How do I let my lecturers know about my illness?

[keepontruckin1]

Have already let the uni disability team know, but they have advised I personally let my individual lecturers know how my illness might affect me - if I have episodes in lectures I have to get up and leave, or might be late arriving.

My health impacts me in different ways and they all sort of domino effect sometimes and make each other worse.

My course is health based and I'm worried they could think I'm trying to teach my granny to suck eggs! I also worry in case I sound like I'm making a big fuss.

How would you word it?

Is there not a official method? I'm a lecturer and at the start of every semester I'm sent a document with the needs of any students with disabilities.

You shouldn't have to tell them, the disability coordinator should do it for you! That's how it works where I lecture. Do you have a year tutor, or a personal tutor who could do it? Do you have a learning plan you could send round?

Don't worry about a thing. It's their job to make education inclusive, so make sure you get what you need from everyone.

Odd that the disability team aren't letting your programme director / equivalent know, since they then cascade to relevant academic staff usually. But if you have to let a number of them know then just send an email copying them in notifying them that you've met with disability team and they've advised you to tell staff about reasonable adjustments such as you leaving a lecture early. It's fairly standard. At my university the disability services cascade as above but it's still common to receive such emails from students.

Email them. I get emails about issues from my students fairly regularly. Not a problem to accommodate.

There should be a formal process, usually the disability officer passes on a form explaining needs, special adjustments, etc. to your personal tutor, lecturers and anyone who needs to know. They should also inform other members of staff who need to be aware of the need for adjustments, e.g. your halls manager if you are in halls as they may need to adapt evacuation procedures, etc. You shouldn’t have to do this yourself!

Thanks for thoughts on the matter. The disability team were lovely and will be letting the admin person of the department know, but definitely said I should let lecturers know myself.

I feel silly writing it and still can't bring myself to do so.

I hate feeling like I'm drawing attention to myself, but at the same time there are medical issues that need to be managed and they don't care if i'm in a lecture when they decide to flare up.

Dear Lecturer,

I am a student on X course, taught by you. I need to inform you that I have Y condition, as a result of which I might be late to lectures, or have to leave, if I have an episode.

Yours,

I agree an email would be good. Although you don't want it to come across like you're teaching them to suck eggs I think it's important you are clear and explicit.

You could phrase it like:

I am writing to let you know o have recently been diagnosed with x. This currently affects me through a, b and c which may mean I need to leave lectures or arrive late.

As a lecturer I also second the above advice to email. It's fairer on both you and the lecturer. We're only human, and we care about our students - I'd much rather know if a student became ill in my class, and whether I needed to help (or indeed be reassured that you were going to be OK if you left). Please don't feel silly writing.