University of Portsmouth: First Year Diary

September 2017 - Part 8: Accessibility/Finding Suitable Places to Work

Since I have come to the University of Portsmouth I have had scheduled sessions in many different buildings, all of which offer varying degrees of accessibility. There is one in particular, the Burnaby building, that I went to once in my electric chair and decided right then and there if I could help I would never go there again. The lift is shaped like a narrow rectangle and there is no way that I would have been able to manoeuvre myself in and out of it by myself and had to get my support worker to put my electric chair into manual to pull me out. As well as this, when I got the lecture theatre I had to go in a separate entrance to everybody else because the normal entrance was up another set of steps. Additionally to this, the temporary replacement room that they found in a place called the Portland building had one entrance but it was right at the top of the room so I had to stay at the top of the steps inside the room as everybody else sat on the sloping seats. There were no tables at the top of the steps so I had to sit behind my scribe. The good news is, I've had a discussion with my course administrator who was very helpful in finding an alternative place for the sessions that are scheduled in the Burnaby building to take place for the foreseeable future.
   Although it is the School of Media, none of my lectures or seminars are scheduled to take place in the Eldon building, but being what I believe is the newest University building and coincidently the one closest to my halls of residence, just across the street, from what I've seen of it it seems to be a great place that I can go to easily get some work done when I have to start writing essays. It is very contemporary and full of open access PCs that I can log on to do some work. Jack told me when he was showing me around,  that it is wise to see your bedroom has a place for relaxing and to find places like the Eldon building where you can get your work done out of your room, and I understand him completely. He told me this whilst he showed me a mobile game that he and his friend Ben had worked on as a fun project over the summer and they let me try it out and I think they may even put my name on the credits.
   I have also been told that the University Library is a great place to go to work at, especially if you need to go and find some books to study with.I have yet to visit there to look around but I will do soon. The great thing about most of the University buildings that I have been to, as well as the University Library is that they each have a cafe where you can get something to eat and drink before or after a lecture, seminar or independent study session.
   From what I have learnt and experienced in my lectures and seminars so far, I am looking forward to finally getting some work done, although I appreciate the memories I have created during Fresher's fortnight with some great friends and I will remember them forever.