The Cornell Daily Sun (https://cornellsun.com/tag/sds/)
This model, in which accommodations are granted to those who pass through an optional review process in which they must name desired accommodations, makes Cornell a place where students are often forced to create their own accessibility, rather than it being a universal principle on campus.
In this column, I will be bringing my experience as an example of how staff and faculty at Cornell can mistreat and mislead students trying to get SDS accommodations.
For the past month, I have been to the hospital emergency room four times. I have seen two Cornell Health doctors during my three visits. I have called Cornell Health more than 10 times (at this point, I have honestly lost my count). I have been prescribed more than four prescriptions, two of which have been antibiotics packs. I have done nine tests in total. I’ve had an X-ray. And, I have been diagnosed with two illnesses.
Last Wednesday, about Cornell 700 students were sitting in front of screens at around the same time. We were taking the prelim for HADM 4300: Introduction to Wines. Time-slotted within the mosaic of countless other prelims last week, it was joke material.
The 135 question exam opened and closed in under two hours. And after, I felt a selfish comfort when my roommates looked as shaken by it as I was, but as we were debriefing, a difference dawned on me. Confidence aside, they had at least completed the exam.
As a result of the diverse conditions and needs of disabled students, accommodations may or may not change when classes become digital, depending on each given student.
I am a student at an Ivy League university, where I plan to major in mathematics with a possible double major in government. I earned an A+ for my first college math class, Theoretical Calculus II, and have advocated in front of three New York State senators, the lieutenant governor and the state comptroller. I have actively participated in the sport of fencing for more than five years, and hope to one day become a certified referee. I have a rare congenital disorder called Larsen’s Syndrome which affects my muscular-skeletal system and has left me unable to walk. I require 24/7 nursing care, and assistance with many activities such as showering, preparing meals and transferring onto the toilet.