Disability rights

[Charliebear322]

My counsellor won’t allow our sessions to be over email and is insisting on video calls or phone calls. I have auditory processing disorder. She is offering shorter sessions so it would be easier for me but that means I don’t get as much time as anyone else. I thought I had the right to reasonable adjustments under a disability law.

Surely you will get the same amount of time as everyone else, just broken down into smaller more manageable chunks?

I can see how they might find the efficacy of the conversation could be affected by it being through email as it isn't really so much a two way conversation.

I hope you can work something out with her.

No I get 30 sessions same as anyone else but shorter.
the efficiency would be effected if we did speak on the phone cos of my processing disorder. It’s almost like forcing someone with dyslexia to read and write.

It seems like maybe they're not right for you.

Maybe start researching ones that specialise in your disorder? If the one you have feels she can't effectively help you through that medium then it's reasonable for her to say.

I've been refused before by several counselling services. So I don't think you could class it as discrimination. They're just not able to meet your needs.

I hope you find one that does x

I’m not deaf but I don’t “hear” most of what someone says as what they actually say. Or I don’t “hear” anything and it’s just noise. So I might as well be deaf to be honest. It’s ridiculous

You’re not going to get as much as time as everyone else if you do it via email either OP. If you say it’s a 30 minute slot, 30 mins of typing/signal/email is going to be less than 30 mins of face to face chat. I’d also argue that over email isn’t truly counselling, it would be very difficult for a counsellor to provide much meaningful support via email so I can totally understand them refusing to do so if they feel it would compromise their ability to do the job.

You can ask for reasonable adjustments, but it’s not just up to you to decide & dictate what they are. The counsellor has offered shorter sessions which IS a reasonable adjustment.

My neurodiverse DC is occasionally nonverbal under stress and also has difficulty processing auditory information and is recieving counselling at the moment. There are numerous apps that help with this which you and your therapist can use. Eg Otter will transcribe the spoken word onto screen for instant "subtitles" (we always have subtitles on tv despite no hearing impairment) and "Spoken" will say something out loud that you type in, which DC uses when speaking is difficult. There's probably an app that does both if you look, but it sounds like "otter" would do what you need in a face-to-face session.

Sorry OP but I agree with PP that email is not an appropriate channel for counselling. It’s important for them to understand the tone of what you’re saying and that’s very difficult to gauge in written comms

I don’t want them to even gauge the tone. I have a flat voice and I don’t want them to infer something that’s not there

You realise that it is most common to misgauge tone via written communication?

Do you know what A processing disorder is

Yes, and so does the counsellor. There are options such as shorter sessions or the apps mentioned by another poster, but email is not a suitable method for counselling and I can’t imagine any professional counsellor being prepared to risk their integrity by agreeing to it.

If you are there in-person and communicating using phone app functionalities of transcription for the things she says to you (so you read it like subtitles) and text-to-talking for the things you say to her, would that satisfy your needs?

Your therapist might not be able to offer what you are asking,they might not have the councilling "tools" to do this, you can't ask for reasonable adjustments from 1 person who is unable to provide a service, you need to.find something else.

Email is completely inappropriate for counselling. Just see how you responded to the poster at 12:59. It’s rude, or comes over that way. So much for a “flat and neutral tone”. You need to find another counsellor.

In 1:1 counselling the actual words said are only a fraction of the communication. Your body language and facial expressions are part of it too. When you are speaking the therapist is making dozens of observations about how you are, at the same time as you are speaking. That can't be recreated if you are exchanging emails, because they can't see you as you type.

You don't have a right to force the counsellor to provide the service over email.

I've seen ads for therapy services you can do over messaging, so look for one of those. It's highly unlikely to be effective therapy though.

Surely 30 minutes is 30 minutes not everyone is going to speed talk through the sessions because everyone is an individual with individual needs.

Could you suggest communication via text chat but with video on so they can see you?

How long have you had the councilling, did you not think you would struggle with face to face before you started or is your struggle to communicate in the session new?

Would it not be better to look into specialist counselling that does this over text than expecting your therapist to do something they don’t specialise in ?

I was going to suggest something like this.

As well as telling the counsellor how they can structure their sentences to help you.

with my daughter, for example, if I say “darling, can you please put your shoes on” she won’t know which word she is supposed to action. “Darlings, shoes” works much better.

it’s not traditional counselling
they are supposed to be art sessions
she could tell me what to do and then I can send a photo

I would look for someone who suited my needs, she clearly isn’t the one for you

She doesn't want to run her sessions like that.

So Art therapy ? You really can't dictate how they run their sessions after you signed up for their sessions,