Profile: Catherine Hudson

I am a final year history student studying at the University of Liverpool, heading for a first and relishing a dissertation on gangster films. I am also disabled. My medical diagnosis is ME but I must admit I am reluctant to share this information with others: I am wary of subconscious discrimination on their part. That ME has had bad press in the past is to put it mildly. That most people still do not understand the complexities of this illness is a given. For me it means that I am not always in a wheelchair.

That said the majority of my university experience has been a positive one. I have had help with timetabling, exams, coursework extensions, longer library loans, and disabled student grants, the list goes on...

Throughout my five-year student life I have met wonderful people, and gained a deep and lasting fulfilment from my degree. I have had a lot of help, from a lot of people, which has got me to where I am now - Although I was not aware I would need so much back up when I applied. I would urge others to talk to their prospective department to gauge attitudes prior to making an application. It just so happens that I fell on my feet, as it were.

In physical terms, I would like to be able to open my own doors. To make this happen at my university a petition, with articles in our student paper, helped convert my Georgian department. I was so grateful for the student voice at this point. I have felt alienated from others at times, but this helped me see that if people were quiet around me they were probably just worried about saying the wrong thing. This helped me to learn to be comfortable about who I am and the way I may look to fellow students. I realised, if you are comfortable with yourself you send a signal to others that they can be too.

As I approach the end of my university life I feel I am a well rounded individual. I have had many experiences I wish I had not: sitting at the bottom of a slope to the library, in the pouring rain, waiting to be pushed up was a low. Being invited to consult on a university access audit was a high. However, one thing is for certain, I will never be short of things to talk about at interview. I know the lessons learnt and skills honed as a disabled person represent what employers are looking for. I recently talked at an equal opportunities fair in London. My brief was to convey the normalcy of disabled people. I got a number of job offers and some fascinating feedback as a result.

My experiences qualify me to say to anyone reading this; market yourself in the future. Be proud of where you are now, and where you have come from. Also, never doubt that help is there; don't be too proud to ask for it.

What does Skill do to help people like Catherine?

• Skill's freephone Information Service answers enquiries from disabled students facing difficulties at their institution.
  
  
• Skill worked hard to ensure that the Disability Discrimination Act 1995 (DDA) was extended to cover education, which had originally been made exempt from the legislation. Skill is now working hard to make sure that the DDA Part 4: Education is implemented effectively.