There isn’t a single person I know who doesn’t get at least a little anxious when midterms roll around or when standardized testing determines the future of a career path. This test anxiety can either improve or hinder students’ performances on the actual test day–but once it’s over, they can usually move on with their lives.
But this is not the case for everyone. Test anxiety is common, but for some people it goes beyond the normal scenario of freaking out before or during an exam. For some students, testing becomes an every day challenge that affects many physical and mental aspects of their lives.
The word “disability” has so many negative connotations attached to it. Various members of society associate individuals with disabilities with degrading or insulting terms; and as a result, those individuals internalize a hatred toward their own conditions.
This does not have to be the case.
None of those terms are accurate, and there is nothing wrong with embracing your disability.
A disability is typically defined as an umbrella term for any physical or mental condition that limits one or more major life activities. Learning, physical and mental disabilities may affect the way an individual learns or takes exams.
However, don’t let yourself believe that your disability limits you or your potential.
Instead, the standardized testing environments are what may be limiting you or your potential.
Ever feel like you have a complete grasp on the material–regardless of how many times you have had to reread the information? Does it seem like you know what the professor was trying to explain–although you took a different approach to get to that conclusion? Do you feel like you could ace the exam because you’re confident in your study patterns–even if it took longer than your best friend?
But then you step into a room full of 100 other people. The proctor gives you less than an hour to complete your exam. Your hands start sweating even more profusely. Other students start finishing after about twenty minutes. Your mind starts wandering. You think about everyone else and how they know so much more than you. Your heart palpitations transform into a painful pounding against your chest. You keep looking at the time and your own exam that’s mostly blank. Then your mind starts racing with an infinite amount of thoughts: thinking about what you’ll have for dinner, questioning why you’re so dumb, reevaluating what you’re doing in life, considering what you’ve done wrong. Your stomach develops a weird sensation that eventually makes you feel nauseous. Your stress induces abnormal breathing patterns. You can’t stop fidgeting. Then your mind goes blank. For a few minutes you just sit there. And just like that, TIME IS UP.
Everyone’s brains are wired differently. People with disabilities are no exception to that fact. You are not dumb, lazy or slow compared to others. We all learn differently, perform differently in testing conditions, and succeed at different areas in life.
You may like studying alone, take longer to understand material, go over concepts multiple times, approach a conclusion through different strategies or perspectives, or have your own learning mechanism that’s unique from others. But you are still excelling. You learn the material, study the material, understand the material, and know the material, Just like everyone else. (Maybe more or less than others…but you know it).
There is a way to demonstrate your true potential without being held back by standardized conditions. If you have any sort of physical, mental or learning disability, look into your school or program’s testing accommodations. A lot of people know these services exist, but many people don’t look into the range of resources that are provided.
Here is the University of Michigan’s Services for Students with Disabilities website.
Most schools have some sort of office like this, which can help you or your friends who may be struggling. Just document your disability, send them the appropriate paperwork and set up an appointment! They will be able to help you and determine what services you can register for and what accommodations are appropriate for your condition. In order to register with SSD, you will most likely need to have an in-depth evaluation done with whichever healthcare professional you have been seeing in regards to the specific condition.
These services will be able to remove a barrier that may exist in your education. Don’t be ashamed or afraid to get the help that you may need at school. There are resources that are available and that can change your life!
On that note, please don’t abuse these resources! I know someone who received testing accommodations because a class was hard and she could not finish the exams on time. I get it, school is tough for all of us–and some classes are ridiculously stressful.
But there are people who genuinely need these resources. But because of people like that, the process to receive accommodations is very long and stressful. Some individuals with disabilities are already too afraid to seek these resources. And others that take the step to apply may eventually quit along the way because it can be such an exhausting process.
If you know you genuinely don’t need these services, please don’t take advantage of them. It makes it so unfair for those who would truly benefit from it in the long run!
Encourage anyone who may benefit to seek these resources, and support your friends by helping them get through this. This will remove one major obstacle that will allow you to focus more on the other aspects of your life.
Self-care should always come first during your education, and this resource can do wonders for your well-being!
As always, let me know if you need to talk about any of this!
