AS I promised in a post in June, I was going to write and report about how colleges are not always the best fit for people with various disorders, in this case for autism related disorders relevant to the United States.
You are better off flipping burgers at the local McDonalds and work up the ladder to a VP of the company in a few years making more than someone with a 6 year liberal arts study that won’t be applied into a few, if any serious career down the road.
For disabilities: first off, the colleges are protected only under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990. The Individuals with Disabilities Educational Act or IDEA only applies to the local school systems for students over the age of 3 and under 21 in 40 out of the 50 states. The IDEA (which mostly is federal funds) can make a student’s education vary lenient. However in the mean and and tough world of adulthood, the colleges are not protected by IDEA.
Their reasoning is: college is not a right or a need. Well the black and white sense, it is right, but in the abstract sense, the government’s agenda over the course of the last century has essentially indoctrinated that its a need to to go to college. Regardless whether its legally or philosophically right, can be debated forever. Providing intense services colleges aren’t required by law to provide such services. Another issue is college is much like getting a job, you don’t have the right to get that specific job; same with college.
So colleges or universities aren’t not required to change the curricula, they are not required to change the content, they are not required to change the testing times, and also they can only change things for “reasonable accommodations” so if you aren’t physically disabled, you can’t get a wheelchair, (if that has ever been done at the local school district under IDEA.)
Applying to a college doesn’t mean you will get into that place. It’s all about if you are the right candidate for that degree you are applying for. That goes out of the window in some cases if you have a rich daddy who has a Rolodex card who can sweet talk the school to get you in there, another negatives of “networking.”
So to make it short, getting a K-12 education is required by law, you need 12 year education, and if you have a special need, you need special education to get through those classes, confirming that college is allegedly a choice.
Another annoyance, is how states like Massachusetts that have approved laws to enable illegal aliens (citizens who are from outside this country, that have no Green card, no legal non-citizen paperwork) to get free (yes free) college education. So you can come to the States with no immigration paperwork and theoretically make up a high school diploma here on a piece of a napkin (if you came from a “third world country”), go to UMASS Boston and ask to take the most expensive degree and not expect a bill from there, meanwhile the working families from New Hampshire, that pays extra because of the out of state tuition are getting screwed! And what about the legal “ailens” the ones who have autism like disorders? They get put well into the bottom of the queue!
Colleges and universities can really push their students to be as independent as possible. They do help students with “time management” skills,”self-advocacy” skills, and assistance for tutors in case the student’s are unable to study on their own. Lots of these things are done because the colleges are simply ignorant in providing “user friendly” (so to speak) programs for special needs, most importantly the developmentally disabled.
Not only that, the mentally ill is the most at risk, worse than people with autism or other developmental disorders. Colleges insist that their students act like adults, and in that case, if some seem to have issues, they expect given they are legal adults, to fend for themselves. There has been several tragedies in the last few years by young people in their early twenties and in these cases – mental illness actually gets caught then and not earlier. The most recent issue was in the Denver area movie theatre shooting, where apparently red flags started to show just weeks before the gunman shot there.
Another issue is colleges (both faculty and students) have traditionally accepted minorities, racial minorities, sexual orientations, various political and philosophical views, as well as people with physical disabilities. Sadly, if you have a conservative view, or you have a mental disorder or developmental disorder, or you are a white folk, colleges have not been accepting to such groups, which is disappointing.
I remember reading the local newspaper and when UNH started a minority group, they interviewed some black (or could’ve been an Indian) girl was so scared going into her first class because of the prejudice of her classmates. While I am loosely quoting that article, but what about the autistic groups? There are individuals that I wouldn’t be surprised to know they had similar experiences. From people I have talked to who work for that Institution, they have crafted some programs, but that includes that dirty word known as “self advocacy”
Unfortunately, at the end of the day, the unions, the extreme leftie moonbats are still controlling the college systems, and meanwhile the most vulernable citizens of society, the working class, the ones with special needs are getting screwed by the elitists. The real “adults” are the people that are most vulnerable; meanwhile the normal peers and the union preachers are the ones that whine and bitch about how this country sucks, etc. and not willing to teach students they think are “disruptive” – well maybe we need some DISRUPTION of the same ol’ same ol’! While they preach on change, they are the last groups to adapt to change.
I’ve made the decision to stop looking into the college thing last year and never looked back.
