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My College Experience

By Emily Ball

When I was in high school, I always aspired to go to college. However, my special ed math teacher suggested I set my sights on being a Wal*Mart greeter instead. Just because I had a bubbly personality and used a wheelchair, which was all I amounted to, I wanted to prove her wrong, so I did. It made me feel embarrassed and I was shocked that an adult, especially a special education teacher could say such a horrible statement to a disabled student. Since being a panelist on many Youth Advisory Board panels over the years, I have had the ability to recount this story to various audiences, but their reaction always had a common thread of shock and horror. 

After graduating high school, I was not ready to jump into the traditional courseload of college, so I reluctantly enrolled in Gateway Community College’s Step Forward transition program. Academically, it helped because I was not ready to fully commit to a traditional courseload. Therefore, I was taught other practical life skills interviewing skills and what my social security number was. I was allowed to audit one college class per semester the second year I attended the program. Having that option worked well because my goal was to transfer from Gateway to another community college. After completing my two years at Step Forward, my parents and I toured other community colleges to see which one would be the best fit for me. After the tours, we settled on Manchester Community College because of their disability service office and campus size. To ease myself into the collegiate academic workload, I took one class my first semester. My second semester I took two. I especially challenged myself by taking one of those classes online. It was a very intense Psychology 101 class. Somehow, I passed. Thankfully, when I declared my major as a Disability Specialist, the major-specific, psychology and human service-based classes were easier by comparison. 

During one of my semesters, I had an exam in one of my human services classes. Unfortunately, during that period the disability service office was understaffed and my note taker, who usually helped proctors with my exams, was unable to do that, so I was paired with a proctor that did not fit my needs. Therefore, I ended up failing my exam. My professor was confused by this because I always got good grades on tests. After hearing about this situation, she was horrified and let me retake the test with my usual proctor and I aced the exam. Despite all my difficulties, I managed to graduate after six years. I am very proud of myself because without determination and hard work, I wouldn’t be where I am today.  

Since then, I have spoken on panels to various audiences. I have moderated panel discussions, co-facilitated meetings, and represented youth voice on meetings. One of the biggest events was being a panel at the Office of Special Education Programs (OSEP) conference in Washington D.C for over 1,000 special education professionals! Some advice I would give to an incoming college student is to take your time; pace yourself. College is not a race, it’s a journey. 

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