• British University Student Union bans clapping to avoid 'triggering anxiety'
    68 replies, posted
I feel like I've seen this exact article and some of those exact responses years ago. Is this the matrix breaking ?
I think treating something like this would need to be treated with progressive exposure therapy, yeah - expecting a university to account for this is myopic.
wear some earplugs then because there's far more anxiety-inducing things in Manchester (and University in general) than clapping
One of our ex Prime Ministers always looked like he was suffering from PTSD. In fact, it's hard to find a picture that doesn't look like he's having a nervous breakdown. For instance: https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/242634/5b9f488d-56ff-4b93-8421-1d7856f9b7f1/image.png Oh, here's an amusing one as a bonus: https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/242634/e6b2e2c7-35dd-4781-8432-769ee73fe06b/image.png
How fucking pathetic do you have to be to get 'triggered' by clapping. Fuck off.
I don't think the people suffering from this are making it up or are pathetic, to be honest - I simply think that it's a bit silly to make such a large change that will make everybody look ridiculous to accommodate a small group. Just as somebody said earlier, blind people will now no longer hear applause, so it's no solution at all.
meanwhile, in my lectures https://files.facepunch.com/forum/upload/497/35ef83d9-97e0-4bdc-9194-c8cb03d471db/image.png
Is that actually real? I love how it says to keep it clean and 'FUCKING' is the most prominent word.
I'm thinking about that episode of Futurama where Leela joins an environmental activist group and they don't want people clapping because it'll kill spores that'll one day make a nice meal so instead to give a thumbs up and everyone just awkwardly obliges. I see where they're coming from but I feel like blunt bans doesn't really help. Helping people who have PTSD attacks from something as simple as clapping seems more productive.
Can confirm. I used to be horrific at making new friends and only got by at uni thanks to one of the interest societies. Without it I would've been alone for my entire degree and definately dropped out.
America weeps
yeah this actually happened in a lecture, each word was treated as its own answer and someone pasted the entire navy seals copypasta
Didn't they do this years ago? I'm sure I remember seeing this mentioned before.
This is the correct answer. I dealt with hyperacusis in my left ear briefly this past month, and boy did that suck. Sounds become magnitudes louder and more painful, cars driving by on the road triggered it. But fortunately, earplugs do work in that situation. Yes its inconvenient and makes things more muffled. But expecting the entire world to bend to your niche disability is unrealistic.
OI, HAVE U GOT A LICENSE FOR THOSE JAZZ 'ANDS?
You know, it's funny, the jazzhands thing would probably "trigger" anxiety for me far more than clapping. The sound of bracelets and loose watches rattling fucking aggravates me a lot and does make me feel rather anxious for reasons I can't describe. Same thing that happens when people tap on tables, click pens, or any other repetitive taping, clicking, or rattling/clattering sound. ESPECIALLY when people rhythmically drum on their God damn desks. Certain squeaking sounds set me off as well. What would they do for me? :v Half jokes, half legit question.
doing jazz hands as opposed to clapping is some alternate universe shit
sad to see my alma mater become a laughing stock still, it was close to this bad when I was there with new 'safe space' rooms specifically for people who got triggered
I get what you're saying, as I have a learning disability called dyspraxia that affects my fine motor control as well as short-term memory and sensory perception (as well as Asperger's), but I don't know that he was necessarily telling people to 'deal with it', even if the post probably wasn't worded as well as it could have been from him. I think he's suggesting that we should probably be investing in more useful therapies for this sort of thing rather than explicitly banning common human communication methods, as those things are still going to exist in the so-called real world and banning certain practices at particular universities is only going to make the precipitous shock of society more difficult to deal with for those that struggle once they've graduated.
After thinking for a bit, I realized there's a good solution that lowers the amount of noise (for students with anxiety) but doesn't remove it entirely (for blind students, and also for exposure reasons) Golf clap. Sure, outside of golf it's usually sarcastic, but if they ask people to do it, I don't see why it couldn't have that same "polite clapping" intent.
I'm not telling you to "deal with it". I'm saying that it's pretty hard to straight up impossible for the world to totally eliminate loud noises. I'm sorry you have to deal with any of that and it sounds awful, and I'm sympathetic to you and your situation. In what context are you "Mentally disabled"? I work in a decent office, however there's a highway nearby. I've heard a couple car crashes, I've heard loud enough noises to startle me. I cannot expect the world to be quiet so as to avoid that.
I'm pretty sure I remember her saying that she has high functioning autism, at the very least, but not sure if that covers all bases. There's a pretty wide spectrum of related disorders that includes dyspraxia, dyslexia, ADHD, autism and sensory integration dysfunction. I have 3 of them, and I also have anxiety, mostly as a result of the others, so it wouldn't surprise me.
Can we ban people from universities so I can go back to college and finish my degree without triggering social anxiety? Also while we're at it can we ban tests and assignments because those made me pretty anxious too. In fact just give me the degree, not having it is making me anxious.
I love how it makes way more sense now that I see "marine"
Yeah, I must say that I was rather confused by many of the words in that heat map thing when I first saw it - now it makes sense.
Student unions aren't some crutch for the social environment of the university. They largely provide the student operated extra-curricular stuff though. People will make friends without any help from the SU, sure. But the SU provides a number of services to students that the university itself probably wont, or can't afford to. Just as an example, my old uni SU provided; Sexual healthcare stuff like contraceptives and a safe place to discuss problems Mental healthcare assistance outside of what the uni is legally mandated to provide Organisation of the student clubs and societies (funding distribution, centralised scheduling, etc.) Running the student operated bars and shops Running the (kinda) student operated on site music venue Representation for student groups that would otherwise be ignored due to their minority status General advice about how to live on your own for the first time in your life Post-halls housing assistance They're not totally useless organisations. But SUs tend to be the first thing many students who are interested in management and politics tend to get in to as the bar for entry is the lowest it can possibly be. A vast majority of students will not get involved in the SU operations, or even vote for their SU reps because there's not much real benefit to it if you're just there to study or not in a club after all. As a result a lot of the higher up SU reps can be fairly detached from what the student body thinks of them and will pursue weird goals like this one to make their mark so to speak. These kinds of things wont impact the day to day life of any students, it'll be relegated to the official meetings of the SU itself and very little else. The SU can't stop students who aren't participating in their affairs from going about their lives how they like after all.
This is interesting and just nothing like my college experience. I mean it's also down to how little room there is in Paris, there isnt any room for large campuses. A music venue or shops is completely out of the question even for the largest ones. I walked through the Imperial College in London the other day and that stuff just doesnt exist here. Maybe in the countryside. Almost every colleges buildings are just classrooms and maybe a self, and that's it. There's basicely nothing to the day outside of classes and lunch break, you just socialise between class and in breaks. That's great because tuitions costs (when college isnt free) can be shifted to great teachers, which is whats most important imo. I mean, good for anyone who enjoys campus life stuff - I really feel it's really unnecesary and personaly like a college experience and tuition 100% focused on skill learning and that's it.
"it's all about the hands that aren't clapping."
It's definitely something I think you'd see more at modern campuses. My city actually hosts two universities, my one with dedicated campus sites. And a smaller arts university that is a number of individual buildings scattered around the city with no central campus. A fair number of major unis over here tend to have their students live on site for at least one year of their studies, and as such the campus exists as a small village of students near enough. We had everything you'd need to live and socialise between studying. Cafes, a restaurant (never went in there lmao), shops, a high street bank or two, a post office, laundrettes, a bar, a pub, a separate pub for post-grad students, the music venue / nightclub and an entire art museum that just lived on campus for reasons. All of this to make the lives of students a bit easier so we aren't pestering people in the city constantly (well, except for after 10PM, when every student hits the clubs). When the uni has all these facilities I think it makes some sense for an SU to manage them instead of the uni itself. The SU earns money differently from the uni itself as they aren't funded by tuition fees. Sponsorship deals and fundraisers are the main sources of income I think. And the SU can be more proactive at fixing things that students want compared to the uni proper (my uni banned the sale of Nestle products in protest of their weird bullshit with African baby milk about a year after I started there, I don't think it's let it up yet either). I barely participated in any of the SU stuff whilst I was studying. But having facilities like that on campus is super useful. University should be more than just crunch time to learn skills after all, it should be a place for you to work out who you are a bit more. Before going to uni I was basically a hermit with zero capability to make friends and no understanding of "how to not look homeless". Now I don't struggle so much with social things and stopped dressing quite like I'd fallen through a charity shop reject pile. I almost certainly wouldn't be like this if I'd just gone straight into work as uni kinda makes you experience things you wouldn't otherwise.
sounds cool. doesnt all theses buildings and amenities explode tuition costs though? fighting for college to be less economicaly elitist is a big thing here.
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