Chinese Postdoc Told He Can Request Accommodations, Does Not Understand

BALTIMORE, MD—Attending a mandatory orientation session at Johns Hopkins University on Tuesday, visiting postdoctoral fellow Dr. Wei Zhang, 29, was told by a representative from the Office of Disability Services that he, too, could request accommodations if needed, a sentence Zhang confirmed he understood individually as English words but not collectively as a concept.

“She said, ‘If you need accommodations, we’re here to help,’” said Zhang, who completed his PhD at Peking University in four years during which he worked seven days a week and once ran a 72-hour time course experiment alone because his advisor was traveling and it did not occur to either of them that this was something someone else could help with. “I said, ‘What kind of accommodations.’ She said, ‘It depends on your needs.’ This part I did not understand.”

The orientation also covered topics including mental health resources, work-life balance, and the university’s policy on maximum weekly working hours. Zhang listened attentively to each section. He did not ask questions. He took notes. He later reviewed his notes and could not determine whether the presentation was mandatory training or a form of humor he was not culturally equipped to identify.

“They said there is a limit on how many hours per week I can work,” Zhang said. “They said it is important to take breaks. They said I should speak to my PI if I feel overwhelmed.” He paused. “At Peking University, if I told my advisor I felt overwhelmed, he would have said, ‘Yes.’

Zhang’s American labmate, a fourth-year graduate student who was recently diagnosed with ADHD and has an accommodation letter granting extended deadlines and a reduced course load, attempted to explain the system over lunch. “I told him that a lot of people don’t get diagnosed until their twenties because the symptoms present differently in adults,” the labmate said. “He listened very carefully. Then he said, ‘In China, the symptoms present as PhD.’ Wei is hilarious.”

As of press time, Zhang had not requested any accommodation.