autism and special consideration for exams

i’m autistic but i’ve not been getting any help for this at my college. i was told in first year that i would be assigned an inclusive learning advisor who would have a meeting with my in my first few weeks of first year, but this never happened. i kept enquiring about why i didn’t have this meeting but i got no answers until one day i was told that i WAS assigned an ILA but she left the college a week after i joined and i was never assigned a new one. i have asked many times to be assigned a new one, but pretty much two years later and i still haven’t been assigned one. with exams coming up ive been really worrying because i need extra time and a seperate room when i sit exams because of my sensory issues. i had been asking all throughout first year and also this year too about my exam accommodations but i had been told that i am not allowed to fill out a form to get these accommodations because i don’t have an ILA assigned to me. despite me constantly saying that i should have an ILA, they still would not let me fill out this form so for every exam i’ve done in college i’ve not been given these accommodations. this has resulted in my having meltdowns that greatly impact my scores and make me achieve much lower than i know that i could be doing. only now, just one week before my first a-level exam, have i been given this form to fill out for my exam accommodations but i have been told that it may be too late as they need to submit who has extra time or a seperate room a while before the exams start. as well as this, i have missed a lot of content due to my in-class accommodations that i need and yet have not been given because i did not have an ILA. for example, to deal with my hearing sensitivities i am supposed to be allowed to wear noise cancelling headphones in class (provided that i am not listening to music) in order to cancel out the background noise that is very loud and distracting to me. there are lots of other accommodations that i have not been given even though i NEED that have impacted my learning a lot throughout my last two years at college. i discussed this with one of my teachers once and she even said that she “doesn’t think i need these accommodations” because “you’re not as autistic as you think you are,” which i think gives a great insight into how my college sees autism in general.

i was looking into special consideration for exams because of this as my lack of accommodations has impacted my learning very negatively however when i searched it i found out that autistic people don’t get special consideration because “it is assumed that accommodations have already been put in place to help the learner.” this is not the case though as i have received none of the accommodations that i am entitled to. could this be a case for special consideration if i provide evidence as to me not receiving the help i need? thank you for anyone who can help

Reply 1

Bruce Wayne59875

Surely the school/college can't be that irresponsible to the extent that they've ignored your needs for the past 2 years? Because if that were the case, you could sue them for ignorance of your requirements. I do agree that it might be a little too late to apply for extra time in examinations and perhaps if you have enough proof of them ignoring your requests, you could apply for special considerations. Perhaps if you've emailed the school/college in the past regarding this issue and your inbox shows that they haven't replied could potentially be tangible evidence.

But honestly I've never heard of something like this get ignored, because if they did, it probably would've been best to take better action last year or earlier on this year idk.

Reply 2

Jess_Lomas

Hi,
Sorry you've had a bad situation
I don't know if you can apply for extenuating circumstances as I know people who had a diagnosis like a couple of weeks / a month before the exam so didn't have any adjustments during sixth form and I think it doesn't matter if you already a have a diagnosis
However non of this should have happened, you should have been given support from the start and they are definitely guilty of negligence and you should speak to carers and others about it and there might be adjustments made if you are able to make a reasonable claim
Really sorry this shouldn't have happened, the first ILP should be set up before starting at that school