The Fora: A Higher Education Community

To person 1: I don't know anyone that wants to do that.

To person 2: I'm not a mind reader. Be clear in the questions you ask and don't assume I know what year you're talking about. If you don't specify, I'll assume you mean the most recent one.

Hmmm...Klobuchar?

M.

When I tell you, oh dear student, that I do not penalize students who miss class due to severe weather situations I don't appreciate you trying to take advantage of that. I was talking about a situation where we had tornado warnings, not just rain. Telling me in your email that you do not feel safe driving in because we might have a few periods of somewhat heavy rain does you no favors, especially when it is sunny most of the day. Unfortunately saying "suck it up, buttercup" would likely be frowned up by my superior...

When its raining heavily, most of my students will take an Uber.

From their dorms.

[. . .]

I predict Biden's campaign will continue its downward spiral and that he will get crushed in South Carolina if his campaign lasts that long.

I am going to continue with this prediction.

Feeling irrationally upset over not being able to have a cat (yet).

I live in student housing with a no-pet policy. Yet the neighborhood teems with people walking dogs and cats peering out of windows. My SO talked to some of the animal owners and they all told him they're emotional support animals (and that it's incredibly easy to get approved for one). My SO and others kept encouraging me to apply for one since I love cats and dogs so much, but I held off for a long time. I was hung up over the requirement that the animal be "necessary" to mitigate the effects/symptoms of a disability. I didn't want to exploit the system by requesting an accommodation I didn't strictly "need".

I've found animals to be a great comfort during bouts of anxiety or pain (there is something about a warm, purring feline that soothes in a way no heating pad ever could); they can also help ground me during times when I am struggling against thoughts of self-harm. But is this a need or a 'would-be-nice'? My SO encouraged me to send in the application and let the housing accommodations committee decide.

The letter I got back from them was not a rejection; it was a request for more information (apparently, my doctor only wrote a very brief, 3-sentence note). They told me they didn't have sufficient info to decide whether I actually had a disability (even though I have records on file with the disability office), or what the cat is actually going to be doing for me. They also took issue with my doctor requesting I be allowed to have a "pet" cat, saying support animals are not pets; pets will not be approved. My doctor's been out of town, so he hasn't responded to my messages asking him if he could write another letter.

It sounds like the issue is just that my doctor needed to be more thorough. I'm reasonably optimistic I will get approval eventually. But I am feeling the same way I've felt every time an insurance provider declines to cover a test or treatment because they don't deem it "necessary": guilty, useless, and weak. Part of me interprets these things as saying "You are not really that sick. You are not suffering that much. You don't need this. You should be able to deal with it on your own. The people who get approved for these things have real issues. You are just wasting everybody's time asking for things you don't deserve." I know this is a foolish overreaction, but I don't know how to turn it off...