A-level results: Student with ME gets As

I don't think this is necessarily exceptional - I got a 2 in my first Open University degree with ME (might have got a 1/distinction if circumstances hadn't been so dire), and a distinction-grade Masters - both in science.

I took my later exams at home too. It's gone out of the window in the last 2 and a quarter years though.

I hope she takes it easy.

Source: BBC News

Date: August 16, 2018

URL:
https://www.bbc.com/news/uk-england-york-north-yorkshire-45209476

Ref:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/fb-...e-ill-student-18-allowed-sit-levels-home.html

A-level results: Student with ME gets As
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An A-level student with Chronic Fatigue Syndrome (CFS) has won a place at university after being allowed to sit her exams at home. Katie Livings, 18, from Clifton, York, achieved As in history and French, an A* in Extended Project Qualification and a B in English. She can go on
to study a law and French law course at the University of Kent. The Mount School student said: 'I was not expecting those grades so I am really happy. I missed a lot of school but they were so good and really supportive.'

Thanking the staff at the school, Miss Livings said: 'They let me take my exams at home and very kindly some teachers came to invigilate. I wouldn't have been able to do it without them and their support.'

Chronic fatigue syndrome (CFS) is also known as myalgic encephalomyelitis (ME). The teenager said she wrote about her illness, which she has had for the past five years, in her Extended Project Qualification course. She said she intended to start at university this year after her condition had improved over the summer.

 

I’m happy for this young woman but I am not completely sure how I feel about this article. There are several levels of ME and many afflicted people, although they have, or used to have, the IQ to score A’s, would simply not be capable of attending classes, let alone study.

I’ve read one study somewhere (can’t remember when or where) about someone with ME whose IQ was tested and it had dropped 10-20 points or so with the illness. ME brings on so many cognitive problems that the intellect is greatly affected. Not only that, but the ability to learn necessitates energy and mental endurance, which many PWME don’t have.

I guess I’m just afraid some people might read this and think it applies to the general ME population. There should have been more context as to the severity of the woman’s ME, in comparison to other people more severe. Just so other’s don’t have to be on the defensive (again) about not trying enough...

 

Would the school necessarily be willing to pay? In my country, if you are part of the public health system, you can get home tuition for free but if you’re not, you’re not eligible. I don’t recall hearing a private school here then supplying or paying for home tuition.