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My name is Natalia Rivera.[br]I'm a doctoral student.

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And well, doctoral graduate, actually.[br]And in the Department of Hispanic

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Languages and Literature at the[br]University of Pittsburgh.

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I'm also a Spanish Instructor and I[br]specialize in Latin American,

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Italian literature and [br]critical disabilities studies.

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So my interests, my academic interests[br]are intimately tied to my personal

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experience as a student and[br]now instructor with

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a learning disability and co-occurring[br]anxiety.

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So, the first memory that I remember,[br]just on a personal level,

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recognizing that there was some access[br]issues or some degree of

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especially in the high school level.[br]Some degree of

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a lack of knowledge, really, of[br]different types of learning styles

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and different types of processing speeds[br]because of my diagnosis of Attention

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Deficit Disorder. One of the key [br]components of how that,

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you know, how ADD affects me is that[br]I have a slower processing speed.

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So while my reading comprehension is[br]strong,

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my processing speed affects my [br]writing speed so I'm not always

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able to produce a paragraph in a [br]timely manner. So, we often

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had problems in English class. This[br]was in tenth grade and

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the expectation was that we would be[br]able to write a paragraph in half-hour.

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And often times I would need double[br]amount of time. I would need an hour.

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And sometimes I wouldn't even be able[br]to finish one simple paragraph

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in an hour.

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And I remember my English instructor,[br]at the time,

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after class when I sort of approached her[br]and said,

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"Uhm, hey. Not withstanding the[br]original time. I wasn't

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really able to finish my paragraph."[br]And I remember she looked at me

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incredulous and said to me,[br]"If you can't even write a paragraph,

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a simple paragraph in one hour,[br]I don't know what to tell you.

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So, I remember that moment. I[br]also remember later on

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when I was preparing for her AP Exams.[br]This also happened in high school.

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This was my junior year. I was taking[br]an AP World History class

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And I remember that I approached my [br]instructor, already knowing on my own

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'cause I had already had plenty of[br]experience advocating for myself since

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I was a child. I already knew that[br]all standardized testing

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had a process for requesting [br]accommodations.

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So, I remember approaching my AP[br]World History Exam and-

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I meant, my AP World History teacher[br]and explaining to him

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that I was registered with disability[br]resources, that I had a documented

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disability and that these were[br]the particular accommodations I needed

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time and a half. It was a very common [br]accommodation.

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And I remember him telling me, "I don't [br]have a problem providing you

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classroom accommodations. I'm just not[br]sure that

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that extended time is provided on the[br]AP Exam." And I was just

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flabbergasted that an instructor would[br]actively misinform me that way

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because even I knew at the tender age[br]of, I don't know, sixteen!

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that ATS always provided a process[br]for requesting

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accommodation. So, I was stunned[br]that an adult felt that he could

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just misinform me that way. And I[br]know

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that misinforming me not necessarily[br]with a negative intent, but he

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genuinely had no notion of the[br]process. And

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yeah. So, it's un-willful misinformation, [br]but

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the effect is similar. Because imagine[br]had he said something like that

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to a student who had no idea how[br]to request accommodations.

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You know, how to attain an [br]evaluation to substantiate

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the need for accommodations. So[br]it's just a lot of misinformation

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Enabled with ignorance, not so much[br]malice.

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But just the complete lack of information[br]out there just really compromises

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student's ability to advocate for[br]themselves

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In my personal work with the[br]disability rights

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community because I worked two[br]and a half years at a disability

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rights organization called Autistic[br]Self Advocacy Network

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and meeting a lot of people my age

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a lot of students don't find out that [br]they have a diagnosis until much later

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in life. Once they start noticing, picking[br]up on their own symptoms they seek

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out individually supports. So I

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certainly, on a personal level, benefited[br]from my

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mother's knowledge and from her[br]experiences as a parent advocate.

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I think my awareness of a level[br]of discrimination