Chiari Malformation

Dealing with medical emergencies while living in the dorm/on campus housing

I was having a conversation with one of my friends recently where they had asked me if I had any tips for clothing shopping with sensory processing issues and tactile defensiveness. Clothing sensitivities are common in many people living with vision loss, including children and…

As a college student with a disability and chronic illness, there have been times where I’ve been unable to attend my physical classes due to issues with my health or other factors. Luckily, my professors are awesome and allowed me to attend my physical classes…

When I was in middle school, I noticed that it was easier to read text early in the morning compared to later in the day when my eyesight would be worse, not realizing this was due to fluctuating eyesight. As I got older and my…

When I was in high school, I sometimes had difficulty explaining how common technology behaviors or other technology in the classroom would hurt my brain, also known as give me a migraine. Many teachers assumed that I was refusing to participate in class, but the…

As a college student with chronic illness, I have learned a lot about how to schedule college classes and how to create the best college schedule. Many of my friends come to me every semester with a list of their required classes and ask me…

I live with a disability and chronic illness along with multiple allergies, so being able to quickly locate and provide medical information to medical staff or first responders is very important to me when I am receiving medical care. One of my favorite tools for…

Since I don’t use traditional mobility aids like a wheelchair or mobility cane full time, it’s difficult for me to get one of the official mobility accessible dorms on my college campus. I’m not complaining about this though, because I’ve been able to come up…

When I had to purchase a new backpack a few semesters ago, I spent time figuring out how I wanted the backpack to look so I could easily identify it with low vision. However, one of the main things I thought about was choosing a…

While living on campus with low vision and chronic illness, I shared a bathroom and communal living space with 1-3 other girls, depending on the dorm. In many cases, I was the first person that used a blindness cane or that had a physical disability…

Every semester, I always seem to have some sort of medical issue that ends up causing me to miss a couple of assignments or classes. Some of these medical issues are short term and resolve themselves quickly, while others can cause me to miss weeks…

For as long as I can remember, I have had double vision that causes me to see two of everything. The way I see double has fluctuated over time- sometimes I see two distinct images side by side, sometimes they look like a shadow, and…

While I did learn how to tie my shoes when I was in elementary school, I have great difficulty tying shoes due to poor coordination in my hands from a neurological condition called Chiari Malformation, as well as generally poor hand strength. However, I do…

Before I watch videos, I have to check with someone to see if the video contains any flashing or strobe lights. This can seem like a question that is nearly impossible to answer, since flashing and strobe lights seem to be everywhere- the lights on…

When I was in middle school, I developed photophobia, also referred to as light sensitivity or a sensitivity to bright lights. I would come home from school almost crying due to eye pain from being around fluorescent lights all day, and started layering non-prescription sunglasses…