Hi, it's 1 AM here, but I couldn't sleep because of the intrusive thoughts on the ongoing problems I have to deal with at the university.
During the last semester, I had problems concentrating and coming to class because of clinical anxiety. Two months ago, I also experienced an episode of depression, partly due to the bullying I've endured from some of my friends/classmates who had misconceptions about my psychiatric conditions and decided to ostracize me. It was a very painful experience and I'm still having issues talking about it with my therapist without the side effects, such as agitation and rumination, coming along afterwards.
These conditions led me to ask for academic accommodations like attendance flexibility and extended time on test taking (because I had shortened attention span/inattention), but the student affairs officer asserted that it was impossible and went against "the rules" here. For your information, my university doesn't have disability services office like others. And I was very sad and hurt that nearly nobody in the staff of the university understands why I demanded these accommodations in the first place. They just see me as a nuisance or a problem they'd want to get rid of, so that their workload becomes lighter.
Therefore, I have filed many complaints to various authorities within and outside the university about the lack of academic accommodations for students with psychiatric disabilities here, but all it did was generating more anger and resentment from the university's staff, who aren't willing to make adjustments to fit me in. It sometimes felt like discrimination to me.
I feel like I'm not going to survive here if I don't get proper academic accommodations in the next semester.
Does any of you have a similar experience dealing with the bureaucracies at the university who ignores and/or trivializes mental health issues?
Thank you for taking the time to read this.