# has anyone used SAD as an excuse to...



## liilliiliilllil (Nov 3, 2009)

...take an exam at a later date, for example? Or to get out of a presentation project? Like, show your professor a letter from a doctor or somebody diagnosing you with SA.


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## ryanb (Nov 16, 2009)

*


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## Donnie in the Dark (Mar 15, 2011)

Tempting, but after you have done it you will be glad you were so brave.


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## whiterabbit (Jan 20, 2006)

As far as presentations go, I don't see why you should be forced to do these things anyway. If you're paying for your education you should be able to choose how best you can learn, and from my experience terror and panic don't provide for the best learning conditions.

I think most professors are aware that a lot of people find presentations nerve-wracking, but they think you'll get used to it and it won't be problem in the end...which is probably true for most people, but not for all.

I had one professor who actually _offered_ an alternative to a presentation as a choice for anyone who struggled with them. She said she realised that some people were terrified of public speaking and didn't want to put anyone through it if it would really damage them. I kind of wanted to kneel before her and kiss her feet for being so understanding, but I didn't dare ask for an alternative assignment anyway so...I just killed myself with anxiety all the way through these things.

It's different for everyone, I'm sure, but if you think it would benefit you more to not do it than to do it then I think trying to get out of it with a note is perfectly fine. You won't get that kind of opportunity in the real world of course but I don't know if it'll make much difference if you start facing these things now than later. I never got out of a presentation and I didn't improve one bit. Every one of them was horrible and I felt only slightly less terrible after them as I did before. But again, everyone's different and perhaps not as **** as me.


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## LWLPSK (May 3, 2011)

nope and I don't think I'll try because I'm 99% sure shes gonna say something like: 'Nobody likes that, but they do it still blah blah blah.....'


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## mooseick (Aug 11, 2010)

i wish i could, but i think itd actualy be hard to ask to do that b/c talking to my teacher is difficult in itself and then if other people wonder why i didnt do it :/ ive definatly thought about it, but i think its better trying to face fears. sometimes it can go amazing and others can end in crying myself to sleep but i think the most part they end up okay in the end. :3


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## Charizard (Feb 16, 2011)

Using SA as an excuse would mean having to speak to an instructor 1 on 1 and share this about myself with them. 

I would rather give a presentation.


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## TheGMan (Jun 10, 2004)

I have a recognized disability. Reasonable accommodations are required ( I will avoid the philosophical/political debate on that at this time). It is up to me whether I choose to request accommodations.

I view this as a component of a treatment plan. I agree with the sentiment from some others that using it as an excuse to completely avoid certain assignments might not be helpful, but I use it as treatment strategy and I make planned improvements.

For example, last quarter I took a language class. 25% of the grade is made up of 3 oral quizzes. Fortunately, 15% is a single one-on-one discussion with the instructor. That part is easy for me. I get nervous but it's not a big deal. Then there are 2 group oral interactions, worth 5% each. These are dialogues with 2-4 other students. I was given the option to do these dialogues with the instructor instead. I used this option for the first one, but I was comfortable enough by the end of the quarter to do the last dialogue with another student.

This quarter I am taking the next course in the sequence. The grade composition and requirements are the same. I did not request any accommodation. I did the first oral in a group of 4. I messed up. It was OK. I even laughed at myself and joked with the other students about it.

So I made progress. The accommodation requested was very minor and reasonable, and (here's the key thing) I was still responsible and completed all requirements of the class. And then I progressed out of it. I think that is a lot more reasonable than getting an F because of s.a.

There was another class that was a writing class. I had an A on everything. There were 3 formal papers plus a final paper project. There were daily writing assignments, I think around 20 total. I earned As on everything. The last paper also had a presentation requirement, worth 5%. The lowest A is 93%. So unless you have a 98+ going into that, it's a big deal. Well, I couldn't do an oral presentation. I just can't. So I did a 5 minute recorded narrated PowerPoint presentation. It turned out well, and I was asked to submit my work to a conference on health and disabilities ( I declined). Also, I had a complete breakdown anxiety attack at the end of class that lasted for what seemed like forever.

As my disability counselor explained things, it really depends on the class and assignment. If I were taking a public speaking class, it would be pretty difficult to work around the requirements. However, if it's a History class or something and the point of a presentation is to show mastery/knowledge of certain material, there should be no reason an instructor can't offer an alternative format.

For me, having S.A. meant being kicked out of colleges and taking several leaves before dropping out, and taking a 9 year break between in-person classes, even though performance/knowledge-wise I was a top 1% student.

Dealing with the disability office meant going from that to completing all my classes for the first time after 14 years of trying and being on track to graduate next year. So I'm glad I did it.

I suspect that if asking for a minor accommodation is worse than doing the the presentation, one doesn't really need it. Nothing wrong with that. When it comes to S.A., we aren't all the same. A lot of people here go to work and school with no problem.


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## IfWinterEnds (Jun 4, 2010)

In 6th grade there were a bunch of 8th graders in my class and I completely froze. We were supposed to write a story about how we discovered a magical creature. Everyone seemed to have a short list of facts, I had come up with a long elaborate story about finding a trap door at the bottom of the ocean, etc. The teacher let me give her my speech in her office a few days later.

When I got to college I found that explaining my SA to professors seemed to help in a lot of cases. I majored in English, focusing on creative writing so a lot of my classes involved sitting in 30+ student circles sharing opinions. Awww. Once I caught on, my grades seemed to improve. One professor once gave me another option other than presenting, but I'd gone to her about my SA in general, not t get out of the presentation.

In one course, I was 100% certain my professor was sympathetic without my needing to confide in her. It was a gender and lit course and a lot of it was about understanding, giving one on one attention to kids in need. We read _Push_, etc. On the last day of real class she told me in front of a bunch of others that I'd never spoken up in class, if only I had participated the way I'd written in our forum requirements. I got a B +. In the explanation notes (yeah, there were some) she said I lacked participation in a part.-based class.


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