Exeter Deaf Students have their say at National Conference

Students from Exeter Deaf Academy shared their aspirations, from living independently in their own home and attending university to being the first deaf Prime Minister, when attending a national conference on Tuesday, the National Day for Disabled People.

The conference aimed to gather views from students of different specialist colleges about why specialist colleges are important and appropriate to them and how they might promote this to potential students in the future.

Students from Exeter Deaf Academy, along with five other specialist colleges, told Natspec how they loved their specialist colleges as it permitted them to “forget about their disability and start living and learning”. The specialist technology allowed them to “try new things without fear of failing” and that the specialist staff “just got it”. They also recognised that if they had not attended a specialist college they would instead, “not by choice”, be at home.

“A right not a fight”, came out of an exercise about how to promote specialist colleges so that more students would get the information they needed to get a place and funding at a specialist college in the future. This reflects that many students have to fight for their places in their specialist college, when instead they want the right to have equal access to education. The group then discussed activities such as letters to MPs and councillors, YouTube videos and flash mobs.

"I feel that every student should have a right to go to which college they wish, regardless of cost, it is the student's right to education.”, said Amina, a student from Exeter Deaf Academy, “I enjoyed the visit to National Star College on Tuesday, it was interesting meeting and working with students with different disabilities to give our views on our specialist colleges."