you are registered with a disability office, they can help you navigate these confusing processes and empower you to learn how to balance all of it.
The Goal Is Healthy Interdependence, Not Isolated Independence. Too often students confuse autonomy with independence. Being a successful independent young adult does not mean “doing it alone,” but rather knowing how to access and utilize the support that is available. Asking for help is not a sign of failure or weakness or an acknowledgement that you are not “good enough.” It is the sign of a brave, wise, and confident young adult (or at least one who is faking it until they make it) who also realizes that being connected is what is critical to growth and development. Get your adult on, and ask for help!
No one will wake you up! Although a big part of college is all about the cerebral and higher learning, some students struggle with basic adulting skills. Unless your intention is for your freshman roomie to be your parent, you need to start waking up on your own. And Parents, if you are still waking up your high school senior, please, for the love of god and the sake of their success as a freshman in college - stop it!
Additionally, unless a student signed FERPA or HIPAA releases, university personnel cannot provide parents with information regarding your sleep habits, your class attendance habits, or anything else. Colleges push hard for students to be able to function independently once they step foot on their campus, but the reality is that we are dealing with a generation of young people who are very dependent on adults. This naturally came about when the focus shifted to grade production, instead of skill building. Now, we are dealing with a generation of young people with 5.0+ GPAs, but who may not have internalized skills of independence or resiliency. High School and College students need to be able to wake themselves up. Period. Once out of bed there are plenty of other hidden rules to learn, bend, break, and live within, but none of that matters if you are still in bed!
For questions or comments contact:
Adam Wouk via email.
Jake Weld via email.
