How to: A University Guide

University can be daunting for anyone. Moving out of your comfort zone, saying good bye to friends and family that you love to pieces and saying hello to more responsibilities and time management! 

Yes it's scary and to be honest I was researching apprenticeships just a couple of weeks before this massive adventure started. But ever since I started I haven't looked back.

Now, I can imagine most prospective uni-goers probably had a mixture of nerves, excitement and a serious case of butterflies. Am I going to make friends easily? Will I settle in okay? Will I be able to handle the workload? 

But for some this process can be a lot harder. For some the excitement is drowned out by nerves; the overwhelming wave of anxiety overshadows any hope that maybe, just maybe it won't be so bad.

University can be daunting x100 for those with mental health issues and/or any physical or mental disability. The unknown can be a lot scarier when life itself is a challenge. When you can just about get through the day at home with support from your family and friends.  When you're constantly worried about how accessible this new city and your new home will be! 

My anxiety went through the roof those few months leading up to university. I hardly got a wink of sleep worrying about how I'd settle in to this new place far away from home. My mind going round and round in circles to whether or not I'd make supportive friends who'd understand and accept my condition. Whether I'd make it into lectures that were a long walk away and if I'd be able to manage my mental health issues along with all this.

My first concern was making friends, most freshers worry about making new friends so everyone was in the same boat. I found that being open and honest from the get go showed people that I was proud of who I was and that I was confident in myself. Personally I took the "100% or nothing" approach and showed people the fun, loud, not so sensible side to me so that they saw me for me not my disability.

Mentioning the problems I had and challenges I faced allowed others to feel comfortable in talking openly about my condition (although making sure that wasn't all I talked about!). Asking for help when I needed it and not feeling ashamed about not being able to do something really helped, everyone likes to feel useful!

Before I started university there were a few things that I needed to sort. The main one were my DSAs. This stands for disabled student allowance.  Type in disabled student allowance into your search engine and click on the link that leads you to the gov.uk webpage and follow the instructions. After doing this I was able to set up a meeting to discuss what I was entitled to. After an in depth 2 hour chat, I walked away confident in knowing that support was out there and in place for when I was going to start university. 

Coping with my own personal problems and university work itself wasn't an issue at all, around a month before I began my disability adviser got in touch and after a short phone call she devised a learning support plan. This included a description of what my condition was and how it affected me. The plan let my lecturers and seminar leaders know that if I didn't turn up it was due to fatigue, it also let them know that I wouldn't be able to access a room if it was located somewhere with a million and one steps. This detailed plan was sent to all my module leaders so that they were aware of my situation and could make any adjustments. 

University isn't for everyone, no matter if you're as fit as a fiddle or not. But I've loved every second and I hope that this post has made it easier for someone who is going through similar issues enjoy the experience too!