Yes I am close. And maybe I will do a little something.

Hey, are you close enough to go dump manure on her doorstep? Or maybe something thematic like a bunch of smelly used sport socks?

if you lived in my neighborhood, you would have just heard me swear a blue streak…a rare thing indeed!

Tell me something, how is it that a teacher can receive $40 000 in disability benefits in one year. I don’t even know any teachers in BC who make $40 000 a year, working.

I hope the BCTF sues her ass!

I will definitely be following this story, thanks for bringing it to my attention.

If what they allege is true, I say we burn her in effigy on YouTube. The last thing we need is people like her casting suspicion on all of us. Grrrrr.

Firstly, Thanks Laura for posting those tips – there are some I hadn’t thought of and they’re great!

My own experience is that studying with CFS is quite tough. I find that brain fog can be a major problem for me, and so I find meetings and presentations scary because I am prone to forgetting words, or what I was saying. But what

I have realised is that it can be done! You need to take good care of yourself – if you get run down, take the day off, miss those classes and recuperate, because you will lose less by doing that than by struggling on.

Don’t stress (thanks Jenna). That’s a biggie, and hard at times, but letting stress get to you will reduce your ability to study. So just go at your own pace and you’ll get there.

Find a place in the uni with couches you can lay down on. I discovered early on that the graduate building (I’m a grad research student) has a loft loungeroom with couches. If I’m really tired of an arvo but haven’t done enough work to go home, I go there and lay down, or even nap (yes, true) for half an hour and it helps SO MUCH!

Communicate – well both Laura and Jenna covered that.

Try to find accomodation close to campus. It takes me about half an hour to get to uni, and if I miss the bus this can include a 15 minute walk, which can be quite stenuous activity for me at times. When I started studying I was living a 5 minute walk from the uni, and it was so much better. If you and reasonably well you tend to forget how much energy travelling takes.

Oh, and look for scholarships/bursaries targeted at people with disabilities. Yeah, even if you’re reasonably well, people with CFS incur more costs due to travel, health products, and all sorts of other things. So don’t shortchange yourself, make your life easier by seeking these out (which reminds me, must do that…)

Cut down as many energy saps as you can – things like background noise, or the wrong kind of lighting can drain what little batteries you have. Dorm living is NOT recommended. Me, I found that the mix of fluorescent lights and CRT computer screens gave me headaches.

Try doing at least 5 minutes of school work, even if you are feeling really, really out of it. I still find that I can do a lot more than I think I can – I just can’t feel myself doing it. I never trust my answers, but most of the time they turn out ok.

Try not to stress much about it – that’s just going to make you worse and hurt the outcome. Trust me, failing out isn’t the end of the world, and everything else is just gravy!

And I’d like to emphasize the talking with professors, advisors, anyone who’s got an influence on your case. Just about everyone I’ve talked with has been very open to altering things so that I could succeed, I just had to tell them what I needed. And the earlier the better – then you look like you are a responsible person, not just someone needing an excuse like 50% of their students .

And again, great graphic!