Studying as a blind person in Oldenburg

A field report

After passing my A-levels at the Carl-Strehl-Schule der Deutschen Blindenstudienanstalt (BLISTA) in Marburg, I decided to start studying in Oldenburg in 1998 after thorough preparation in the city of Oldenburg. The main reason for this choice was the degree programme, as business administration with a focus on law is only offered at a few universities of applied sciences in south-west Germany apart from Oldenburg.

At the beginning of my studies, I first had to fulfil three essential requirements: attending the courses, finding a suitable flat and ensuring a certain degree of mobility in order to find my way around the new city.

In organising these things, I was helped in particular by the university's disability officer at the time, Ms Jenny Thimm, who no longer works at the university. She provided me with a lot of necessary information, put me in touch with an orientation teacher and, among other things, made sure that an acoustic traffic light was set up at an important crossroads for me. Today you can contact the Student Union's disability counsellor, Ms Wiebke Hendeß, who also carries out these tasks with great commitment. A suitable flat was quickly found. I have been living in a student hall of residence since 1998, which is only a 10-minute walk from the university. There are many shared flats there for two, three or four residents. I lived with three other students until 2000. After my one-year stay abroad, I moved back in in 2001 and have lived in a shared flat for two people ever since. There were never any problems with my flatmates because of my disability, which I would like to praise at this point. I quickly learnt to appreciate the short distance to the university. In conclusion, I can say that the decision to move into a hall of residence was a great advantage for me, as I would certainly not have made so many contacts with other students so quickly if I had lived in private accommodation.

I quickly developed a very successful strategy for successfully attending lectures during my foundation course. In the second week of lectures of each semester, I went to the consultation hours of the lecturers concerned and explained my situation to them. I was always met with a lot of understanding and solutions could almost always be found for any problems that arose. I also received a lot of support from Mr Kenkel from the Examinations Office, which meant that I was always able to take the relevant examinations. From a certain point onwards, I could not do without a study assistant, as the issues to be covered became increasingly complex and the amount of information was constantly growing. The university's psychological counselling centre helped me to find a suitable person for this task. To my regret, the first student assistant moved to Hanover after my intermediate diploma, so I had to look for a suitable replacement for my main degree programme. This time I was able to carry out the search independently, as I now knew exactly what tasks would need to be completed and what qualities a suitable helper would need to have for the rest of my degree programme. These include, for example, legible handwriting, time to accompany me to lectures, a good reading voice and so on. The funding for such a study assistant is usually provided by the integration centre of the relevant social welfare office.

Looking back, I have to say that I probably wouldn't have made it without these two hard-working helpers. I would also like to emphasise the tutor of my orientation week, Friederike Germer, who was always there to help and advise me throughout my studies, even when she herself had finished her degree, and with whom I am now also good friends. Despite this help, it became increasingly difficult to participate effectively in the courses in the main degree programme, mainly due to the fact that the key facts were increasingly conveyed using graphics and formulas, which I often found difficult to follow during the courses and sometimes couldn't follow at all. However, I was helped by the fact that Oldenburg is a relatively small university. This meant that there was good contact with the lecturers and solutions could always be found for any problems that arose, e.g. the slides or exercises were sent to me by e-mail so that I could prepare and follow them up at home in peace. There were also always helpful fellow students from whom I could copy the necessary materials. I also never had any problems being accepted into work and study groups, and everyone was always very tolerant and understanding towards my disability.

There was initially a big problem with ensuring the necessary mobility. Although I quickly found an orientation teacher from near Bremen, my health insurance company stubbornly refused to cover the full cost of this. This dispute went so far that I had to sue the health insurance company until they were finally prepared to cover the costs. Fortunately, the mobility teacher was prepared to give the lessons even while the funding was uncertain. I gradually got to know the streets, squares and important buildings in Oldenburg. It's worth mentioning that a lot has changed for blind people in terms of road traffic since I moved to the city. There are more and more acoustic traffic lights, and all new buildings in recent years, e.g. the railway station, have had corresponding guide strips integrated into the paving. All buses are equipped with acoustic bus stop announcements and the bus drivers are usually very helpful. After many orientation lessons, even at night, I gradually got to know Oldenburg and now feel very much at home here.

In addition to these three key prerequisites for a successful degree programme, there are also other things to mention, such as leisure activities. To my surprise, I was able to pursue my great hobby, horse riding, through the university sports programme. The riding centre was very surprised at first, but thanks to the riding instructor in charge, I was integrated into the groups there without any problems. I also went swimming regularly at the university pool. Even though this was only possible in closed classes, it was a lot of fun. I also went to the cinema, pubs and much more. I was also given the opportunity to go to the USA for two semesters, which was a wonderful experience for me and one that I am still savouring today. To this day, I still have contacts with students from all over the world that I met in Colorado.

A constant point of contact for me at university was the Autonomous Department for the Disabled in the AStA, which I tried to get involved in as much as my studies allowed. This is a very useful institution that should be recognised even more by disabled students. For example, we have managed to set up some disabled-accessible computer workstations in the university library and have organised many other projects. And, of course, we shouldn't forget the physical well-being. I regularly went to the student union canteen, where friendly kitchen staff were always on hand to help me get my food safely to a free seat. All in all, it was a very enjoyable and interesting five years that I will never forget. I now have my diploma and am embarking on my next adventure this year: a year of study in Sydney, Australia. After that, I hope to find a job and I would be happy if everything continues to work out as well as it did during my studies. Looking back, both the university and the city of Oldenburg are highly recommended for studying - even as a blind or visually impaired person.

 

Jochen Dreher

February 2004