How has your experience been going to a college specifically for disabled people? And were you in special ed in school?
I was in special ed in school because of my CP and autism and I didn’t enjoy it at all. Is the college experience different?
Hello! Good question.
My experience for going to a college for the disabled has been…bleh. I like my college. It’s great! But I only like the curriculum and the teachers.
My school was originally aimed towards those that were physically disabled. Slowly it turned to cognitive and developmental disabled. Now, there are only a handful of physically disabled people, and it’s all developmentally disabled people. Which isn’t bad! Just putting in perspective.
A lot of my peers in the school, are pretty “normal”. A lot of them have “minimum” disabilities. (This isn’t invalidating their disabilities, this is just saying that their disabilities don’t really affect them academically or in everyday life. They can pass as neurotypical.) So when I came, I thought I’d be surrounded by people who understood and cared. It quickly came up that this was NOT the case.
My peers have no idea how to deal with me. And although they talk to me, I’m not “normal” enough to get past the small talk phase and move onto the friend phase. And I don’t understand it. I’m a good student. I passed this term with all As, and yet people still underestimate me and act like I’m not capable even though I’m top of my class.
It’s very disheartening, but sadly my reality.
I was not in special education during high school, I was homeschooled basically all my life.
It is different here because we have more freedoms, but again, there’s no guarantee that you’ll make friends, or be understood even by people like you.
