Hi guys,
So I’m a masters student at the university of Birmingham, I have autism ADHD and dyspraxia and have made this crystal clear to the university.
So the situation is, I had a meeting with uni (specifically the disability team) at the beginning of the semester about my RAP (reasonable adjustments plan) and if I needed anymore adjustments etc and I explained to them about the difficulty I had with the exam I sat last semester )the exam conditions) and they suggested I could do extended/online exams, which I said yes too.
Anyway, I contacted the welfare team a couple weeks ago to get the ball rolling so they couldn’t say I didn’t give them enough time, and they’re now denying those adjustments saying it’s unfair on other students and claiming they’ve never done it in the past for people (which must be lies because people had online exams during covid??) so I told the disability team and they’re now in ‘negotiations’ with the welfare department. I actually asked one of our lecturers this semester about online exams, and he said they have done them and have even uploaded examples of online exam papers they’ve done in the past? My exams this semester are worth 80%, so I could potentially fail this exam if my conditions aren’t altered with the recommendations been given by the disability service.
I’ve gotta be honest, idk if I wanna take a leave of absence or just leave in general because they’ve been awful to me since I started. I haven’t been in all last week and this week because I’ve suffered a big autistic burn out. I feel I’m being failed by the university, with them being such a prestigious institution, I really had high hopes of them supporting me.
Any ‘adjustments’ they’ve made so far have been terrible, the exam room I was in was ridiculously noisy with people talking directly outside the room and slamming doors, they said I could have rest breaks but never put it on my RAP even when I asked them too and then they said I could have a mock exam (for an exam last semester) and I said I’d like that, but they never organised it despite me chasing them about it.
I’m pretty much done with it all now, I’ve hit my breaking point. So I don’t know if I should defer until next year (I don’t think it’ll get rid of my issues tho) or just leave.
Has anyone else experienced this? If so, what have you done about it?