I emailed my lecturer to let him know about the narcolepsy situation. At my previous residential schools it hasn't been that big of an issue - I would get to the first class, tell my teacher about it and then continue on and sleep here and there. Obviously I would miss out on important stuff which would be a bit crap, but at least my teachers would know that I was sleeping at the back of the class because of my condition, not because I found the material boring. But this time it's a little different because the school basically consists of all the practical exercises that the distance students miss out on doing week to week, as well as the mid semester exam. Apparently all the exercises are SO IMPORTANT THAT IF YOU MISS ONE THE WORLD WILL COLLAPSE so I thought I'd email and let the guy know that unfortunately I will most probably be missing out on some important stuff.
He emailed back to tell me that he didn't wuite know what to do about it so I should contact student services. I called them today and had a chat.... apparently there's some other lady I now have to contact and she'll know what to do about it. Then, towards the end of the phone call, the woman on the other end says, "Would you like some information about our disability services and what they can do for you?"
Dammit!! This is the main thing I have been avoiding. I don't want a bloody disability!!! Disability to me means something like a broken leg, or impaired vision or hearing.... not an uncontrollable urge to sleep. I don't want to be disabled, I don't want to be considered disabled, I don't want to be eligible for disability services!!! Bah. I know it's probably what I need but I just hate that this is now potentially the only way I'm going to be able to get through things that normal people can achieve - by having special considerations attached to my name. And I'm really getting annoyed having to talk about it to people all the time, it makes me feel like I'm bragging, like I want people to feel sorry for me. But I also feel like I have to keep explaining myself otherwise people just don't get it. It's such an unknown, unusual condition... the only symptom that other people see is tiredness and it's so easy for people to just go, well, I'm tired too so I must have narcolepsy. It's not that simple!!! Argh.