Should I talk about my disease?

[Pomegranate]

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I'm on the waitlist for Western, but I don't think that it is going to happen this year, so I was wondering if I can get some advise for the next application cycle.

I was wondering if you think that I should talk about my disease in my application and/or in my interview. Some people say I should and some people think that it might scare the admissions comittee away from me. Last year I just talked about it in passing in my explanation sheet and I didn't mention it in my interview because I was scared that they would think that I would be too risky to accept.

Here is a history so you can make an informed decision.
I was diagnosed with MS in 2007, and by no means were my symptoms small. Three months prior to being diagnosed I became ataxic, uncoordinated, had slurred speech, and my writing looked like a kindergartener's. I had one lesion on my MRI so they couldn't diagnose me. My symptoms were completely gone in three weeks. Then the day before I was supposed to go in for my three month recheck MRI, I became numb on my left side, uncoordinated, had slurred speech again, couldn't think of words, and had trouble walking. I was in the hospital for two weeks with five more lesions in my brain and was then diagnosed with Multiple Sclerosis. I had to get an incomplete for that quarter.

I started medication and after a few months my only symptom was some tingling in my left hand. Since then, I have only had one mild flare up (old symptoms coming back), I became mildly numb on the left side of my torso. Right now I don't have any lasting symptoms, except if I overstimulate my left hand, like petting my dog, or exercise, does my left hand feel a little tingle.

Since MS can affect anything the brain controls, there is a possibility that if I have an attack in vet school I might have to be held back a year or have to drop out completely. One of the things that can exacerbate MS is stress and there will be plenty of that in vet school.

If I do become a vet, I have narrowed my choices to vets that can be disabled and still work, like a pathologist or, if mildly disabled, poultry medicine, or maybe even laboratory animal. My worst fears though are going blind or losing my cognitive mind which would mean that I would have to stop being a vet completely. Another concern, what happens if I become disabled while in vet school, what will I do about rotations with large animals?

So the people that think that I should talk about it, say that the admissions commitee might like me because I'm overcoming a hardship and that it shows commitment to my goal, that it might look good to the school to have someone graduate MS, and since I don't have any symptoms right now they wouldn't percieve it (during an interview) to be a problem.

The people that say that I shouldn't, think that the admissions commitee might think that I would be too risky to accept, with knowing that I will have a higher chance of having to repeat a year or drop out. Or they might think that I'm trying to use my disease to get into vet school instead of relying on my grades and experience like everyone else. Some also think that my disease has nothing to do with applying to vet school, so there is no point in mentioning it.

What do you think? I'm kind of going back and forth. 😕

 

[meadow36]

I think you have to be honest and talk about it, but also talk about how you've responded successfully to medication and treatment. They can't deny you a spot because of an illness or handicap - that's illegal.

Look at it this way - know matter WHAT you become, if your disease progresses you'll have to stop doing it. So you may as well be doing something you love in the meantime, right?? 🙂 I wouldn't worry about rotations or whatever until you get there. It may not even be an issue. Don't let on in an interview that you're worried about it, remain confident that you will continue to do well on meds and plan on being successful. I'm sure they have some type of accomodations that they make for handicapped people IF it should come to that.

Anyway good luck next year (or with Western this year)!!! And kudos for continuing to work hard with so much else on your mind.

 

[StillDreaming]

I also have a disease induced by stress, and was in the same boat you are, afraid the ad com will not favor me because of this disease, but i talked about it in some of my supplementals anyways.

I fell that my ability to handle the disease and in a way overcome it (non-curable, but under control with meds) is one of my strongests assests and a great example of my committment to my dreams and myself. I was actually questioned in depth about it at my Tufts interview, and one of my interviewers had a classmate get diagnosed with the same disease while she was in vet school. She had to take that year off, but came back and completed her degree and is now a very successful vet.

I think you would be surprised as to how many of the vet professionals have been diagnosed with diseases big and small, that they may have thought would limit them. Yes, there may be some limitations, but one can never dream big enough.

I think your dealing with this and overcoming it, and continuing to pursue your dreams despite it, shows that you have great strength and commitment to the field. Don't present it in a 'feel sorry for me' kind of way, but present it as a strength.

PM me if you want more suggestions or if you want to see how i presented it to the ad coms (i can send you some exerpts out of my essays).

Good luck!

 

[jglovicz]

I think you should be honest about what has happened. I don't think it should hinder your chance of being accepted. Everyone has setbacks and just because you had issues with some symptoms, you now have them under control. Show how you are able to deal with stress in order to minimize your symptoms. I agree that stress management is crucial regardless of a medical condition, and the fact that you can show how you have learned to deal with MS is admirable. You are right, you might need to pull out or drop back a year....so could any of the rest of us. My advice would be to take things one day at a time and to follow your dreams. good luck!

 

[david594]

I think you have to be honest and talk about it, but also talk about how you've responded successfully to medication and treatment. They can't deny you a spot because of an illness or handicap - that's illegal.

I'm not overly familiar with disability law, so maybe someone could clarify this for me.

I know a person cannot be denied for having an illness or a handicap that doesn't impede their ability to perform the job.

But is it actually illegal for a person to be denied if they are physically unable to complete the requirements of the program(or a job) even if reasonable accommodations are made?

This is the OSU technical standards document:
http://www.vet.ohio-state.edu/assets/pdf/education/dvmProgram/incomingClass/technicalStandards.pdf

And the last paragraph basically says that if an applicant is unable to perform the necessary tasks even with reasonable accommodations their offer of admissions will be withdrawn.

 

[Trilt]

I know over in the pre-allo there was a paraplegic person asking about possible disability accomodations... I think the general consensus there was that that was pushing the line in accomodations, and basically: How would he complete clinical years?

However, since this does not (overtly) interfere with your day to day interactions, and the possibility of it having a huge effect (drop out, fall back, etc.) upon your vet school is more on the "possible" than the "probable" side, I doubt they could justify any admission-based discrimination.

Personal opinion: Speaking about it frankly and as a way that you have overcome such a major challenge would (probably) work more in your favor then against you.

 

[banditalfi]

i would think you have an obligation to tell the school - if only to save yourself some hassle and money. although there is an issue of discrimination, i know if a student becomes injured and cannot complete required tasks then s/he may be asked to wait a year, so the idea of admitting a student they know may not be able to complete those tasks may not make sense. you're going to have to complete a surgery before you graduate, many schools require that students complete an ambulatory rotation, necropsies on cows are pretty stressful, what about dystocias, etc etc etc. what if you find out too late that you need to be able to do a certain motion or task to pass a class and that you simply cannot?

 

[vnair2]

I have to disagree with everyone else here. I don't think you have any moral or legal obligation to include this on your app. It is none of their business really. It is the committee's job to accept/reject you based on your academic merit and it is your job to decide if the MS will interfere with your future ability to hold a job as a Veterinarian. With that said, I think a school is under no obligation to graduate you if you are unable to complete the required classes (with some reasonable exceptions). So you should decide if taking on all the debt is a good idea.

Even if admissions committee's claim that this sort of thing would have no impact on their decisions, these committee's are made of actual people. Who really knows what goes on in a committee member's head. Why give them any reason to reject you

 

[sumstorm]

Having lived with a man with a permenant disability (juv. diabetes resulting in kidney failure & transplants) I firmly believe that you should NOT disclose this in the admissions process.

I do NOT know if the disability law affects admissions in the same ways it does hiring, but in hiring the burden of proof rests on the person with the disability. In other words if you are not offered a position and you believe it is due to your disability, you essentialy have to prove that you were better than other applicants that were accepted in all areas. Also, in work, once a disability is laid out on the table during the hiring process, unless you can be incredibly clear about ongoing accomodations, it can be a reason to deny. David is right, the law protects those who can be successful with reasonable accomodations. The definition of reasonable isn't always very broad.

Having said that, many schools have policies that state how your performance and ability to perform are judged. Be sure that you will be able to do so. Losing a dream is hard....doing so with a mountain of debt and no idea of which direction to turn is devastating. I wouldn't say this, except I watched it happen to my late husband. He specialized in bacterial/viral disease research as a bench tech. Once he was immunocompromised, he couldn't work in the field. In his case, his student loans were forgiven, but he couldn't take out additional loans for re-training without reinstating his former student loans. And, like MS, the potential for 'attacks' on his health were very real, and were used legitimatly to keep him out of other posiions (including cancer bench work)...I say legitimatly because we did actually pursue this through several courts of law.

Anyways, if you are sure you are going to do this, that the risks are worth it, I would NOT mention it in the application cycle. Progressive and/or chronic diseases can signal unknown future issues that may or may not be accomodated.

 

[ckgilabert]

i think if it has made you who you are today....mention it.


good luck!!!! you deserve to get in!! 🙂

 

[DollyyLlama]

People have given compelling reasons for both disclosure and nondisclosure, but in your position, I would want to know for sure what my rights and obligations are in order to make a decision. There might be relevant information on the schools' websites about what physical skills are expected and what accommodations they consider reasonable. A doctor or lawyer, if they don't know the specific answer, might be able to point you toward resources where you could find it. If you're comfortable doing it, calling the schools' admissions offices or disabled students' programs anonymously would be the most direct way. You wouldn't want to find out too late that you didn't have to disclose and you did, or that you did have to and you didn't. Good luck!

(For example, the Tufts website has this: http://www.tufts.edu/vet/dvm/essential_functions.html
Doesn't have a concrete answer for you, but it's a start...)

 

[meadow36]

I'm not overly familiar with disability law, so maybe someone could clarify this for me.

I know a person cannot be denied for having an illness or a handicap that doesn't impede their ability to perform the job.

But is it actually illegal for a person to be denied if they are physically unable to complete the requirements of the program(or a job) even if reasonable accommodations are made?

This is the OSU technical standards document:
http://www.vet.ohio-state.edu/assets/pdf/education/dvmProgram/incomingClass/technicalStandards.pdf

And the last paragraph basically says that if an applicant is unable to perform the necessary tasks even with reasonable accommodations their offer of admissions will be withdrawn.

The point is she is not currently symptomatic and is responding well to medications. She is currently more than able to perform the "necessary tasks". She can't be denied a spot based on the idea that she may or may not be worse in four years. She could be perfectly fine for the next 5, 10, 15 years or more .... who is the admissions committee to say that?

Sorry if this is a little personal for me but I have known several great people who have lived perfectly productive lives with MS. It didn't really hinder their physical performance until later in life. One of them is a vet. So I don't see why this girl should hold back at all, or be held back by the admissions committee.

 

[sumstorm]

You wouldn't want to find out too late that you didn't have to disclose and you did, or that you did have to and you didn't. Good luck!

(For example, the Tufts website has this: http://www.tufts.edu/vet/dvm/essential_functions.html
Doesn't have a concrete answer for you, but it's a start...)

I am all for disclosing, but AFTER acceptance. Once you have acceptance, if you disclose, unless they can show reason, they can't retract the acceptance due to illness. I would disclose prior to actual admissions.

 

[gracietiger]

i completely agree with sumstorm. it may be illegal for a vet school to deny you admission solely based on your disease, but when they have over a thousand other strong candidates, i'm sure they can claim a number of other reasons to deny you admission. so unless you can absolutely prove that you were more deserving of admission than others, you will not have a legal case. discrimination, although illegal, is unfortunately a huge part of admissions processes, vet school and everywhere else.
i also agree with sumstorm in that you should disclose your MS to the school after acceptance. you have every right to withhold that information during your application process and then seek support once you gain admissions.

i completely understand how tough this is. i too have a chronic illness (lyme's disease??), and in fact, it's probably the main reason why i became so interested in medicine. one day i was totally healthy, like above average health, and in a few months, i was debilitated with a mysterious illness. i had been accepted into an ivy league law school that i had to cancel due to my illness. as i tried to learn more about my symptoms, i fell in love with medicine. fortunately, now, my symptoms are also very well-controlled and i intend to pursue a future as if i was not sick. it will actually be difficult for me to honestly explain to an admissions committee why i went from accepting a position in law school to pursuing vet med without disclosing my medical history, but i definitely do not intend to. before i became sick myself, when i used to hear about people like me, with all these symptoms, i judged them and their abilities. that's just the honest truth. and if you have an admissions committee with people who have not had to endure a chronic illness and its hardships, then they too may not be so understanding.

 

[david594]

The point is she is not currently symptomatic and is responding well to medications. She is currently more than able to perform the "necessary tasks". She can't be denied a spot based on the idea that she may or may not be worse in four years. She could be perfectly fine for the next 5, 10, 15 years or more .... who is the admissions committee to say that?

I was speaking more generally, and responding to this specific comment earlier:

They can't deny you a spot because of an illness or handicap - that's illegal..

That cannot deny the OP a spot due to her illness(with its current symptoms or lack there of), but your statement is not universally true. If a persons handicap or illness prevents them completing the necessary tasks of veterinary school(when reasonable accommodations are made) then there is nothing illegal about them denying(or retracting) and persons offer of admission.

If I were hit by a car this summer which rendered me paralyzed from the neck down, there would be nothing illegal about Ohio retracting my offer of admissions.

 

[cpatel27]

i think if it has made you who you are today....mention it!!

 

[Pomegranate]

Wow, you guys really gave me much more to think about! Thank you, even though I think it'll be harder now to decide 😛. I really am doing well right now, and I really hope that it lasts like this for a long time. My godmother has MS and she said that she was basically symptom free till her mid fifties, I hope i'll be like her. I'm trying to keep active and healthy so that it will last . I run, hike, and I've even done necropsies (I work in a vet path lab) on extremely large animals like elephants and a hippo since I've been diagnosed. I'm definitely not letting my disease hold me back from anything.

I'm not sure that it made me who I am today, but I think that it has showed me how bad that I want to be a vet. I was definitely not willing to give up my dream and all that I've worked for so far because of it, and I definitely don't want MS to be the reason that I don't get in to vet school. But it might show the adcomm how determined I am. See, this is my back and forth.

I welcome more opinions, maybe this will help someone else too.

 

[platy11]

"they can't retract the acceptance due to illness."

Are you sure? What if they see the illness (not necessarily in this case) as a liability?

What about mental illnesses? Have people had to deal with disclosing those?

 

[Pandacinny]

I personally would not disclose a mental illness in any job or school applications. There is so much stigma against people with mental illnesses. It's sometimes assumed that they're weak, unstable, or dangerous when they absolutely aren't. I'd be way too afraid of discrimination to disclose a mental illness, even one that was well controlled or fairly common.

 

[sumstorm]

"they can't retract the acceptance due to illness."

Are you sure? What if they see the illness (not necessarily in this case) as a liability?

What about mental illnesses? Have people had to deal with disclosing those?

They can't unless they can show that it makes you unable to, with reasonable accomodations, complete the necessary tasks/skills. ADA protections do not give 100% protection, but after acceptance, the burden of proof that you cannot perform falls on them. Before the acceptance, if they reject you and you believe it is due to a disability, you have to prove it.

So yes, if you are unable to perform skills/duties and/or you are a danger to yourself or others, they can retract the acceptance, BUT they have to explain in great detail why, and it is easier to appeal the rejection then to try to argue that your rejection was due to a disability. I don't know if that makes sense (it isn't easy to explain.)

I wouldnt know the difference if I hadn't watched my late husband run into the issue with employment. If he revealed his condition during the application process (including interviews) he could be rejected and the reasons could be anything (more suitable candidate, decided not to hire for the position, decided the skill set could be combined with another skill set and the position changed, decided to place the position as parttime, decided they would only hire in state, etc) and it was nearly impossible to prove that it was due to his disability. After an acceptance offer, if they recant the offer upon mention of the disability, it is much easier to prove the rejection is due to a disability. We have fought that one twice in court and won. The pre-offer rejections most lawyers won't touch, even if the employer said something like 'your condition will raise our insurance premiums too much.'

 

[bern]

I'm with Sumstorm on this one--I think disclosing your medical history might negatively bias the admissions committee. Vet school is pretty grueling even for the healthiest people and they will be thinking about that (and their school's rate of attrition).

However, I have a vague recollection of having to sign some document when I accepted where I had to state that I had no physical/medical conditions that would preclude attending school. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time--who knows if it's even kosher for them to ask--but you might want to make sure you won't be getting into a legal gray zone by not disclosing such information.

If you do decide to tell them, make sure you explain to them how you intend to deal with any issues that might arise during school. Many students take medical leave (sometimes for mental health more than physical) and come back a year later, so it isn't something that can't be managed if you're determined.

 

[sumstorm]

However, I have a vague recollection of having to sign some document when I accepted where I had to state that I had no physical/medical conditions that would preclude attending school. I didn't pay much attention to it at the time--who knows if it's even kosher for them to ask--but you might want to make sure you won't be getting into a legal gray zone by not disclosing such information.

I don't know if all schools do it the same way, but the form I had to sign was AFTER acceptance, and was part of the admissions package. It didn't mention chronic illness, but was something about being able to perform all the duties required. I have a copy of it somewhere.