Long story short, I am finally depositing my PhD. About three years behind schedule and as we say here "a duras penas". Barely made it out alive lol. I had always succeeded in highschool/university format because there are classes, and assignments and imposed deadlines and someone basically telling you what you have to do and this is an academic structure I didn't enjoy, but did well in.

I had no idea what I was getting into with this PhD. Once I was I was expected to do this project on my own, organize my own time, set my own schedule, etc, I was lost. My executive dysfunction is pretty bad in general and it made itself VERY clear during this whole process. I had a massive burnout, like I lost the ability to speak in full sentences, everything caused a meltdown, I was in pain. I had to take a year medical leave.

I was diagnosed with AuDHD my third year, and had submitted this diagnosis to my university's disability services office to try and get a little bit of support. They sent me a one page document with classroom adaptations like providing written instructions and extra time for exams and assignments and general recommendations for my advisor. It was all practically useless.

My thesis required a fair amount of transcription and I have auditory processing disorder and it was damn near impossible for me to do the required 12 hours. I asked about transcription software and if that's something we could look into because I saw it was available to deaf students and was told that I couldn't because the university grants support according to your type of disability, in my case AuDHD and that service was not approved for people with my diagnosis. I was enraged because it's something that actually could've helped me do my work!

This is just one of many examples I have had with my university. So now that I'm done, I'm planning on making a formal complaint to my university's disability policies and would like to provide many examples of ACTUALLY PRACTICAL services and tools to support neurodivergent doctoral students.

I'd love to hear about your experiences. What would've helped you?

Edit: added a word