KOREA INTERNATIONAL SCHOOL JEJU (KISJ) - Since the 2020-2021 school year, students with medical accommodations at the high school division have reported that they are receiving hateful comments from peers and that the school has been questioning their qualification for assistance support. Some healthy students and faculty cannot relate to the pain these people are going through; oftentimes, they perceive accommodations as excessive since some of them look “fine” on the outside. They aren’t aware that some injuries might not be immediately visible like spinal bone fusion, ADHD, and depression. Their attitudes cause students who truly need medical accommodations to hide their conditions.

For a student to request an accommodation, the administration asks them to submit a doctor’s note in English that includes a clear diagnosis and the type of support the student needs. However, there’s no official policy regarding accommodations in the school course guide, resulting in inconsistencies in how students are accommodated.

“[KISJ] isn’t that friendly to physical difficulties,” an anonymous student with herniated discs said. He shared experiences about how the school wasn’t prepared and how they didn’t have any official procedures. “Although I submitted my doctor’s note, [my PE teacher] made me play tennis by riding a wheelchair and hitting the racket in the hall — not even with my friends — because they thought it was safer. This caused my self-esteem to go down.” Also, since the student’s medical information wasn’t shared with other teachers, the student often had to sit for long periods during tests.

The school called the doctor to verify whether the student’s diagnosis was true although they had already submitted a doctor’s note. After long conversations, the student approved to take the elevator and carry an alternative-style backpack. On the other hand, another anonymous student received the same accommodation without an official doctor’s note. The contrast between the two cases clearly shows that KISJ lacks an organized policy about how to support injured students.

The school administration wasn’t the only barrier that this student needed to overcome. “Last year, when I tried to take the elevator that was full of healthy seniors and one on a wheelchair, they swore at me,” the student said.

The negative impact of student gossip causes undue stress on those who are already suffering. Whenever injured students submit an assignment late or take an elevator without any discipline, healthy students claim that they are treated favorably by “acting” as if they’re physically and mentally injured. Instead of understanding others’ difficulties, some students weren’t aware of the illness and feelings and quickly jumped to a conclusion.

It seems that some students are sensitive about the fact that peers receive different treatment. However, it’s understandable that medical accommodations can be perceived from a negative perspective. “In high school, many people are trying to get done with their work,” a sophomore Raina Han said. “But for group projects, I frequently see people not doing any work by saying that they are sick. This is where the misunderstanding of medical excuses comes from.”

In KISJ, it’s common to see healthy people skipping test days and coming back to school the next day. She also added that if a student is missing on assessment days with no explanation, peers may think that they’re trying to avoid tasks, while healthy students must assess but are also tired from schoolwork. In high school, many students are stressed about grades, along with other personal difficulties. Due to these two reasons, it’s natural for students to question whether sick students’ accommodations such as assignment extension or replacement tasks are fraudulent.

Both perspectives about accommodations are reasonable. They raise an important question of how might our school resolve the conflict between healthy and severely injured students.

“Fair is what you need to be successful,” biology teacher Ms. Shea said. “Students think it’s not fair if someone isn’t treated equally. It’s hard for students to ask for help, and even if they [deserve] it, they shouldn’t be teased about it. There should possibly be education to the student body about what accommodation is appropriate for some sort of physical or emotional condition.”

To be an individual is to be unique and therefore, have distinct needs. As Ms. Shea said, those who need help should receive it, and those who don’t need it should not guilt them. In life, we all experience adversity at some time or another. She added that people shouldn’t think of accommodations as something to feel ashamed of or the subject of gossip.

The uncomfortable feeling and conflict surrounding student accommodations had been bubbling between students for some time. Without these important conversations, misunderstanding happens. It is time that the students and the administration work together to communicate and create an environment in which students — those needing accommodations, as well as their peers — feel adequately supported. (799)