Country: Turkey

Department:Computer Education

The student:  P.L. is a signer and a lip reader,deaf from birth. He got early speech education: by the time he was 5 he had enough spoken language to be able to start at the neighbourhood school.  He could speak and understand other's speech; he never went to special school.

University studies:He got to university through the main university entrance exam without disclosing any special needs.  He met the disability coordinator in his second year. Until then he worked out solutions alone - focussing on written information (in books and online), and asking some friends for help. He only asked for exemption from a course (Spoken presentation skills) once.

Challenges: 

1. working in groups, because lip reading is difficult when there are many people talking at once. Solution: finding reliable understanding partners, training them how to 'work best with me'.

2. School practice, because he had to be seen to control a class of children. For this OK prepared a lot, with teaching practice supervisor, with the classroom teacher and the class: explaining how he could work, his needs, and also the importance of KO being a successful disabled person, that thanks to this class he would become one of the few Deaf people qualified as a teacher: the school children were part of the process!

Sills and Strategies: He developed skills (learning more languages, spoken-written and Sign; social skills and confidence by participating in EU projects), he found out about other deaf students and exchanged ideas with them. He worked with the disability advisor to understand how best to give information to instructors and teaching assistants about his needs. He gave courses to interested students and lecturers about Sign language and lip reading. He helped prepare a brochure about 'Deaf students'. He learnt to share some fears and ask for help when needed.

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