STRiVE: Is university for me?
by Ruqaiya Asim After finishing college this year (2021), decided I wanted to go to university to carry on doing Fine Art. However, I kept asking myself, did I really want to go to university or not. I had several questions floating around in my head. How did I know university was the right choice for me? What else could I do if not a degree? What other options are out there? It took me awhile to decide what I wanted to do. I’m going to share with you what I did and why I made the choice [...]
STRiVE: How volunteering gives back to everyone
by Sonal Sumaria Hi everyone, hope you’ve all had a lovely summer. Did you all get up to anything exciting? I’ve done a fair bit of travelling, both independently and with my family! Are there any fellow Potterheads out there? I would love to share my magical summer adventures with you, but I think that’s for another article. Today, I wanted to talk about volunteering. It is certainly something I really enjoy. Instead of receiving payment, I’m happy knowing that I’ve made a difference to someone’s life. And that means a lot to me. My volunteering journey started [...]
STRiVE: My internship with VICTA
by Harriet Smith I decided to apply for the VICTA Young Ambassador programme in 2019 because I wanted to have the opportunity to further develop my writing skills and increase my confidence in working within a team. I also wanted to meet new people and improve my employment prospects. For my secondary education I attended New College Worcester (a boarding school for visually impaired people), then went on to study Creative Writing at the University of Gloucestershire where I gained a 2.1 degree. One of the main projects during the programme was to work on and design an [...]
Life hacks vlogging competition
Sorry, this competition is now closed but if you would like to contribute to the Student Portal through video or writing, please get in touch at students@victa.org.uk. Thanks! We’d like to challenge you to share your life hacks with us via video. We’ll choose three at random to receive a £50 Amazon voucher. So what is a life hack? Any trick or tip you use in everyday life to make life that little bit simpler. Whatever yours is, just record a short video (no longer than 3 minutes) of you talking about it or showing us it in [...]
Finding work after uni
By Megan Fernandes Hi, my name is Megan. I am 24 years old and I work as a student adviser for a Student’s Union at a London University. I have been working in this role for 3 years and this was the first job I have ever had. Much of what made me pursue this job came from experiences I had at University. At University I studied Criminology and Sociology, and although at the time I didn’t know what job I wanted or could get with this degree, I knew I wanted to work in a job alongside supporting [...]
Volunteering as a key for long-term success
Written by Idil Serce The transition from higher education to employment can be a difficult and emotional roller coaster for all new graduates, but especially for visually impaired (VI) graduates who are in a more disadvantaged situation in comparison to their fellow peers. Being VI myself, I know how difficult it is for VI students to focus on their studies and gain work experience whilst fighting with the physical and emotional challenges of living with a VI. As a recent VI graduate, l will share my personal experience of transitioning into the world of employment and the impact that [...]
Behind the blog – A VIP’s blogging experience
By Elin Williams In the last few years, blogs have become one of the most popular innovations in the online world with people of different genders, ages, abilities and interests taking to a blog to share their stories, passions and opinions. This has also been the case for many vision impaired people, myself included, and I receive many questions about how I started my blog as well as how accessible I find the process of blogging and sharing content through social media. I established my blog, My Blurred World, in April 2015 to share my experience of living with a [...]
Thailand Adventure with VICTA
I consider myself lucky to be well travelled. But this is only with family. Destinations and attractions have been numerous, but I have always craved something else; to travel with friends, peers, and experience richer, local cultural experiences than traditional family holidays deliver. Though I have many sighted friends through university, beyond hiking across the UK with friends from the Duke of Edinburgh’s Award Group, opportunity to enjoy any travel like this and with my own friends has been allusive. Finally in 2017 I graduated from university – an extremely testing, and sometimes very dark time in my life [...]
My university experience during lockdown
By Ibraheem Iqbal A stressful storm Hi, I’m Ibraheem. Currently a first year university student studying Psychology at the University of Liverpool. Well, I should be in my second year, but COVID happened. Let me take you back to the beginning, March 2020. All university students were told that studies would continue at home. To some this brought joy, to others confusion and although I can’t speak on behalf of everyone, from my encounters, most were pretty stressed out. Most students I spoke to adjusted to this ‘online’ method pretty fast. I mean attending a lecture while lying in [...]
Accessing the ‘true’ university experience by Idil Serce
Deciding to go to university can be a daunting thought for all students but especially for those of us who are visually impaired. From the process of applying to university to balancing the demands of student life and study, it can be a roller coaster for all but none more than the VI student. And on occasions I was overwhelmed. But I found ways of coping and put strategies in place that allowed me to enjoy my time at university and graduate with a first class honours degree. Take my advice, make the most of all of your experiences [...]
