Decisions: an update

[beatitude]

Three weeks ago I started a clinical training in speech and language therapy. I've been interested in doing this for ten years. Unfortunately I've run into problems with my academic adviser. She read my disability support plan before meeting me, and I think she saw what she expected to see. I met her in a group of five other students and after the meeting she sent me an email saying that while she could be "compassionate", she had serious doubts about whether someone with my disabilities could fulfil the clinical requirements of the program, and she "can't lower standards for the profession." I have worked as a speech and language therapist's assistant and held various other roles in challenging settings, which I would never have been able to carry out successfully if my fitness to practise were impaired. I passed the same interview and testing process as everyone else. Since then I have met the adviser 1:1 to discuss things, and I felt as if she were undermining me at every turn - whenever I mentioned something I've done in the past, she was quick to point out how it isn't relevant to my ability to cope here. Yet there are some students on this program who are fresh from high school and who have no relevant experience beyond weekly volunteering at a nursing home, and she isn't saying this to them. I have subsequently found out that at least three other disabled students have found her to be prejudiced and difficult to work with. I don't know what to do, as she's a senior staff member and even if I request a change in adviser she'll still be teaching and grading me. Another issue is that the course is much slower-paced than I was expecting. It will be a full year before I can do any placements. I am not sure I can cope with four years of feeling as if I'm treading water, coupled with the sense of being on perpetual probation with an adviser I can't really trust. But funding has been cut for healthcare students, so I can't just reapply for other more intensive courses - I'd never afford it without this money. Basically I either persevere or I do something else. Please pray for me to make good choices, and for my adviser too.