This is a 1987 letter written by a calculus professor after the DSP asked him to give the learning disabled students time and a half on an upcoming examination. The Math professor refused to do this, and in his letter he admitted that he was going against the 504 legislation (as well as university policy per a report written in 1977).

The professor called the request made by the DSP for extra time “ludicrous” because giving the students ‘an hour and a half is so arbitrary”. In his letter, the professor states “why not test each student and assign them a personal time limit for the exams?”

He goes on to state that “the term learning disability” is unclear, and a working definition of the term should be provided to students and faculty. But this criticism of the term ignores the fact that at this time medical science itself was still grappling with the term. Many aspects of such disabilities are still unclear, the only thing we can claim with certainty is that learning disabled people have difficulty in certain areas.

This professor also suggested to the vice-chancellor that giving all students more time would be better, and he was surprised and lamented the fact that the vice-chandler refused. The vice-chancellor’s explained the he had refused on the grounds that the point of accommodations is to aid disabled students in order for them to reach the expectations that Cal requires from all students, and giving all students the same amount of time would defeat that purpose.

At the closing of the letter, the professor claims that the DSP believes it has “dictatorial powers” and limits “academic freedoms.”

This letter written in the late 80s shows some of the problems faced by students with ‘hidden’ disabilities. Even though the administration itself had written a report in 1977 requiring faculty not to discriminate on the basis of ANY disability, this problem still persisted.