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Aside From Quitting What Do I Do?

Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
edited March 27 in Work & Study
This is really getting stupid now.:rolleyes:

I applied to do a course in March and got rejected. (IT was Acces To Nursing) I applied to do another one (Access To Computer Studies) and got invited to a careers interview and gottold 'you probably wouldn't be able to work in IT because of your vision.' (I know people who have worse vision than me and do work in IT and they're ok)

Anywy, went to an interview for the course and got accepted and got asked to go to a needs assessment and was given some yellow paper, an overlay and a book mark.

A few days later, I emailed them and asked them if they would buy me a laptop and they said no and that I shouldn't have any problems using their computers. (How they worked that out I really don't know) Because I wasn't too happy with their response, I got the RNIB involved to see what they had to say.

I enrolled at college and tried to use their computers for 2 weeks, but got really tired and a very sore headache so had to say something. I was given a piece of software - no-one told me how to use and the only thing that helps at all is changing the background.

I was then given an assessment for irlens and it came back as me needing grey paper and an overlay. I told one of the teachers who said they don't have much grey paper, because it's not the sort of thing that's in demand.

I had to pretty much tell every tutor that I needed grey paper and that everything has to be on A4 and in large print. (I'm being given A3 in large print, which is a pain to write on & carry around with me) At least one teacher is still giving me yellow paper.

They still hadn't sorted out the monitor stuation (at least 3 weeks before they said they'd sort it out for me) and so I told them to either sort it out or I'll have to quit. I got asked if it was ok for me to have a meeting with them on Friday and I said yes.

I then spoke to my student rep (they go to meetings and bring up any issues we have) and he said that he thought they were breaking the law - the law he's thinking of is the disability discrimination act. He talked to someone within the student union and said that if nothing is sorted then he's going to have to talk to someone higher than my tutor, which I said was ok. He also offered to go to the meeting on Friday, if he's allowed to and if I want him to.

Anyway, went to the meeting on Friday and got told there's no way they can do large print on A4 paper (er, I've done it at least twice, a teacher has done it at least once and have been told how I could do it:rolleyes: ) and said 'we can just give you everything on A3 and you can just cut it in half.' That doesn't help me at all because 90% of the time, I know I'm going to cut through stuff, which they weren't bothered about at all.:mad:

They then got on the situation with the computers. They said that there are at least 3 other people waiting for these as well and that their supplier doesn't do 20" screens anymore,so will have to use 22" instead - which is ok by me. I got told to use the computers in the library. The student rep said that he personally finds that a real pain because when we were doing group work, he had to keep running up & donw to check what stage I was at Also, most of the teachers talk for a bit, set work and talk again for a bit, so I'm going to miss a lot of important stuff.

What do I do now? I can't do any work until they've sorted everything out. I also get the impression that they really don't care either - the only reason they've done something now is because I've said I'm tempted to drop out.
Post edited by JustV on

Comments

  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    I can see why you must be frustrated, but equally you're more likely to get to a solution if you try and work with college.

    They are obliged to make 'reasonable' adjustments. Large print on A3 would be a reasonable adjustment. I'd suggest hold punching it along the top rather than down the side and folding it in half top to bottom to put it in files.

    The screen thing is another matter that needs resolving. Especially if it applies to more than one person maybe you and the student rep can suggest/ask that they swap one of the library monitors for one of the classroom ones until they get more in.

    Have you tried talking to each of your tutors and explaining your latest demands on paper colour? While they should be trying their best you also need to remember that they are busy people and teach lots of students each with different needs so can't remember everything all the time.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    yes, they are completely breaking the DDA, and i'd get the student welfare people to read the riot act at them, and yes these are resonable changes, my university has had to make far more for me as did my college, like letting me go for breaks often etc.

    one thing i've found that helps is emailing all the tutors outlining exactly what you need.

    And with the irlens you might want to think about getting tinted lenses. You should be able to get them on the NHS, and i don't know what part of the country you're in, but city university have a specialist department which provide people with tinted lenses. I'm going there myself next week.

    don't quit, just persevere.

    Have you spoken to your local education department about them providing you with specialist equipment?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Have you spoken to your local education department about them providing you with specialist equipment?

    I have thought about this and will do it tomorrow I think.
    Have you tried talking to each of your tutors and explaining your latest demands on paper colour?

    Yes I have. One of them still insists on giving me yellow paper. I talked to one of them and he said the department do have a ream (as do I) of grey paper and another teacher has been given some paper by me as well.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    And they've still not sorted everything out. :rolleyes: They claim it's impossible to print out my work on landscape, (which is better than portrait for some reason) yet someone has done it for me. I mentioned this to my tutor who says it takes too long - it took someone 30 seconds to do it. I'm also still being given A3 too, despite me saying its impossible to write on. (because it's too big)
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    They are obliged to make 'reasonable' adjustments. Large print on A3 would be a reasonable adjustment.

    They've admitted that the font size isn't the one I require -yet are forcing me to use that. My tutor still insists on giving me stuff on white paper (I* have never used white paper this year) with size 12 font. (which I can't use either nad haven't done for the last 18 months)

    Most of my gorup know what's going on and they're not happy about it either. One of them suggested they could help me read, but got told off for it. They won't give me anyone to help me read, so I'm not sure what exactly they expect me to do.:confused:

    I asked them to buy me a hand held electronic magnifier nd got told no. Their reason? I'll use it for persnal use - I won't. They then had a go at me because apparantely, it's my fault they don't have a clue about visual impairment and give me stuff that doesn't help me at all.:rolleyes: Seems strange that when they give in and buy me what I've been told I need, it works.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Is the work something that they could give you electronically and then you could print it onto the format you need?
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Is the work something that they could give you electronically and then you could print it onto the format you need?

    No.

    SENCO have pretty much said it doesn't matter (about what I need) because I'm up to date - yes, I am up to date, but have failed most of the assessments because I don't have the same access to materials as everyone else does. The only one I've passed is English and that's because I was given proper support and was told what we actually had to do.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    Maybe do a list of your requirements and rank them in order of how able you are to compromise on it i.e. A3 paper is not ideal but its better than nothing vs. say being given material in the wrong font that you can't read at all. So maybe (this is an example)

    1. Correct font
    2. Correct paper colour
    3. Large monitor size
    4. A4 paper size

    And then they can attend to your most pressing needs first.

    I don't know if it's at all practical for you either but just a suggestion - is it possible for you to maybe get the A3 notes and copy them down yourself? On the one hand, then you can have them in the best format for you without all the faff of the college, and also you're actually tailoring the notes for yourself then allowing you to add or remove bits depending on how well you understand the topic - ultimately leading to a better learning resource for you.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    ShyBoy wrote: »
    I don't know if it's at all practical for you either but just a suggestion - is it possible for you to maybe get the A3 notes and copy them down yourself?

    This was suggested, but I don't have time to do that. And I can't even read what's on the A3 paper any more.
  • Former MemberFormer Member Posts: 1,876,323 The Mix Honorary Guru
    have you talked to your local LEA about this yet? you really need to as they should have sent you for an assement and given you extra support. I was given extra support in my first year and little towards the end of my second year when my fits got bad.
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