A Reflection on Chronic Illness and Graduate School
I originally wrote the post below in June 2011. I had finished defending my PhD in English Literature in the fall of 2010 and I was depressed, in pain, and […]
Tag Archives: PhD student
We Need to Talk About Student Mental Health More, Not Less
The hullaballoo over the increase in takeup of student mental health services has a disturbing undertone. Alan Percy’s recent Guardian article on the subject calls for a “nuanced” approach […]
Disabled Student Allowance & PhD-Specific Doings: A Resource for Self-Advocacy
The first time I went through the UK’s Disability Needs Assessment process to secure Disabled Students Allowance for a PhD, it took four months and the production of a […]
Why I Have To Say No
One of the most important things in my life is philosophy. I live it and breathe it. I’m not in academia but I manage to fill my life with probability […]
Even more Headaches & Heartbreaks
This article is a follow-up to “The Headache and Heartbreak of doing Academia with Chronic Migraine” and is written by the same anonymous author. When you last heard my story, […]
Finding My Niche Despite Chronic Illness
A few weeks into my first year as a Sociology PhD student, I started to notice intense pain after working out. I don’t know exactly when things changed, but I […]
Doing a PhD with “women’s problems”
Since I was thirteen my education was constantly interrupted by a certain ‘monthly visitor’. I’m now in the second year of my PhD in Modern History and my ‘lady bits’ […]
The headache & heartbreak of doing academia with chronic migraine
I’m a part-time PhD student, with a chronic illness and a family. I have a grant that pays my fees, but everything else I need to live on I must […]
How to do medical leave
Some disabled and chronically ill students will need to take periods of medical leave – also known as interruption in the UK – to rest and recover when the body […]
Making PhD Life Easier
While we talk often about the experiences students have doing a PhD, it’s important to get down to brass tacks: what can PhD students with disabilities or chronic illnesses do […]
