I’ve had chronic migraines since I was in high school as a component of a then-undiagnosed neurological condition, which was later diagnosed as Arnold-Chiari Malformation Type 1 (also known as Chiari Malformation or Chiari 1 Malformation). Even though my migraines had a significant impact on…

My university hosts a “kids and sibs” college sibling weekend every spring that allows younger family members to spend a weekend at the college doing all sorts of fun “college life” activities like going to the dining hall, watching movies, spending the night in the…

Shortly before my second year of college, I received a few orientation and mobility lessons for learning how to navigate with low vision and a blindness cane. These lessons were helpful for learning general travel skills, but I noticed they didn’t get into specifics about…

One of my friends is a resident advisor/community assistant (RA/CA) for their college dorm, and mentioned that they were working on creating accessible bulletin boards to display information for residents about events, college policies, and self-care tips. I thought this was awesome, because I often…

Shortly before my second year of college, I received a few orientation and mobility lessons for learning how to navigate with low vision and a blindness cane. These lessons were helpful for learning general travel skills, but I noticed they didn’t get into specifics about…

When I lived in college dorm/on-campus housing, the resident advisors for my floor would create dorm door signs and dorm door decorations for students that included their name and a fun design. There are a lot of creative dorm door decorations, and I received an…

Shortly before my second year of college, I received a few orientation and mobility lessons for learning how to navigate with low vision and a blindness cane. These lessons were helpful for learning general travel skills, but I noticed they didn’t get into specifics about…

Dealing with the infamous dorm fire alarms when you have a vision impairment

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…

I started using a blindness cane (also known as a white cane) full-time during my first semester of college while living on campus. As a student with low vision, using a cane gave me a tremendous amount of freedom and independence, accompanying me everywhere from…

While living in a college dorm, I had a mini fridge that I kept next to my desk for storing snacks, small meals, drinks, and ice packs. Having a smaller fridge can make things easier to locate, but organizing a dorm mini fridge is still…

Over the years, I have met many older siblings who refused to let their younger sibling attend the same college as they did, because it was “their” school and they couldn’t even fathom having their sibling sharing the same space as them, no matter how…

Part of living on campus is being prepared for emergencies-make sure you know your campus alert system

I’ve lived in a few different places in Virginia and Washington, and something that each of these places have had in common is that I’ve had to deal with power outages a few times a year for various reasons. Whether it’s hurricane season in Virginia…

The ultimate guide to selecting dorms and on campus housing, with a special focus on disability housing