I am having a very bad start to the semester (two weeks old). The usual accommodation fails

Then the faculty government officers met with the university president. I had a captioner there in person. Back in September, when we last met, the president saw my captioner there and worried aloud she was making a recording or a permanent transcription. Annoying, but understandable if you’re not used to in person captioners (they use equipment similar to court stenographers). I got in touch and explained after the meeting, and he seemed to get it.

So…at the meeting this past week, he comes in, sees the captioner, and immediately launches into the same concerns about recording and transcription. He goes on longer than last time and refuses to answer questions because of the transcription—the one that doesn’t exist.

Honestly—anyone of us could be recording the meeting on our cell phones or something. But he picks on the visible disability accommodation and expresses no concern about phones or note taking. He uses my disability accommodation to avoid answering my colleagues’ questions—the classic, oh, if only there weren’t a disabled person here.

It was humiliating. It still stings.