If you are learning disabled and have a serious problem with an academic requirement such as math, you are not the only one. If the subject requirement truly hits you, hard because of your diagnosed learning disability then take some action. Do not simply request a waiver because nine out of ten times a waiver will not be granted. Saying I want to request, a waiver is the same thing as saying I do not want to do it, which does not sound good to people in academia because they had to take those same courses and why shouldn’t you?
Request a [b]substitution[/b] such as a critical thinking class for the mathematics requirement. Alternatively, sign language for a foreign language requirement. Requesting a substation shows that you are willing to do the work to obtain your degree but just in a different way.
There are schools out there that are not open to anything that deviates from their set requirements. Many of them will interpret reasonable accommodation to mean extended time and that’s it. Universities and their departments will say that they cannot deviate from the set requirements because it could jeopardize their accreditation and the integrity of their program because they let a small minority of students do things differently.
I totally agree with your post. I have really bad dyscalculia and have had to transfer from a public university (where I just took the same math over and over and kept on failing it) to a private university (in order to circumvent the math for a semester or two).
At my private university, I gave the ld person all of my my ld testing and everything. After a little bit, the ld person (who is also the dean of the whole university) told me to please just take a humble level Astronomy and have that be it. I totally agreed to that and will be done with this and the Astronomy the second week of December.
Now, I have been put on the honor system with regards to the GRE. And, I reckon I might just take a class in the math partion of the GRE. I do not know.
But, a subsitution is the most brilliant idea I have heard of in years. Not a soul will think you dumb for such a thing at all.