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> Being diagnosed doesn't immediately mean you should be accommodated. This is the loophole. Universities aren't the ones diagnosing, they're the ones accommod

> Being diagnosed doesn't immediately mean you should be accommodated. This is the loophole. Universities aren't the ones diagnosing, they're the ones accommodating. The current meta-game is for parents and students to share notes about which doctors will diagnose easily. Between word of mouth and searches on Reddit, it's not that hard to find doctors in any metro area who will provide diagnoses and accommodation request letters to anyone who makes an appointment and asks nicely. There are now also online telehealth services that don't hide the fact that this is one of their services. You pay their (cash only, please) fee and they'll make sure you get your letter. The same thing is happening with "emotional support animal" letters. Once it becomes widely known that getting a diagnosis is the meta-game to getting housing priority, nicer rooms, extra time on tests, and other benefits the numbers climb rapidly. When the number is approaching 38%, the system has become broken. It's a real problem for the students who really need these accommodations. When 38% of the students qualify for "priority" housing, you're still in competition with 1/3 of the student body for those limited resources.

koolba 1y ago
> There are now also online telehealth services that don't hide the fact that this is one of their services. You pay their (cash only, please) fee and they'll make sure you get your letter. The same thing is happening with "emotional support animal" letters. This used to be a thing with medical marijuana as well (maybe still is?). The answer is for schools to grab their share of this money by selling each of these accommodations directly, or perhaps via some kind of auction. Acceptance to such a school will be the “basic economy” of attendance. If you want to pick your seat, you can pay to upgrade.
- Spooky23 1y ago
  Or just operate so that everyone gets the academic benefits. My roommate in the 90s was ahead of the curve, he memorized the Cosmo quiz “do you have ADD” went to the student center, got a script that he sold or snorted, and got to take his test in a comfortable room at a time scheduled centrally. Just randomize assignments to rooms all over campus.
  - lazide 11mo ago
    That’s actually impossible (everyone gets the same benefits). You’re talking about a lottery, which randomly distributes them - which is only fairer in the sense it’s unpredictable, not that anyone that actually needs it would get what they need. It’s typical gaming of the system, and shortly it’s going to have to switch to punishing those gaming it or it will spiral even more out of control.
    - Spooky23 11mo ago
      You’re overthinking it. The accommodation is a quieter room with a more generous time limit. Just provide that and use a lottery to distribute slots. I had classes that had take home finals. My son runs into the phony accommodation game in middle school. The latest BS is to get a dyslexia diagnosis, which lets you have more time and take a 90 minute break (where they look up the answers). 9 kids discovered that they have this condition in 8th grade. Performance impacts eligibility for placement in some programs in high school. If the kids didn’t know it, I wouldn’t have an issue with it. But they do, and abusing accommodations and gamification of zero integrity behavior undermines society in a small way.
  - polotics 11mo ago
    Oh wow snorted? Did you keep in touch how well is he doing now? I suspect he's not doing so well with the brain damage and the likely switch to other substances.
    - elsjaako 11mo ago
      Why would snorting be so much worse than just swallowing the pill? The goal is to get the chemicals in the blood. Snorting apparently works quicker, giving you a stronger but shorter lasting effect. But the difference is not night and day. A lot of people do recreational drugs while at college and go on just fine. George W. Bush, for example, is alleged to have taken cocaine.
      - storf45 11mo ago
- FireBeyond 1y ago
  > This used to be a thing with medical marijuana as well (maybe still is?). Yup. A few years ago in California, go to a weed store in Napa. "Oh, you need a medical card" "Oh, sorry". I get handed a business card, no worries, just call this doctor here, it'll be $x (can't remember) and you can get a medical card and just come back in. I had my medical card within 5 minutes on the phone on the sidewalk outside the store. Was having stress related ED issues a fews ago. Hit up Hims, fill out the questionnaire. Physician reviews it in our online chat. "If these are your answers, I would not be able to prescribe for you. If your answer to Q3 was x, Q5 was Y, then I would. Would you like to review your answers before re-submitting?"
  - latexr 11mo ago
    The deeper I read into this thread, the more it verifies the Key and Peele sketch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8JtnUpkP0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8JtnUpkP0s
  - mapt 11mo ago
    Conversely, you get the cancer patients like my mother, who waited until her second cycle of chemo to explore cannabis, which is apparently the best antinausea medication we have, with the right strains embarrassing the best that the pharmaceutical industry has to offer. She was told that medical card approval needs to go before a state board and it takes 1-2 years; She's be dead or off chemo by then, so we gave up. It ended up being the latter. A few years later, we've got a "walk-in clinic" a neighborhood over which advertises how easy/fast it is to get cannabis cards specifically; By this time there is no approval wait. A few years later, recreational is legal.
- miki123211 11mo ago
  Poland recently had the famous "receptomats", mostly for medical mariuana, but also a bunch of other things people wanted. You'd pay online and quickly receive a PESEL (local equivalent of an SSN) + a 4-digit prescription code, which is all that is needed to redeem a prescription there.
- hrimfaxi 11mo ago
  > The answer is for schools to grab their share of this money by selling each of these accommodations directly, or perhaps via some kind of auction. Acceptance to such a school will be the “basic economy” of attendance. If you want to pick your seat, you can pay to upgrade. I don't think you can charge more for accommodations for the disabled.
antisthenes 1y ago
Wow. Great to know we're basically raising an entire generation without any integrity. Can't wait to be in a nursing home where all the staff are trying to meta-game for lowest amount of responsibility rather than caring for the elderly. And believe me, I'm the last person to disparage the truly disabled or those down on their luck. But 38% in a developed country is just straight up insane. Not to mention that if you have a "disability" that is treatable with medication, should you still be accommodated?
- Spooky23 1y ago
  We’re a society of assholes. The comment above suggests selling accommodation requests.
- chemotaxis 1y ago
  Better yet, many of the graduates will become politicians, journalists, or prominent tech figures who will be pontificating about morality and regulating it for others.
- stanford_labrat 1y ago
  I think about this quite a lot. I’ve come to the conclusion that in the past acting with integrity was rewarded and lacking integrity was punished. In 2025 it seems integrity is meaningless, “winning” is all that matters. Particularly, you are not punished for acting without integrity but definitely “punished” for having it.
  - potato3732842 1y ago
    That's what you get in a world where damn near everything is measured against some objective criteria, analyzed by a 3rd party or tracked by the government or someone at the behest thereof None of these things measure "not an asshole". They measure results. The incentives from there are obvious. The business owners who treats employees, customers, vendor, everyone like shit in his quest to produce the most widgets, juice every stat, is the one who gets the attention from investors and the one left alone by the government.
DuperPower 1y ago
universities should have their own experts who give final diagnosis and are unapelable and thats it, all the psychopathic circus which is abusing real disabled people would be out
- s5300 1y ago
  [dead]
lynx97 11mo ago
As a 100% blind person, I am schocked to read this. In a sense, my hunch that DEI is a big fucking scam has just been confirmed yet again. Besides, I wish a real, life-changing disability onto all of these faking people. The children, and their parents.
- kelnos 11mo ago
  What a weird take. What does this have to do with DEI?
  - lynx97 11mo ago
    Well, if everyone and their dog gets special status due to DEI, it apparently makes even more people want to join in on the fun. Isn't that obvious?
    - habinero 11mo ago
      No? "DEI" has nothing to do with the ADA.
jimnotgym 11mo ago
Presumably the University could do their own assessment to see what is appropriate? Not just rely on a note?
- TeMPOraL 11mo ago
  They rely on the note in order not to do their own assessment. It's outsourcing.
- eloisant 11mo ago
  Admin staff or teachers of the university are not entitled to assess that. That would mean the university hiring doctors, or at least paying a doctor to do the test.
- peterfirefly 11mo ago
  The US is a ridiculously litigious country. It could end up being very, very expensive if they did their own assessments, even if they hired doctors to do so.
  - jimnotgym 11mo ago
    It is more litigious than the UK, but UK universities have Special Educational Needs specialists. It would be very very unusual for a family doctor (what we would call a General Practitioner) to be willing to make a diagnosis on this, they would insist on referring you to a specialist, although in many cases that may not be a medical doctor at all. ADHD, Nuerodiversity, Dyslexia are all assessed by specialists. In all professions it is considered unethical to act outside of your area of competence...

koolba 1y ago

> There are now also online telehealth services that don't hide the fact that this is one of their services. You pay their (cash only, please) fee and they'll make sure you get your letter. The same thing is happening with "emotional support animal" letters. This used to be a thing with medical marijuana as well (maybe still is?). The answer is for schools to grab their share of this money by selling each of these accommodations directly, or perhaps via some kind of auction. Acceptance to such a school will be the “basic economy” of attendance. If you want to pick your seat, you can pay to upgrade.

Spooky23 1y ago
Or just operate so that everyone gets the academic benefits. My roommate in the 90s was ahead of the curve, he memorized the Cosmo quiz “do you have ADD” went to the student center, got a script that he sold or snorted, and got to take his test in a comfortable room at a time scheduled centrally. Just randomize assignments to rooms all over campus.
- lazide 11mo ago
  That’s actually impossible (everyone gets the same benefits). You’re talking about a lottery, which randomly distributes them - which is only fairer in the sense it’s unpredictable, not that anyone that actually needs it would get what they need. It’s typical gaming of the system, and shortly it’s going to have to switch to punishing those gaming it or it will spiral even more out of control.
  - Spooky23 11mo ago
    You’re overthinking it. The accommodation is a quieter room with a more generous time limit. Just provide that and use a lottery to distribute slots. I had classes that had take home finals. My son runs into the phony accommodation game in middle school. The latest BS is to get a dyslexia diagnosis, which lets you have more time and take a 90 minute break (where they look up the answers). 9 kids discovered that they have this condition in 8th grade. Performance impacts eligibility for placement in some programs in high school. If the kids didn’t know it, I wouldn’t have an issue with it. But they do, and abusing accommodations and gamification of zero integrity behavior undermines society in a small way.
- polotics 11mo ago
  Oh wow snorted? Did you keep in touch how well is he doing now? I suspect he's not doing so well with the brain damage and the likely switch to other substances.
  - elsjaako 11mo ago
    Why would snorting be so much worse than just swallowing the pill? The goal is to get the chemicals in the blood. Snorting apparently works quicker, giving you a stronger but shorter lasting effect. But the difference is not night and day. A lot of people do recreational drugs while at college and go on just fine. George W. Bush, for example, is alleged to have taken cocaine.
    - storf45 11mo ago
FireBeyond 1y ago
> This used to be a thing with medical marijuana as well (maybe still is?). Yup. A few years ago in California, go to a weed store in Napa. "Oh, you need a medical card" "Oh, sorry". I get handed a business card, no worries, just call this doctor here, it'll be $x (can't remember) and you can get a medical card and just come back in. I had my medical card within 5 minutes on the phone on the sidewalk outside the store. Was having stress related ED issues a fews ago. Hit up Hims, fill out the questionnaire. Physician reviews it in our online chat. "If these are your answers, I would not be able to prescribe for you. If your answer to Q3 was x, Q5 was Y, then I would. Would you like to review your answers before re-submitting?"
- latexr 11mo ago
  The deeper I read into this thread, the more it verifies the Key and Peele sketch. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8JtnUpkP0s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_8JtnUpkP0s
- mapt 11mo ago
  Conversely, you get the cancer patients like my mother, who waited until her second cycle of chemo to explore cannabis, which is apparently the best antinausea medication we have, with the right strains embarrassing the best that the pharmaceutical industry has to offer. She was told that medical card approval needs to go before a state board and it takes 1-2 years; She's be dead or off chemo by then, so we gave up. It ended up being the latter. A few years later, we've got a "walk-in clinic" a neighborhood over which advertises how easy/fast it is to get cannabis cards specifically; By this time there is no approval wait. A few years later, recreational is legal.
miki123211 11mo ago
Poland recently had the famous "receptomats", mostly for medical mariuana, but also a bunch of other things people wanted. You'd pay online and quickly receive a PESEL (local equivalent of an SSN) + a 4-digit prescription code, which is all that is needed to redeem a prescription there.
hrimfaxi 11mo ago
> The answer is for schools to grab their share of this money by selling each of these accommodations directly, or perhaps via some kind of auction. Acceptance to such a school will be the “basic economy” of attendance. If you want to pick your seat, you can pay to upgrade. I don't think you can charge more for accommodations for the disabled.

antisthenes 1y ago

Wow. Great to know we're basically raising an entire generation without any integrity. Can't wait to be in a nursing home where all the staff are trying to meta-game for lowest amount of responsibility rather than caring for the elderly. And believe me, I'm the last person to disparage the truly disabled or those down on their luck. But 38% in a developed country is just straight up insane. Not to mention that if you have a "disability" that is treatable with medication, should you still be accommodated?

Spooky23 1y ago
We’re a society of assholes. The comment above suggests selling accommodation requests.
chemotaxis 1y ago
Better yet, many of the graduates will become politicians, journalists, or prominent tech figures who will be pontificating about morality and regulating it for others.
stanford_labrat 1y ago
I think about this quite a lot. I’ve come to the conclusion that in the past acting with integrity was rewarded and lacking integrity was punished. In 2025 it seems integrity is meaningless, “winning” is all that matters. Particularly, you are not punished for acting without integrity but definitely “punished” for having it.
- potato3732842 1y ago
  That's what you get in a world where damn near everything is measured against some objective criteria, analyzed by a 3rd party or tracked by the government or someone at the behest thereof None of these things measure "not an asshole". They measure results. The incentives from there are obvious. The business owners who treats employees, customers, vendor, everyone like shit in his quest to produce the most widgets, juice every stat, is the one who gets the attention from investors and the one left alone by the government.

DuperPower 1y ago

universities should have their own experts who give final diagnosis and are unapelable and thats it, all the psychopathic circus which is abusing real disabled people would be out

s5300 1y ago
[dead]

lynx97 11mo ago

As a 100% blind person, I am schocked to read this. In a sense, my hunch that DEI is a big fucking scam has just been confirmed yet again. Besides, I wish a real, life-changing disability onto all of these faking people. The children, and their parents.

kelnos 11mo ago
What a weird take. What does this have to do with DEI?
- lynx97 11mo ago
  Well, if everyone and their dog gets special status due to DEI, it apparently makes even more people want to join in on the fun. Isn't that obvious?
  - habinero 11mo ago
    No? "DEI" has nothing to do with the ADA.

jimnotgym 11mo ago

Presumably the University could do their own assessment to see what is appropriate? Not just rely on a note?

TeMPOraL 11mo ago
They rely on the note in order not to do their own assessment. It's outsourcing.
eloisant 11mo ago
Admin staff or teachers of the university are not entitled to assess that. That would mean the university hiring doctors, or at least paying a doctor to do the test.
peterfirefly 11mo ago
The US is a ridiculously litigious country. It could end up being very, very expensive if they did their own assessments, even if they hired doctors to do so.
- jimnotgym 11mo ago
  It is more litigious than the UK, but UK universities have Special Educational Needs specialists. It would be very very unusual for a family doctor (what we would call a General Practitioner) to be willing to make a diagnosis on this, they would insist on referring you to a specialist, although in many cases that may not be a medical doctor at all. ADHD, Nuerodiversity, Dyslexia are all assessed by specialists. In all professions it is considered unethical to act outside of your area of competence...