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2004
Student diaries - week 4 | |
|  | | Darren's a techno addict! |
| | Follow the ups and downs of life for a disabled university student in Staffordshire.
Darren is a self professed geek, his passport says 'Country of Origin: internet; on it. He's blind and is studying a mixture of Computing and History at Keele University... |
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Ouch is a website from the BBC. Its aim is to reflect the lives of disabled people right here and now in the third millennium
Ouch student diaries
Four disabled students post diary entries all about their experiences, about living away from home, social life and the high and low points of accessibility: on campus, in their accommodation and for study resources. |
| | Week fourdiary excerpts
 ...Come Monday evening, my heavy weekend finally caught up with me. I lay down for what was intended to be a late afternoon nap - a nap which lasted for over twelve hours...
Our corridor was truly back to its usual ways tonight. We all gathered round the communal area, and concluded that none of us really could be bothered with cooking. So we ordered a takeaway from an establishment claiming to be specialists in all areas...
I've been at Keele for exactly one month today! Not bad. As usual, I had to be up and about for a 9.00am start, and this morning's was particularly difficult. In my haste to make it on time, I brought about my first mobility-related injury by bashing my left wrist straight into some lamp-post positioned right on the corner of a driveway...
The whole student experience really isn't the same for me being accompanied everywhere by an adult note taker, as I am currently. Also, so far I've spent much of the practical time (especially in computing) in conversation with staff. I've therefore found it difficult to get to know other people on my course, although this will doubtless improve once I'm properly settled down. Still, at least other people can recognise and approach me rather than the other way around...
We spent the rest of our evening just generally chatting about life. It turns out that neither Lee nor Justin have received any kind of funding from their DSA application yet, and therefore no equipment. In fact, out of the eight or nine disabled freshers I know, only one has so far received their equipment...
Once more, Lee and I returned to his room and were almost asleep when our fire alarm went off. Lee has three minutes in which to evacuate the building, or receive a fine, and we must have cut it fine as it's never quick getting out of a sleeping bag and finding one's clothing, particularly with a fire bell ringing all the while...
While any support is better than no support, and although a disabled student has to accept that no support will ever be entirely perfect, there is clearly a long way to go before the best possible access to a degree course becomes a reality for everyone. Goodbye from Keele University, and thanks for reading my diary.
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