Rejected from college, ableism???
It might seem like I'm being sensitive here, as I'm aware I'm not ENTITLED to a place anywhere, but I just had to come on here and complain about this- I feel totally disrespected.
Context: I (15F) have selective mutism along with autism and adhd. (w/ mental health conditions but that's not really relevant) The college I applied for advertized themselves as being autism-friendly, but that was the last impression I got when I walked in. The interview room had about thirty people in it, all talking at the same time and I had to repeat myself thrice just to say my name. There was no privacy, no one-to-one talking, just noise.
To work around my mutism, I wrote an entire portfolio consisting of my passions, things about me, my previous experience in (insert course)... and etc. I told the woman this was my preferred way of communication, and she skimmed through the work I'd done, barely paying much attention to it.
She then continued to ask about my disabilities and everything negative about me, constantly asking me to repeat myself, making remarks of how 'lonely' my life must be, blah blah blah... Don't exactly know where to add this, but in case you couldn't tell. I'd worked REALLY hard on this, and was masking the entire time, forcing myself to talk, say my 'pleases' and 'thank yous' I even said- ''It was nice meeting you.'' at the end. This was big.
And then not even a couple days later I recieved a message from the college saying they thought I was 'not ready, too anxious, not passionate enough, couldn't communicate well,' Yeah, you get the point.
Had they actually READ what I had to say, they'd have realized I was none of those things. Maybe it's just my autism speaking but I don't get how they can decide that from just fifteen minutes of talking? Her demeanor seemed to completely change the moment she asked me about health issues. I can't be the only one who thinks this was wrong, no??
And if anyone was wondering, here's the original response I got from the college:
''Dear Vivienne,''
''After 'careful' consideration the managers of the 14-16 provision have made the difficult decision to advise that we are not able to offer Vivienne a place at ______ I was concerned with Vivienne's difficulty with communication at the interview. PARTICIPATION is key on the courses offered in the 14-16 programme. I was also concerned about her level of anxiety (if anything I was only a little awkward), Our campus is a large site that can often be very busy with students of all ages attending which may add to Vivienne's level of anxiety and stress. We also look for a real passion for the vocational subject and this was NOT VERY STRONG in Vivienne's interview.''