To ask if reasonable adjustments can be put in place for university presentations?

[canitbedonee]

Hi, I'm not sure if anyone can advise. I suffer with anxiety and part of that is I really struggle with public speaking or being put on the spot. I will worry about it for weeks, and have been known to do everything in my power to avoid them (even leaving jobs).

My anxiety was quite severe last year and I got signed off sick by my GP, and since then I've been on medication. I'm thinking of going to the university's disability service and disclosing to them I have anxiety, but I'm not sure if it will be helpful at all? I'm really worrying about a presentation I have to give in a couple of months which will be filmed for the markers to assess, I hate being photographed or filmed. I'm thinking of leaving the course completely because of it.

I'm nervous to mention my anxiety though as I'm studying to be a nurse and I haven't had occupational health clearance yet as I need to have a meeting with them about my anxiety which is in a few weeks. I don't want it to seem that I'm not fit to practice when I think I am - I'm just anxious about public speaking in front of an audience and being filmed.

Does anyone have any advice on whether it's worth telling the university or just trying to get on with it as best I can.

You've left multiple jobs due to this anxiety and are thinking about leaving this course because of a presentation.....I would posit that perhaps you need to tackle this anxiety before it causes you to give up more things you love and becomes beyond crippling.
I'm so glad to hear you are on medication and would urge you to speak to a doctor again or other professionals to get this more under control or find coping mechanisms to help. First year nurses will be followed by proctors, speak in front of groups in presenting patient data, and potentially put in very stressful situations.

You need to attach this from a multi pronged aspect. Get it registered with disability service, and GP re current medication and maybe a beta blocker for the actual day. You need to work out what reasonable adjustments are reasonable to ask for.
What about also a long-term strategy actually for attacking the core issue i.e. have you asked for counselling? and assistance/ for somebody to train you give you tips and help you to speak publicly better.

I asked to go first to get it out of the way

I think it was filmed but I didn't have to see it so I didn't care. I imagine the lecturers watching it later had no particular desire to find me odd just another marking chore to get through.

I also remind myself that my goal is to be competent here and if I have to read off cards so be it (key words)

No one is expecting funny or amusing or entertaining. I am not Peter Ustinov!

Absolutely ask university

The university will be able to make reasonable adjustments so go to the disability service, if possible bring evidence of your disability. Have a think about what for you would be a manageable level of anxiety. Would you for example be able to record it with just your lecturer? Alone with just the camera? Submit a presentation and a script? There will be solutions.

It will as a pp says depend partly on the learning objective but they are likely to not just be looking at whether you can talk in front of others, there will be marks for the content, the PowerPoint slides etc.

Discuss with your personal tutor and the uni disability team asap there might also be someone at the students union to help like an equalities person. I'm sure they could offer an adjustment you won't be the first in this situation.
Do not leave the course over this stand your ground.
But speak up quickly if you leave it to the week before it'll be too stressful and they might not get organized in tiem

I work at a university, and at my institution, the student disability services would meet with you, talk through your specific condition, and make some recommendations to your tutors. They wouldn't tell them anything specifically about your anxiety unless it was relevant, they'd probably just put something generic about what kind of condition it was, and the emphasis would be on the type of adjustments they're requesting. It would be the disability advisor that would recommend the adjustments, not you asking for something specific, and everything would be confidential up to the point where individual staff needed to know. Lots of students would have accommodations in place, some of them never need to be used.

As PPs have said, it might be that doing a presentation and recording it are considered necessary for the course, but there might be other things they can do (e.g. to do with timing, or having breaks, or whatever). Or it might be that the assessment can be adapted. I'd ignore anyone saying 'don't ask until you've tried everything' - from an administrative point of view, it's much easier to have the accommodations already in place and not need them than it is to try and scramble to get students assessed and adapt your assessment at the last minute. Anxiety is particularly tricky to deal with as students often overthink things and don't ask for help till it's too late - when actually we want to help them.

Just some ideas for presentations

• ask to do it infront of a small group of your peers rather than everyone

• be allowed to sit down while doing presentation

• if power point and talking is overwhelming print out the slides to be given to those in the audience so they will look at that rather than you

• ask for a peer to be the person to change the PowerPoint slides so one less thing to worry about

• have a practice run with the disability team

I have dyslexia and have RA in place so I can record my presentations. Definitely speak to your support team and ask.

My university does, however they require proof of disability to make reasonable adjustments. I sent the NHS diagnosis for my condition and it was accepted - I now have adjustments in place which have been communicated to my lecturers and relevant support staff.
Adjustments for presentations could include recording and sending it in, or for group presentations, recording your part to send in. However they may require you to do it "live", but to your lecturer only instead of the entire class.

Academic tutor here Yes, it's very definitely worth talking to your university's disability service. Ours supports many different conditions including anxiety, and they'll explore in confidence with you what possible adaptations you need to succeed in your studies, and then agree what can be shared with teaching staff. If your university service works a bit differently they'll still point you in the right direction. Student disability services are very helpful and supportive in my experience.

To be honest I don't know if it's the right career for me, I struggle no matter what I do but I seem to be better in a 'helping' role like a nurse so I think it would suit me. I can speak up when it's not about me and is required to help someone else. It's hard to explain.

I have had counselling in the past but it wasn't helpful really, I'm not sure if I'm autistic as I've read it can present as intense shyness in girls/women.

I've contacted my GP to ask for some supporting evidence to give to the disability service, I'm nervous about it as I worry it'll get me kicked off the course for being unfit to practice

YANBU to ask for support OP but this presentation isn't even in front an audience. You're being filmed. It's just you and the camera. I don't know what else you want. Even if you get out of it and submit an essay that doesn't solve the issue of your anxiety as this skill of public speaking is definitely needed in nursing.

The bigger thing is that you hate being 'put on the spot' sorry but if that's the case nursing isn't the job for you. There will be chaos, disorganisation and lots of thinking on your feet. You won't have time to prepare! Also what do you count as 'public speaking' because you might need to give updates to a group of people etc.

I have ADHD and need to prep before speaking to people so I somewhat get that. If I am not prepared I reject meetings. But nursing is a highly pressured job with little room for mistakes or time + space to think.

Even you get a cushy gig that requires little public speaking later you will still have to do all your placements as a student nurse.

Have you considered other HCP/allied health professions like physiotherapy? Or SALT? Something strictly appointment based so you don't get rushed around or thrown questions without any warning.

I think it's very understandable to feel nervous about presenting to a camera. I'm a lecturer and don't mind teaching to a large group at all but hate online teaching and speaking to the camera. It's very artificial.

Speak to disability services OP, they'll know what's possible. But these things move at glacial pace so get the ball rolling now.

You can definitely ask for an adjustment here. You just need to make sure you have disclosed to the university ahead of time so do it through the official way. I would also contact your personal tutor and inform them and the lecturer or module leader of the specific course (depending on who you think is more approachable). I've taught loads of fabulous young women and men with severe anxiety and generally a university should be doing everything it can to help- and lecturers will be keen to. Good luck. Don't let this spiral and do consider counselling along with the medication. I feel like too many young people aren't getting the full help they need regarding anxiety by only having medication as treatment. Big fan of medication but also a big fan of therapy. If this is your chosen career then don't let your anxiety take it from you.

I don't expect that you need a letter to talk to the disability services in the first place. Talk to them first and they'll tell you what evidence they need.

And our disability service can support students to get diagnostic assessments if need be. They'll also talk to students who have doubts about whether they're on the right degree or heading for the right career due to their disability.

It might not seem like it while you are feeling so stressed but they would probably be pleased to support you, it's their role.

You won’t get kicked off the course just for this.

Counselling isn’t particularly helpful with anxiety, you’d be better with CBT or something which can be adapted to your needs more.

AHP roles also include a lot of public speaking - delivering presentations, chairing team meetings, attending ward rounds/case reviews etc. I am an OT and work from home. My caseload is 60% 1:1 appointments, 25% patient groups and the rest is case reviews, team meetings and training sessions (which I had to deliver even at a more junior level). Unfortunately, we can't get away from public speaking in healthcare no matter the role.

I’m so sorry to hear of your anxiety when making presentations. I’ve just retired from a job as a management trainer and have coached literally thousands of people through this. As others have said, it’s a very common anxiety and one that affects most people.

To help, I’d certainly encourage you to get beta blockers from your GP. They will allow you to act more like your usual, competent self. Get enough tablets so you can take them a couple of times when you’re practising so you know how you’ll react to them.

When being videoed, most people are anxious about how they’ll respond to the camera and how they’ll appear on the playback. So reassure yourself by videoing yourself on your phone and see how you come over. Just get used to seeing yourself - you’ll look different from a reflection in a mirror but you’ll still be yourself.

Then find ways to feel reassured when making the presentation. A great idea to perch on a table and obviously sit slightly to the side of the screen. As others have suggested, give the interviewers copies of your slides to avoid them looking at you constantly. The times they will watch you are the beginning and end so be ready for this - should be just 3 mins each so not too long.

Then practise lots of times so you’re almost bored of doing it. Also talk yourself through how it will all happen from your arrival and set up onwards. Make notes of What you’re doing/How you’ll feel/What will help? The time of maximum anxiety is before you start - getting to the venue and set up.

Practise self-talk by finding a phrase to reassure yourself such as ‘It will soon be over and I’ll get through it’ and say it to yourself repeatedly.

As others have mentioned, making presentations is now regarded as a life skill and schools ask pupils to do mini presentations from early years.

I’ve never met anyone who didn’t go on to do a competent presentation so it is doable for you. It’s just about finding out what support you need. So focus on that - what would have to happen to enable you to get through it? Get all the help you need.

With best wishes.

How are you finding placement? Have you had to present at MDT yet? If you haven't had a placement yet, be aware that hcps do have to present in front of others during team meetings. There's also lots and lots of talking to strangers. Today I, as a mental health nurse, attended a case review with many representatives from other teams in which I had to put forward our case, presented a case at MDT, had several clinic appointments and multiple phone calls to various agencies.
It's better to declare if you think that'll affect you/you'll struggle.