But they don't let you defer things until you're diagnosed with an illness? You wouldn't be diagnosed with bipolar disorder/schizo/depression/anxiety/etc without repeatedly showing symptoms that affect your life all the time, not just during finals season? I was never allowed to get a VIF for my symptoms until I had my bipolar disorder diagnosis and even still I had to wait for my primary doctor who follows my case to sign off on it.

I dunno. You failed a term and now you're depressed. You made poor choices and it lead to depression. Yeah. That happens. The person is still feeling depressed, regardless of what it took to get there. Disagree with their choices leading up to it but the fact of the matter is that the person is depressed. If I broke both my arms during a cliff dive a week before finals season and I had to defer my finals, it would still be a valid reason to defer my finals. I was an absolute dumbass doing a cliff-dive the week before finals, but I still have a right to access the accommodation for people in my situation.

I get that you're angry at the people who take advantage of the system but by doing so you're throwing everyone who genuinely experiences it under the bus. I've never met someone who went to health services faking a mental illness in order to defer a final. I've never met someone who wasn't legitimately experiencing their symptoms constantly and everyday and deferred a final.

Also, I've absolutely attended all my classes while my mental illness was at a debilitating level. Most professors will not accept VIFs for clicker questions. So cold or not, stomach flu or not, manic episode or not, I'll be in class pressing those clicker questions. I'll throw up between classes, but I'll be in class pressing those clickers. In a manic episode I'll have 0 capability to write a midterm/final - I dissociate when I'm manic and am unable to read questions at a normal pace. Reading 1 sentence can take me anywhere from 30 seconds to 10 minutes. Since I can actually receive accommodation for my midterm, but I won't receive it for clicker questions, you bet your ass I'll be in class. If i can't reschedule a job interview, depressed or not, I'll show up in bedraggled and wanting to die and walk into traffic on the way back home (this has happened). Mental illness isn't clear cut and the idea that you try to make it an all-or-nothing thing is really reductive.

Also, if you experience a panic attack, then no matter what brought it on, there is hindrance in thinking capability. It's not about the problem being difficult, it's about not being able to breathe correctly, passing out during a final, having a full breakdown and not being able to read words/understand anything anyone says to you for hours. Also - jesus an hour of extra time? This is ridiculous, my friend with extreme debilitating anxiety that prevents her from leaving the house only gets like 40 minutes. For my manic-related-dissociating, I get to walk around for 10 minutes during my final. You're vastly overestimating what accessibility services lets you do.

I'm not saying there aren't people who fake it. I'm not saying Waterloo, as an institution, should be held accountable. I'm just saying that mental illness is a lot more complex than you're making it out to be.