Clara, high school student

I’m Clara! I use she/her pronouns. I just finished my junior year at a private boarding school (but I’m a day-student). The disability that affects me the most is i’m autistic -this affects my eating, social life, sensory related stuff, hygiene, and more. I also am diagnosed with OCD and a variety of anxiety disorders. I have a service dog that mitigates my disabilities and started becoming an advocate for the autistic/disabled/service dog community! I have been doing some public speaking events at schools (so i’m so happy i get to be apart of this)

My disabilities affect my education quite a lot. I made a HUGE presentation explaining all my struggles and how I learn differently in the classroom- this involved group work, individual work, large projects, due dates/timelines, etc. I explained how my brain works and how they could each help me in their specific classroom environment. For me: this looked like letting me sit closest to the door, allowing headphones, checking in with me before class to see if i was okay being called on, allowing me to leave the classroom at any point, take tests in different areas, ect.

Even though i have support at my school I struggle with feeling like an outcast. I feel like a lot of the responsibilities to educate the community are falling on my shoulders because I am openly (and obviously) disabled. I have no problem advocating but it’s hard to be the only one. I feel weird reminding teachers of my accommodations and I know I am stared at. I’m treated differently because I’m disabled. I can’t determine whether being a disabled student has been positive negative or neutral. I think advocating for my needs is a positive because I have found what I’m passionate about, it’s a positive because o get accommodations, it’s a positive because i see change happening. But it’s a negative because i’m bullied and disrespected. And some days it’s neutral….but that’s generally on the “good health days” when I don’t need or ask for support.

I wish teachers had to be educated on the very organ they work with- the brain. I think “special ed teachers” should be every teacher. Every teacher should know how to interact and teach those how learn and communicate differently. There needs to be representation and education a wide variety of disabilities.

As previously mentioned, my accommodations help me a lot but a lot of my teachers see this as optional as if the “forget” i’m disabled. I would thrive in this school environment if these accommodations were followed through with.

It was a bit of a fight to get accommodations. But i would say the real problem was I wasn’t aware there were accommodations available. it seemed as if the mindset was “if you’re not failing, why would you need accommodations”. My accommodations help me succeed with school but also just function with day-to-day life that teachers and administration don’t realize. They assume that the only reason someone needs accommodations is to do well in school when that’s not the case. A student has a right to accommodations however that looks for them

I’m not physically disabled but as a service dog handler it’s still hard to navigate school with a backpack, winter gear, a dog, my dogs supplies, ect. Many bathrooms don’t have accessible stalls, the doors are really heavy to open, the salt hurts my dogs paws (she has to wear booties). So it’s hard to physically navigate campus.

I wish teachers and staff knew my rights. I wish I didn’t have to constantly explain the ADA and justify why i need the accommodations I do. I feel questioned and less-than at times because my needs can be inconvenient or out of the way.

I wish they didn’t make you have to find accommodations but asked while filling out course requests and what not “do you need accommodations inside or outside the classroom” or something because it would make it so much easier than waiting months for a teacher to realize you’re struggling and then waiting longer to get the accommodations approved and what not

I would also add a lot more education. We have community meetings (that the whole school attends) as well as weekly emails sent to the student body and/or staff. There are ways to communicate resources and educate adults but it feels like they aren’t being taken advantage of when it comes to disability

A story that shows what it’s like to have an “invisible” disability at school……

It took me two years to work up to walking into the school cafeteria. The day I finally did, a man stopped me and said I’m not allowed in here. I asked why and he said “only leader dogs allowed”. I asked what a leader dog was. “a dog for blind people” i was like oh a guide dog. no i have a service dog, she’s my medical equipment and she’s allowed. “it’s against health code policy”. and i go the health code policy says I can’t be where the food is being made (just like everyone else) but the federal law protects disabled individuals that utilize service dogs. “the student handbook says otherwise” and i say the student handbook follows the ada because I read the fine print of all these documents and this man stands there arguing with me about my right to be in the cafeteria and tried to discriminate against a disabled individual. it was disgusting and completely inappropriate.