All these graduations, both high school and university, congratulations to you! Well done!

Yet, I am itching to share…

In the days prior to the social media becoming the essential way to broadcast life achievements, bucket list accomplishments, birthdays, I did a thing…

I embarked upon a ten year post secondary education journey.

This pursuit came after a lacklustre tenure in high school. I squeaked by, and I mean that precisely Algebra 12; I received 49.5% on the final test, but the teacher, adjusted that to 51% so I could graduate. With one condition, that I take and pass a night school math class. I did that, without any support, as a hard of hearing student who couldn’t understand what was happening, and a visually impaired student who couldn’t see the board. I like to think the teacher, a kindly, yet easily frightened, octogenarian, evaluated me favourably, adding some numbers to my final mark.

So, I attained my Dogwood, and a graduate in the late 80s. Hurrah, hip hip horray, yada yada…

So, after that debacle, I started college: my first time with ASL interpreters, it was not a walk in the park.

College,

I took a wide variety of courses with no real light going off above my head.

Until I tried a psychology class, that lit a bright bulb! I was struggling those first semesters, it just occurred to me why I struggled: I was learning two things at the same time; I was learning Freudian terms, Vygotsky vocabulary, Jungian jargon and any other psychological related bullshit. Yet, concurrently, I was also learning and mastering ASL.

ASL was not, is not, my first language. I just started to use it full-time with friends about three years prior to starting college.

My first language is English. Through now I can’t speak a word of it without sounding like a gerbil stuck in a puddle of molasses. Damn Ataxia!

Anyways, I continued the college-level courses, taking the prerequisite courses to transfer to university. I left college without a backwards glance. At the time, it the zeitgeist for Deaf students to complete college, but not transfer to university. So, I pursued that transfer, and did not look back!

University was still a struggle!

I did many courses, many psychology classes plus a minor in Learning Disabilities. The work load doubled, yet I managed to get some good marks… that is until I tried dorm life. That led to a crash landing, a dabble with academic probation. Then, I worked my ass off to get back into “good standing,” streamlined my course size (one per semester) and finally, after a long decade, received not one but two A marks! I also GRADUATED!

I did this with not a lot of socialization. With other persons; connecting with classmates, professors, librarians, et al, was beyond my abilities. I was the only DeafBlind, Deaf, disabled, person in any and all of my post-secondary education.

Yes, I had interpreters, but only for academic purposes. This meant I had no interpreters for study groups, cohort discussions before class or in the pub. I usually avoided these.

Palavers with professors usually turned into inconclusive guessing games. Librarian assistance was a little better, they had the respect to write things down!

I didn’t even have access to interpreters during tutoring. This barrier was alleviated by swapping a keyboard back & forth while watching a Windows monitor, fun times.

I was expected to (and I did!) complete all tasks: tests, papers, research, et al, with no prof-approved course modifications. It wasn’t until my penultimate semester when I finally noted my limitations and asked for “lighter” workload: instead of studying a dense tome on evolution & psychology, everyone was also required to read and produce a book report on an arcane evolutionary dime store paperback. I asked the prof if I could read just one chapter and writing a report on just that chapter. The prof, a blind old bat who read with triple power magnifying glasses perched on the end of his strong nose, agreed. I got an A- on that paper!

To make a long story long, I finally found my pace, and graduated!

I was, most likely, the first DeafBlind person to graduate from SFU. Through there was no statics of this feat, I feel it is true.

Now, with social media viewable from every corner of the galaxy, I am content that my graduation success, 23 years ago, has been shared!

Thank you for reading!