Before UMBC I took classes at my local community college and had to seek out accommodations due to my disabilities (mainly migraines and ADHD). The process was pretty self-explanatory and simple. I reached out and explained my situation and asked what the next steps were and scheduled a meeting. After that meeting I had all the accommodations I needed and did not need to jump through hoops to get what I needed to succeed in college.
UMBC was a completely different story.
The summer before my freshman year I scheduled an appointment to discuss what accommodations I needed. During the meeting I explained what accommodations I have had in HS and at community colleges and she said “Oh… I don’t give accommodations for ADHD because that just fuels the disability. You need to just get better with time management.” I explained how I need extra time for tests/ exams because of my ADHD and she said the same thing. Fortunately –or unfortunately I guess– my other disabilities allow me to get extra time on exams as well. Another struggle during this meeting was that I asked for flexible attendance. I get excruciatingly painful migraines that cause me to be out of it for a while. So if I have a bad migraine I can’t go to class, which I explained to her and she said (verbatim) “I know migraines can hurt sometimes but that doesn’t give you a reason to skip class.”
I know many people who have written about SDS at UMBC but no one seems to care or acknowledge it. SDS minimized every single one of my disabilities because SHE didn’t know what it was actually like, or try to be understanding.
Unruly Bodies 
I had a similar experience when I tried to get accommodations a year or two ago. I was hoping I could get some kind of deadline flexibility – I have ADHD and OCD and struggle with procrastination/perfection/time management – but the SDS person said something along the lines of “Would getting an extra week really help you, or would you just procrastinate for even longer?”
Maybe I should have stood my ground more, but at the time I figured she was right and gave it up. You would think a person whose literal job is to help disabled students would be better at it…
I’m sorry that people don’t always accomodate for your needs. Migraines are a valid reason to skip class. With any type of discomfort, it is hard to focus in classs. They should have proper training for the staff so they understand the students and their situations better. Some professors don’t accommodate as well because sometimes they have to go out of their way to accommodate and they can’t be bothered to put in effort. As a teacher, they should be more mindful.
I really love your honesty about the SDS thing in UMBC. I have been scared to go to them because I feel like I would be misheard and not given any grace and mercy. I have depression, which is severe during the changing of seasons as well as bad anxiety but I feel because you can not see my disability it is harder for people to believe me even from a note from my doctor. I feel like it’s terrible that UMBC makes people go through hoops and feel unheard, it’s a terrible problem that needs to be fixed. Why do you think people don’t take mental health as seriously?
I’m so sorry that you had this experience. It is extremely unfair that she invalidated you like that, making it seem like you had to PROVE that you were disabled enough to need those accomodations. I think that the SDS department should be incredibly mindful of how they’re speaking to disaabled students; this is incredibly disheartening. Is there anywhere/anyone that could be alerted about this kind of response from SDS?
Thats crazy, truly. I dont think its her place to really seem what is fit or not. At most of the schools my dad taught at accodimations are taken seriously and they are discussed by a group of people designated for these kinds of decisions. Your accodimations should not be decided by one person, there is no bias control that way. Also I wish some people would understand that accommodations have never lessened the amount of work or effort you need in a class for a certain grade. I don’t have accommodations but I often ponder about them because I have a friend that has them.