Kayla Gibbs is a senior in biological sciences.

She’s a Taurus.

And she’s got rheumatoid arthritis.

Gibbs is one of the over 600 students who have registered a disability with the Disability Services Office, and has DSO-approved academic accommodations, but she said not all professors respond well to the needs of handicapped students.

“I had a professor who said he did not give extensions, make-up tests, or make-up assignments to sick or injured students in his syllabus,” said Gibbs. “When I ended up in the emergency room to have my knee drained, he wouldn’t let me make up the test I missed while being confined to bed rest after having 3 needles inside my joint.”

Forced to receive zero after zero on tests she could not take on-time due to medical reasons, Gibbs attempted to drop the course, but ultimately had to go to the dean of her college to resolve the issue.

“It got to the point that there was no way for me to pass the course, and when I asked him to sign my drop form due to medical reasons, he said he did not believe in allowing students to drop a course due to disabilities,” said Gibbs. “He then said if I am having such a hard time then I needed to leave the University altogether until I was healthier.”

According to the University policy on academic accommodations for students with disabilities, it is the students’ responsibility to register any disabilities with DSO, but the policy specifically states faculty members must do their best to read and adhere to the recommendations made by DSO to help students with documented disabilities.

Gibbs said professors who do not allow make-up exams even for those with documented disabilities are able to refuse such tests if they state in their syllabi that they allow other grades to make up more missed scores.

But to Gibbs, allowing a final exam score to replace a low test grade is not an effective or fair policy.

“The University shouldn’t allow teachers to ban make-up tests and then try to get around it by saying ‘There are no make-ups, but I’ll count your final twice in your final grade,'” said Gibbs. “This puts students like me with disabilities at a disadvantage to other students who got to take their test on time. If a healthy student didn’t do well, they can decide to replace their grade with their final.  I don’t have the luxury of making that decision since I got a zero when I was in the hospital.”

However, the University’s course syllabus regulation states professors must include a paragraph in their syllabi stating students are able to receive accommodations if they have a documented need and their request is “reasonable,” though there is no clearer definition as to what does and does not fall under that category.

According to Ana Ison, a lecturer in the chemistry department, there are students in her class every semester with documented disabilities, and said she and her colleagues do not typically turn down student requests for accommodations should they be eligible for such alterations.

“If DSO finds the student’s paperwork sufficient, then I try to work with the student, whether that means they take the test at the DSO office or in a quiet room with few distractions,” said Ison. “Yes, there are students who want to take advantage of this option or have a difficulty financing the documentation, but there are students who really need this extra help.”

Ison said she thinks a separate testing center should be created for any student needing extra time or accommodations for exams, and the focus of assessing students is not always in the right place.

“Ultimately, I think exam time should be longer for everyone, since it is really hard to sit down and focus on simply completing the test in a short amount of time,” said Ison. “This shouldn’t be about testing on how fast students can think, but on whether or not they know they material.”

In the 35 years he has taught at the University, Michael Grimwood, a professor of English, said he has hardly ever had to turn a student’s request down.

“I typically have one or two students a semester with documented disabilities, and it has rarely been the case that I haven’t been able to give a student what he or she thought they needed,” said Grimwood. “I am legally required to help a student if they have a letter from DSO, but I’m happy to help anyway. I can’t recall more than one instance where an agreement could not be made between myself and a student.”

According to Gibbs, this is the case for most professors she has encountered, and most find no fault with allotting an extension or make-up test due to a documented medical problem. However, she said the policies of a few professors can harm a student’s future educational experiences.

“I don’t think all teachers are like this at all, but it only takes one or two failing grades to put us out of the running for grad school and jobs that healthy students don’t have that issue,” said Gibbs. “A reasonable request is one that allows us to overcome our disabilities and still get an education.  It’s not our fault we are sick and usually it doesn’t take much for a teacher to allow us extra time or administer a make-up test.”

Gibbs said if there continue to be professors who refuse to help students with disabilities, then their names should be compiled and made available to students with documented disabilities.

 ”Personally, I feel that the fact that I look normal outside also makes teachers not trust me quite as much. They can’t see my disability so they assume I’m faking,” said Gibbs. “I would like to think that all professors would be nice enough to listen to us and help us.  I honestly feel like teachers who do not like us in their courses and who are not going to give us make up exams or extensions need to sign up on a list that the DSO can hand out to us so we know to avoid those teachers.”