Students with disabilities
say college works for them
Special to the Florida State Times
They might be dyslexic, blind, deaf, dependent on a wheelchair or disabled
in other ways, but they can succeed in college, and they want everybody
to know it.
They especially want younger students with disabilities to know they don't
have to give up on higher education.
So members of Advocates for Disability Awareness, a three-year-old campus
organization, are visiting high schools to talk to special-education classes.
"We've all come from a place where we've struggled," Jennifer
Thean, an FSU senior who is dyslexic, told students at Tallahassee's Godby
High School in April. "Now that we're over the hump, we're helping
other people."
Thean was one of 11 students who talked about their fears and their accomplishments.
Another, Bobby Biggs, who is blind, admitted to the Godby students that
the first semester of college was "hell" for him. But he made
it and came back for a second year.
Thean was encouraged when she asked the 30 students in her audience at Godby
how many planned to go to college.
"Nearly 90 percent raised their hands," she said.