Psychiatric Disabilities
The ODA serves a large number of students each semester who have psychiatric diagnoses, including Major Depression, Bipolar Disorder, Post Traumatic Stress Disorder, Social Phobias, and many others. If you have a diagnosis that falls into this category and you feel it is creating problems for you academically, complete an information sheet and submit documentation of the condition. Make sure your counselor, psychologist or psychiatrist thoroughly completes the documentation requirements. Due to the changing nature of these conditions, it may be necessary for you to obtain updated documentation every six months. Especially if you are requesting a withdrawal from the university. If you have an exacerbation of your symptoms, especially those involving hospitalizations, it is a good idea to provide the ODA with updated documentation at that point.
After you have submitted the Psychological Documentation Form and the ODA Application for Services, you will meet with the ODA for an orientation session either in a group or individual setting.
Common accommodations for psychiatric disabilities include; extended time for in-class assignments, tests, and quizzes, testing in a distraction reduced environment, volunteer notetaker, use of a tape recorder, and referral to campus support systems. Of course, all accommodations are individualized, based upon your personal narrative and the documentation you provide. Your accommodations may include but are not limited to the examples described above.
Please remember that our office is here to help. Psychiatric disabilities can become extremely serious, especially if you find yourself withdrawing from support systems and the people that can help. If you sense that is happening, please don't hesitate to contact your ODA counselor as soon as possible. Or, make contact with anyone who can help.