Mariel Twomey - University College Cork

My name is Mariel Toomy.  I am 21 years old and I am a student studying history and music and I’m my final year of the three-year degree program.  I plan to do a higher diploma in education, which would then allow me to be a secondary school teacher, and that will be my aim for next year.

Interview Transcript

What kinds of disability services do you utilize at UCC? I have a learning disability; I’m a dyslexic student.  That affects my work in how I write my essays and it’s more difficult to get my ideas on paper than it is for other students from a learning point of view.  Verbally, there is no problem, but getting words on paper is where it becomes difficult for me.  A lot of things that are used here that are helpful for me are notetakers, especially in my bigger classes where it is especially difficult for me.  I also have someone who proofreads my essays and points out my structural problems, if any.  That way, when I hand it in, it is the best that it could be, with spelling or grammar mistakes.  How has your experience been at UCC so far? My experience at UCC has been very positive, very good.  I’ve made some very good friends here.  I know everyone focuses on academics in college, and just getting the degree, but I’m a person that tends to be very well-rounded, in a sense.  I’m involved in a society that has won the Congressional Award from the United States .  It is an international award; in the US , it is awarded by Congress.  In Ireland , it is awarded by the President to young people between the ages of 15 – 25.  The award is for community involvement, personal skills, physical skills, and a venture project.  I won this award before I came to college, and I registered as a President’s Award Leader when I came to UCC so I would guide other students on how to achieve the award.  At the moment, we’re actually working towards our first gold award presentation which is presented by the President.  The silver is presented regionally and the bronze award is given out locally.  It takes roughly a year and a half to do the gold award if you concise everything, including your community involvement, 18-week physical skill or sport, and you’re involved in a 52-week presidential skill, and you complete your project.  I’m big into charity; I’ve been actively raising money for charity for a couple years now.  I raised 18,500 Euros over four days near Chris tmas for cystic fibrosis.  Last year, we ran a cycle with the college students who will be receiving their award in April from the President, and they raised 10,000 Euro.   Because of the community involvement element, we have a lot of students involved in the local community as well as the campus. I am also a member of the chaplaincy team here at UCC.  We have four chaplains who are hired and paid by the college and local colleges.  There are then eight students who liaison with other students and get involved with volunteering.  I’m running that as well at the moment, in addition to the other society.  I guess I’m just keeping a hand in everything. How is Cork ’s attitude towards hidden disabilities? I think Ireland ’s attitude toward hidden disabilities depends on a few things.  With physical disability, in the last thirty years there has been so much advancements with places becoming accessible since the European law passed in 1995 saying that all new buildings must be accessible.  They almost got to the stage that private houses being built even now have ramped access to the first floor, even if nobody in it requires a wheelchair.  There’s been big advances in that, but as a society Ireland tends to be much more closed-door when it comes to mental health issues and learning disabilities.  They often want to just sweep it under the rug, and not talk about it.  In a sense, for me, a lot of people that are my age now that have learning disabilities, they are being picked up in schools and becoming more aware of it.  Fortunately, for me, I got to college the disability office picked up on it.  Up until then, my teachers just assumed I wasn’t doing my homework because I was not trying hard enough.  In primary school and secondary school as well, it was kind of that way.  It was never that I was dyslexic; it was always blamed on something else.  I didn’t receive any supports until I came to UCC and the difference it has made has been colossal for my studies.  I did get into college from my own work that I had done, without disclosing a disability because I was unaware that I had one, whereas here we have a direct entry system where if a student does not achieve the points necessary to get in to university (we’re on points from the State Examination, not SATs), which means that one would be assessed on the basis and severity of their disability, and how the disability affects their studies and how much help they had prior to applying to decide if they had the necessary support, would they make the university’s normal standard.  It’s difficult because it is a hypothetical situation and always will be because the actual performance is less than the projected performance.  It allows for students who may be for medical reasons or because they didn’t have access to supports to become very successful in college.  They don’t drop out; they’re actually the people who are staying in college.  I was assessed in the finals time of my first year, and since then, it has been a very positive experience for me.  I went the States and I was studying at Salve Regina in Newport , Rhode Island and their system, but its one person staff.  Here, it is a large staff and I work with someone that supports only those with dyslexia and other learning disabilities and those who do administration and notetaking.  In the States, it was one person managing everyone with disabilities.  The discrepancies were huge; here, I am taken care of.  In the States, I had to find somebody in class who seemed to be a good notetaker and just copy their notes.  But as an international student, I don’t know anybody in my class.  I couldn’t find anyone to do that, or to proofread my essays and other basic accommodations I receive here from trained professionals.  They’re trained to watch for common dyslexic mistakes instead of having my papers looked at by a peer. What sort of accommodations and services do you receive on Cork ’s campus? The Disability Office here provides extra time for my exams, as well as a controlled environment with less people in the room.  I have the option to sit in a room alone, but I sit in a room with 25 people in it, as opposed to the 300 in my history class.  We also sit on campus as opposed to off-campus, as all major exams here are taken off campus.  The reason we sit separately is that I get an extra 10% of time to read questions and for better interpretation.  That’s very helpful. The other supports that I use are that I get a printing facility so I don’t need the books physically in front of me.  A lot of the books in the library are desk reserve, where you can only have them in the library for four hours.  For me, I actually get the books for a lot longer than that.  They photocopy the books for me, or give me a card to do so myself, so I can have the materials at home.  Also, I can work with a tutor if I find a class extremely difficult to help me work through the course content.  It is helpful that way that they provide those services, as well as proofreading services for my essays.  What advice would you have for an American student preparing to study abroad? I would say that if you were studying abroad, have your paperwork to help allow the disability office here classify you and be able to accommodate you.  Once you get here, find the disability office.  There is no problem if you need to find it; everyone here knows where it is.  They’re very welcoming in the office; they’ll ask what your disability is if it is not an obvious one before putting you with your disability specialist.   They’ll ask you what you need, and they will make sure to get you what you need, to a large extent.  I definitely would advise you to study abroad if you get the opportunity because it is a brilliant experience.  I did it the other way, by studying in the States.  It was a fabulous experience; I actually met up with a few girls from Salve Regina, and one of them was using the disability services.  She had a very good time and everyone was helpful to her.  To me, not studying abroad because of a disability is just inadvisable.  I can only say to go abroad; once you get here, everyone will help you. I’d also recommend that a student would keep in contact with who you would be working with at home.  I know for me, I was able to contact my advisor here if I had problems while studying abroad in the States with the way the system was, I was still able to use services here that were not offered there, such as proofreading my essays.  They’re still very accommodating to me.  If you have these facilities at home, and you’re comfortable enough to get an email address so you could contact them when you were unsure of things, they are often welcoming and can help you through rough issues.  Just in case the supports you are used to are not in the college you attend abroad, your advisors can help you improvise and still make it a successful experience for you.  Finally, don’t focus just on the academic aspect.  I think that happens with people who have a disability; a lot of the time they are so focused on getting their work done and doing well on the exams, that is really a big issues because of the difficulties, but don’t miss out on the whole experience.  There are so many clubs and societies to get involved in, especially in Cork , where we have over 100, from trampolining to juggling to fiction writing to Medieval society with open sword fights – you name it, we have it.  I think to a point I would advise you that if you are coming, get involved in different societies and take a look at some sports.  Either one is a great way to mix with people and get to know the culture.  Societies are the core of how to meet people at a university.  To miss out on that because you think you shouldn’t be there because you have a disability, which is often the case for visible and physical disabilities, while a person with a learning disability might not be discouraged unless they’re asked to be secretary.  Just get involved, and while I’m not saying school should not be a priority, it is not the only one. Here it is not that you are disabled or have a disability, you are equal to everyone else; supports only make the playing field level.   From there, its up to you.