Charting the Course: Accommodating Students with Psychiatric Disabilities

1. Charting the Course: Accommodating Students with Psychiatric Disabilities Pat Bunge, LPC disAbility Access Services Guilford Technical Community College

2. Postsecondary Students with Disabilities • In a survey of 423,470 postsecondary education students, 38,410 identified themselves as having a mental illness (National Center for Education Statistics, 1999)

3. Laws Requiring Reasonable Accommodations • 1973 Rehabilitation Act, Section 504 • 1990 Americans with Disabilities Act

4. What is a Mental Illness? Mental illness is a term that refers collectively to all diagnosable mental conditions causing severe disturbances in thinking, feeling, relating, and functional behaviors. These conditions result in substantially diminished capacity for coping with the ordinary demands of life.

5. While a single symptom or isolated event is rarely a sign of mental illness, a symptom that occurs frequently, lasts for several weeks, or becomes a general pattern of an individual’s behavior may indicate the onset of a more serious mental health problem that requires treatment. How One Might Recognize Signs of Mental Illness on Campus

6. Symptoms of a Mental Health Problem • Chronically missing class • Assignments consistently late • Extreme highs or lows in mood • Anxieties • Problem concentrating or remembering • Marked personality change • Confused or disorganized thinking • Thinking or talking about suicide • Denial of obvious problems

7. Major Depression • Mood disorder • Depressed mood over long period of time • Lack of pleasure in activities • Thoughts of suicide • Sleep and appetite changes • Low self- esteem • Feeling guilty and/or worthless

8. Bipolar Affective Disorder • Previously known as Manic Depressive Disorder • Mood disorder • Revolving periods of mania and depression • Either grandiose, euphoric, highly productive/creative, or depressed, withdrawn, hopeless

9. Posttraumatic Stress Disorder • Anxiety Disorder • Exposure to traumatic event • Flashbacks • Dissociation

10. Borderline Personality Disorder • Combined mood and thought disorder • Biological and environmental factors • Mood fluctuations • Low self- esteem, insecurities, distrust • Perceptual distortions, dissociations • Difficulty with relationships • Limited coping skills

11. Schizophrenia • Thought Disorder • Delusions, hallucinations, paranoia • Difficulty with daily functional tasks • Poor interpersonal relationships • Concrete thought processing • Need for structured routine

12. Anxiety Disorders • Generalized Anxiety Disorder • Excessive worry in general • Obsessive-Compulsive Disorder • Consuming fixation and ritualistic behaviors • Panic Disorder • Overwhelming physiological event • Social Phobias • Incapacitating fear of social interactions • Specific Phobias • Intense fear of specific object ; event

13. For more information about specific disabilities, contact: NC Alliance for the Mentally Ill 4904 Waters Edge Drive, Suite 152 Raleigh, NC 27606 800-451-9682

14. Conditions excluded from coverage under ADA • Transvestism • Transexualism • Pedophilia • Voyeurism • Gender identity disorders • Compulsive gambling • Kleptomania • Pyromania

15. Medication Side Effects • Drowsiness • Fatigue • Excessive thirst • Blurred vision • Hand tremors • Initiating interpersonal contact • Concentration

16. Functional Limitations • Screening out environmental stimuli • Sustaining concentration • Maintaining stamina • Handling time pressures and multi-tasks • Interacting with others • Fear of authority figures • Responding to negative feedback • Responding to change • Severe test anxiety

17. Strategies for Inclusion in College • Teach to various learning styles--visual, auditory, kinesthetic • Increase experiential learning activities • Increase knowledge and acceptance of mental illness • Be prepared to set behavioral limits • Know campus mental health resources • Work cooperatively with students • Assist students with time management

18. Reasonable accommodation by definition is the removal of barriers to participation .

19. Principles of Accommodation • Address individual needs • Respect student’s desire for confidentiality • Engage in joint problem solving • Make all accommodations voluntary • Review accommodations periodically • Be flexible in enforcing policies • Identify accommodations clearly

20. Accommodations are NOT Reasonable if they... • Pose a direct threat to the health or safety of others • Make substantial change in essential elements of the curriculum • Require substantial alteration in educational opportunities or course objectives • Pose undue financial or administrative burden

21. Possible Classroom Accommodations • Preferential seating, near door • Beverages permitted • Prearranged or frequent breaks • Tape recorder, note taker • Early availability of syllabus, text • Text, assignments in alternate formats • Personal and private feedback

22. Possible Examination Accommodations • Change in test format • (Written to oral and vise versa, dictation, scripted, typed) • Permit use of computer software • Exams in alternate format; portfolio, demonstations • Extended test taking time • Individual proctoring • Separate, quiet room for testing • Increased test frequency

23. Possible Assignment Accommodations • Substitute assignments in specific circumstances • Advance notice of assignments • Allow assignments hand -written • Written rather than oral, or vise versa • Change format: drama, role-play, sculpture • Assignment assistance--ask • Extensions on assignments

24. The Myths of Mental Illness • People with mental illness are dangerous • People with psychiatric disabilities are unpredictable, and can go “berserk” at any time • People recovering from mental illness can work at low level jobs, but are not suited to be in college, and probably will never hold responsible positions

25. The Myths of Mental Illness cont.. • When you learn that a person has a mental illness, you have learned the most significant thing about his or her personality

26. Create an environment of trust and confidentiality that allows the person to feel comfortable discussing his or her condition.

27. Resources • American Psychiatric Association • American Psychological Association • Mental health info Source • National Alliance for the Mentally ill (NAMI) • National Institute of Mental Health • National Mental Health Association • Washington Advocates for the Mentally Ill (WAMI)

28. Mental Illness. The Way We Treat It Is Insane.