Jones Blueprint reporter Ruby Brothers initiated a survey intended to highlight the internal battles of Jones students with chronic illnesses. Chronic illnesses such as asthma, POTS (postural orthostatic tachycardia syndrome) and scoliosis appeared in the survey.
The survey aimed to identify how these illnesses impacted the students’ everyday life and academic presence. Along with rating questions about how much a statement pertained to them, participants answered a free-response section that allowed them to express any other details regarding their chronic illness within an academic setting. For the purpose of this news article, all participants wished to remain anonymous with the use of aliases.
Attendance came up as a main concern for students completing the survey. For Morgan Brooks, symptoms often lead to missing school, and “the amount of work missed and lack of support makes it incredibly difficult to retain decent grades.” Even at school, Brook’s fatigue “makes it incredibly difficult to be fully present.”
Symptoms differ from day to day, especially depending on the illness. “While I only experience symptoms during a flare-up of my condition, “this happens a lot and is often debilitating,” says Brooks.
Everyone experiences different severity, an important distinction to highlight. Yet, despite the differences of the illness as it is, unpredicted factors in a student’s surroundings can inflict surges. For example, the elevators.
“I really have a hard time climbing the stairs, causing me to be frequently late to certain classes, which affects my attendance,” said Sawyer Reed.
Based on the variety of difficulties the students’ experience, many hope others give more grace to their unique experiences. Despite this, many worry their attempts to find empathy fall flat.
“It’s difficult to get friends and teachers to understand, I spend a lot of my time trying to self advocate” says Finley Carter. “Jones should understand that there’s more to accessibility than IEPs and elevator passes.”
The close friends or family of some students with chronic illnesses also experience impacts due to the difficulties presented. Many loved ones spend ample time supporting their students to provide a sense of normalcy and the best chance to succeed. Charline Monroe, who knows someone with an illness, offered insight.
“I have to be careful with what I offer them and more time is spent ensuring they are okay and taking care of them than truly doing an activity,” said Monroe.
Outside of school, students’ illnesses greatly impact their broader lives. “It definitely causes for my high school experience to be different from everyone else’s, and has detrimentally affected my self-esteem” says Dakota Ellis.
Although the difficulties of this small population may fade into the background, the current lack of support systems at Jones leads many with chronic pain or illnesses to feel abandoned by their school. As Brooks said, “having a chronic illness at this school makes you pretty much set up to struggle.”