Student to Student: "Special Educational Needs are often left behind in regards to the Irish education system"

INSPIRATION BEHIND THE SERIES

Young people deserve to hear from the perspectives, opinions and experiences of other young people.

I believe we can learn from each other and help each other as we navigate the Irish education system.

I aim to draw from as many points of view as possible, making sure this advice is relevant to as many different students as possible.

The articles over the next 10 weeks will look at study skills, career route options, Leaving Certificate reflections, school experiences and so on.

ABOUT EVA GRACE

This week, I feature Eva Grace, who is both a 6th year student and disability and student activist.

She is a member of the Ombudsman for Children’s Office Beyond Limits Youth Advisory Panel. Eva is also the Irish Second-Level Students’ Union’s Disability Officer and an activist from County Meath.

As Disability Officer, Eva represented second-level students in Ireland that have a disability and advocated for them to make school a better and more equal place for students with disabilities. Making positive strides on Instagram, her main audience is people between the ages of 13-21. She mainly researches, creates and posts informational and aesthetic disability awareness media. Eva also creates study guides and so on for students.

Eva has Ehlers Danlos Syndrome (EDS), which are a group of rare inherited conditions that affect connective tissue, which provide support in skin, tendons, ligaments, blood vessels, internal organs and bones.

EDS can affect people in different ways. For some, the condition is relatively mild, while for others their symptoms can be disabling.

Eva explained her illness thus: “The connective tissue in my body is weaker than normal - and because of this I find it hard to write for long periods of time.”

ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGY

Eva Grace described how her Ehlers Danlos Syndrome affected her school experience and how she’s had to adapt.

“I use a laptop in school, which is super helpful.”

Socially, Eva was worried about this. She elaborated: “It was a bit daunting at the start to be the only student in the class to use one and I felt like everyone was looking at me.”

However, she said that she got used to it as did everybody else.

It quickly became normal to everyone including myself and it has made my school life a lot easier!

A CAMPAIGNER

Eva makes a huge effort to highlight other people with disabilities’ experiences alongside sharing her own story. She effortlessly combines her personal experiences of navigating school with a disability and trying to adapt, with her insights into the challenges other people with disabilities face. She’s heard countless viewpoints and varying stories from her time as Disability Officer with the Irish Second Level Students Union. She brings this wealth of understanding into all her work and conversations about disability.

In this way, I learned so much just from talking to Eva.

MORE SUPPORT NEEDED

Taking the discussion around school and disability to a wider and more structural level, Eva commented on how schools and the system provide useful and necessary support, but this support needs to be focused on and valued more by the government.

“In my opinion, Special Educational Needs are often left behind in regards to the Irish education system,” she said.

However, a greater push has been put on improving and increasing Special Educational Needs support in all schools in Ireland, and is something that is bound to progress over the next couple of years.

HOPES FOR THE FUTURE

Thinking about the future and the hopes she has for students in Ireland, Eva said: “I would like to see a greater amount of accommodations for State Exams awarded.”

“Sometimes, you feel as though you need to ‘prove you are disabled enough’ to get the correct support you need.”

To show just how frustrating this is and has been for her, she told me about her struggle to sit her Junior Cert exams.

“In my own experience, I was denied a scribe right up until three days before my JC exams.”

Her final words on the experience really highlighted the issue with the situation.

I should have been worrying about whether I had studied enough English, not whether I would be able to sit the exam at all.

Eva’s advice for this Student to Student series is inspirational, especially for anyone who relates to her situation.

“The advice that I would give to anyone who is having a similar experience to me is to just remember that disabilities are a normal part of society and not something to hide away.”

This message also needs to be reiterated and reabsorbed by all members of our communities.

“Yes, you might feel as though you stick out like a sore thumb, but I guarantee people aren’t as invested in your life as you think they are,” she added.

To anyone with a disability, hidden or visible, she says: “I would also say keep fighting for what you deserve and don’t settle for anything less than that!”

Next week: Carl Dwyer Murray is an 18 year old Law student from Cork who has just completed his first year in University College Cork.