Lidia Pantin Monteiro, dyslexic and dysorthographic

Lidia Pantin is a student in the Faculty of Social and Political Sciences, studying for a BA in Psychology. She wants to get involved in supporting students with all kinds of disabilities, particularly dyslexia. She is motivated to create the Association des Etudiants en SSP (AESSP), a place of support and guidance for these students.

It was a long struggle to get into the University of Lausanne. Coming from a VSO (secondary school options) background, I had to do a number of matriculation and bridging courses in order to gain access to university. Initially, I was afraid that university wouldn't be compatible with my reading and writing difficulties, linked to my dyslexia and dysorthographia. I didn't feel up to it. Even before I started my Bachelor's degree, I contacted UNIL to ask about possible accommodations and how to go about getting them. I had to see a speech therapist again and redo all the tests to get a more recent certificate. It was good to see her again as an adult and gave me new ideas to explore. I was very surprised, because UNIL processed my application very quickly. What's more, in SSP, once the application has been accepted, students with a disability no longer need to make a new application for the rest of their university course, which I think is important to point out. The accommodations I have obtained are essential for me, as they allow me to study at university on an equal footing with other students. The extra time is extremely important to me because I need more time to read the instructions and to be able to proofread my copy.

I'm lucky to be well surrounded at UNIL. I sincerely believe that without the support and help of some of my university colleagues, I would have had a much harder time of it. It's important to surround yourself with people when you're having difficulties. My friends help me correct my important emails, answer my various questions and, above all, are a great source of psychological support.

My biggest problem at university is with the readings. What I regret is that some lecturers make the readings compulsory, and often they are not even included in the exam. These readings are a source of great stress for me because I have great difficulty reading, especially when it comes to long texts. I would have liked the so-called compulsory readings to have been entirely for the exam and, if they were to support the understanding of the course, to have been considered optional instead. In this way, students who have difficulty with the readings could focus solely on those that carry weight in their exam. In addition, I think it's a shame that these readings are not available in audio format so that everyone can have fair access to all the documentation available.

In addition, I was confronted with problems of understanding others, whether other students or teachers. I've received a few comments from people who didn't understand my difficulties or my adjustments. It's hard to have a disability that may not be recognised by others. Today, I would like to respond to these remarks with the following sentence, which seems to me to be very representative of my experience as a person with a dys-: If you want my accommodations, I'll give you my disability.

With the Association des Etudiants en SSP (AESSP), we are setting up a project to improve the integration of students with disabilities at UNIL. The aim would be to provide additional support for these students, to understand their needs and to work with them to identify possible future improvements within UNIL. The need is growing with the pandemic of Covid 19. There is also the idea of training students to support other students with various disabilities, in particular by helping them with certain courses or with organisational or planning issues. This project could come to life thanks to the collaboration of Nathalie Janz, who is responsible for students with disabilities at UNIL.

I would advise all students who suffer from a disability, whether dyslexia or another, to fight. Don't be afraid to ask for help, and don't feel you have no right to ask for the adjustments you need. Try not to be alone, and get in touch with other students so that you can be surrounded. And don't forget that you're not alone. The various associations are there to help you and UNIL is also there to support you. No matter how long your studies take, you have your place at the University and you are capable of it.