In response to BC#8 & BC#9 about not attending class because of my allergies, there is still a question floating around in my brain. I myself agreed to not attend class because it was safer, but I keep wondering if this was the correct course of action. My professor suggested the idea, I agreed and in the end I got extra credit for the assignment.

I did not get accessibility services involved and I believe they are not aware of the situation. I know they called my letter a notification form because I did not ask for any accommodations but it is still technically an accommodation letter. On the backside of the letter states the legal responsibility and it states, "....no qualified individual with a disability shall, solely on the basis of that disability, be excluded from participation to insert school name programs or activities," and then at the very end it states, "Certain collaborative accommodations must be formalized throughout the semester, as to not fundamentally alter a course/program."

Does changing a single lab day for someone allergic fundamentally alter a course? It's not that I want them to change the lab for me, it's that I am not sure if the situation was fair and it's about the future.

I am paying to attend class and I did not attend class. I am paying for the supplies and items used to make these items. Even though I have been throwing away or giving away a lot of the end results, I am still learning from making them. For this lab day I had to buy my own items and it's not like I was refunded for the money I spent to make the end results. I also did not want to ruin my grade by not doing the assignment and I had to find my own solution very quickly to bake safe versions in my house and email photos on time.

In the future there could be other students with food allergies. Will they also not come to class on days that are not "safe"? This class day they were making almond flour, is almond flour that important in the world of baking? Instead of making and using almond flour, is there something else that could have done? Does not using almond flour fundamentally change the class?

However the world is a world full of nuts and allergens. It's not like they can make the whole kitchen allergen free and I do not want them to do this. I am willing to handle my allergens and both accessibility services and my professor know this. The difference was that this was not a "gloves and hash washing protection" situation, this was a "if I breathe in this almond flour we are making by hand I will die" situation and instead of facing the problem at hand with the officials, it kind of feels like I ran away and took the easy way out.

I am undecided if I should bring this to accessibility services or not. I do not want to cause a problem, but I do not know if I want to let this go quite yet. There is not exactly a right or wrong answer to this. It is just something to think about.

#BC #baking #foodallergies #health