I see this very differently than the professor who wrote this. She wants to pay her back about how she acted with a disabled student, but I’ve been in the student’s position more times than I would have liked to. Here’s what most likely happened.
The student takes this letter to the professor and asks to meet with her privately. She does it privately because other students have made a big deal about her accommodations before and it’s embarrassing.
The professor seems friendly, so she disclosed exactly what she needs. Then the professor sits the letter aside and questions her about how often this actually happens, and tells her how big a problem it would be if it happened in this course. This is a threat. The professor is now making her uncomfortable asking for help when she needs it. In my experience, when you have a professor act like this, they’ll often shoot you down when you do ask for help later. The student has probably experienced just this.
After the professor blows off her needs, the student sits in the back of the class and never speaks to the professor again. She obviously no longer trusts the professor anymore. She never used her accommodation that semester. That could be because she never had a panic attack, but more likely, she had several and felt threatened that she’d be kept from graduating if she showed any weakness and asked for help. She may have done well in the course, but it was likely at a huge cost to her health in some way.
Because this student felt so alienated, the professor thinks they did a good job. I’ve lived through this dozens of times. The professor failed this student. She had to work much harder than other students without disabilities to go the same distance. It’s not fucking fair.
It sickens me to see a professor acting like this and thinking they’re the hero of all disabled students. I really wish I could say it’s unique, but it’s fucking not. Not even close.
Pardon Our Interruption
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Urocyon's Jaunts 2.0 