Untitled

Rock Sandwiches | Elliott Wagner-Smith | Photograph

Untitled by Elliott Wagner-Smith

We are experiencing a high volume of calls right now. Please be patient. Your call will be answered in the order that it was received. 

I am sick of hearing those words over and over again on a loop. So sick of it that I begin to feel nauseous. I hate making phone calls, I hate that I have to make this phone call so frequently for something that seems so simple. I hate that disabled students are discarded by every educational institution and no one notices or cares. 

It took roughly a year for the College Board to approve my accommodations. I had to get a doctor's note, a letter of recommendation from my counselor and therapist, and a note from my psychiatrist. I had to have a meeting with the principal of my school so that she could deem me fit to have accommodations. And my parents and school counselor had to spend hours on the phone with their special education department to get my accommodations. Whenever I have taken an AP test, I have been given my accommodations only partially or not at all. And whatever teacher is administering the test to me makes sure that I know she is annoyed that she has to spend four hours alone in a room with me. 

But now it’s time for me to take the SAT and I have been trying for four months to get the College Board to allow me to have the accommodations I fought so hard to have. I have spent countless hours on the phone, asking for them to add it to my testing ticket, finding my SSD number. And I am angry. I am angry that it was so hard for me to get my accommodations. I’m angry that I’m almost never allowed to use them. I hate the College Board in the way only a disabled student can. I am a smart and capable student, but I am not seen that way because of my disability. 

College Board, I hate you. 

Sincerely, 

Disabled and done.