The Invisible Undergrad

20260710

Prompt from Eiiri’s Prompt Foundry, “Pride 2 Disability Boogaloo”.

Hanna, student support counsellor, looked up as her door opened and promptly beamed at the hula hoop levitating at shoulder height. “Oh, hello Greg! How are you today?”
“Alright? I guess.” Greg said, the hula hoop moving over to the waiting chair and settling down. “Nobody jostled me on the way over, at least. And those cantrips for summoning hand signals have been really useful. It’s nice being able to ask a question without having to shout at the lecturer.”
“Oh good, better for everyone.” Hanna nodded approvingly. “Have you had any more trouble with people trying to grab your hoop?”
“No, I think everybody knows, now.”
“Well, we’re still trying to figure out something which will look more, you know, official.” Hanna said, a touch apologetically. “So you don’t have to keep explaining to strangers.”
“That’d be nice.”
“Alright, so…” Hanna skimmed down his file. “Ah, what about presentations? Your teachers were meant to be reallocating the ‘body language’ marks to the other sections. Have they?”
“Yeah - well, Ms Williams said she thought it made more sense to divvy them across the rest of the ‘quality of communication’ bit, basically putting it all on my, like, vocal performance. She said she’d talk to everyone else and they’d make a decision.”
“I’ll follow up on that, then.” Hanna made a note. “How do you feel about her suggestion?”
“I think it makes sense. And, I mean, I’m gonna have to get good at the vocal stuff since it’s all I’ve got, so…” The hula hoop bounced in what Hanna had learned was a shrug.
“We might find a cure.” She said, trying to sound encouraging. “Or it might wear off on its own. After all, it’s only been… was it two months before term started?”
“Yeah.” Greg said quietly. “I’m really glad the uni still let me attend.”
“I keep telling you, it would be against our charter to withdraw an accepted place just because the student was in an accident and needed accommodations! Speaking of which, is there anything else you’d like to discuss? Or that I can help with?”
“Um. I don’t know if you can help, exactly, but…”
Hanna put on her best reassuring, ‘you can talk to me’ smile.
“…People keep being, like, weird about me being in the bathrooms at the same time as them.” Greg said, clearly trying to put on a calm front, but hurt leaked into his voice. Poor kid. “And I don’t know what to… it’s like, why would I even want to peek at them?? And sometimes they peek at me, and yeah ok they can’t see anything and they’re just checking my hoop is there but it’s still…!”
“Yes, that is unacceptable behaviour.” Hanna said sympathetically, frowning. “I’ll see what I can do.”
“For now, I’ve been using the disabled loos, which…” He trailed off, sounding uncertain and apologetic.
“Well, you are resorting to it because of a disability. But you shouldn’t have to.” Hanna made another note, then asked “Do you mind if I put you on the list of case studies for why the uni should consider converting all toilets to unisex?”
“Sure. You mean them all being proper little rooms, right? With a sink and everything.”
“Exactly those.”
“That’s be great.” Greg said fervently. “And please tell them that.”
“I will.” Hanna promised. “And I’ll see what I can do about getting people to leave you alone. I understand why they’re concerned about the abuse potential, but there’s no call for treating you like that invisible man character with no evidence of wrongdoing!”
“Yeah.” Greg grumbled. “I wish this stupid curse didn’t extend to stuff I’m carrying! Or at least, that it didn’t count clothes.”
“Hm. Maybe curse-proof clothing would be easier than a full cure?” Hanna mused. “I’ll chase that up too.”
“Thanks. So much.” Greg said earnestly. “I would’ve dropped out in the first two weeks without your help. For real.”
“Aw, thank you!” Hanna beamed. “But I’m just doing my job, really. I’m here to help students like you reach their full potential.”
Glancing at the clock, she apologetically added “Oh, speaking of which… I hate to-”
“Nah, it’s cool.” Greg assured her, the chair shifting and hula hoop rising back to shoulder height. “I need to go get ready for lab anyway. I’ll see you next week.”
“Speak to you next week.” Hanna said brightly, and he chuckled.

Prompt was “Invisible disability”.