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Chapter 9
Financial Aid, and Allergies as a Disability

Before I continue with my coming out story, I should give you a little background on my college financial condition. You already know I didn't get along with my dad very well. Things weren't much better when it came to paying for college either. Dad had this idea that if you worked for your college and paid for it yourself, you'd appreciate it more. This might have been okay if he'd have cooperated with me in my attempts to get financial aid, but he flatly refused to provide any financial information to me to support my application for aid. Once I realized that I couldn't really apply for any normal aid without supplying a copy of dad's tax return, I presented my problem to mom, and she and I stole dad's tax return from his footlocker, and made a copy of it.

Dad made too much money for me to be able to get any aid based on financial need. I did get a Basic Educational Opportunity Grant (BEOG), but that wasn't enough to pay for all of my classes. I took a seminar my first semester designed to help students find financial aid. They suggested I look at scholarships I might qualify for, and apply for them. When I looked at the list of scholarships, I found I didn't really qualify for any, I wasn't a minority, or economically disadvantaged, or disabled, now wait, what exactly was the definition of disabled? I don't know why that caught my eye, but I wanted to find a scholarship that wouldn't be taking anything away from anyone better qualified. The state offered dozens of disability scholarships that went unawarded every year. If I qualified for one of these unawarded scholarships, I wouldn't be taking anything away from anyone. There was only one small problem. I didn't really think I was disabled, I was still personally and morally against lying, so I did my research. A disability was anything that stopped you from leading the normal life that a person without that disability might lead. The only disability I could think of was that I had terrible allergies. Maybe I could persuade the state that I was disabled due to allergies.

I figured there was nothing to lose, so I set up a meeting with the local state social worker that interviewed prospective students for state scholarships. I don't remember his name, but I remember that he smoked Virginia Slims brown cigarettes. He was VERY skeptical about my ability to get a disability scholarship based on allergies, but since I was very persuasive and persistent, he gave me the application forms. I made an appointment with my allergist and ran into the same problem there. He thought it was ridiculous for me to think that allergies were a disability. Well, I'd come to him prepared, so I had a list of questions for him, and asked him to answer them on his doctor letterhead.

" Am I required to take medication multiple times a day?"
" Yes", he said.
" Write that down please."
" Is it true that the medications I'm taking have warnings stating I shouldn't operate a vehicle or machinery without extreme caution because of the drowsiness this medication can cause?"
" Yes", now shaking his head in disbelief.
" Is it true that because of my allergies, and medications, I might not be able to fully participate in things a normal, non-allergic person might?"
" Well, you can do anything you want to do."
" But you just said I might not be able to operate machinery, or even drive a car sometimes because of severe drowsiness." I corrected. "Are you willing to say that, against these written warnings, I can drive a car, even when I'm drowsy?"
He finally understood my angle, and said "No, I wouldn't put it in writing that you could go against the medication's warnings."

I left his office with the best information I could get to support my case. I dropped the letter and application off at the social workers office. He looked it over, declared it complete, and said he really didn't think they'd go for it, but promised to submit it for me

Two weeks later, I was awarded a Louisiana State Scholarship for the disabled. I would have my entire cost of college paid for by the state, as well as twenty dollars a week to help defray my living expenses. My only requirement was that I maintain a full 18-20 hour course load. No minimum grades were required, just that I maintain the course load. I was officially declared DISABLED by the state, -- for allergies.

My first semester in school, I had to take college algebra on Wednesdays at 10 AM. I always went into that class with severe stomach pains. One Wednesday the class was cancelled, and to my surprise, I wasn't sick that day. Hmm, here was something like my being afraid of the dark. I could get physically ill from my fear of math. I did fine for a few semesters, until I had the misfortune of having to take an advanced math class for my major. The previous semester I had taken survey of calculus and gotten Dr. Heatherly as my teacher, I ended up having to withdraw from the class. He wasn't just a math teacher; he had his doctorate in Mathematics. This guy ate, slept, and dreamt math. I unfortunately got him as my teacher again. I was able to drop his class previously and not fall below the minimum hours for my scholarship, this semester; I was already at the minimum. I tried very hard, asking him to explain things until I understood them but Dr. Heatherly would rather discuss the mathematics behind the nature of black holes, than teach us survey of calculus. By the end of a couple of weeks, I knew I'd not be able to pass this course. But here was my dilemma; I couldn't drop it this time. If I fell below 18 hours, I'd lose my scholarship. After class that day I asked for a few minutes of Dr. Heatherly's time. I told him If I kept coming to class I would be kind of a pest, requiring him to keep re-explaining things to me that I didn't understand, OR, he could not drop me from the rolls, and I'd just never come to class again. He agreed to the latter, and for another semester, I kept my scholarship.

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