Your Education is just as important
I am not sure where this rumor began but it is far past time someone put an end to it.
You do not need to be healthy in order to deserve and education. You do not need to be able to show up daily in order to deserve respect from teachers when you ask questions.
Senior Pictures in my letterman jacket with my cross country and track varsity letters sewn on. I am wearing black boots and orange and black jacket. My dress is black and my blonde hair is in curls.
That’s right. Read it again. An Education is not only for those who have perfect attendance and go see the doctor once a year for their physical. An Education is for all, meaning that they need to meet you where you are at.
This was on my way up to get my diploma. I made it. I graduated with honors and with my current class despite missing a year and half of high school.
IT IS ILLEGAL for the school system to ignore your learning needs. When you miss a class or a day you do not need to justify to them why they should continue to put effort into teaching you. Now this should go without saying but do not abuse this. Education is a privilege that so many of us are lucky to have access to. Had we been born in another country we wouldn’t be allowed to go much less even read. However, if you want to continue school during your illness and you want to continue going to college while sick it is your teachers jobs to help you learn.
This was one of my good friends who ended up experiencing a similarly scary health problem and we battled them side by side for a bit. She is a walking miracle who is healthy and works as a nurse at the hospital we both were patients at!
I used to feel bad that I needed extensions, extra time on quizzes, open book tests. It sucks. I used to be able to be a straight A student with minimal studying. Now I am asking for an open book test NOT because I don't know the answers but because I have brain fog and don’t remember the words I need to complete the answers.
I know that I had classmates who thought I was being overdramatic and using my disease as an excuse. This thought killed me. I hated that I had a peer who thought I was willingly using my disease as an excuse to get ahead when it was exactly the opposite. I hated that I lost the respect of being knowledgeable. I lost the respect of being one of the smart kids because I got help.
This is where those classmates went wrong. I was getting better or similar grades as them while managing multiple chronic illnesses and constant chronic pain. If you are unfamiliar with what goes into managing multiple chronic illnesses it involves: scheduling doctor appointments, driving hours to said doctor appointments, spending hours at the doctor appointment, needing to have 3 days to recover after the doctor appointment, scheduling your bloodwork and scans, maintaining your prescriptions all while trying to be a human. I don't blame the kids in my class; because before I was diagnosed with a chronic illness I wouldn't have understood as well either. I would hope that I would have more empathy for those students than others did for me though.
As my health rapidly declined, I spent a lot of time in the guidance center working on makeup work and using the quiet to catch up.
There are important steps you need to know and understand to qualify for the help you need and how to explain the help you need. To begin with you need to have a doctor’s note that states you have an illness that requires exceptions to the basic rules of the classroom. For me, my doctors wrote a letter explaining my illness and what I may need for help; This included the ability to eat and drink in class, leave for the restroom as needed, checking blood sugar, use my book/notes when taking tests, take digestive enzymes at lunch without going to the nurse so forth and so on. You then bring this letter to the guidance counselor and they create a 504 plan that includes all of your teachers. Your doctors and school guidance counselor can help you figure out whether a 504 plan is necessary. If so, the next step is a large meeting with you, your parents, your guidance counselor, the school nurse, assistant principal and the teachers involved in your learning. This is where they go over what the 504 plan says and how they can make it functional in their classroom. The 504 plan is a LEGALLY BINDING CONTRACT. This is important to know if teachers refuse to allow what you need once you leave this meeting.
The point is, you deserve an education and you don’t deserve to be judged for needing help, School is a full time job and if you have a chronic illness you already have a full time job meaning there will be many days where you genuinely don’t have enough hours in the day. Remember, if you genuinely want to complete your degree and it takes you extra time that is fine. Don’t allow teachers to make you feel that its not worth it. You may not even be planning on completing college in order to get a full time job however, getting a degree is important. Now, lets move on to some harder to cope with situations.
Teachers can be your safety net when no one understands and you feel like you are all alone. They can also be a danger zone. There are things that both sides of this relationship must remember and that is: we are both human and deserve empathy.
These are my coaches (Track) who are also teachers and helped me survive high school with all of their support. They also allowed me to use their rooms as safe places to rest during the day.
When you complete your 504 plan and begin getting/ needing assistance this can be confusing to your teachers. Try to remember that they don’t deal with these situations too often and the school did not prepare them for this. This is where you need to remember compassion as they learn to help you. Over the years, I have found that it helps to sit down and talk with the teachers about what you would really benefit from and how they can accomplish that. At the end of the day their goal should be for you to be learning just like your classmates with it looking a little different.
This was my middle school and high school principal who did everything he could to remind me that my education still mattered. He was also a christian which was wonderful because he always offered to pray for me. He reminded me that even though I was sick I deserved an education. I was so blessed.
Another important thing to pay attention or look out for is that many people have a hard time understanding illness when it is “invisible”. This means, no physical injury that draws attention to something not being right. This can look like a number of different things for me, they didn’t like when I cared about my appearance such as wearing makeup and dressing nice. Many of you reading this may understand the whole “look good, feel good” theory. It works really well when it comes to school except when it comes to dealing with people and their inability to get past the fact that you look… Fine. This is another important thing to discuss in your 504 meeting as well as in your relationships with your teachers.
Allow yourself to attend extracurricular activities. I want you to know that even though you get sick it doesn’t mean you cant get dressed up, wear makeup, do your hair. People struggle with anything they cant see but this doesn’t mean you have to stop caring about your appearance. You are allowed to still enjoy your hobbies and passions as well as going to the extracurricular activities of the your school.
You deserve to live your life. This means if you want to get dressed up, wear makeup, and laugh you can. If you want to go hangout with friends on the one day you actually are feeling up to it; you can. Just as the students in your class do not simply do school; you also do not need to only do school and health. Remember, you deserve a life too.
