4 . I don ’ t want to stand out
All students like to fit in and do what their peers do . So sometimes students with disability probably won ’ t tell their teacher if they need help .
One student who lost central vision when he was nine explained how his feelings about his disability can change . [ I ] go back and forth with acceptance and then depression , anger and denial . I ’ m never , never , fully okay with it . So , I think depending on how mentally strong I feel , I ’ m much more open to things . And if I ’ m , like , really upset , I just don ’ t want anything to do with any of it .
He also explained how he arranged via email with his teacher to sit at the back of the class so other students would not notice how much he had to zoom in on his screen .
I ’ m self-conscious of how much I have to zoom in . And I don ’ t really want people seeing that because people say stuff and I don ’ t need that in my day .
5 . My parents may need to advocate for me
Until students are old enough , parents are their main advocate . Parents and carers have a huge wealth of information about their child ’ s abilities and impairment , and want to help .
As one parent of a child in high school with low vision told us :
I suppose you are always advocating . It ’ s part and parcel when you ’ ve got a child with a disability , probably more so than for your other children .
6 . Talk to the people who help me
Students and their families told us it was important for teachers to work out what is needed and how to solve potential issues at the very start of the year . In other words : be proactive and don ’ t wait for things to go wrong .
One student told us how an advisory teacher who specialises in helping students with disability gave their regular teacher tips on how to help them in maths .
Instead of writing equations on the board my teacher [ now ] adds them to OneNote [ a note-taking app ] so it is accessible to me . Then all the other students have access to it as well .
28 Accessibilty for All To Table of Contents