David Fraser Travel Blog

On September 3rd 1981 when I was 3 years old, I fell from a three storey block of flats.  That accident defined my life and from that moment I was always told I would not be capable of much. For example, my parents felt it was best for me to avoid mainstream schools. I believe this had an impact on my life because when I joined mainstream education other students did not understand my disability I encountered a lot of discrimination such as mockery. However I have seen opinions change throughout my life, as some of those who mocked me have since become disabled themselves. Nobody expected me to gain an education and I silenced those who doubted me including specialist neurologists doctors, when I completed my studies at Hartpury and Plymouth colleges. I gained qualifications when others who were able bodied were unable to complete their studies. What drove me to do a foundation degree at Camborne College was my determination to improve my educational qualifications and that my parents and friends had little confidence in my ability.  I have seen non-disabled people who are unable to cope with the stresses of study and consequently they leave their course.  This has given me more confidence and motivation to succeed and make a difference and I believe I developed this strength in my younger years.  I wanted to prove that those who doubted me were wrong and remind them yet again that I am capable.

 

When I was five years of age I went to the Three Crowns Special School in Walsall and had to quickly adapt to their style of education.  The staff and support workers helped me to get better including providing me with an excellent programme of physiotherapy.  I found that I fitted in quickly and made many friends.  I was taken on lots of trips and at the time it was really good.  At this point in time this type of educational environment which didn’t provide opportunities to gain qualifications was very beneficial to me but as the years went by so the benefits lessened.  Later I came to realise that I was missing out on my general education.

 

At the age of twelve I moved into mainstream school which was a huge change in my life.  I was used to being surrounded by friends in my previous school but in the new school I knew nobody and they didn’t know me.  I was picked on and mocked, a combination which made it very difficult for me to progress educationally.  Ultimately this school wasn’t right for me and I moved back to the Three Crowns. 

 

I then had the opportunity to go to Disneyland for a fortnight through the Dream Come True charity.  I had a fantastic time, making lots of friends and visiting all those places I never thought I’d get to see.  Later, I was also able to visit Bavaria in Germany for two weeks on a school trip.  It was seeing these new places and meeting new people that proved the catalyst for me starting to consider my own future.

 

At 15 years old I went to live with my grandparents because of difficulties at home.  They helped me to find the right direction in life.  They made me believe in myself and taught me that the way to achieve my dreams is through education and to work hard in life.

 

I left the Three Crowns for the final time at the age of seventeen with no qualifications.  I then had a very hard three years.  My family didn’t believe in me which ultimately made me more determined to succeed.  I left home at seventeen and went to the National Star Centre in Cheltenham which is a special college for people with all types of disabilities.  The Star Centre gave me the opportunity to be more independent and run my own life.  They gave me a great deal of support which I hadn’t been getting at home.  Whilst there, I was introduced to Leisure and Tourism and studied towards a Level 1 NVQ in Leisure and Recreation.  In turn I became Student Union Treasurer, Student Union Vice-President and finally the President.  I had the opportunity to speak up for students and say what should be changed.  All this helped me become more independent and stronger and I started to organise local and overseas trips and a variety of social events. 

 

I left the Star Centre with a qualification and far better equipped to give more to society.  I then went to Gloucester College which is for people of all abilities.  Here I studied NVQ Level 2 in Leisure and Tourism and soon become Vice President for the Student Union and was once again organising trips overseas such as a trip to Amsterdam.  It was all fun.

 

I left college to further pursue my goals for the future and this took me to Hartpury College in Gloucestershire to gain a National Diploma in Leisure Studies.  I met lots of new people from a variety of different backgrounds and took on my usual role of Student Union President.  At one point I thought I wasn’t going to be able to pass the course as my health was causing me considerable problems.  However, the support I received in Hartpury helped me to succeed and I was given ‘Best Student of the Year’ award.  My experiences at Hartpury gave me more confidence and motivation to further my education. 

 

I then moved to Plymouth and made myself a new way of life.  Although I made a lot of new friends some people wouldn’t accept me for who I was and I had to cope with this.  The opportunity then arose to move to Newquay where I was able to take up a place at Cornwall College to embark on a foundation degree in Leisure and Tourism Management.

 

Thoughts at the start of the course

 

• Nervous- about meeting new people and fitting in with my disability. I was also      nervous they would panic if they saw me having a seizure.

 

• Excitement- about meeting new people and socialising.  I was also excited to be doing a degree and furthering my education.

 

• Welcomed- the disabilities co-ordinator Kathy Phillips helped me to get a laptop and computer and Dictaphone which will help me to study and allow me to work from home.  My lecturer Tanya Bellingham was also very helpful and made me feel at ease.  

 

• Happy- the course structure means I have fewer exams than my last course which I feel is more productive and beneficial to my learning style.

 

My learning style

 

I agree with the pragmatist outcome of the learning style inventory because I gain the best results from logical linear step-by-step learning patterns.  However as I was one point away from being described as a reflector I believe a mixture of both styles best describes my learning style.  From the reflector approach I adopt a thoughtful and careful approach which relates to the logical approach of pragmatists.  Through using elements of each learning style I believe a better outcome can be achieved.

 

My strengths:

 

I am a good communicator and I like to socialise.  I also consider myself to be a people person and I pride myself on being punctual and reliable.  I am a good organiser with regards to prioritising and meeting deadlines and I am motivated and disciplined.

 

My weaknesses:

 

Sometimes I talk too much and have a tendency to digress.  I am sometimes held back physically because of my disability.

 

What hurdles I need to overcome:

 

Due to my disability I have to adopt different ways of learning.  When I receive my laptop computer I will be able to study at home and if I am unable to attend lectures I will get the notes from the college Intranet.  To stay focused and on top of my studies I will devise study plans with my student support worker and achieve the realistic goals which will be agreed upon. Ultimately my aim is not to let my disability get in the way of me achieving my full potential.  All my lecturers and support staff have been very accommodating with regards to extensions on my work.  This has relieved the pressure of strict deadlines and enables me to work at my own pace which allows me a deeper understanding of the information covered. 

 

In January I had four exams that I needed to prepare for and I found this very stressful.  When I am stressed I have more seizures, headaches and tiredness.  This was quite a difficult time for my studies.  I think the reason that I was so stressed was because I wanted to do well in my exams, so that increased the pressure I felt.  I had extra time in my exams and that made me feel relieved.  Before the exams I had what was probably my worst seizure whilst taking a bath.  This scared me as I nearly drowned, my heart was racing and I was shaking and I was in the house on my own.  I had previously contacted Social Services seven months ago to put the pressure on them to install a walk-in shower.  I feel angry and frustrated that it took a seizure to get social services to respond.  In my experience from living in different counties I have found Cornwall Social Services to be reactionary to peoples needs rather than be precautionary and doing something before a major accident occurs. 

 

My objectives are to do well in all of my assignments and so far I have got all merits and distinctions and passes.  I have also passed all of my exams.  When I have exams to prepare for again, I am going to try to relax and not get so stressed out about them.  I will read and revise for my exams and start this earlier so that I have more time to revise.  My next exams are in March (3-4 weeks time).  I have already started to revise for some of them, so I think that I will be able to stay more relaxed this time.  There are fewer assignments due in my second term at college, but the term is shorter.

 

All of my tutors know what I have been through with my previous exams and my medical history.  They have all been very supportive and have tried to help me to stay relaxed and not worry so much.  Leslie has been very helpful - she is always there for me to drive me and help keep me focused to do well.

 

My aims are to achieve everything that I try.  I want to complete and do well in my foundation degree and then go on to achieve a full honours degree.  I would like to do more courses and attend more conferences to learn what’s out there from a tourism point of view.  I would also like to meet more people from the leisure and tourism field so that I can talk more about the subject.

 

One of the aspects that I have disliked most about being at college is that some of the younger students don’t understand my disability or what I have been through.  I have been bullied and made fun of by these people who are adults and I feel should know better.  This saddens me as in 2006 I believe opinions and behaviour should be moving towards equality and inclusion.  I realise that it is their problem and that they lack empathy and understanding which are two qualities needed to progress in life. I hope that these people mature and grow to realise that their behaviour is wrong.  What I dislike most is when people talk down to me or ignore me and talk to my friends instead of directly to me.  Often people see my disability instead of seeing me as a person.  I hope that through my achievements and successes I can challenge and change others viewpoints of people with disabilities.

 

My progress so far:

 

Overall I am very pleased with my results and have exceeded targets I set for myself.  I have found the marketing module most challenging as it is a completely new topic to me.  I also found it hard to adapt to the lecturer’s teaching style which included lots of information with little explanation.  This posed a problem to me because of I have trouble retaining information in my short term memory.  Consequently I adapted my learning style so that I did a lot of outside reading using a computer program which reads it aloud.  I believe this was instrumental in helping me achieve my high grades for the assignments and end test.

 

Another subject which I found difficult was law.  Although I enjoyed it and found the subject very interesting I found remembering the dates and legislation hard as it had to be exact.  The lectures were set at a pace which accommodated my learning style and I liked the inclusion of group tasks which the lecturer set.  I believed this helped me achieve the great results I did including coming top of the class in the end test which I was thrilled about.

 

Tourism is my subject specialism and the subject which I feel most confident in.  This is because I have already gained qualifications in this subject and have a lot of contacts in the industry.  I also thoroughly enjoyed the delivery of the lectures as they were relevant and accessible.  The lecturer’s forms of assessment including an essay and presentation enable me to showcase my spoken and IT PowerPoint skills which I thoroughly enjoyed.

 

This course has included many styles of learning which helps to motivate me as the delivery of information is exciting such as the three day module on Cornish Tourism.  I found it fascinating and informative to learn about the history of Cornwall  as it raised my awareness about issues faced by the Cornish tourism trade.

 

I also enjoyed leisure and recreation as I was able to draw from knowledge gained from previous courses.  I liked developing and deepening my knowledge in the subject and was excited to work on the assignment as I was able to choose the topic of leisure centres which was a topic that interests me and I have contacts in this area.  I am now looking forward to progressing with my new modules in finance and European business studies as I enjoy learning and working with numeric data.

 

Roles and Responsibilities:

 

During my time at college I have accepted an invitation to become a student ambassador and it is a role that I really enjoy.  My responsibilities in this role include attending events such as summer training programmes which are intended to attract new students to the college therefore my attitude needs to be light, fun, outgoing and most of all, approachable.  Other responsibilities include showing potential students around the college and giving my views about the college. I have also worked in different educational settings I take pride in everything I do and am always punctual but like fun in all aspects of my work.  A member of the corporate team at Cornwall College has recommended me for the ‘Aim Higher Peninsula Programme’, which is the regional body for student ambassadors.  During this programme there will be training which will help me carry out my roles as student ambassador effectively. For example, I will be looking at areas such as child protection and disability awareness.  Other roles in Cornwall College include representing the H.E committee. This role is important to the college as I have the opportunity to put forward suggestions which may lead to changes for the better in the college.   For example, I am aiming to raise disability awareness through out the college perhaps through the use of a disability forum.

Another responsibility I take very seriously is my fund raising work with Cerebral Palsy sport charity. In this role I make collections at different pubs and clubs and various other venues and have raised five thousand pounds to date.  In the coming year I would like to work hard in my studies and would like to complete my modules at the top spectrum and as ever I will succeed.

In 1996 I also competed at the world games for table tennis and in my other event I beat Scotland at table tennis, an achievement I was very proud of

 

I left Cornwall College with a Foundation Degree in Leisure and Tourism and I applied to Plymouth University to enrol on the BSc. (Hons.) in Tourism and Hospitality.  I particularly enjoyed field trips and outdoor activity events.  At this stage I was enjoying living in Cornwall but was experiencing health problems.  I eventually achieved a Masters Degree from Plymouth University and am following that up with an M. Phil. in Tourism and Hospitality.  My thesis is entitled ‘Perceptions of Risks and Barriers to Participation in Tourism for the Disabled’.