Yeah-- if PTSD is a disability (and I'm saying up front that it probably does constitute a hidden disability), then presumptions about the nature and required accommodations for that disabling condition are just--


well, just plain rude. Presumptuous, even, and wrong-wrong-wrong.

After all, you wouldn't presume to tell someone with disabling rheumatoid arthritis how accommodations for their condition are going to play out without even asking beforehand, would you?

"Oh, I know just what you need. Here, let me tell you." eek

This is the cardinal rule when following the spirit of an administrative rule like ADA-- never presume what someone else would like, or needs. ASK-- or better still, let them choose whether or not to inform you at all. The individual WITH the condition is the expert on how to live with it, if that makes sense. But the catch is that in a post-secondary setting, it is up to the student to inform administration of the nature and extent of the disabling condition, and to work out what appropriate and reasonable accommodations look like.

Just as it will be in, you know-- the workplace after they finish college. Others aren't responsible for accommodating you when they don't know that you need accommodations to begin with.

Weird but true-- Keifer Sutherland's mannerisms and facial features serve as a personal trigger for me. I've never watched any of his work on film, and don't intend to. I can read about or think about OTHER things related to my traumatic experiences, but for some reason that one thing really bothers me, even after 30 years. I no longer have disabling PTSD, if I ever did-- but my point is that if current stats are anything like accurate, about 10% of college women have experienced a sexual assault, and about half of them may have developed PTSD as a result (this is about the expected rate in women after sexual trauma).

As many as one student in every 30 or 40, then, on a co-ed campus, could be "triggered" by reminders of their trauma. MOST of those students aren't going to be triggered by stranger-with-a-weapon accounts of sexual assault-- because that isn't what happened to most of them. About 90% of them knew the person(s) that did that to them. If college instructors are TRULY interested in eliminating statistically meaningful triggers, avoid things like talking about hyper-masculine behaviors, misogyny, being alone with dates/acquaintances, slightly-creepy, too-smooth, or overly-friendly people, and emotional manipulation or college parties. Because those are the things that most of the sexually assaulted women sitting in their classes could realistically associate with their trauma.



So yes, I reiterate that this is simply nonsense that makes the INSTRUCTORS feel good about being so aware and sensitive and responsive... and actually does very little for the true trauma survivors in their classrooms. It's merely insulting and presumptuous.

Very much like a teacher who tells parents and students what they "need" from a GT program. When you aren't normative, it just plain feels invasive and rude for someone else to TELL you what your own experience "should" be-- and all the more so when they aren't members of your little non-normative tribe to start with, or when they get it wrong.

But I accommodated this already.

Um-- no, you really didn't.

But I did! Look-- it's right here, this thing that I implemented for just this reason! {smiles proudly and points to syllabus}

No, you really didn't. I'm a member of {minority group} and I'm here to talk to you about what I actually need. I was hoping that we could talk about my needs in particular.


But I accommodated all of this already. {puzzled} I know all about _______ (difference), and I already undertook appropriate steps to fix it.

{insert head banging emoticon here}




Schrödinger's cat walks into a bar. And doesn't.