Hey guys,
I am hoping to get something off my chest which has been upsetting me for the past week. Any advice would be really valuable.
I am a art student in London and I have an enhanced enabler due to epilepsy (and other issues not relevant here). Having the enabler has been brilliant and I seem to be getting on really well with the workload etc.
A couple of weeks ago we watched a film in class which was projected onto the wall in a pitch black room. I am photosensitive and the contrast and flickering caused a reaction so I had to leave the room. My enabler suggested that we should tell all the mentors to be aware of this issue so we wrote an e-mail which was well received.
On Monday we had a peer-led session in the study room in which we were meant to be watching a documentary. A mentor introduced the session and as agreed turned off all but one light at the back to stop me having any problems. He left and the student in charge of the session turned off the remaining back light.
My enabler went up to explain the situation quite subtly. And was met with the loud response: "Well to be honest if she has epilepsy she shouldn't be watching anyway."
I left the room and was quite upset by it as I felt that just leaving the light on at the back wouldn't affect them much at all, whilst to me it would be the difference between me being able to watch it or not. We sent another e-mail to the subject head and received no reply.
On tuesday I approached him to ask if he had got the email. He told me that he had little control over what the other students did during the peer-led sessions and said that I should just sit by the door. I tried to explain that the seizure can literally happen in a second and that sitting by the door wasn't an end-all solution. He said he was busy and couldn't finish the conversation.
Yesterday (Wednesday) I went to a second peer-led session which was a group discussion. The same student as before was leading the session. We were all handed out the sheets and she said: "Oh I better check whether the black and white text is ok just in case anyone has a seizure!!" in such a sarcastic tone, and a few people laughed in response.
Later on Wednesday, we sent yet ANOTHER e-mail about how this whole situation was upsetting me and how I felt quite excluded. Again, I received no response and despite attempting to talk to him on two occasions today he would not speak to me and avoided eye contact.
I've decided that I will not attend the peer-led sessions. Although this won't affect my grades, it will mean that I will be missing out on quite an important social aspect of the course.
I don't know what to do about all this and all the extra stress is causing me even more problems. I'm sorry this was long.
Thanks for reading,
Kassy