Is social anxiety a disability though? Because if so, I’m owed so much money by educational and medical institutions for not recogising my “disability” or assisting me.
I’m sure many other people will have similar claims.
[deleted]
Can’t wait for the people pretending to be experts making judgements about things they clearly know very little about.
A lot of people dont really understand social anxiety yet act as if they are experts. Doing this really doesn’t help anyone.
I really disagree with the judgement. I can understand the anger and frustration the parents are experiencing, but think there are potentially far more harmful unintended consequences.
This is a really dangerous precedent for several reasons including putting the onus of assessing disability/ mental health and responsibility onto academics and universities which they are not equipped to do. If it lets NHS mental health teams off the hook, who should be managing this kind of risk, it impacts on all service users by allowing services to deflect their responsibilities onto other parties.
Also while I have sympathy for anyone with any health condition, there are potential risks around reinforcing avoidance and potential collusion, which doesn’t help anyone.
Lastly, with something as complicated and poorly understood as suicide I can’t imagine that there is a single primary stressor or cause of illness that you can point at to infer causality or blame. If the legal system is making this call rather than the science, why stop there when it comes to any illness or condition?
I support people experiencing mental difficulties on a daily basis. Social anxiety can be brutal (unsurprisingly because it involves fear of judgement from others, it’s often is the group of people most likely to drop out of support early on or not attend sessions).
I disagree with the th the ruling. Ultimately not attending is a form of avoidance and in the long term this just isn’t a workable strategy, whether it’s university, work or any other challenging situation. It can be helpful to have someone who understands and empathetic, even just to voice your concerns.
I think professional support should be much more accessible (without having to wait months to be seen) and less stigmatised, but the answer isn’t for lots of adjustments to be made in my opinion because where does the line get drawn?
It’s a real shame for the girl and her family though, RIP.
I wonder if universities courses involve oral assessments they should bar those who suffer from social anxiety from applying
What would have been a reasonable accommodation though? I can only think of doing the presentation over Zoom/Teams or doing a presentation to a smaller group. Other than those, there are no real solutions that would mean she is assessed in a fair way compared to other students.
[deleted]
A key point alot of the press have glossed over in Bristol’s statements, reasonable adjustments were discussed, but never formalised.
The judge said He observed that “whilst a few ideas” regarding possible adjustments were “floated” by the University “none were implemented”.
He also stated
He also stated “It is obvious to me that the fundamental purpose of the assessments was to elicit from Natasha answers to questions put to her following the experiments and it is a statement of the obvious that such a process does not automatically require face to face oral interaction and there are other ways of achieving the same.””
This is why it’s under the equality act and not suing for neglegence, no where in the evidence did it state it must be assessed in this method, and despite having discussions, despite knowing of a risk of suciside, nothing was every implemented, because “it has to be assessed orally”
This one is above reddit’s paygrade.
I can’t believe this ruling! I suffer with social anxiety, I hated standing up in front of people talking, never occurred to me I could say I can’t/won’t do it! Clearly she wasn’t suited to uni, I wasn’t either I dropped out…never would’ve thought of blaming the uni. Parents just looking for someone to blame, shocking ruling. Maybe should’ve supported her better by getting her to do open uni or not go if she was that bad. How many kids now gonna say they can’t talk in front of people? Poor kid but not the fault of the uni.
11 comments
Is social anxiety a disability though? Because if so, I’m owed so much money by educational and medical institutions for not recogising my “disability” or assisting me.
I’m sure many other people will have similar claims.
[deleted]
Can’t wait for the people pretending to be experts making judgements about things they clearly know very little about.
A lot of people dont really understand social anxiety yet act as if they are experts. Doing this really doesn’t help anyone.
I really disagree with the judgement. I can understand the anger and frustration the parents are experiencing, but think there are potentially far more harmful unintended consequences.
This is a really dangerous precedent for several reasons including putting the onus of assessing disability/ mental health and responsibility onto academics and universities which they are not equipped to do. If it lets NHS mental health teams off the hook, who should be managing this kind of risk, it impacts on all service users by allowing services to deflect their responsibilities onto other parties.
Also while I have sympathy for anyone with any health condition, there are potential risks around reinforcing avoidance and potential collusion, which doesn’t help anyone.
Lastly, with something as complicated and poorly understood as suicide I can’t imagine that there is a single primary stressor or cause of illness that you can point at to infer causality or blame. If the legal system is making this call rather than the science, why stop there when it comes to any illness or condition?
I support people experiencing mental difficulties on a daily basis. Social anxiety can be brutal (unsurprisingly because it involves fear of judgement from others, it’s often is the group of people most likely to drop out of support early on or not attend sessions).
I disagree with the th the ruling. Ultimately not attending is a form of avoidance and in the long term this just isn’t a workable strategy, whether it’s university, work or any other challenging situation. It can be helpful to have someone who understands and empathetic, even just to voice your concerns.
I think professional support should be much more accessible (without having to wait months to be seen) and less stigmatised, but the answer isn’t for lots of adjustments to be made in my opinion because where does the line get drawn?
It’s a real shame for the girl and her family though, RIP.
I wonder if universities courses involve oral assessments they should bar those who suffer from social anxiety from applying
What would have been a reasonable accommodation though? I can only think of doing the presentation over Zoom/Teams or doing a presentation to a smaller group. Other than those, there are no real solutions that would mean she is assessed in a fair way compared to other students.
[deleted]
A key point alot of the press have glossed over in Bristol’s statements, reasonable adjustments were discussed, but never formalised.
As stated on the abraharts lawyers statement https://www.irwinmitchell.com/news-and-insights/newsandmedia/2022/may/court-finds-discrimination-by-uni-of-bristol-led-to-death-of-vulnerable-student-natasha-abrahart?utm_source=twitter&utm_medium=social&utm_campaign=im-twitter
The judge said He observed that “whilst a few ideas” regarding possible adjustments were “floated” by the University “none were implemented”.
He also stated
He also stated “It is obvious to me that the fundamental purpose of the assessments was to elicit from Natasha answers to questions put to her following the experiments and it is a statement of the obvious that such a process does not automatically require face to face oral interaction and there are other ways of achieving the same.””
This is why it’s under the equality act and not suing for neglegence, no where in the evidence did it state it must be assessed in this method, and despite having discussions, despite knowing of a risk of suciside, nothing was every implemented, because “it has to be assessed orally”
This one is above reddit’s paygrade.
I can’t believe this ruling! I suffer with social anxiety, I hated standing up in front of people talking, never occurred to me I could say I can’t/won’t do it! Clearly she wasn’t suited to uni, I wasn’t either I dropped out…never would’ve thought of blaming the uni. Parents just looking for someone to blame, shocking ruling. Maybe should’ve supported her better by getting her to do open uni or not go if she was that bad. How many kids now gonna say they can’t talk in front of people? Poor kid but not the fault of the uni.