The Forums › Forums › I Just Found Out! › I Have a Diagnosis, Now What? › Yay, I have an assessment! And Hello I'm new! › Re: Yay, I have an assessment! And Hello I'm new!
I hated university too. Those long lectures were hell to sit through, struggling to concentrate, struggling to absorb what the Prof was saying AT us, while trying to organize and write it all down in notes so I could remember it, struggling to stay awake… However, the courses in which we actively discussed the subject were so stimulating and interesting, that I did extremely well in them. Unfortunately, the lecture-based classes far outnumbered the discussion-based ones. At that time, there was no such thing as ADHD—or at least, there was no name for it, and it hadn’t been formally defined. All I knew was, I’d been so brilliant in elementary school and high school, so why was I so completely out of my depth at university?
Today, many learning institutions now provide assistance for students with ADHD. In many cases, this involves providing a note-taker to sit in on lectures, thus freeing the student from the note-taking and organizational tasks (which are kryptonite to a person with ADHD) and allowing him/her to focus solely on absorbing what the Prof is saying. Unfortunately, you’ll still have to work to zone out the distractions of being in a huge room with a huge number of fellow students. Sitting in the centre of the very front row is a big help, because that way, you can’t see most of those other people in the room. Ever since I was a little kid in school, I’d sit in the front row. Now I know why.
Before going back to university, discuss these issues with your student services department, and with the faculty. Together, you can come up with accommodations like these to help you complete your degree. The world needs more nurses, and we can’t afford to lose even one, just because some institute of higher learning couldn’t bend a little to accommodate a legitimate medical condition.
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