Lily Huynh/The Cougar
Mental health is a very important topic, especially when it comes to being in school. Students often have a hard time balancing proper mental health with meeting expectations during the school year, and one particular disorder that tends to lack support is ADHD.
According to the CDC, approximately 11.4% of children ages three to 17 have ADHD. Among college students, the number is bumped up to about 16% worldwide, and these statistics are only based on those that have received diagnoses.
Despite such a large number of people suffering with the condition, thousands of students report struggling in classes from young ages due to their inability to manage their symptoms. This is largely due to the fact that educational institutions, at both the upper and lower levels, do not prioritize accommodating them.
Take UH’s DART Student Accessibility Center for example. DART offers services like extended time frames for exams, controlled spaces for test taking and note taking support, among plenty of other resources.
While great in concept, many UH students have faced struggles with the center when applying for the various resources it provides. Some have noted the difficulty of the required processes and paperwork, while others have posted online asking for advice when the center neglects to email them back in a timely manner.
This issue also extends to the University’s professors, with some electing to ignore accommodations despite students going through the proper process to get them. Whether it be through word of mouth or on social media like Reddit, students have complained about professors making them jump through hoops to get extensions they’re owed, or even outright rejecting certain accommodations.
Some common issues that students with ADHD face are time management and coping with certain environments when learning. The accommodations laid out by the DART Center are meant to minimize these issues so that these students can properly learn and succeed in their classes. Things like not taking, controlled environments and extended deadlines are especially important for those with ADHD.
So, if a professor refuses to respond to emails regarding these arrangements in a timely manner, requires those in their classes to provide extensive proof of their disorders or outright ignores them, what exactly are students meant to do?
ADHD is a particularly difficult disorder to cope with in the first place, given how many people go undiagnosed and lack of education surrounding it. ADHD symptoms make it incredibly difficult to function in classroom settings, and are often comorbid with other learning disabilities that further these issues.
At a younger level, many teachers even report difficulty working with students with ADHD. It’s not uncommon to hear stories from those with ADHD about how teachers treat them particularly harshly due to misunderstandings regarding their disorder.
A common misconception from teachers is that children with ADHD act out on purpose, or make it a point to be disruptive in class. This leads to stigmatization and consistent punishment of hyperactive behaviors that could potentially be worked with if schools had proper programs to support said students.
Studies have shown that there are proper and simple solutions to assist students with ADHD, such as flexible seating and allowing extra testing time. Even occasional positive feedback is a very effective tool in making sure students don’t become depressed over consistent criticisms for behaviors they can’t control.
An estimated 32.2% of students with ADHD drop out of secondary school. In addition to this, those that manage to make it to college are far less likely to finish their degrees within four years than those without psychological disorders.
Given this, it’s nothing short of unacceptable that students are so commonly faced with the barriers they are, at UH or otherwise.
Every student should be allowed to learn in an environment that suits them, and have the means to progress as well as their fellow students. Considering how much of any student body has ADHD, it’s integral that these students are catered to properly.
Parker Hodges-Beggs is a journalism sophomore who can be reached at [email protected]
