College

[Dolly0710]

Advice needed Daughter 18 with endometriosis in second year of college doing A levels then onto university hopefully, however is still struggling daily with pain and is affecting her college attendance. She has been working from home when unable to get into college and always completes her work to the highest standard and is predicted high final grades. She has had one laparoscopy a couple of years ago has a coil, takes cerezette, naproxen, heat etc to help daily with her pain. Pain seems to be worse on a morning after sleeping. We’ve been into college today for a meeting with the Vice Principal as she is on a fit to study programme however he has said if her attendance continues to be the same long term, she won’t be able to continue, even though she is achieving academicly, they care more about attendance. They are doing a department trip next week which is subject related and we’ve been also told she is not allowed on it due to her attendance and she would be a safeguarding risk. I am going to appeal against this decision with the Principal as it is discrimination, however he just said the Safeguarding would overshadow the discrimination. Has anyone else experienced this and any advice welcome, don’t know where to turn and my heart breaks 😭 for my Daughter who is also struggling mentally with this cruel condition and wanted to do the trip her friends as she always feels excluded and isolated. We have offered to be on standby to collect her would be 3 hours away and I have also said I would accompany them on the trip as I work in a school and have an enhanced dbs but it doesn’t seem to be good enough 😔😔

[emilylb]

I’m so sorry to hear this Dolly. Honestly this guy sounds like an absolute ass. Safeguarding doesn’t just automatically make discrimination laws null and void! She has a right to an education, so it could even maybe be argued this is a human rights issue or something alike (I’m not a lawyer btw but this just doesn’t sound right at all) I would maybe contact endometriosis uk directly, they may have people on thier books the a background in law who could advise (I know they have been very involved with recent employment laws being passed in parliament) or if not I’m sure they can point you in the right direction. Also is it worth contacting your local education authority?

I really don’t think he can kick her out of college because of this. There’s a lot of info here around discrimination and disability criteria which might be helpful- endometriosis-uk.org/sites/...

[PastaGirl13]

I'm so sorry you and your daughter are experiencing this. That sounds completely unfair and honestly quite discriminatory. Working at home is a reasonable adjustment to accommodate the attendance issue and I'm appalled to hear they are prioritising attendance over her health. And with the trip I don't understand how she is a safeguarding risk, especially if you could be there with her for any medical needs. It makes no sense! Good on you for appealing that decision and advocating for her education.

She sounds like an absolute trooper for pushing through the pain and still working so hard on her studies and you sounds like a super parent! We all hear you both and understand how isolating endometriosis can be. I'm 21 and just finished uni and to see all my friends go into full time work and doing stuff I'm not well enough to do is really hard. But endometriosis is a rollercoaster and the better times always come around eventually. I honestly found that uni is generally a lot more understanding in my personal experience but if she does want to go definitely have that discussion with the wellbeing team at the unis she wants to go to before she starts. They can make normally make a learning agreement for her and take note of any reasonable adjustments/accommodations she may need so it is on her record and doesn't become a nightmare later on.

Sending love x