Navigating College with a Chronic Illness: Tips and Tricks

Talk to professors! They will be your biggest ally!!!! The accommodations office at my school is set up for mental illnesses over physical and I feel like they don’t know how to help me, but my professors are absolutely wonderful!!!!

I didn’t have my official diagnosis in college but was sick while everyone else around me wasn’t. It was definitely difficult being in a different place than a lot of people around me but knowing all your resources and finding people that have the same interests will be super helpful. Knowing different ways to get to your classes (walking on good symptoms days vs bus or someone driving you on bad symptoms days), being open with professors if needed on what you need to be successful, having open communication with doctors or finding docs close to campus if possible, get yourself set up at a pharmacy on campus just in case. It a different college experience than most but everything about the chronic illness life is that way. Also just taking it day by day is helpful. You can do it!

I did a few of my classes in person for the 1st and 2nd semester. I ended up doing classes online for the rest of my degree because it was getting too hard to make it to all my classes abs retain all that information.