Greetings from Dublin, Ireland! On Sunday, May 26, we entered through the gates of Trinity College. While trekking my bags across the cobblestone ground, I was amazed by the beauty of this campus. Today, we had our first site visit: Trinity Disability Service. Here, we listened to a presentation given by an occupational therapist from Trinity who works for this service. She discussed Trinity’s process of providing the most beneficial services for people with disabilities so they can reach their fullest potential.
There were a few things during this presentation that stuck out to me. For instance, the European Social Fund pays for services for each individual who needs them at Trinity. In addition, the students have a say in what services they feel they need in order to succeed. Another thing I learned is the exam accommodations at Trinity is generally an additional 10 minutes for every hour of the exam; in the United States, it is generally time and a half. I found this interesting because she mentioned most students do not even need all of this additional time! In all, the process appears to prioritize each student’s voice as they choose what services work for them.
One statistic that really stuck out to me was that 10-15% of Ireland has a disability and 10-15% of the Trinity population registers. This is very representative of the general population, meanwhile it is not in the US; it is underrepresented! Therefore, I feel that it would be beneficial to utilize a registration technique like Trinity’s in other universities to encourage all individuals with disabilities to seek services that are necessary for them. There are many things I have learned from this presentation that I feel are important and I can advocate for in school systems, especially since I will be a Special Education teacher in a few years.
So far, I am really enjoying my experience in Dublin, Ireland. The city’s architecture is beautiful and there are many things I am looking forward to visiting in the next few weeks. I am excited to see what the rest of this program has in store for us!
