My experiences of learning online with disabilities

The first part of the module is concerned with the learning experiences of students with disabilities. It looks at the technology that students use to adapt computers to suit their needs. It introduces the responsibilities of institutions for the provision of an accessible curriculum and appropriate support systems. (from the OU module details page)

When I signed up for this module, I didn't really think about the fact that it is highly relevant to my own situation. It was just another module that I quite liked the sound of and would get me 30 credits closer to my Masters.

For the most part, I think of myself as having a disability. Singular. Really though I have two or three. It's just that they are less noticeable.

CES

The disability I consciously think about, began in 2012 with a rare spinal cord injury, cauda equina syndrome (CES). That left the nerves down the side of my left leg and foot damaged and consequently, I have mobility difficulties. I choose to use a wheelchair to enable me to function normally in life and that gives rise to a visible disability.

The presence of a visible disability means that the less visible stuff sometimes goes right under the radar. The less visible but far more disabling side of CES is the effect on the bladder. I'm just relieved that I have no exams to survive for this qualification!

ET

Then there's the condition I have had since childhood, that I barely think of as a disability. I was diagnosed with essential tremor (ET) in 2012 but have had it for as long as I can remember. As a child, it was assumed that I was just a bag of nerves. I saw psychologists and various other specialists, who all failed in curing my nervous disposition. Having said that, I shouldn't be too harsh about them. I was a bit of an odd child. I'll come back to that later.

So ET makes my hands shake (a bit like mild Parkinsons) and for a while, I thought that was all. The wonderful thing about social media though, is that you can now be in touch with others with the same condition and discuss what's 'normal' within that community. There are several related symptoms, that many ET sufferers experience:

• migraines
• severe writer's cramp/slow writing
• difficulty typing (lots of double letters)
• poor balance
• muscle weakness

From a study point of view, these are much more disabling than my mobility issues. But there's one thing which has an even greater effect on my studies.

AS

I've never been assessed or diagnosed but family history on my father's side and the diagnosis of one of my children, leads me to the conclusion that I share some Aspie traits. Asperger Syndrome (AS) is an autistic spectrum disorder. It centres around a triad of impairments:

• communication
• interaction
• imagination

I don't have extreme difficulties with these now, though I did as a child. Now, one of the things that I find most difficult is reading past mistakes. Whereas the human brain is apparently wired to make sense of text, so that we can not notice spelling mistakes (provided the first and last letter is correct) and punctuation, etc. my brain seems wired so that mistakes just confuse and confound me. This is a real pain when reading forum entries on module websites. I'm expected to show consideration to students with disabilities such as dyslexia (and as much as possible, I do) but I can't really say that their disability is showing much consideration for mine. Lack of engagement in an online discussion is usually an indication that I don't understand something because of typos. 

Disabled student support

When I started my studies with the OU, I applied for DSA (disabled students allowance). That provided me with a chair. I love my chair! After my wheelchair, it is the comfiest chair I have. It supports all the right bits of me and means I can sit for extended periods of time to study. 

I also have a headset and Dragon software. I don't use that all the time but it really helps when writing assignments. I talk into the microphone and Dragon types it all up in Word. This means I can sit in a good position for my back and I don't get pain in my arms from too much typing.

In my first module, we had books. Real books. Made of paper. I was also sent electronic versions of them, so I could put them on my Kindle and read without the weight of them causing back pain. In reality though, I still used the paper copies because I like to highlight relevant sections. It was partially helpful though.

Summary of my thoughts

1. Disabilities can be visible and invisible. People assume that what is visible is worse than what is invisible but really it's often the other way round.
2. The different needs of people's different disabilities often clash with each other, both visible and invisible. Everybody thinks their disability is the worst and therefore should be granted most allowances. I think we should all try to make allowances for each other.
3. We are more aware of disabilities now, than at any other time in history. There is more support available now than ever before. We've still got a way to go but we shouldn't forget how lucky we are to be living in the 21st century.