at my school's office of disability services, students can self-disclose disabilities (physical, learning, and psychological/mental) so professors are aware if anything comes up in the semester (and theoretically they'd be more understanding?)

has anyone self-disclosed their mental illness to a teacher/professor? how'd it go and why did you do it? i'm kind of afraid that if i disclose (which i probably won't be able to do until next semester since this one is more than half over) i'll 1) lose the respect of my professors and 2) be seen as using my illness as an excuse. thoughts?