Despite easily accessible education, students who struggle with ADHD are consistently misunderstood by the University.
To a large portion of Gen Z, ADHD is a funny quirk used to make fun of forgetfulness, high energy and a lack of focus. To the people who have ADHD, it’s disabling and frustratingly misunderstood. Studies have shown a concerning increase in rates of depression and anxiety in Gen Z compared to past generations, which can interact with ADHD differently depending on the individual. Unfortunately, post-secondary institutions have yet to establish a fair system that understands the difficulty of getting a diagnosis and the challenges that come with ADHD. Queen’s must recognize the complexities of getting a diagnosis and treat students going through the process with the empathy they deserve.
ADHD stands for attention deficit hyperactivity disorder and is recognized as a disability in Canada. Common symptoms include disorganization, fidgeting, forgetfulness and poor attention span, but expand to include side effects of medication and symptoms of simultaneous disorders.
When diagnosed in adulthood, ADHD candidates must show proof of symptoms before 12 years old. Receiving a diagnosis as an adult is complex and dependent on a patient’s environment. However, a diagnosis has become a key hurdle to receiving the accommodations students with ADHD require.
First year of university is a wake-up call for adults with ADHD, whether they’ve been properly diagnosed or not. Suddenly finding themselves without the structural support of parents or caring teachers, students are left to navigate a new lifestyle, a new home and unfamiliar wellness services with minimal assistance. Proper education and trust in their institution’s wellness services encourage outreach for support, but students may still suffer if they are undiagnosed or misguided.
Queen’s Student Accessibility Services (QSAS) handles all documentation and accommodation for student disabilities and mental illnesses. To receive specific accommodations, such as extra time on assessments, note-taking assistance, and private rooms to maintain focus during exams, specific documentation must be signed by an appropriate medical professional and submitted to the University.
For those undiagnosed or having complications with the diagnosing process, the Regional Assessment and Resource Centre (RARC) offers testing and treatment. Certain criteria must be met to be eligible for an assessment, as well as a minimum paid fee of $2,800 that may or may not be covered by insurance or disability grants. Alternatively, the Psychology Department offers an ADHD screening test, but the waitlist is closed, and they currently aren’t accepting referrals.
All of the University’s wellness services are reliant on some form of medical documentation, which protects from misdiagnosis and unfair accommodations, but casts aside students misdiagnosed, undiagnosed or overwhelmed with comorbidity. If a doctor refuses to sign a disability form because they don’t agree with their patient’s credibility, that student is completely blocked from receiving any accommodation. Students are drowning in the gap of miscommunication between doctors and the university’s policies.
Symptoms of ADHD vary from individual to individual, and it’s not fair to expect the same seamless system of receiving a diagnosis to accessing support to work for everyone, especially when there are financial obstacles or a lack of accessibility. If Queen’s wants to help, it must fundamentally change how complicated ADHD is to recognize and treat as a student. Given these complexities, Queen’s needs to fill the institutional gap between a diagnosis and receiving accommodations. Students struggling through the diagnosis process should be given the care and understanding they deserve.
Students and adults with ADHD need a system of support more than anything—the knowledge that someone is able and willing to help alleviate their stress and anxieties. Queen’s has a responsibility to fully acknowledge the complexities of living with ADHD and must fill the gap between doctor and institutional recognition so that students can perform to the best of their ability.
Tags
ADHD, disability, Queen's Student Wellness Services, Queen's
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Adele Mercier
“Despite an ongoing rise is diagnoses”…
Accommodation Decision-Making for Postsecondary Students with ADHD: Treating the Able as Disabled
September 2022Psychological Injury and Law 15(4):367-384
DOI:10.1007/s12207-022-09461-1
Authors:
Allyson Grainger Harrison
Queen’s University
Irene Armstrong
Queen’s University
“This study set out to determine if postsecondary disability service providers use objective, third-party data when making accommodation decisions. Providers were asked if they would grant extra time accommodations to a fictitious prospective student. The student self-reported attention and academic problems that emerged during COVID restrictions, and that extra time helped her earn better grades and reduced her anxiety. While her neuropsychological report suggested superficial similarity to ADHD and contained accommodation recommendations, it lacked any objective evidence supporting either an ADHD diagnosis or functional impairments that would support extra time accommodation. Despite the lack of current or historical functional impairment, 100% of all DSO decision makers confirmed that they would grant extra time accommodations to this student.
Results suggest that DSOs’ accommodation decisions are not based on evidence of functional impairment but rely mainly on student self-report and the recommendations of a professional. As such, the current system of determining reasonable accommodations is flawed and inequitable, offering non-impaired individuals access to supports and services that may privilege them over their similarly abled peers. Postsecondary institutions must either develop more defensible methods of disability determination or provide all students with access to accommodations to create a more equitable learning environment.”
The Ability of Self-Report Methods to Accurately Diagnose Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder: A Systematic Review
SAGE Publications Inc
Journal of Attention Disorders
October 202327(12):1343-1359
DOI:10.1177/10870547231177470
Authors:
Allyson Grainger Harrison
Queen’s University
Melanie J. Edwards
“We know that young adults without ADHD often report experiencing symptoms of ADHD (Harrison, 2004; Harrison et al., 2013; J. A. Suhr & Johnson, 2022) especially when they experience high levels of stress, depression, and/or anxiety (Harrison et al., 2013; Lewandowski et al., 2008; J. A. Suhr & Johnson, 2022), meaning that symptom report alone is not sufficient to confirm this diagnosis. We also know that when clinicians rely on self-reported symptoms alone it increases the false positive rate of diagnosis (Faraone et al., 2003).”
Attention Deficit Hyperactivity Disorder, Learning Disorders, and Other Incentivized Diagnoses — A Special Issue for Psychologists
August 2022Psychological Injury and Law 15(Summer)
DOI:10.1007/s12207-022-09460-2
Authors:
Allyson Grainger Harrison
Queen’s University
“research shows that many clinicians make these diagnoses using flexible diagnostic criteria and a looser conception of disability that includes otherwise normal test scores. Given the tangible academic, economic and social benefits that can be obtained for students given these disabilities, it is no wonder that the rates of non-visible disabilities have skyrocketed in the past 20 years. Research shows that these types of diagnoses have risen mainly in higher-income families, which suggests inequity in how these diagnoses are being made.”
“for other non-visible disabilities such as ADHD, anxiety, and depression, no objective data exists to support that such individuals require extra time due to disability-related impairment. In fact, extra time has been shown to provide a substantial advantage for such students in terms of access to test items (e.g. Harrison etal., 2020, 2022, this issue; Jansen etal., 2019; Miller etal., 2015; Pritchard etal., 2016). ”
“If everyone can self-identify as disabled without needing proof of actual impairment, then everyone will feel pres-sured to enter the accommodations arms race so that they, too, can obtain the academic, financial and legal benefits offered to those deemed eligible. This, in turn, will erode further the notion of disability and impairment, undermine confidence in the existence of actual non-visible disabilities, and may place too heavy a burden on existing and needed disability resources. In effect, those who need disability supports most may be crowded out by all the others who want access to the “benefits” that an illness can now confer. This is an example of the resulting harm to society about which Suhr and Johnson (2022, this issue) warn.”