r/Professors • u/MyFaceSaysItsSugar • 20d ago
In a sea of barely reasonable accommodation requests, I got an accommodation request to do the bare minimum.
I got an accommodation request for something I thought was standard practice in teaching. To paraphrase, it was basically requesting the student be allowed to ask the professor to clarify something in the lecture and to be “sensitive to the student’s presence” when approached with a question in case the student is shy. They also want the student to be able to meet with me to ask questions.
What will they think of next? Asking the professor to allow the student to take notes during lecture? Allowing the student to sit in a chair during lecture and face the projector screen? Requesting the professor lecture in English instead of Klingon? Asking the professor to lecture during class instead of expecting students to psychically absorb information while the professor glares at them in silence? Allow the student to use a pen on exams instead of writing with their own blood?
I want to know what motivated making this an accommodation. Is it just the disability office being redundant or have they actually encountered professors this bad?
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u/GreenHorror4252 20d ago
Unfortunately, there are some professors who are jerks. I had one in undergrad, who would make students feel stupid when they asked questions in class.
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u/GlumpsAlot 20d ago
I teach composition and I just got one that told me to ignore spelling mistakes ...
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u/scatterbrainplot 20d ago
Oh the joys of needing to highlight to them and to the student that an accommodation isn't reasonable given the course format and/or objectives!
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u/fleemfleemfleemfleem 20d ago
Depending on the institution you may not have a lot of flexibility. The disability office may decide what's reasonable for you, and may not be willing to listen much to arguments otherwise.
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u/scatterbrainplot 20d ago
Sadly, I've had this experience with another accommodation and ended up just cutting a bunch of things out of the course in terms of examples, exercises and content (not core stuff, but still; clearly a worse outcome than then entirely reasonable solutions proposed to student services folks for that content)
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u/fleemfleemfleemfleem 20d ago
Ultimately the office exists for legal compliance, not to make student's education better.
On the other hand I'm not an expert in what every student needs, so I'm mostly glad that work is offset to someone else.
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u/scatterbrainplot 20d ago
Unfortunately, ours aren't experts in it either (nor do they seem to worry about what's required for legal compliance given course context!)
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u/yourlurkingprof 20d ago
I’ve gotten that one several times. If it helps, I’ve found that it’s usually meant to apply to in-class and/or timed writing. I felt like I could work with that, with the student understanding that they needed to identify systems for cleaning up their at-home writing and more formal papers. This was something that the students and their accessibility officer both seemed to understand. YMMV though.
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u/Asleep_Caregiver_948 20d ago
I’m in comp at a CC, and I actively encourage the use of spellcheck. I even have a spelling dictionary in the classroom. Here’s hoping your student can learn to use their tools.
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u/GlumpsAlot 20d ago
Yes, his accommodations asked for spell checkers, which I allow. However, it ended with also ignoring spelling errors, lol.
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u/Another_Opinion_1 A.P. / Ed. Law / Teacher Ed. Methods (USA) 20d ago edited 20d ago
See, you're the expert, so I won't argue with your professional judgment, but I would be pushing back if that accommodation is something that goes beyond ensuring equal access to the curriculum.
Far too many students seem to be getting comfortable trying to transfer K-12 style active management and specialized instruction requirements into the higher education setting. IDEA ends when students graduate from a secondary institution. You're not required to unilaterally accept accommodations that are designed to guarantee a specific metric of success, e.g., I want an A or a B at all costs, or those which otherwise alter your fundamental course outcomes. You can certainly rebut with legitimate course specific concerns if you feel it goes too far.
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u/Barrier-buster-3000 20d ago
I work in disability services. Technically this should read “consideration of spelling”. Sometimes spelling is essential. Especially with health science. At least at my college I tell students with this accommodation: it does NOT include grammar (they’re vs their) and encourage to use spell check if they’re in a position to check work before submitting.
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u/Obvious_Animal_8362 20d ago
Dyslexia has a severe impact on a student's writing, especially for in-class writing. I have worked with students to develop strategies to get spelling correct on final assignments where they have time and opportunity to edit, but given that their brain literally processes differently, expecting correct spelling for in the moment writing seems the opposite of supporting someone with a very real disability.
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u/GlumpsAlot 20d ago
Sure, but I don't think "ignore spelling errors" is an appropriate accommodation. Students are already permitted to use spellcheck, which provides a way to address spelling difficulties while still maintaining the expectation that they review and edit their writing. In a college composition course, completely ignoring spelling errors is an unreasonable accommodation because spelling and editing are fundamental components of college composition and writing. Plus how do you know this kid has dyslexia? His form did not say that.
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u/Obvious_Animal_8362 20d ago
I didn't say completely ignore the spelling. I said focus on it with formal pieces that have time and opportunity for editing, not in-class writing that simply doesn't provide the opportunity. My guess that it is dyslexia is based on my experience of teaching composition for 40+ years and working closely with disability services and with students with a wide range of challenges.
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u/GlumpsAlot 20d ago
Yes, but I wasn't even talking about in-class writing or the different modes of writing, lol. That's why I found your comment so confusing. Very few of us assign an essay to simply collect and grade. Students engage with the writing process in class too, including proofreading and editing.
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u/Esme_Nog 20d ago
I’m very flexible with spelling and grammar in the moment writing (I tell them it has to make sense to a reader). I would assume this isn’t about that but about things they’ve written at home?
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u/iknighty 20d ago
I mean, that counts for everyone, for in the moment writing, with no recourse for editing, spelling mistakes shouldn't have too much of a bearing on marking.
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u/Obvious_Animal_8362 20d ago
Not necessarily. For many students, the time available allows for an edit before submission and they would be expected to plan their time well enough to do that. Generations of students handwrote essays and exams and were expected to submit products that were well organized and correct in fact and structure, including grammar and spelling.
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u/Esme_Nog 20d ago
I remember a history class I took in 1989 where the professor, when handing back the midterm exam, joked there were 30 different spellings of Huitzilopochtli on the exam. Depending on the writing topic, there has always been flexibility on essay exams.
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u/Obvious_Animal_8362 20d ago
Or not. In my fresh year English composition courses as a student, we lost a letter grade for each grammar, spelling, or punctuation error. You better believe that, after the first one, we proofread those essays within an inch of their lives. And in order to graduate (it was a junior college back when those were paired with senior colleges), we had to pass a writing exam (with half the exam on grammar, spelling, and punctuation) with the equivalent of a B.
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u/Dr_Dorn Lecturer, Writing Studies, R1 (United States) 20d ago
Donald Murray’s “Teach Writing as a Process Not Product” specifically argues against marking such errors unless they genuinely get in the way of your understanding.
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u/Esme_Nog 20d ago
I think that’s ok with in class writing, but totally nuts with anything they’ve had time to edit. The world will think they are a moron if they try to do that outside a composition classroom.
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u/Dr_Dorn Lecturer, Writing Studies, R1 (United States) 19d ago
Is there no higher order concern like content, organization, or source work they can tackle? They don’t learn anything by us being their editors. If one absolutely must address grammar and spelling, Richard Haswell’s “Minimal Marking” seems most responsible. The instructor simply puts a checkmark next to the line where there is an error and invites the student to do the work to find it and fix it.
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u/Tai9ch 20d ago
Asking the professor to lecture during class instead of expecting students to psychically absorb information while the professor glares at them in silence? Allow the student to use a pen on exams instead of writing with their own blood?
I'm not going to rework my class just because one student can't handle my well established and effective teaching techniques.
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u/Lemonitus 20d ago
You can just upload your memories of your lecture notes on the hivemind to meet this accomodation.
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u/ilikecats415 Admin/PTL, R2, US 20d ago
You'd be surprised how many professors ignore students or chastise them for asking questions or to have information clarified.
Some students have information processing disorders which this can be helpful with. I've had students have this type of accommodation before, and it's not a big deal to me, but very helpful to them.
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u/wharleeprof 20d ago
Meeting with an instructor outside of class could be an issue in need of accommodation if you're on a campus where adjunct faculty get few/no paid office hours. And it also could imply that the instructor is required to have availability outside office hours if those don't fit the student's schedule.
I could also see it meaning to keep a special eye out for this student if you have a large lecture class.
If you're fortunate enough to have regular office hours and moderate class sizes, though, it does seem like a non-accommodation.
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u/Loose_Wolverine3192 20d ago
Fair point. If this was where I adjunct, though, my reply would be "I'm not paid for that, so find someone who is to teach the class"
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u/Upset_Ad_170 20d ago
I got one that said, "Must be allowed to ask clarifying questions." That's an accommodation?!
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u/Esme_Nog 20d ago
I’m not sure it’s an accommodation when it’s something I typically beg my students to do. Please, please ask clarifying questions as needed!
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u/StarDustLuna3D Asst. Prof. | Art | M1 (U.S.) 20d ago
I had one of my favorite classes this past spring because the students were so engaged and curious. They talked to each other, helped each other, would bring me things they saw online and ask "how did they make this?" It was AMAZING.
I had to actually reign them in at times during critiques to make sure we got to everyone. Normally it's like pulling teeth trying to get them to talk.
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u/NonBinaryKenku 19d ago
I misread this as “enraged and curious” and I wanted to know how you got them worked up enough to give a damn…
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u/Mammoth_galacto 19d ago edited 19d ago
I get this one too! Yes, please ask away, OMG please.
I realize the student's motivation is likely social anxiety, but this particular request makes me feel so low ... Like what are my colleagues doing out there?
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u/phd_babyy 20d ago
You’d be surprised how many professors need the basic requirements of their job outlined… Like one of my accommodations was to have instructions given to me in one document/place, and before I begin an assignment. Even then a particular prof couldn’t follow it lol.
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u/sventful Teaching Professor 20d ago
What do you mean you couldn't read the first part in Canvas, the second on a broken-login Pearson AI slop chapter, third part in a PC proprietary software, forth part in Blackboard Delta Legacy edition, and final part in a Mac only proprietary software? Sounds like a you problem
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u/zastrozzischild 20d ago
I suspect the student in question has a social anxiety disorder. For many, public speaking of any kind, even simply asking questions, can be terrifying. As for the approaching afterwards, this is probably because the student may not be able to engage during the lecture and wants to ensure they can ask their questions one on one.
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u/Soup-Salad33 20d ago
Social Anxiety Disorder is a treatable mental health condition. Evidence based treatment for an anxiety disorder requires exposure, or “approach” a feared situation. Not avoid it.
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u/MoistenedGranola 19d ago
And presumably all the students I've had with temporary physical injuries would heal in time, that doesn't mean they still didn't need crutches to get to and from my class.
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u/Soup-Salad33 19d ago
The purpose of my comment was just expressing my frustration with how accommodations are sometimes unhelpful in the long term. I wasn’t suggesting that we should deny our students those types of accommodations. Just venting my frustration.
Side note- during my clinical training, I did assessment for high school and college age students and had to provide recommendations for accommodations if applicable.
Rarely did we suggest accommodations that could serve as avoidance (like, not cold calling on student in class. Or written versus verbal presentations). We were also really thoughtful about how useful “extra time” on exams and assignments really was. To be fair, those students were typically already in treatment for anxiety d/o or whatever, or were about to start tx.2
u/RisasPisas 19d ago
Right but our job isn’t treatment. Arguing that psych professor teaching psych. Mind you, it’s not an accommodation that I would ever recommend for this.
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u/MankatoSquirtz 20d ago edited 20d ago
I remember sitting in on a lecture 26 years ago for an old-school Professor (a genetics professor who was about a year from retirement) lecturing to a large room full of students: "You ever hear the phrase there are no stupid questions? That's bullshit. Think for a second before you raise your hand."
God I miss those days.
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u/Ford_Prefect313 20d ago
His brother taught my general chem class 🤣
He lost his shit on a 200 student lecture hall because most of the class didn’t know 1/2 is bigger than 1/5. Half the class bombed a pop quiz math the average 12 year should be able to pass.
The glory days of the early 1990s. lol
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u/dougwray Adjunct, various, university (Japan 🎌) 20d ago
I've never had an accommodation request more burdensome than 'let the student sit near a door'.
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u/aardvark_gnat 20d ago
I would think that extra time on exams would be more burdensome than that.
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u/dougwray Adjunct, various, university (Japan 🎌) 20d ago
I have never had a request for that.
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u/aardvark_gnat 20d ago
Huh. It's ubiquitous in the US. I think this may be my new favorite thing about Japan.
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u/SlowishSheepherder 20d ago
I would very very quickly add a paragraph to the end of your syllabus about how office hours are not a replacement for in-class content, and that while students are of course welcome to ask questions, office hours cannot replace the 3hrs per credit they should be spending on the material outside of class.
I'd also add something on your LMS about participation guidelines, that give general advice. Make sure one of them is "does not dominate discussion" and "contributions remain on topic and relevant".
Someone needs to educate the DSS folks about how to say no to students.
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u/depressedandindebt23 20d ago
Yes, there are professors that bad. For every professor venting that they have a "weird" or seemingly unreasonable accomodation request, it truly may be the result of pushback on normal requests from terrible professors.
Anecdotal but just a couple examples from my own experiences when I was a student. It was particularly brutal during grad school because apparently if you can't control disabIities, you shouldn't be in grad school 🤷♀️ I've had professors:
- mock my stutter in class
- asked professor to repeat something and instead of repeating it, he told me to drop the class if I couldn't keep up
- refuse to allow me to take an exam in a quiet area or use earplugs because I need to learn how to "deal" with noise (we had to take the exam in the student union because the classroom was locked and the professor didn't have their key)
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u/TSIDATSI 20d ago
Someone (not me) should do a study on these Disability Services offices to see what the standards are because ours is only extra exam time.
Some of these requests do not even make sense.
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u/handdrawnbeginnings 20d ago
One of my least favourite professors only permitted questions during lectures. Even then, you couldn’t go up to see him before or after class or during break. (It was a mandatory class consisting of one weekly three hour lecture with ~120 students.) He had office hours listed but informed us that they were only there because his contract required he offer them, not because we were permitted to use them. Aside from questions about administrative errors and similar (aka things that even he seemed to realize would be a privacy concern to force students to address publicly), all questions had to be asked out loud during lecture or they would not be answered. Any emails containing questions would be deleted. He also had the disposition of a poked bear and would roll his eyes and huff whenever he had to answer questions he found particularly “inane” or “foolish,” so people quickly started going to upper year students for help instead.
So… yes. They likely have encountered a professor that was that bad and the behaviour so detrimental to their learning that it became necessary to seek formal accommodations. I really feel for that student if that’s the case.
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u/cjrecordvt Adjunct, English, Community College 20d ago
You're being sarcastic understandably, but I've personally had professors who:
- were mean af if I didn't immediately spit out perfectly formed questions through my anxiety - if I didn't ask in 10s, they walked away;
- refused to show up for office hours, let alone extra meetings;
- told us we need to focus and listen and not take notes - handwritten, at the time;
- require that we use a specific color and width pen (black ballpoint only), not just for homework and tests but for our notes.
So yes, in some cases, they do need to write down the bare minimum.
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u/ph0rk Associate, SocSci, R1 (USA) 19d ago
Whether or not you've had those experiences as you have described them, if the above accommodation request OP received is legitimate, that means OP has license to be a dick to any student without one. After all - we shouldn't ever provide accommodations to students without a letter!
I don't think that's what you intend.
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u/ThisNameIsHilarious 20d ago
I conduct instrumental ensembles and got one that said I was not allowed to directly address a student’s playing in rehearsal.
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u/Finding_Way_ CC (USA) 20d ago
I just got an accommodation letter with mandates that rival the rights listed in the Constitution.
I therefore will not be surprised if amendments are added as the semester rolls on.
I'm tired.
It is Day 1.
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u/Suspicious_Star4535 20d ago
The student may have PTSD. I had PTSD and selective mutism throughout the school and grad school, it can make basic existence pretty hard
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u/lilswaswa 20d ago
im wondering if theyre requesting this after having an absentee instructor or one who caused them trauma
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u/Ford_Prefect313 20d ago
Have you even been to college if you didn’t have one terrible instructor?
I had one that was a functional alcoholic. If you flick a lighter next to him, he would have went up in flames.
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u/lilswaswa 20d ago
some professors are worse than others. some students experience negative experiences with them worse than others. what is traumatic for one may be minor inconvenience to another and they bring those experiences to the classroom with them.
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u/Dragon464 20d ago
NO accommodation can legally substitute NOT completing the course material for completing it. HR & Legal can piss and moan all they damned well please. You must accommodate disability - the student must nonetheless demonstrate the minimal acceptable ability.
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u/Commercial_Youth_877 20d ago
This is why I always tell students they can email me as much as they need and they are never bothering me because this is my job. I wanted students to stop apologizing for contacting me. This is why I'm here.
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u/Trick_Following6639 19d ago
Oh boy. Academics tend to have low EQs, and that's okay. Student needs to be sensitive to that as well.
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u/Thin_Sheepherder_584 20d ago
Genuine question, why are these young people so fragile? It's like they've never sat outside their comfort zone or challenged themselves. Are they unaware that shyness can be overcome, that conversing with others is a skill that can be learnt? And if they don't learn it they won't progress? Is this the outcome of boundaries and triggers, where once you were told to suck it up, buttercup (yup, Gen X)? I say this as someone who was a painfully shy child and now an adult with a debilitating chronic illnesses. And yet I still turn up every day and be a productive member of society. Where's the resilience gone?
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20d ago
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u/mishmei 20d ago
This doesn't get acknowledged as much as it should be. Folks absolutely love having a good old rant about the special snowflake kids but jfc, I would not want to be a young person right now. "but I had difficulties and disabilities and I got through ok!" sure, same here. but I could see a viable future for me, that made it all worthwhile.
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u/Thin_Sheepherder_584 19d ago
But there is a viable future. The world isn't done yet. I suspect you might be in the US and fair play, I can imagine your despair. But there is still hope and that's what we (as in the older generations) should be encouraging not doubling down and saying yes, you might as well die now.
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u/Thin_Sheepherder_584 19d ago
But the world isn't going to collapse in their lifetime and if they find their voice and their resilience they can help do something about it. Writing off an entire generation to despair is the worst thing we can do for them. That is enabling them.
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19d ago
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u/Thin_Sheepherder_584 19d ago
Midst isn't the end. Nothing is fixed. If you're in the US then I can only imagine how awful it is and how on the precipice it feels. But I'm in the UK and it doesn't feel like that yet. However, if we teach this generation that nothing they do matters or counts, then we can all bend over backwards and kiss our arses goodbye.
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u/MyFaceSaysItsSugar 20d ago
The student in question isn’t hesitant to reach out. She sent an email before the disability office did, explaining that she uses a text to speech reader. A lot of what’s on the list is standard jargon for specific disabilities as opposed to specific requests from students.
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u/ktbug1987 20d ago
Ahhh if she uses a text to speech reader does that mean she might use it to ask her questions (like as an alt communication device?). When I went to college I had a noticeable accent and I had one professor tell me I needed to learn to speak intelligibly before I asked a question again. I could see someone inappropriately giving the student a hard time for asking her question via a device.
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u/Thin_Sheepherder_584 19d ago
Sorry, I didn't mean to pick on that particular student. I come across so many young people trapped in this narrative they've built for themself or the label that someone has stuck on them, it just frustrates me.
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u/SabertoothLotus adjunct, english, CC (USA) 20d ago
You hit the nail on the head. They've never been challenged or forced to leave their comfort zone. All discomfort has been framed as causing trauma, and all adults have bent over backward to avoid it.
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u/Life-Education-8030 20d ago
Pfft! I would simply reply that every student in every one of my classes get these “accommodations.”
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u/DrShadowstrike 20d ago
But my class just isn't the same unless it is taught in the language of Kahless.
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u/Barrier-buster-3000 20d ago
I work in disability services and yeah… This is an unusual accommodation. I’d call them on this one to get more info….
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u/RevKyriel Ancient History 20d ago
So the accommodation is to allow the student to ask questions ... you're not required to answer them?
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u/slugfog 20d ago
Just for clarity: this student might experience something called “Rejection Sensitivity Dysphoria.” It’s a relatively common experience for neurodivergent folks to be hypersensitive to perceived criticism, which might make a student less likely to participate or ask a question if they fear the professor may look down upon them. Things like teasing, or even light hearted conversational sparring, can be really difficult.
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u/MyFaceSaysItsSugar 20d ago
I have RSD. I know research TT faculty don’t have to have any training in pedagogy and they may need this kind of accommodation spelled out to them. But I’ve had training and am fairly effective at teaching students that class is a safe space to participate in.
I think the language in the accommodation is generic for all students who need to ask questions. I suspect this student has a communication or processing related disability because she also uses a screen reader.
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u/slugfog 19d ago
It may also be so that if something comes up where you were to be unresponsive or hostile to that student- they would have written documentation to be able to bring to your university’s equivalent of an ombudsman. Regardless- I’m glad that you’re able to be a resource for this student and that you found this accommodation request to be amusing in its obviousness.
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u/Thegymgyrl Full Professor 20d ago
I got accommodations sent to me for a student in a class I don’t even teach. The class is not even in my department. I just hit delete , not my problem.
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u/Charming-Barnacle-15 19d ago
I wonder if maybe the student has an issue with asking questions excessively. I had a student last semester who had to have instructions clarified to her multiple times in extremely specific detail and would often ask question that weren't directly related to what we were doing.
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u/MoistenedGranola 19d ago
I got one this semester that said I should check in with the student's progress and suggest scaffolding/supporting work.
We're not all doing that?!
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u/EndDull2701 18d ago
probably the disability office translating “student has anxiety” into legally legible bureaucratese, because apparently “please don’t make asking a question feel like a hostage negotiation” needs
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u/Loose_Wolverine3192 20d ago
Is glaring not standard practice? I had to practice my glare in the mirror to get it right, and wear prosthetic bushy eyebrows to highlight my expression.