Robyn Tainty

Subject: Sociology and Criminology

Institution: University of Brighton

 

I remember reading a very good piece of advice about coping with being a disabled student before I went to university – it was to ‘take a bit of time to plan ahead and organise things.’ Unfortunately, for the most part of my university life I completely ignored it!

 

The campus that I studied at was in the process of being rebuilt from a disabled-unfriendly to a disabled-friendly site. The student halls had recently become disability friendly, but due to the fact that I was eighteen with cystic fibrosis and still going through my “I’m not disabled, there’s nothing at all wrong with me OKAY!?” stage, I refused their offer of an accessible room. I was more than a bit gutted when I saw how plush they were compared to my minute box room, and because of the lack of disabled students, one of my non-disabled friends blagged one of them. Had I looked into it properly beforehand, I would have realised that the rooms were not, in fact, all grouped together in big house with ‘disabled’ written in neon letters on the door, but integrated with the standard rooms.

 

Although this may not apply to all of you, my complete lack of planning also came back to bite me when it came to my healthcare. Again, I did not make sure that I was close to a decent cystic fibrosis unit and I ended up in the local hospital, which was not capable of giving me the care that I needed. After several nasty experiences, I switched to Southampton General, which despite being brilliant, is an hour and a half drive away. I was lucky enough to have an academic faculty who have been understanding with regards to time off.

 

It can be hard work being a disabled student, but it was definitely worth it for me. The advice I would give any disabled student is to ‘take a bit of time to plan ahead and organise things.’ I’ll certainly be trying to do that when I do my Masters at Sussex University. Maybe you’ll be a bit more sensible than me and actually listen to it first time around!

 

[Updated 31st January 2006]

 

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