Ill-informed: The spectrum of understanding

So many facets of life are described in terms of spectrums. A spectrum is thought of by many as a scale of progression describing colours, life stages and on occasion, disability, or illness. For those with such intimate knowledge of a particular spectrum it can be hard to take a step back. When this is the case, the in-depth understanding of an illness or disability can colour your view of everything. I imagine to myself that it is similar to how an engineer does not simply see the same construction site other pedestrians do, but instead sees every nut and bolt that makes it so.

I will not attempt to generalize the wealth of disabilities represented at NUI Galway, particularly when I only have experience with a specific branch of chronic illness. To do so would not only be disrespectful, but also pointless. For those of you students who are not members of the Disability Support Services you do not need lengthy descriptions of pain to trigger your empathy or encourage you to cease procrastinating through your own struggles and simply join the Services should you need to. You need to understand the effect, not the cause as that is something all we ill and disabled people can understand.

In December, it was the last day of the Semester One exams and in some ways, a victorious day for all of us disabled students who have made it this far. I was sitting in my comfortable chair at my computer in the PC Suite I had been assigned and was taking full advantage of the extra twenty minutes I was allowed.

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