Showing posts with label accessible dorm. Show all posts

Around this time of the year many high school seniors are trying to decide who they are, what they want, who they want to become, and where they will go. As if these questions were not already overwhelming for anyone to answer, navigating college selections can be a convoluted process. Whether you are deciding on your major, clubs, food, scholarships, or accessibility - the questions that you are weighing can probably be divided into those questions that impact you as a student, and those that affect you as a person.

When I was choosing colleges I remember feeling incredibly frustrated because the adults in my life seemed more concerned with The Person, than the student. In other words, I think my going away to college and experiencing independence for the first time terrified my parents. They were concerned with making sure that I stayed within the state, they wanted me no farther than an hour's drive away from my orthopedic doctor, they wanted to be sure that the school would be able to handle me if I fractured, they even wanted to know if they could have access into my dorm room! The barrage of questions and concerns drove me nuts.
At that point in my life my fractures had begun to dwindle, and I was firmly entrenched in a stubborn-adolescent-independent mindset. The "I know everything and your opinion doesn't matter" attitude was my response to every question asked of me. But of course I didn't know everything and I mistook my parents' concern for my well being to be a source of annoyance and overbearing.

With that said, my piece of advice for any seniors in high school applying to college is to listen to what those around you are saying. The more information you have the better informed your eventual decision will be, and finally, realize that this is not supposed to be an easy decision. It is supposed to be a hassle, frustrating, and at times may make you feel like you're hitting your head against the wall over and over! But once you've gotten this first step into independence out of the way, just think about how easy it will be to take the next step and all the other ones to follow!
The process of choosing a school is an investment in yourself in the present and in the future. It will come with its difficulties and uncertainties that might not all be figured out until you are actually on campus. I'd definitely encourage visiting campuses as much as possible and meeting with as many college staff or current students as possible; go straight to the source with your questions and trust that thousands of students before you have made the same trek and done it successfully - soon, you'll be among them.


Since each person's college search is unique to their needs and each school has different resources, it's difficult to list specific advice to help with the process. I'd be more than happy to try and help answer more specific questions via email: oi.perfect@yahoo.com

You can also check out this article that I wrote to learn more about my first foray in independence in college: A Protective Bubble of My Own 

Please submit a one-page personal statement with your application.
How would you describe yourself as a human being? 
You have just completed your 300-page autobiography, please submit page 227.
Tell us about a challenge you have faced in your life and how you have overcome it. 

'Make yourself stand out!'
'Show the Admissions Officers something they can't otherwise get from the rest of your application!'
'Show them what makes you, you!'
'Show them your drive and where your motivation comes from!'

College Application Season.

In my opinion college applications is the intersection of an uncertain future and 17 or 18 years of a person's past. It's the cross-roads of a student's identity: who they were, who they are, and who they wish to become. And then somehow where all of that meets-up needs to be elegantly, coherently, and intelligently expressed on paper -- on about a thousand forms, typed up into 500-character essays, verbally expressed in interviews.... Needless to say that similarly to my other friends, as a senior in high school, I was incredibly overwhelmed by this entire process.
Did I want to put down on a million forms that I was a student with a physical disability? Did I want that to be the focus of all of my essays? Would it hurt my chances of getting admitted if I revealed I had a strange and injury-prone condition? Would schools hesitate to accept me because they feared liability? (Oh sure, I know what THEY say and what the laws say...but it's what they DON'T say...) Was I somehow 'copping out' because I didn't have to think too hard to "make myself stand out?" These and other questions careened through my head day in and day out. It seemed like everyday my parents and guidance counselor gave me a new pro or con to add to the already growing list of reasons:

• First off - whether I wanted to admit it or not as a 17 year-old, my disability was a part of my identity. Even if it was a part of my identity I wanted and tried so hard to deny at the time. My strategy for 'attacking' the stack of college essays was to start with the broader essay questions first, the generic ones that were not about "the meaning of silence" or did not ask me to "share your thoughts on the generational gap.." And once I started on the more general essay questions about myself I began to see how my disability influenced the way I was raised, my perception of the world, my ability to self-motivate, and my stamina. After I came to this conclusion it occurred to me that leaving out this part of me (even if I didn't fully understand it yet..) would not be giving college admissions an honest and full representation of who I was as a student. 

• Second - I understood that I did not need to feel 'guilty' for being able to write about something I was born with. It is something every college applicant does, or hopefully, realizes that s/he can do. At the risk of sounding like a broken record: we each have some 'obvious' trait (that we were born with or inherited) or experience that has somehow made its mark on us. The point isn't so much WHAT that 'thing' is so much as it is HOW you write about it and what it says about you. How can you connect this to your future interests? How has it affected your ability to learn or take on new challenges? In what ways has this changed your perception? How will this part of you add to a college community? 

• Third - Continuing off of this second point, it also means that I realized writing about my disability does NOT have to be the sole focus of the essay. College Admissions officers are not interested in hearing about every medication you've ever needed to take, or all the different lab tests you've undergone, and every operation you've been through. It takes a lot of patience and honest-self-talk to plumb through what you want an admissions officer to learn from what you are sharing. It helps to choose one aspect of yourself and finding 2-3 areas of your future interests or your education to connect it to. Don't try to over-do it because you don't want it to sound forced or 'fake.'

• Fourth - As odd and cliche as it may sound, this is your chance to turn something that may otherwise seem 'negative' and show how you have endured and persevered. This might be an 'old and re-used' route by many with a disability but you can't ever deny the value that there is in this message! So long as the essay doesn't completely 'milk' the situation and is well-balanced with other aspects of the student, this route can work when done well! 

The choice to share your disability with others is always up to you! So in the end you (and the help of your family, teachers, guidance counselors) should make the decision. I understand that not everyone is comfortable doing so or feels self-conscious about revealing something that might otherwise make them feel vulnerable. Whichever route you choose be sure that it's something you believe fully represents you and what you bring to the table! Other things to help the decision process: research what the school has in terms of disability resources, see if you can find out what accommodations would be available, and if it helps you can even go visit the school before writing the essay for them.

This past week I wrote about my transition into independence and moving into my first dorm room. The post was published here on Thriving and I hope you got to check it out!

During that time period I remember scouring the internet for advice on dorm-living for the physically disabled. I have to admit that I wasn't too impressed with the results of my findings. While I told the story about the transition I didn't share tips that helped me along that process. With that in mind I figure I'd list a few helpful tips in today's post, so here we go (Note: These tips apply to anyone with a physical disability not just O.I.)

Questions to keep in mind:

• When it snows is the campus plowed? (If you're able to it might not be a bad idea to visit some campuses during the winter)
• Are all the dorms and classrooms accessible? If not what does the school do?
• What hospitals is the school close to? Is there accessible public transportation to these hospitals? Does the school provide accessible transportation to these locations?
• What is the school's medical emergency procedure? 
• Where is the Office for Students with Disabilities? What services does this office provide?
• How do I get in contact with the RA (whoever is in charge of the dorms 24/7) should there be an emergency?
• What is the fire exit plan when elevators cannot be used? 
• How can my PCA also have access to the dorm? 
• Can my textbooks be delivered to my dorm so I don't need to carry them myself?
• Are the desks and chairs able to accommodate wheelchairs in the classroom?
• What medical notes/forms are needed in order for me to "register" as a disabled student on campus?
• Is there a place I can store medical equipment other than in my dorm room? The school health services office? Campus security? 
• Is there another wheelchair I can use on campus in the event that my own wheelchair breaks down? 

Tonight O.I. will be getting a rare mainstream spotlight on ABC's Extreme Home Makeover; the season finale features the Sharrock family with a young boy who has O.I. Atticus Shaffer from The Middle who also has O.I. will be helping along as well!

As I'm waiting to watch the episode I'm remembering what it was like when my family moved into our current home. We were very fortunate to have parts of the house built to not just 'wheelchair accessible' standards, but to my own standards. Many of you probably experience the frustration of places that claim to be wheelchair accessible, many folks don't get it when you're struggling with getting around tight corners or reaching to open a door. That is one of the gripes I have with living a disabled life: we're not all the same (just like other labels society gives to other individuals).
But I didn't always have a shower head that was 4.5ft from the floor, a sink that was lower, mirrors that angled downwards, or a fully soft carpeted home. I wasn't always able to navigate in and out of the house easily with a wider door that opened out, a smoothly paved driveway and a lower garage door opener panel. These accommodations had to be planned for, measured and worked around. It took the foresight of my parents, the patience & brilliance of architects, and my own creative thinking.

Things to Consider: (for either a home or a dorm room)

• Keep pathways to exits, bathroom, and bedroom as straight-forward and as clear/open as possible
• In the main living area keep in mind furniture placements that will be easily move-able for wheelchair access 
• Have medical necessities (splints, casts, braces etc) in an easy location for anyone to get to (friends, emergency personnel, etc)
• Book cases and shelves should be firmly mounted to the wall or floor
• Keep heavier objects at a height that allows you to carry it while in a safe position (not reaching down or reaching up)
• Racks that would otherwise hold keys can be used to hold jackets and other clothing at a lower level
• The handy-dandy grabber stick (you know, the thing that opens and shuts like a claw with a clamp. The thing that I used to play countless pranks with in college..)