Student Stories
A Disability Services Officer Helped Me Out
Before enrolling in a BA course at USYD, my parents made an appointment for me to see a Disability Services Officer. I explained my difficulties and that I really wanted to study Japanese. The DSO organised for me to meet a lecturer from the Department of Japanese Studies, to have my level of Japanese assessed. I found out that Disability Services offer support to students and the ways that this could support me. Enrolment day was very stressful but made much less so when the DSO was able to fast-track the enrolment process for me.
In the first week of classes I felt I had died and gone to heaven because the USYD campus is such a great learning environment. The lecturers were all very kind and tried to accommodate my special needs to the best of their ability. I really enjoyed my classes and meeting other students especially those from other countries. I have difficulty taking notes and listening at the same time, and disability services were able to arrange for a note-taker for most of my courses. They were also able to liaise with my lecturers to arrange special provisions for exams and tests which also made this difficult time a bit more manageable.
Last year I finished my Japanese major and really enjoyed studying the language and about Japanese Literature, Culture and Society. By far the most challenging aspect of these courses was group work, which was particularly difficult for me. I also find the travel really tiring as the number of days I needed to attend varied greatly from semester to semester. The extracurricular activities associated with learning Japanese were very enjoyable, as was meeting students from Japan.
Now that I am a third-year student I find I am feeling a bit more used to studying at USYD. I have been studying part-time up until now, but this semester I have taken on an extra course. I am hopeful that I will be able to manage it but already I am finding it difficult to manage my time and get through all the readings. It is good to have the choice of dropping a course if necessary, but hard to make the decision to do so.
More information on the Disability Services Office can be found at http://www.usyd.edu.au/stuserv/disability/index.shtml
