r/UAB • u/Sorry-Librarian-1982 • 1d ago
Does anyone at this school have Celiac disease??
Hello,
I am a high school senior and currently applying to colleges. UAB is as of right now my top choice, but I am not sure that my celiac disease will be accommodated, as the disability counselor could not guarantee safe food for me. This is a big issue since having food does happen to be human necessity 🫩
Can anyone provide perspective?
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u/Former-Mouse-9617 1d ago
Contact Campus Dining. There is a separate dining location where everything is gluten-free and also free of a whole list of common food allergens. It's specifically set up as a safe zone. Some other locations have pre-packaged items that are gluten-free.
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u/HorrorFriendly7183 1d ago
UAB freshman here who was just diagnosed with celiac yesterday, so I’m also trying to figure this out!
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u/Sorry-Librarian-1982 22h ago
Oh, wow! I’ve had it for about 6 years so I’m pretty experienced. If you ever need information or advice feel free to dm me!<33
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u/rraaddccaatt 12h ago
as a vegan i would recommend that you consider trying to opt out of the meal plan. you can do so through disability services but you have to to do it before the add/drop period ends.
the cafeteria does have celiac friendly options, but as someone with dietary restrictions myself, i felt like i wasn’t getting my money’s worth out of the meal plan. i personally feel like i save by spending my money primarily on groceries vs having it all tied up in the cafeteria/restaurants. even if you don’t have the meal plan, you can use real money at the restaurants and cafeteria whenever you want.
my roomie had a (contraband?) electric hot plate that i did a lot of cooking on in the dorm room and it was my lifeline freshman year.
my celiac friends seemed to do pretty good at the cafeteria, especially with the allergy friendly section that others have mentioned. but some days were definitely better than others.
i understand others with celiac can definitely give more personalized advice but i hope my perspective can help a little !! :)
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u/howlingDef 1d ago
Not going to be able to give detail for the level down to celiac per se as I know that's even more restrictive than general food allergies but figured I'd give some insight from the allergy side as it could at least start giving you some direction. The cafeteria has an allergy friendly station that majority of the time does not serve any of the major allergens though they do have the exception of occasionally serving fish. I toured with and spoke with a few different schools and this was the only school that had anything for me and all other schools just basically said "our chefs are really good at accomodating" but the chefs themselves said they were unable to accommodate.
Also for the direction of just cook for yourself, the majority if not the entirety of the freshman dorm buildings don't have an actual kitchen but just a microwave