Category: Cram Session
heya.
any of you ever studied in a mainstream college?
if so, how did you find it
Hmmm! I found it more or less the same as a specialist or RNIB college. I actually chose to study in a mainstream environment when I left New College Worcester, because I wanted to see for myself, what the real world outside was like and also, how I would manage when eventually, I went to work. I still had some support from the RNIB base/studdy room in Loughborough Tech, where I was taking two GNVQs in Health And Social Care and GNVQ Business Studdies, which I more or less, passed with flying colours. The only difficulties were having to work with Microsoft Power pPoint to make up slides for a couple of presentations and finding a computer which worked with JAWS in the various computer classrooms dotted all over College, the Links, centre and college Library, but I always had an LSA with me who acted as a reader, scribe, helped me find the right braille hand-outs quickly in the two or three huge ringbinders I carted round with me. It was a bit different to an RNIB college, but I enjoyed Mainstream very much, even though I'm about to go back to College at RNCB in Hereford to get some more quallifications under my belt, after which, I can safely say, I'll be ready to go out to work.
We in the states do not have colleges for the blind. This is hard on kids who come out of a blind school and who have never been in a public school. I have and so i found it easy to adapt for most stuff. I still have issues with time management and dayly living type stuff mainly cleaning my room and making sure i get everything done and take my medicine.
thanks all.
i'm going to mainstream in january, and that was helpfull
I go to a mainstream college (in fact I'm supposed to be doing homework right now) and I find it really easy. The most difficult thing is to find a computer that is accessible to the blind but if you have an accessible laptop or note taker such as the pacmate then you should do just fine.
if you have use to blind school all the while, might thake you some time to get ues to the main streem envirement.
first at all, there might not that advance in terms of providing technology for the disable in your college, but somehow, this can be work out between you and the college itself. there must have some communication going on between you and the college management people in terms of telling them the best way to help you, and so do you, telling them what you need and what you can and cannot do.
it might be a challenging thing for you for the first semester, but, it will be all okay when you use to it. main streem college is a good choice for choosing college, cause you will learn to communicate with the sighted world, and learn to work together with sighted friends, lecturers, and the management team. it can be frustrating when the technology doesn't work out the way you wish or at least you've use to, but still, lots of communication need to be done, and it can be solve easily.
good luck
If your smart and are a self advicate you'll do fine, if your dumb your screwed.
I am at mainstream college and I find it very tough. But maybe that's because I have been at blind school all my life. When I was in blind school in Edinburgh they sent us to a mainstream school a couple of times a week and most of us didn't like it at all. But now I know that was to get us used to mainstream. Well it didn't work. I do get support here in Motherwell college but not enough, there at least half a dozen of us who need support and there is only one support worker in the class and one lecturer. That is not enough.
Hi! Like another poster said above, here in the USA we don't have colleges specifically for blind or visually impaired students. I attend a small liberal arts college and I have been doing relatively well. The only difficulties I've faced are people's attitudes and misperceptions of the blind and also the lack of technology available in the school itself but I have been fortunate enough to have a lot of my own technology. I am trying to get computers with Jaws put in other locations on campus for any future blind students. Out of curiosity, how many colleges for the blind are in the UK?
are there programs for the blind in the US though. Instead of college?
Lol, I agree with Jared's slightly tactless statement. Really, it's different for each individual. You can't clump all blind people together and say that it's more difficult if you're coming from a school for the blind than it is if you're coming from a public school. I attended a school for the blind for nine years, from third grade to graduation, and only took one class at a public school, and I'm now attending college and managing just fine. As long as you've got an idea of what you're getting into beforehand, and as long as you know what you need and are willing to speak up for yourself and let people know, it's no big deal.
There aren't any colleges specifically for the blind that I'm aware of, but in this state there's a college which has a floor specifically set aside for blind people. I don't quite get that one, but whatever works. There are programs for blind people, yes, but it depends on what you're looking for. They certainly won't substitute for college, at least the ones I know of, but they can be useful in preparing you. I would personally never attend one, but I do see the advantages and know of several people who've found them helpful.
Since i started school, i've always been in mainstream, so, it does not bother me. I really like it. I only started to find out about large prints and all that stuff when i went here in the US, but for the most part, i'm doing great with regards to studying on a mainstream college. It's fun and challenging, and most of all you really get to experience college life.