Mental Health and Accommodation Resources by Marlee

Mental Health and Accommodation Resources by Marlee - September 2023 Scholarship Essay

If I had the authority to positivley change my school, I would provide improved mental health and accommodation resources. Even since I was little, I had a difficult time balancing school and my mental health. I would be too overwhelmed to focus in class and felt that my teacher was not giving me the support I desired and needed. It wasn't until my sophomore year of high school when a kind teacher suggested that I request a “504 Plan”, a legally written outline of accommodations protecting students with disabilities, did things start to change. After providing my counselor with diagnoses and doctors' recommendations, I finally felt like I could truly demonstrate my learning in a way that worked for me. Reflecting on my experiences with these new accommodations made me wonder, why didn’t I know about this education plan when I was younger? But these weren’t the end of my concerns. Later in high school, when a teacher told me she doubted that I needed the adjustments and that I shouldn’t be in her class if I did need them, I went to my school counselor to address the problem. After telling him about these condescending remarks throughout the year, he told me there was nothing he could do and reminded me of the reality that 504 Plans and IEPs (Individualized Educational Plans) do apply in higher education. Thinking about not being provided the same accommodation, or not being given them at all was terrifying. This led me to a question I wanted to further investigate: How can the American education system create a smoother transition from high school to higher education for students with mental illness who previously had accommodations?
One of the greatest obstacles when transitioning to college, especially for students like me, is that the accommodation centers have many problems with their counseling resources, such as lack of specialists, restrictive hours, or long waitlists. Not only would I promote more accessible mental health resources but also prioritize destigmatizing mental health. If students are too fearful to even consider going to counseling, how could the resources available be used effectively? Many disabled students feel guilt or shame for needing their accommodations and are scared they will be looked down upon by professors or counselors. Due to this, I believe an effective call to action would be destigmatizing counseling, not only for those with mental illness, but all students. This way it is more likely for students to be confident using the resources their program provides and learn how to have open communication and manage stress in a healthy way. If higher education programs continue to discriminate against students for their disabilities, their students will not receive the valuable education they are paying for and deserve, and they will impair the expertise of future employees, workforce members, and leaders.