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 | You and Yours - Transcript ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ Radio 4 |
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| TX: 27.10.03 – STUDENT DIARIES 1 |
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| PRESENTER: LIZ BARCLAY BARCLAY Thousands of students have recently started university for the first time, getting to grips with lectures, living away from home and of course socialising. For the last month three such freshers have been writing diaries of their experiences for the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's disability website - OUCH. Ruth Douglas is reading medicine at LeedsUniversity and has severe asthma and a rare genetic disorder called Nail Patella Syndrome. Ciaran Gilligan is at ManchesterMetropolitanUniversity studying English and creative writing, he's a wheelchair user. And Sarah Butler is studying physiotherapy at BirminghamUniversity and is visually impaired. All this week we'll be featuring extracts from their diaries and here are their thoughts from week one. RUTH DOUGLAS Sunday 21st September. Well I'm halfway through the first day and there are no major disasters so far. I've been allocated a massive specially adapted room which I feel a little guilty about as a non-wheelchair user. I know that they wouldn't have give it to me if there was another a student who needed it more. I have to have help with washing my hair, that means that they have to be able to get into the showering space with me and when I went into other students rooms they have the most tiny bathrooms ever and there would have been no way I could have someone help me wash my hair, so that made me feel a little bit happier about the size of my room. CIARAN GILLIGAN The issue of space is like the main thing because I've come to university with a new wheelchair which is a lot wider than most because it was specially constructed. And in the room it's a pretty small room, I have to keep the bathroom door open to turn around comfortably. Monday September 29th. I'm having a meeting tomorrow with my stepdad and my two PAs to discuss how that whole situation is going. It's a very odd thing to have to do - start organising your own care after being used to having it done for you for so long. The organising and the structuring of the whole thing is very much up to the individual, it's up to me. Now I've started employing PAs it still is weird, for a start employing someone at my age anyway but especially when they're older than you. SARAH BUTLER Thursday 25th September. Went out last night with the medics, nurses and physios. Had an amazing evening and met loads of people, although I did remember what it was like to go clubbing with people who really don't understand my visual impairment. I think people are really thrown by the concept. The trouble with nightclubs is that basically there's flashing lights everywhere and I have photophobia, so as soon as there's a flashing light in my face I just can't see anything. And then there's loads of people everywhere and they like to position random steps all over the place just for my inconvenience. And then of course because you're drinking a lot you're soon needing the toilet and finding toilets is just awful. Normally they have really random jazzy signs but I just have no idea where I'm going at all, it's quite embarrassing at times. RUTH DOUGLAS Last night was interesting. As students do everyone was off to bars, nightclubs and pubs, to drink and dance the night away but little old asthmatic Ruth, having to avoid cigarettes, felt she was rather restricting her companions choice of activities. It feels really awkward in the evenings because when all my friends go out to like bars and clubs and pubs and I can't go out just because of the cigarette smoke, you kind of feel like you're being a bit of a stick in the mud, it's like you really want to be able to like go out and spend time with them and stuff but the things they want to do are things you physically can't do and it's not a good idea for you to do. And you just feel really guilty about that and really left out a lot of the time. SARAH BUTLER Friday 26th September. Finally got to see the physiotherapy block today. They have totally redone the interior this September, so it all looks very impressive, aside from the huge set of unmarked concrete steps outside - I'll undoubtedly get closer to these little beauties at some point and when I say closer I mean arse, step, face sort of close. The university use notice boards to do a lot of the communicating within the department of like timetable changes and such like which is a real problem for me because often they're set quite high up on the wall. And the answer universities come up with is putting all the notices that go up on the board in my pigeonhole, which I'm really happy with, I really don't mind, it saves me sort of like standing there with my face pressed up against the wall with people giving me odd looks. CIARAN GILLIGAN When you have a disability, especially with going to university, you have the same starting problems as everyone else. they're like moving away from home for the first time and meeting new people and making sure your course is alright. But then on top of that you've got the additional kind of weight, I suppose, of setting up a system so that it works. Sunday September 28th 2003. A week can seem like a really long time sometimes, especially if in that particular week existence as you have known it for the past 19 years changes as completely as is humanly possible. BARCLAY And we'll be hearing more from Ciaran, Ruth and Sarah later in the week. Back to the You and Yours homepage The ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ is not responsible for external websites |
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