Sitting in a College Class with NLD
In today’s episode, we’ll discuss what it's like to Sit in A College Class with NLD. It is very difficult to attend school, especially college with NLD. In this article, “It’s Like Being Blind, Except I Can See,” from www.nvld.org, Michelle shares what it was like for her: “I struggled because instructions from professors were difficult to follow as they were almost always written down and sometimes not very clearly stated. I tried to receive help from the disability office, but the IEP I had in high school was difficult to obtain and didn’t provide much insight into the type of assistance I could get. The challenges I faced both academically and socially set me up for failure.”
I can relate to her experience. For me, college felt like a 4-year marathon and that got even longer when I was diagnosed with NLD at age 19. As I shared in a previous episode I was relieved after being diagnosed because now I knew why so many things were challenging for me. Unlike Michelle, it was easier for me to get the accommodations I needed which did help increase my grades and made doing homework much easier.
But what was even more challenging was asking the right kinds of questions when sitting in class. I didn’t know how to ask my professor questions that I might find the answer to elsewhere such as in the syllabus. Or even asking questions that made me seem dumb when I knew I wasn’t because I was attending UC Berkeley.
I do remember one professor who didn’t give very clear directions on a group lab that I had to do in class. My group found this extremely frustrating and confusing because we wanted to do well on the assignment. But we couldn’t do well because the instructions weren’t helpful. To make matters worse, when I brought the issue up to the professor during office hours he disagreed with me. He thought that the instructions were clearly stated. When I realized he disagreed with me and there was no way he was going to see what I saw I just dropped the issue. In that situation, I felt mentally blind because I couldn’t describe to him why the instructions were unclear. He would never understand the way my brain worked because he didn’t have NLD and I did. In case you’re wondering, my group and I did pass that lab assignment.
What also made college difficult is that for the first two years I didn’t have any accommodations, I was trying to pass my classes with help from the tutoring center for the math classes which did help me pass them with Cs. Once I took all those tests and got my accommodations for the last 2 years of college along with help from my mom, professors, and GSIs it was much easier to pass my classes. Those tests and the research I did on NLD gave me a better understanding of myself so I was able to know how hard I had to work to pass my classes. With all of these ways of assistance, I was able to raise my grades from C’s to B’s and eventually to A’s because I worked my butt off to pass them.
I also knew what my strengths and differences were so I knew how to study better. This helped my professors and GSIs or whomever else was helping me because then I could make suggestions to them about how best to help me do well in their classes. I was also lucky that I chose a college that my brother had gone to because he was able to occasionally help me with homework when he had the time. He even reserved a room in a library for the two of us one time when I needed help with some math homework. Thank you brother for helping with college even though you didn’t have to, especially for all those weekends we spent doing something fun to help me get a break from my studies.
Let me provide some context for you about my life before having been diagnosed with NLD in my sophomore year of college. I grew up being homeschooled in an online charter school from kindergarten to 12th grade, so I didn’t have a normal education experience. I never knew what it was like to know who was in my class. Or who my teacher was until I got to college. My first experience of a normal social life was college and I loved it because I blossomed.
I remember having to figure out how long it would take me to commute to my classes so I wouldn’t be late especially since I was used to just using a computer to attend school. It was a nice change to meet my classmates and not feel like I was the only one in the class. The only thing that didn’t’ change was how hard the classes were they only got harder since I was attending one of the top universities in the country.
The other thing that made it challenging was being away from my parents and my dog Truffles. This wasn’t easy because I was close and still am with my parents and needed my dog for emotional support but I couldn’t find a place to have her with me until I was a junior in college. My college experience was easier once I had my dog with me, had a close group of friends, and spent more time with my brother.
I think what also made college challenging was that not all of my friends knew about my NLD but the ones that did try their best to support me with it if they knew what it was. It did make it easier to have a family that was very supportive and willing to help even though they were far away from me. I don’t think I would have graduated in the timeline I did if I didn’t have all the support I did from my family, especially my mom.
Yes, it was challenging in many ways. Yet, what I know about myself is that if it had been a piece of cake I never would have been motivated to work so hard. I would have just slacked off. I love when things are challenging because I am so determined to succeed and never give up. I keep thinking ``I've come this far I can’t give up now!” I used that thought I just shared with you as a mantra to keep myself motivated when I was in my junior and senior years of college. Because many times I didn’t think I was going to graduate. But my family knew I could do it. And even though I have NLD I did graduate in 4 years and I was the first woman in my family to do so.
So whether it’s explaining to my college professor how I’m interpreting his instructions, asking the right questions in class, or believing that I can do anything that I set my mind to, I still struggle with these issues today. In conclusion, I would like you to think about the challenges you had in college, whether you are a NT or ND.
