STINA HORBERG is a visually impaired Swedish student at University College Galway. The 26 year old says there are better facilities for visually impaired students in Sweden.

Ireland's mistake, she suggests, is that its educational fund for the "disabled" is kept afloat by charities rather than by the State.

"In Sweden, as soon as the doctor diagnoses a visual impairment, the student can be given a loan to buy a braille computer, which they must pay back on completion of their studies." This loan is funded by the State.

Stina says that, in Ireland, if a visually impaired student wishes to buy a braille computer he or she receives just 10 per cent of the cost from the Council for the Blind - a "meagre" amount for such an expensive yet vital machine.

She is disappointed with the facilities for visually impaired students in Galway, especially in comparison to Dublin. When she began her course in UCG last October, the operators did not know how to use either the braille or scanning machines at the college. The braille machine had been idle for two years and trained personnel had to travel to Galway to train the UCG operators.

Despite this hiccup at the start of her postgraduate course with able bodies students, Stina Horberg says "integration in education is the only way forward in the long term. Ireland does not have the facilities to change from special schools to integration - it must be a gradual process "she says.

Stina herself was tried and tested by the Swedish educational authorities when, at seven years old, she refused to attend a special school. Her parents had to sign an agreement that put the full responsibility for her education on them.

However, eventually, Sweden gave birth to integration, under pressure from Stina Horberg.

When attending a special school she found herself suffocated, restricted and labelled "disabled". She used to dream in colour, she says, but the rainbow colours faded quickly.

When Swedish school authorities had interviewed blind people to learn about their view of themselves, Stina was shocked to hear the sightless pupils describe themselves as lonely, angry and free from hobbies.

Stina views this attitude as one of "death". She has a life. She has interests. She's been in love. Stina has goals. She is convinced that integration in Ireland has freed her from stifling frustrations, but she believes Ireland still has a lot of catching up to do.