Disabled student's life a struggle

All through high school I knew I wanted to attend college. But after becoming paralyzed, I didn’t know what I was going to do. Luckily I had a strong family support group that pushed me to continue my education and knowledgeable people at my rehabilitation center with the right resources. Yet, my first few years of college were a struggle. As a disabled student you have more responsibilities; you have to make sure your personal health care is in order and that your academic progress is maintained.

When I arrived at MU my mom stayed with me in the dorm room for two weeks to help me get a routine established. It took a little while to make arrangements with a home health agency for a personal assistant to help me get out of bed in the morning and ready for bed in the evening, take a shower and do other things necessary to go to classes.

At the beginning, the agency was OK. When you’re under contract with an agency, they are required to send someone out to help you. But there is so much turnover in that field that I never knew who was going to show up. Sometimes workers never showed up or showed up late. Sometimes I’d be left in bed all day and miss classes, or I’d have to stay in my wheelchair all night. I had to change agencies two or three times because of all the problems.

My social life those beginning years was nearly non-existent. I usually had to go to bed by 8 p.m. because the personal care attendants wanted time to go do things in the evening. As a result, I wasn’t able to socialize much with the other students. I rarely got the opportunity at night to go see a show, hear a poetry reading, or attend any of the parties being thrown. When other students asked me to go out with them I couldn’t stay long because I had to get back and meet my attendant. I was mainly reduced to watching others play sports at the Student Recreation Center and watching television.

The academic part of my college life was also a struggle. Fellow students helped me with taking notes, organizing my books, and helping me with lunch and dinner, which worked out well. The main problem occurred when they helped me with test-taking. With a degree in Finance and Real Estate, I had to take some pretty hard math classes including Advanced Algebra, Statistics, Calculus, Trigonometry and finance classes. Many of the student helpers didn’t know the terminology when it came time for me to take tests. I had to tell to them things like what ‘pi’ is and what different equations were. I sometimes spent so much time explaining what things were that I didn’t have time to finish tests.

It took me until the middle of my junior year in college to balance my personal health care life and my academic life. I know every case is different but if I could do it all over I would attend community college first. It would have given me the understanding of how to approach school as a disabled student. As I look back, I can honestly say I wasn’t ready to be a full time student, but like most things I’ve done in life I jumped in head strong and confident.

Here are a few tips for those contemplating what to do after a spinal cord injury. First, contact and apply to your local Vocational Rehabilitation agency and make an appointment. Secondly, meet with your assigned case manager to find out what options and services are available. Finally, decide on a plan of action and don’t let anyone persuade you from accomplishing your goals. Whether it’s going to college or working on a new trade you need to understand that becoming paralyzed doesn’t mean the end of your life. You have the ability and the right to be a productive member of your community.