Students with Disabilities

My personal insight for Students with Disabilities

      This reading "Blogs, Wikis and Text Messaging: What are the Implications for Students with Learning Disabilities" is extremely relevant to me now because of what I have personally gone through. Without the innovations in computer technology there is no way I would have been able to not only graduate college but thrive in that environment. For those who do not know me well, I had a stroke when I was 17 caused by something similar to an aneurysm in my brain which resulted in a brain hemorrhage. I was in a coma for months and when I finally woke up I had no recollection of anything and I had no concept of who I was. Suffice to say I had a severe learning disability and following my 8 months in the hospital I literally was at a kindergarten level for reading and math initially. Thankfully all of my memories came back and my abilities to read, write, do complex equations were back to a normal level. Due to the stroke that affected my right side (I am naturally right-handed) I had to learn to become left handed out of necessity. What I had to find was a technology to essentially write for me, which I found by using Dragon naturally speaking. That program “writes” through dictation, which allowed me to complete all of my papers or any assignment with just my voice. I am writing my blog in part to encourage anyone that had to overcome any obstacles in their life. The Masters program in Adult Education at URI has challenged me to become a better student and has given me the skills I will utilize in my future career in the academic field.