Managing university as a disabled student

This will be the first academic year where I won’t be in education and in all honesty that is so bizarre! I never have taken a gap year and went from GCSE’s, to A-Levels, to university. With graduation feeling like it was far too long ago, I thought I’d attempt to part some words of wisdom.

Even with the best intentions, academia isn’t always the easiest place for someone with a disability; the pressured deadlines, continuous need to do work and attempting to become independent with a social life is big ask for anyone. However, I whole heartedly believe the having a disability should not be a barrier. We are entitled to higher education just the same as everyone else.

Here are my top tips:

Aim high, but be realistic

Managing expectations is something we spend our lives doing when we have a disability, and unfortunately this is still the case with education. I’m not for one second saying we are incapable of achieving high grades; I surprisingly came out with a First. However, I still had to be realistic with myself to get there.

It wasn’t possible to read three chapters a day, go over all my lecture notes or have assignments done well in advance. I was unable to study everyday, yet I also couldn’t pull an all-nighter to get assignments finished, even when I probably should have done!

Personally, I believe a massive part of this is not being too harsh on yourself. It’s so easy to see the rate of work that others produce and compare that to your own pace. Being our own harshest critic is incredibly hard work and will only cause more stress.

Breaking work down into smaller more manageable chunks may seem obvious, but it will mean you can still see you are getting somewhere if you are unable to do a lot of work in one go. It’s okay to take each day as it comes.

Stay organised

I cannot stress this enough! It probably seems simple, but being organised meant I could pace myself, get work done and still have a few days spare for unexpected ‘blips’. I also appreciate that everyone will have their own ways of being organised, but here are a few of my suggestions.

• Record lectures (with permission): Doing this meant I wouldn’t be missing out on content if I was unable to make proper notes that day. It also gave me another format to revise from which was handy for exams.
• Have a diary: In my diary I had all my lecture times and deadlines. I also used this to set myself small targets to ensure I remained on track.
• Read the assessment information: You might have just started the module, but knowing the end goal can keep you focused and allow you to highlight things during a lecture that you think may be useful.

Self-care is a must

A degree is hard work and you need to take care of yourself. Self-care may conjure up an image of a hot bubble bath and a face mask, both of which are an excellent idea! However, it’s more than that.

• It’s not beating yourself up if you don’t do as work as you’d have liked.
• Self-care is the ability to turn down an event so you can sleep.
• It could be treating yourself to a large vanilla mocha in the middle of a lecture!
• It’s recognising when things are getting too much.
• It includes organising when to see a close friend.

This being said, I was having a high pain day and took a hot water bottle to a lecture. I’m not sure if this is self-care or a game change!

Hot water bottle in a lecture because it’s cold and pain is through the roof! I may have to do this more often!

Winter weather is approaching! 😖❄️ pic.twitter.com/VrGvbD5jwf

— Chloe Tear (@chloeltear) October 24, 2018

A degree is a big change. I know I found it difficult to manage this change, as well as the higher workload that came with each new year of study. You are not alone in feeling this.

Speak up if things aren’t right

You deserved to have a university experience that goes well. If this isn’t the case then please do speak up. You could talk to a lecturer you trust or the disability support services that your university has. Even just bringing this up with peers can be reassuring.

All universities will operate a student plan system that allows information about someone’s condition and individual requirements to be circulated to the staff that teach them. This obviously is information that you have consented to share with others. I personally never included everything in these plans as it just wasn’t relevant from a classroom perspective. Yet it allowed me to share things that would allow support to be put in place.

I often got asked, “what can we do to help?”, so here are some suggestions that may help you:

• The full presentation sent beforehand: This just means you have most of the notes and can focus on what is being said.
• Being excused if you need to stretch your legs: If you seize up from being in one position for too long, it’s useful to know you’re allowed to leave and that the lecturer won’t just think you have got bored!
• Checking taught content: I was allowed to go see my lecturers if I didn’t understand a lecture. I know this is available to everyone, yet it was reassuring to know that on bad days the WHOLE thing could be clarified.

Take the support that is there

I wish I had taken my own advice, rather than spending so long resisting the support because I wanted to be like everyone else. I wanted to work to the same deadlines as my friends and show I was just as capable of achieving a degree.

Guess what? I probably didn’t always submit work to the best of my ability, with this being down to my health at that time. This doesn’t have to be the case.

Taking extensions or extra sessions isn’t a sign of weakness or inability, nor does it show you are incapable. It is things like this that allow us to be on a more even platform (despite this not being perfect) than everyone else. You are entitled to this support.

Another form of support is Disabled Student Allowance. This can give you access to equipment, software and study skills support. I won’t go into this in too much detail as I wrote a full piece about preparing for university when you have a disability that covered this fully. However, it’s never too late to apply!

Have fun while you are there

University is more than getting through lectures and handing in assignments. It’s often the first time many of us move away from home, it’s a step of independence and self discovery. You get to meet new people, experience new things and probably learn a lot about yourself.

For me, university allowed me to utilise the flexible schedule of lectures, expanding my passion for public speaking and raising awareness. I even surprised myself how much I managed to cram into the 3 years. It also was an opportunity to get involved with my Student Union and be the Disabilities’ Officer.

If you want to go on a night out and spend the next week (month) recovering, then you do that! If you want to spend all day in a coffee shop with your friends having the longest catch up on record, then be my guest!

University is whatever you make it. You have three years to gain independence, study hard and try figure out what you want to do afterwards. Don’t worry about the last one though, no one knows the answer to that one…

Enjoy your first semester and I hope it goes well!

~ Chloe