Disability, degrees and ... err ... Lemsip
Well firstly ouchers I have been a tad under the weather of late, hence the lack of my presents here, but alas I am breaking down even more barriers by blogging thru my extreme illness… No ouchers this is not related to my disability but I have a cold and need lots of sympathy and love. One thing that has helped me feel slightly better is the arrival of my ouch podcast mug, witch I of course filled with Lemsip.
Despite the constant flow of gunk descending from my nasal passageways, I have been trying to work out what the hell I’m going to do with my life once I leave collage.
My very original plan was to one day be a PE teacher, something I would still like to do but to be quite frank is hardly a suitable job given all my ‘issues’ with things like seeing the ball before it hits me in the face and standing on one leg without falling over. it would be near impossible, a dream out the window there. And I can honestly say when I woke up and accepted that, it hurt a lot that’s my disability deciding I can't do a job. I’m fine with it now, I mean would you want me teaching your kids PE, think of the risk assessments….
My next plan was to be an osteopath or chiropractor unfortunately last year I massively didn’t get the grades I needed to do osteopathy, so that has flown out the window.
So I started this year my 3rd and final year at collage not having a clue what I wanted to do as a degree subject or were. I did quite a lot of searching and hurrah I found a degree I wanted to do. In fact it seemed to perfectly tie in with everything I want to do. I wanted to do disability studies at uni, the only problem being there are only 2 universities in England that do the course, one in Liverpool and one on the border in Scotland. So if you want to do disability studies and you live up north your fine, unfortunately, if you live in south Hampshire like I do its quite a problem. Liverpool is a bit out of the question its far to far away, if I could drive it would be less of a problem but I cant, my dad couldn’t even drive me that far. And I can just imagine the trauma of trying to get to Liverpool, complete with long cane or guide dog if I get one by then and a mixture of saucepans baking trays, clothing and all the other stuff people need at uni. So that idea was out and I was left with even less of a clue.
Until on Monday I had a careers interview witch based on previous experiences I was slightly nervous about. (At school there was a very negative response to me and my disability from the careers people) But (to my surprise) it was actually really good. I now no what I want to study at uni I still don’t fully no what I’m going to do with it but I have decided that I want to do a combined honours of human rights and journalism.
Who knows what it will lead to in the form of a career, you never no I might actually land myself a full time job working for ouch at the end of it (hint).
In other news I survived duke of Edinburgh with the following fall scores:
Day one: 5
Day two: 9 (including falling in cow poo)
Day three: 4… but I stopped counting, when we tried to cross the marsh.
I fell over literally about every step on the marsh, ended up waist deep in water. my walking boots now smell horribly like bog!
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I thought I had heard that Leed University (not that I have a clue which part of the UK that's in) has some kind of distance education program? Or is that only for their post-graduate degree or something? Or am I simply confused?
I had looked at their web site at one point some years ago while toying with the idea of doing a distance education degree in which (if I had gone in that direction) I would have tried to work something out with them in the way of combining their disability studies program with their international relations program. Instead, for now, I'm planning to pursue a second masters degree (my first was in social work) at in international development with a focus on disability issues. (The first year of their program is taught on-line so you can take it from any country in the world; the second year is taught on campus in Washington DC, USA; fortunately I happen to live right in the metropolitan area.) But if I ever decide to go for a Ph.D, then Leed University is a possibility I might research further.
I wanted to do a Masters in Disability Studies. Andrea's right, they do it at Leeds. But that's still up north. And living in London I had the same problem as you.
Instead I decided to do an MA in Cult Film & TV. That's right I'm doing a Masters degree in watching scary movies, Buffy and porn.
yer its a shame that some courses are just soo specific that there not widly avalible to everyone.
my cold is getting worse and now i have sprained my shoulder to add to my annoyance.
its a shame that courses like that are so speshalised and confined to one area of the uk, it means that proably a lot of people are losing out on there chosen degree course
on a slightly different note, my cold is getting worse the throat sweets lie and ive sprained my shoulder
Oh, if I really wanted to do it I'd have either moved to Leeds or done the course by distance learning. I'm not going to let geography stop me from doing something that I really want to do.
(I don't think anyone should - especially when it comes to going to uni. You get so much support it's a great way to make the transition from living at home to living independently.)
But I found another course down south which, if I'm honest, is probably more suitable for me than disability studies anyway. Yes, I get passionate about disability issues on a personal level. But academically it's films and TV that really motivate me to study.
i no i thought i wanted to get as far away as possible from home!
but i really dont it would be a compleate nightmare trying to get to liverpool, not to mention the cost and being so far away from my mates, and everyone i no.
just like to add if anyone is thinking of leeds uni they have fantastic disability support. and is excellent plece for vip students as the RNIB transcription service is on campus which means you get you talkng books/braille quickly rather than waiting for them to be posted from other side of country.
oh and they also have guide dog toilets around campus.