After a 20 year struggle in education with Deafness (hard of hearing) and dyslexia, nurse and grandmother fulfils her impossible dream of reaching University.
Colette Scotton is a grandmother, a nurse and she’s just finished her first year of University. She’s from Liverpool but moved around and settled in London at 18. She’s been deaf from childhood and wears two hearing aids.
“I grew up thinking I was just plain stupid. A lot of children with hearing impairments will suffer from dyslexia. When we’re learning phonics in school, we miss the sounds and don’t grasp the spellings”
She went to eight different schools, but was bullied and didn’t get the support she needed so left school at 16 with no GCSEs. At 21, after having her daughter she went back into education. She couldn’t form a sentence and was finally diagnosed with dyslexia. She continued to dip in and out of education but ultimately left because it was too much commitment for a single mother. She worked in hospitals for 4-5 years, then realised she didn’t want to be a mum and not read and write so decided to push herself. After many rejected applications, Anglia Ruskin University finally accepted her onto their three year course in Adult Nursing. She’s now able to excel due to disability support with Clarion UK.
Her Specialist Mentor is there to proofread essays and give guidance on learning. Her note-taker, Kathryn comes into lectures, tutorials and takes notes.
“She’s the most important part of the process at the moment. If I didn’t know this support was available I probably wouldn’t have gone to university”
Colette’s been a MCA (Maternity Care Assistant) on labour wards but after University would like to do A&E nursing. She doesn’t want to jinx it but is already planning her specially made graduation outfit and wants to start a family tradition to motivate her children to go to university. She’s juggling a lot, but it’s a challenge she believes is well worth it, for her and the family.
“…My kids are proud of me. I wanted to prove that if you strive for long enough you can achieve anything… With the right support and the right people, anything is possible.”
Please note: This article and video was provided by Clarion UK
