What is it like being a disabled student?
When I was in high school, I used to wobble around the corridors using a walking stick or a wheelchair. I throughly enjoyed education, yet it certainly isn’t easy being a disabled student.
Admittedly, it’s been a few years since I was a student, but accessible education was a core focus when I started my blog. Before I graduated university, my blog was called ’Life as a Cerebral Palsy student’. A few weeks ago I gave a keynote talk to 1600 high school staff members about my experiences of being a disabled student. I hope that sharing an edited version of that talk will useful for other teachers and disabled students.
Inclusion, Collaboration and Community conference (Red Kite Alliance)
My educational journey
I have always attended a mainstream school. After completing my GCSE’s I continued at the same school for my A-Levels. I then went to Leeds Trinity university and studied psychology and child development. During my time in education, I started a blog and volunteered for the disability equality charity, Scope.
The reason why I chose to volunteer and later work for Scope is due to my own lived experiences of disability. I have cerebral palsy which is a physical disability that affects movement, coordination and balance. Essentially, I don’t walk or move ‘normally’, and need mobility aids and splints to help keep my upright. I was born with cerebral palsy, so I know no different.
However, during my first year of university I started to lose my sight. At the time, I was registered as partially sighted. This certainly wasn’t part of the plan. Since then my vision has steadily declined over the past 6 years. Last year this meant I was registered blind. For me, this means I can see colours and shapes, but lose the detail and the way my eyes now process light has led to light sensitively.
Read more: “But you don’t look blind!”
I believe this has given me a broader perspective due to being born disabled and acquiring a disability while completing my studies.
Learning my own abilities (and limitations)
When I think back to my time at high school, this quote sticks in my mind:
Whether you think you can, or you can’t, you’re probably right.
Henry Ford
It would be shown during an assembly or when we had talks about resilience. I’ve always been determined, some would argue stubborn, but I found comfort in this quote. If I worked hard enough I’d succeed. If I revised enough I’d pass my exams. Despite this been true to a certain extent, I no longer agree with this quote. There are some things in life we cannot do. If you’re a wheelchair user, wishing you could climb up a flight of stairs will not magically make a ramp appear. There are somethings my disability stops me from doing. But that’s okay.
Read more: Overcoming my disability is something I’ve never done
I wanted to be an air hostess, an occupational therapist, a psychology teacher and a SENCo. Can you imagine if I became an air hostess?! For starters, I’m a nervous flyer, which wouldn’t bode well. But I’d spill drinks on people, probably fall over with the slightest bit of turbulence and last time I checked, the aisle certainly isn’t big enough to accommodate a guide dog…
When you’re a disabled student, you might feel like your options are even more limited. You might feel like you are the problem. That it is your fault if you cannot achieve something. This is not the case.
The social model of disability
The social model of disability has been developed by disabled people.
The model says that people are disabled by barriers in society, not by their impairment or difference. Barriers can be physical, like buildings not having accessible toilets. Or they can be caused by people’s attitudes to difference, like assuming disabled people can’t do certain things.
The social model helps us recognise barriers that make life harder for disabled people. Removing these barriers creates equality and offers disabled people more independence, choice and control.
Scope
The same applies to disabled students. As staff, you need to create an environment where they don’t experience barriers. It is only then that they can reach their potential and see what is possible.
Being included at school
For example, if they have never been able to access the school sports hall properly, how do they know if they enjoy (and are good at) sports? I vividly remember a PE lesson where we were playing basketball.
At the time I had just started to use a wheelchair. I wasn’t comfortable with the idea, but it was suggested that I could try using one of the sports wheelchairs that my school had. This idea was never forced on me, and I’ll admit that it took me a while to warm up to the idea. However, when I did, I can honestly say it was the first time I’d felt fully included in a PE lesson. Not only that, I was pretty good! One of my friends said; in a sports chair and you’re actually really sporty! My true potentially was unknown due to it not being inclusive. Sure, I managed okay before then, but this adaption put me on a level playing field with my peers. That been said my peers might have disagree when I came hurtling towards them…
In terms of my own potential, it turned out to be right in front of me, writing and a passion for campaigning about disability rights. I never knew that pressing publish would pave a path for my future career. But it’s because the barriers have been removed. I was surrounded by people who didn’t discriminate me, I could access the opportunities I needed.
Being a disabled student is hard
Unfortunately I’m one of the lucky ones. I still believe I faced barriers, but I was supported by my family and staff. Unlike many others, I was able to remain in education while my condition fluctuated and achieve my potential. It was only when I wrote about my educational journey in 2015 that I realised just how hard it can be for disabled students.
Read more: Are needs being fully met for disabled students?
Schools should work with disabled students to find out how best to support them. There isn’t a quick fix and there is ‘no size fits all’. I also appreciate, as teachers, you have a lot to manage. But here’s my advice.
Being a disabled student is hard work. I cannot stress this enough. I loved school and therefore was willing and capable of putting in the extra hours. This ensured my work had a chance of being on par with my peers.
If you have a disabled student in your class, it probably means they are working a lot harder and longer behind the scenes to compensate. We shouldn’t have to do that. We shouldn’t be forced to burn out in today’s mainstream educational system, just because it’s not designed for people like us.
My own needs
Personally, I had to work harder for various reasons:
- Longer time was needed to process information. This often meant I’d have to sit with a problem or an idea for a while to work it out.
- I really struggled to read the board, remember what it said, write it down, and then know where I needed to read from next when I looked back up.
- Dexterity meant it took me longer to write or type.
- Part of my cerebral palsy means I process numbers differently. This means, I still don’t know my times tables and I struggle to read an analog clock.
I don’t tell you these because I want you to be shocked that I have achieved academically. I just want to highlight that even if a disabled student is managing, they can still benefit from support.
Adjustments to support disabled students
I don’t want to speak for all disabled students, so I asked for some feedback on Twitter.
Here are a few of the many suggestions:
- I wish they’d know what disability discrimination was and then dealt with it.
- Acknowledge the effort it might take just get to the right classroom at the right time.
- Make sure homework tasks are given in writing and not shouted out.
- Skills and belief are much more important than grades at the end of the day.
- The level of concentration is utterly exhausting.
- Poor presentation doesn’t mean lazy or not academic.
- It’s important to have an open conversation as needs change.
If we seem to be disengaged, please don’t assume this is down to laziness. Even disabilities that present physically can have hidden aspects. Our condition might mean we find it harder to focus, cannot take in information the same way as our peers, or struggle with constant pain and fatigue.
Read more: Managing university as a disabled student
Disabled students don’t want to be seen to get ‘special treatment’. We can be alienated from our peers enough, we don’t need the classroom to do this to us any further. Not only that, communication is key. There must be the flexibility to try things out. By checking in with your students, it means you can work together to build adjustments that work. Part of this could include accommodating a fluctuating condition.
Empowering disabled students
Take it from me, I didn’t know what support I needed. I’d never been in that situation before. Yet it was the dedication and time that staff took that meant the most. I tried all sorts of things and my adaptions changed over the years.
Now I’ve completed my studies, I’m very proud. Yet I’m also ashamed. At times, I put my studies before my health, social life and wellbeing. You’ll argue that no one should have to do that. But when you’re disabled, you already seem to be at a disadvantage. If I was going to fit everything in, something has to give.
Supporting disabled students isn’t just about getting them to pass exams and submit work – yes this is important, but it’s about enabling them to experience things like their peers if they want to.
However, these interactions with disabled students shouldn’t be overlooked. You are helping disabled students to realise their own potential and self-worth. You are empowering them to know their rights. That might sound extreme, but it’s thanks to the adjustments I had at high school that I knew what support I needed during university and now employment. I also understood my worth.
Your words will mean more than you realise. Being a staff member at a school is about teaching, but it’s also about instilling confidence. In a way, you are helping to set the foundations for their life. With that foundation, who knows what they can do.
~ Chloe x
