Interview Transcripts

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Sinead Kane - University College Cork

Hello, my name is Sinead Cane I’m 23 years old I’m a law graduate and my disability is visual impairment. I have anaridia which lets in too much light and that is why I squint. People say that my eyes look like they are dilated but I actually have no pupils. I only have five percent vision in each eye yet my ophthalmologist can’t understand how I can get around without using a cane or a guide dog. Growing up has been very hard the fact that having a disability society in general aren’t very accepting but I think that as the years have gone on people have learned more about disability. I think that being open about your disability helps other people understand coming to university was a major decision for be because I didn’t if id be able to cope. I was told by my teachers in secondary school when I told them that I wanted to do law that it was too big of a challenge for me and maybe I shouldn’t pursue that course that I should go with an easier course. That made me more determined to study law because of the fact that me having a disability if somebody tells you that you cant do something that makes me more determined to actually do it. I came to university here at UCC in 2001 and I got my law degree I graduated with a BCL in September 2004. In December of 2005 I graduated with a masters in law.

Interview Transcript

While you were a student at Cork what sort of services did they provide for you?

There were a range of services. I had a note taker in my lectures. For exams I had enlarged paper and because of my condition, anaridia, white paper puts a strain on my eyes so my paper would be blue and to help navigation I would have thick black lines in my answer book and not the normal size that other students would get. I would also get extra time and a separate room because of my eye condition I would have to take rest breaks. I would get ten minutes for every hour so my exams would usually be three and a half hours. Throughout the year I would have assistive technology provided to me and a note taker in my lectures and I would also have an educational assistant and it was a major help to me.

How did you use your educational assistant?

For each person with a disability their needs are different and they use the educational assistant according to their needs. My educational assistant basically would read a lot to me and I would then ask them to highlight that line because I think that was important. If the assistant highlighted the line they would be doing the work and what is the point of that. They would also go to the library and get source articles for me and if I was on the computer they may help me look up a document on the website. Those were basically my needs for the personal assistant. The major one was just reading and sourcing articles in the library because law is a demanding subject therefore the majority of it is reading and researching where a different area of study may be different. Here at the disability office there is a lady, Shirley, dealing solely with assistive technology for visual impairment. Because I am visual impairment she would give me a device regarding scanning, or a Dictaphone because you can record some of your lectures but you have to ask the lecturer if you can record their lectures some lectures allow you to record and some do not.

How was the University of Cork ?

When I came in first year I was very apprehensive because I had been treated badly in secondary school by my secondary teachers that made me very nervous coming to university and I didn’t think that I was ready to go to a big city but when I got here and saw that there were other people with disabilities. When you come to UCC you feel very integrated because there are 450 students registered here at the disability office so I felt included once I got here. It was difficult at the start to get across my exact needs to the disability office and to sort out different things but in time it all came together. About halfway through the academic year I realized it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was going to be.

Would you recommend a student with a disability disclose that before they studied?

It would be up to the individual if they wanted to disclose that information or not. The disability office is here to help the students and why not take advantage of that. If your department is not assisting you you can come to the disability office and they will act as a mediator.

My overall experience being here at the university the academic department has been good to me. There has been one or two blips where they haven’t accommodated me as fully as they could have but having the support of the disability office has made them realize that she needs certain accommodations. Its just good to know that the disability office is here if I need it. In first year through 3^rd year I used the services a lot but I made myself a promise that I would not use the services as much for my 4^th year because of the fact that when I go into the workplace not every workplace is going to have a disability office. So what I have learned from the disability office here are UCC is that take advantage of the services but don’t abuse them. If you can do something yourself you should do it. From my first through third year I have learned from the disability office how to stand up for myself and not let myself get bullied around. The disability office have given me different skills on how to progress through life and reality.

How accessible is Cork for entertainment and other social activities?

The entertainment part is great. There are a lot of nightclubs and pubs. If I could be a first year student all over again I probably would. People are always saying that isn’t great that you have your masters and your BCL and I say yeah that’s great but if I could be 18 all over again I would be just solely for going out every day of the week. The night life is very good and as you said people are very friendly here in Cork . For sport there is a gym and a swimming pool attached to UCC and the staffs there are very open to helping people with disabilities and it’s a great way of keeping fit. I found out one day while I was there that the staff is willing to help you if you need it. The disability office set up something for students with disabilities every Tuesday and Thursday would have swimming lessons if they didn’t know how to swim and that was free of charge. The initiative behind that from the disabilities support services point of view was just to de-stress the students. There are also a lot of clubs here at UCC. There is everything from yoga to tae kwon do kickboxing, palates just anything you name its here at UCC like squash swimming.

What advice would you have for an American student with a disability that wanted to study in Cork ?

You can achieve a lot from being at UCC. You can become more mature in yourself. I think that you have to have a set goal in your head what you want to achieve by coming to UCC and I suppose the foremost thing is what does that person really want to get out of UCC. If I was in the position of an American student what I would do is say to myself is make a plan and have in my head what I need sorted for when I go to Ireland. I need to have my needs sorted because of my disability. Ok ill get in touch with the disability office. What else will I need? Ill need accommodations so ill either take the initiative myself and look for accommodations myself and be mature about it or maybe I could ask the disability office for their advice about on campus accommodations get information and contact the people myself. And budget. Get your money in order and budget for your trip.