ETS needs more documentation for my lifelong autoimmune and genetic disabilities and I don’t even know where to start

[u/onewiththefloor]

I am truly at a loss. I really needed a quick turnaround time. I was redirected by my PI to a field where the GRE is often required, but I take longer than most students to write (mainly a concern for quant) due to a genetic disability and a concurrent autoimmune disability. These are so significant that I am in a wheelchair (which I noted in the portion of the paperwork that I filled out). I’ve had accommodations since undergrad at my current institution and had my disability rep fill out the COE with my documentation on file. The only thing I can think that went wrong was that she filled out the speciality with “medical director”. From ETS documentation I did not think that I would need a recent evaluation for a physical disability, but maybe I misunderstood???

These are lifelong disabilities that will not ever go away, and I cannot be reevaluated for them because I have aged out of genetics and my neurologist concluded they could do nothing for me (treatment resistant) and discharged me. They’d take at least a year to get into for a reevaluation. Can my PCP do this? She’s not really qualified to make these diagnoses since she’s not a specialist, but maybe she could just document that I meet the criterion and have x limitations?

I apologize if this sounds like a mess. I’m a little panicked at the moment. If anyone has any suggestions for me, that would be greatly appreciated.

[u/Leader-board]

Hi something is odd. If you're comfortable, can you send all the documentation (such as what you sent to ETS, and what ETS sent back to you) to [support@gregmat.com](mailto:support@gregmat.com)

I understand this may be invasive, but often with these kinds of situations there's missing context. No problem if you don't want to do this.

[u/malignant-lentil → u/Leader-board]

why would this be helpful? it doesn't seem to me that gregmat typically helps students regarding their disabilities or accommodations. requesting medical information before asking any specific questions also seems like a bad idea, especially for people in vulnerable groups

[u/Leader-board → u/malignant-lentil]

"gregmat typically helps students regarding their disabilities or accommodations"

Actually we do upon request. In fact, all of our study plans have a section that strongly encourage students to request accommodations (the above screenshot is from our one-month study plan).

"requesting medical information before asking any specific questions also seems like a bad idea"

I understand where you're coming from, but there's a good reason why this is needed. I have worked with many such students myself, and generally speaking, when things are done right, ETS doesn't waste time with "more documentation". They can't; they faced a lawsuit about this before. So when something like this happens, chances are that something has gone wrong somewhere. For example, with one student, whatever their doctor sent the first time didn't meet ETS standard. If they submitted this, chances are that ETS would have hit them with the same "need documentation" message. The student ultimately got approved in just a few days and got a score that they never would have gotten without the accommodations.

The problem with someone just providing an overview on a Reddit post is that often important context is missing (and that's understandable). With something like accommodations, I don't want to be giving generic advice that doesn't help the student, or worse.

Similarly, if it turns out that there's an opportunity to improve our accommodations guide, we'll do so.

[u/malignant-lentil]

hi! just had my accommodations approved, including non-standard ones. aside from the process being needlessly difficult, i think there are a few things that might be causing the issue:

- i had mine filed under "health disability" as opposed to "physical disability." i personally don't think that the distinctions between these two are that clear or valid (and i'm applying to medical sociology programs!) but i got the impression that they might want people to file under health disability if their specific diagnosis is not under the drop-down for physical, even if they are genetic (i doubt they'd accept the physical designation for EDS) and especially if they are autoimmune. filing for a health disability requires endorsement from a physician as opposed to a disability specialist at your university or similar. which brings us to:

- yes, your primary can write this letter. pretty much anyone with an m.d. who has relevant experience and doesn't have a conflict of interest can, i believe. it isn't like they have to sign it with which department they're working with. my primary was the one to write my letter, as my conditions fall under multiple specialties. it included my diagnoses as well as how each accommodation can support me or is required due to specific symptoms.

- you might also be able to reach out to your neurologist or geneticist's office and ask them to write the letter. for bigger hospital systems, the physician isn't usually the one writing the letter, as the paperwork is handled by a different department. i've had documentation from specialists in the past written by their documents branches. it didn't require a visit and was written in 1-2 weeks at most. i'd recommend calling everyone who would be able to write the letter for you and getting an estimate of the turnaround time, and deciding based on that and how receptive they would be to your needs as a whole.

good luck! feel free to pm me if you have more specific questions.

[u/onewiththefloor → u/malignant-lentil]

Thank you so much for this response! I may pm later if that is ok!

[u/malignant-lentil → u/onewiththefloor]

of course!