Summary of course

I qualified as an Occupational Therapist in 2007, and went on to study a taught Masters at Southampton University. My course involved a mix of practical and academic activities, including clinical placements. I felt I was well prepared for the course to be tough compared to straight ‘academic’ courses, despite some people’s views that it is an easy course. The academic load is similar to other courses with the addition of placements and the need to demonstrate fitness to practice.

Description of Stategies of used.

When I first came to the university, I was a fairly competent user of SuperNova and really found that I could not use Dragon NaturallySpeaking. I preferred to use predictive text and onscreen keyboards, however, I was persuaded to give Dragon another go! Unfortunately I found that it still did not react well to changes in my position, muscle tone or voice generally. Due to the amount of equipment and support I needed, my DSA had run out so I used pacing and positioning strategies for typing as well as freeware or shareware such as the Windows system onscreen keyboard. I even managed to get an old version of Wivik working on Windows XP.

In Microsoft Word I use AutoCorrect and spell check to go through work once I have completed the paragraph, rather than interrupt my flow of thought as I have memory problems and find it is quicker to work in this way. I still have to be careful, as this sometimes makes for overly long sentences.

For my Masters course I got an adapted joystick and ‘Joystick to Mouse’ software which has made new and updated versions of course software easier to learn (I was very reliant on learning keyboard shortcuts before). It has also made my general work quicker as I can switch between short cut keys and joystick control (with macros) which lets me work for longer and allows me to access programs that have mouse only controls.

Having the ‘Joystick to Mouse’ software automatically brings the pointer back to the centre of the screen when you click which helps in terms of reducing the amount of time and control needed to move from points between areas you are working on. Also being able to easily customise macros for the physical buttons on the joystick means you can tailor the commands to individual programs or tasks. You can add switches to the joystick as well, which makes it a very adaptable piece of kit.

Unfortunately, SuperNova, Windows Vista and the joystick software do not work together. This means I use the strategy of a low screen resolution, extra large pointers and fonts from the Windows control panel settings when the joystick is more important for the task I am doing at that time. I also use Windows Magnifier when necessary; this comes in handy in clinical placements and when there are no adaptive computers in the labs where we were working (course pressures often meant that we were stuck at satellite campuses over lunch breaks where there were no assistive technology facilities).

On placement communication with my supervisors was important, particularly when they were working across sites or part-time. I purposely chose a mobile phone for myself that is robust, waterproof and had a built-in facility to read out text messages to enable short messages to be texted to me in much the same way as any other team member. It also has voice dialling, which was useful for safety purposes on placement.

I usually use research articles that are available on-line, but when you need basic knowledge related to a subject (such as basic anatomy and physiology) you tend to need to read specific text books. So throughout my course, but particularly during the first year, I needed access to scanned books. I have a good portable CCTV but the ability for the library to convert texts into electronic format was invaluable both for reading/listening and accessing drawings that were too big or complex to use with the CCTV. This also meant I could easily alter the zoom onto the page and use the find function in Adobe Acrobat to find the information I wanted. Big books with enlarged text are not easy for me to manipulate – if they do not fit on my wheelchair tray I could not use them in class. I also found that using equipment that meant I needed to be in my wheelchair was limiting socially for groupwork purposes, and meant I got stiff if I worked long hours. This was another reason for having everything electronically so I could use my laptop in different positions, such as sitting on steps, the floor or fixed lecture theatre seats. This was also invaluable when travelling between sites.

I also think that it is important to stay in contact with the AT world, and talk to other people to find out about different types of software, as some software is easier for some individuals than others. I spent a long time struggling with graphing in SPSS (which does not have very good shortcut keys when it comes to graphics or easy data input for me). This year I found out that I could produce the same graphs much more quickly using MatLab. That is more of an individual solution as it is only quicker because I already had limited programming experience, but highlights the strategy of looking for your own solutions, as well as trying those that other people have found effective.

My final word of advice to any student would be to know yourself and ask for support if needed; if I had not felt able to ask lecturers or other support staff whether I could do things a different way, or say out-right, “This isn’t working for me, is there anything you know of that other students have tried?”, I probably would not have passed the BSc. I certainly credit a lot of my success to the support I had from various people in my School, disabled students who had passed the course and people who were willing to help me give it a go. I was also lucky to be in a School where constructive student feedback was generally listened to, so the uptake of use of accessible formats on Blackboard (our virtual learning environment) seemed higher than for some other subjects (e.g. actual powerpoints where the font and picture size could be altered, rather than pdfs of six slides to a page). I also found that disclosing a certain amount about my needs (in a factual manner) to my friends and colleagues on my undergraduate course helped relieve some of my concerns about raising issues, as it meant I could use strategies in class without being too self-conscious about what other people thought.