We asked three university students to share with us their experiences of studying with a disability, and outline what help and support is out there.
Here’s what they said.
“The university has been very supportive with my condition”
My disability is a rare eye condition called keratoconus, which is an irregularity of the eye lens. It causes me to see an after-effect, like a ghost image, beneath most things, particularly anything involving artificial lights, and is most noticeable with text on screens, causing the words to ‘bleed’ over each other. In addition to needing glasses, I’ve had artificial lenses inserted onto each eye to prevent it from worsening, but this often leaves me with dry and strained eyes, requiring regular eye drops to counteract, as well as regular breaks away from screens.
This was of course affecting university work because of how often we need to look at and read things on screens. I used to do the majority of my work on campus, using the computers in the IT labs, library, or the student centre, for their larger monitors. But, when campus was closed due to the pandemic, I had to work on a laptop from home, which contributed even more to eye strain. When lectures were in classrooms or lecture theatres, I often struggled to see the presentation slides, even if I was sitting in the front row. Then when everything moved online, I was faced with the difficulties of increasing eye strain, due to looking at screens up close for longer periods, for the online webinars.
The university has been very supportive with the condition. In lectures before lockdown, I would need to use my iPad to look at the presentation slides on Moodle, as I was often sat too far from it to see the text properly. However, I explained this to the lecturers beforehand so they knew that I was still paying attention, but that I just needed to look at it on a device I could hold closer! The university is also very understanding if I struggle to meet deadlines, especially when I have a few close together, which makes it harder to work on each efficiently, considering I have to factor in breaks from screens. As such, it has often granted permission for me to submit coursework late and under extenuating circumstances.
I received a lot of very useful support from DSA (Disabled Student Allowance). Most significantly, they provided an entirely new laptop with a couple of programmes installed. One is called ClaroRead Plus, which converts any text to audio (with different kinds of voices – not just robotic-sounding ones!), so that I can take a break away from reading. It also allows me to change the colour of the screen to something that is easier for my eyes, as well as having an adjustable line ‘ruler’ to highlight where I’m reading in the text. The second programme is called Sonocent, which allows me to capture video files, including online lectures, and convert it into text, as well as organising the information into certain categories, such as ‘task’, ‘important’, ‘review’, ‘delete’, and ‘summary’. This is especially helpful with online lectures and allows me to organise the audio and images into manageable parts. The DSA provided technical support for these via training sessions on Zoom, in which I shared my screen for an engineer who instructed me on how to use each programme, going through all the features thoroughly. Though these sessions took between 1-2 hours, the engineers offered frequent breaks. DSA also provided me with a new monitor to connect my laptop to, so I’m able to see documents and their text a lot easier, as well as a printer to print off any pages, for when I want to take a break from screens, but still want to do university work.
“Reach out to someone you trust”
The mental health charity Mind reported earlier this year that in England one in four people experience mental health issues each year. I am one of these people, and I am writing this blog to say if something doesn’t feel right, please do reach out to someone trusted like a friend, parent or talk to a GP. I have a long history of mental health issues as a result of sexual abuse and assault, which has led to depression, anxiety and complex PTSD. For me, the move to university was stressful; meeting new people, maintaining friendships from school, and the environment really triggered my anxiety, so it brought a lot of the stuff I thought I had processed and dealt with back.
When I arrived at university, I knew I needed to seek help. I went to the student wellbeing service to attend of their drop-in sessions. The person who I talked to was so lovely and told me about an organisation called CARA that provides free confidential counselling sessions to victims of sexual assault in Essex. I referred myself to them, and after attending a consultation to see whether I was eligible for support, I was put on the waiting list. Without having attended the drop-in session, I wouldn’t have known that such an organisation existed, and perhaps I’d still be struggling.
My mental health affects my ability to focus for long periods of time, function at my best at times, and take exams. I haven’t needed to apply for any deadline extensions for any of my coursework pieces – yet! However, I did apply for extenuating circumstances regarding my exams in my first year, just in case. If I needed it, I would have been able to sit them uncapped; essentially, like sitting them for the first time. I was diagnosed with depression and generalised anxiety disorder at the start of my second year at university and began taking antidepressants, as well as starting my counselling journey with CARA. I’m pleased to say I worked hard throughout my second year, and I managed to secure a placement year at a regional hospital for the next year.
CARA was able to provide me with 26 hour-long counselling sessions and after six months off, I restarted with my counsellor but this time privately, so not through CARA, but it was the same counsellor. These specialist counselling sessions range in price from £35 – £40 per session, so I knew I would have to manage my money well in order to afford the private sessions.
My counsellor mentioned that I may potentially qualify for the Disabled Student Allowance (DSA) with my mental health problems and my hypermobility (potentially Ehler’s Danolos, but I am waiting for a diagnosis). So, I applied in May 2020 – due to delays caused by the pandemic my assessment took place in April 2021. Through this, I may be able to claim money I’ve spent on my counselling sessions back through the DSA, which would be great – especially for when I go back to university for my final year. Remember that help is out there, you just need to reach out. Your mental health is just as important as your physical health, so take care, and be kind to yourself.
“The lecturers were all very understanding and they made simple adjustments”
I am a Criminology student, and if you were to walk past me, you wouldn’t realise that I have a disability. Not all disabilities are visible, in fact, mine is very invisible as I am dyslexic. I was diagnosed in 2018 at 19 years old, my first year of university. This late diagnosis seems really unusual because dyslexia is usually caught in primary or secondary school children. I was diagnosed at university because I had a screening at college which said I had a 95% chance of being dyslexic. The screening showed that I had an average/above average IQ, but my cognitive processing speeds and reading and writing speeds are slow. My dyslexia affects my reading, writing, spelling, short term memory, cognitive functioning and geographical awareness (I get lost easily!).
I applied for disabled students allowance (DSA) and I received a lot of support. I was given a new laptop so I could make notes easier, I type faster than writing! I was also given a printer and a monetary allowance to buy paper and ink, this meant I could print off assignment briefs so I could refer to them easier. On my new laptop, I had some really helpful software installed to assist me more in my studies, in fact, I am using some of them now to write this blog!
I have an app called Dragon which allows me to write using my voice which is so helpful, I have an app called Read and Write which allows me to change the colour of my screen to make the text easier to read and also has a feature which allows me to hear what I have just written (great for proofreading!) and Global Autocorrect (the clue is in the name!). Other helpful apps that were given to me include Sonocent which allows me to record my lectures (I was given a small microphone to use) I can upload a PowerPoint and record the lecture and correspond the speech with the appropriate slide. Another app is called Inspiration, it allows me to make flow/spider diagrams which help me plan my assignments easily. The last thing I received from DSA is a 1 to 1 mentor who helps me with my anxiety linked to my dyslexia and a 1 to 1 study support mentor who helps me with my studies.
All of the university lecturers that I have had were made aware of my dyslexia, I also contacted all of them to explain where my difficulties lie and what they could do to make my university life a little bit easier. The lecturers were all very understanding, they made simple adjustments that I requested and they helped me understand their essay questions/assignment tasks by talking to me during office hours (lecturers are not the enemy!). The university offers free help and support in the form of student services, they have members of staff available to help you plan your assignments!
Being a dyslexic university student is difficult, but possible! I do have my difficulties, I find essay writing difficult because I have a tendency to write an essay without answering the question as I may have not fully understood the question properly without realising it, also proofreading is a challenge as I sometimes don’t see my mistakes. The hardest thing for me is reading the literature, I can read a paragraph and retain no information because of my short term memory and cognitive function speed, also my reading speed is quite slow also. Despite the challenges I face, I am still here and doing well!