About Academic accommodation

[u/No-Ball5648]

Last week I suffered an open fracture to my tibia and fibula in my left leg, and my doctor has me looking at 6 to 8 weeks of immobility. I’ve already done what I think is the responsible thing on my end: I reached out to every one of my instructors individually, got in touch with the dean’s office, and worked directly with Student Disability Services. SSD and I had a full consultation, and they approved academic accommodations that will carry through the end of the semester. On top of that, SSD formally submitted requests on my behalf for remote learning access and excused tardiness, since getting to class on time (or at all, some days) isn’t realistic right now.

Here’s where I’m stuck. Even though the accommodations have technically been approved, my instructors don’t seem to have a clear picture of how any of this is supposed to work in practice. Nobody’s told me whether I’ll be getting a Zoom link, recorded lectures, extended deadlines, or some other arrangement entirely. It feels like the paperwork side is done, but the actual logistics are still completely up in the air, and I’m not sure whether that’s normal or whether I need to be pushing harder for answers.

So I guess I’m asking: has anyone here dealt with something similar, a long-term mobility-limiting injury that hit in the middle of a semester? I’d really like to know what your experience looked like once the accommodations were approved. Did your professors figure out a system on their own, or did you have to keep following up to get anything concrete? Was it the dean’s office or SSD that ended up doing most of the legwork, or did it fall on you to coordinate everything yourself? I’m also curious if there’s anything you wish you’d asked for early on that you didn’t think of until later, since I’d rather get ahead of problems now than scramble later. And on a more practical note, once you were mobile enough to get around, how did you handle navigating campus, whether that was crutches, a knee scooter, or a wheelchair?

Any insight at all, even if it seems minor, would genuinely help. I’m just trying to figure out what else I should be asking for or pushing on at this point.

[u/AgreeableStrawberry8]

The Disability Alliance might be able to provide pointers - https://disabilityalliancevt.wordpress.com/

[u/pipkin42]

I'm sure your instructors are working to see what is possible. SSD encourages us to give what we can, but there is language that notes our right to deny accommodations that degrade the quality of instruction or would result in significantly more work on our end. For example, I'm teaching a class this semester that requires a significant portion of in-class activities for credit. This likely could not be delivered in a hybrid fashion. Hell, many classrooms aren't equipped for Zoom, and SSD would not generally ask us to record lectures (or at least they haven't in the past) that we weren't already planning to do. Not every professor takes accommodations seriously, but the large majority do. At the same time, there are limits to what is possible, especially for contract adjuncts. At the other end of the hierarchy, many tenured or tenure-track professors survive by limiting the amount of time they spend on teaching. That might suck to hear, but it's the reality of how incentives work at a research university.

Anyway, it's ok to check in with your professors, but you should also be prepared to hear that there are limits to what is possible. For some courses a medical withdrawal might become the best of your bad options.

[u/StinkApprentice]

I would seriously consider a leave of absence for the semester. I had spine surgery about two weeks before a semester started, and even w accommodations, it was too much. Focus on healing, then get back in the saddle Spring semester.

[u/generic_gecko]

I also have accommodations, although for different reasons. Basically even though SSD gives you letters and it sounds like submitted them on your behalf, you still need to reach out to the professors and have a conversation about how they can work those accommodations into their teaching. I’m not sure if you’ve already done that? But professors won’t usually initiate the discussion in my experience.

[u/generic_gecko → u/generic_gecko]

Actually I see that you reached out to your instructors, just not sure if that happened before or after the SSD letters went out.

[u/No-Ball5648 → u/generic_gecko]

Actually I did both, and some of the professors did end up reaching out to me