Disclosure issue
By: Arielle
This is Arielle, I just decided to use another email to write this…
So remember that professor that I mentioned a while back…. This is been the most uncomfortable class in my life and unfortunately, there is only one section of this class so I can’t just switch out of the course.
“The prof said I needed a tutor (meant note taker) and then announced I could use my computer in class. This is a huge no-no for anyone in the education field regardless of the level (k-12/ post-secondary). So I need to figure out what I should do about that.”
In the past couple of weeks, I’ve had to deal with the professor.
1) I still sat down with this professor and discuss my accommodations. It was probably the most uncomfortable thing I have ever done.
2) My coordinator emailed her and yet this professor is still announcing my accommodations in class. Usually I just ignore when she tries to initiate that conversation in class because it’s supposed to be confidential.
3) Because I don’t acknowledge her questions in class, she now believes I’m deaf and asked me at one point “If I could hear her”. Of course, I didn’t say anything to that because I was extremely confused.
4). This professor is also telling my notetaker that I’m deaf. Luckily, my notetaker knows me because he is also a grad student and he responded “I was in a class with her last semester. She didn’t have trouble hearing anything, She’s visually impaired.”
5) I had to contact my coordinator again and either she is going to talk to my professor or the head of the department.
6) Next week, I’m going to talk to this professor after class one on one. I hope I can do this, but it has been a bit stressful for me to try to talk to her about it.
Also trying to get her to sign a contract for taking my exams outside of class was like moving heaven and earth.
We’ll see what happens…
Clarification: I only posted this because I think this is an important issue to bring up (especially for the teachers in training). I have had to point this out in my pedagogy course during mock lessons because some of them didn’t realize that it may not be ok to discuss accommodations during class. When you have a student in your class who has an IEP/504/registered through a disability office at a university, their disability and the nature of their accommodations must be kept confidential. It is up to the student to disclose the disability. However, once the student discloses their disability that does not give you the right as an instructor, to disclose a student’s disability in the classroom or to other students (that is up to the student). This can be an awkward or embarrassing situation for the student depending on their comfort level. In my case, I usually do so at the beginning of the semester because I think it explains the use of alternative text or large print. If my professors ever wanted to discuss albinism/visual impairments in class, which does happen in biology, they would ask me beforehand if I was ok with it. If you ever want to discuss a student’s accommodations, ask to talk to them privately. Luckily, this has not happened to me often.