Megan’s Experience with Housing
August 14, 2019
by Megan Lengel
Determining housing is possibly the most important part of ensuring your comfort and success at university. As a person with a disability registered with the disabilities resources office, you should be on their short list of people to get first dibs on housing. Be sure to check with the disabilities office and the housing office to ensure that you have first priority housing. It will be your responsibility to decide which housing is best for you. Look for what buildings are close to it: can you get to your classes easily? Are there dining halls or any other facilities important to your daily functioning? Try to get a location that suits your needs. I also was able to get fire alarms installed in my dorm rooms. I arranged this through the accessible housing office at my university. They typically work within the housing committee, so go to them first. My local Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired office was able to collaborate with the housing office to get a doorbell installed in my dorm rooms as well, which connected to an alarm clock that vibrated my bed any time someone rang the doorbell. Pool all your resources! The results may surprise you. Be sure to get in contact with housing immediately; they can often be the more difficult service to work with, as they have so many other students with special needs to address.
