Last September I enrolled at my local college to study for a Certificate in Counselling Skills. 

For many years I have been a volunteer for Ataxia UK and through that and this website I have spoke to many people and parents of people who are at varying stages of their ataxia.  I guess it's this work that put the idea of doing a counselling course into my head.

Classes are split into two halves; in the first we cover a skill that is used in Counselling (i.e. empathic responses or body language).  This involves lots of sharing, discussing, and some note-taking.  Throughout school I used a laptop to take notes in class and on the whole this worked just fine as I could type at quite a decent speed.  However that was eight years ago and I am no longer up to typing at the speed or accuracy that I was back then.  Before starting the course I had a meeting with a Learning Support Assistant who suggested using a dictaphone to record lectures.  This works well, in fact I'm amazed that using a dictaphone never occurred to me before.  Once home I transfer recordings from the dictaphone to my PC so I can play them back on my PC and type notes in my own time.

In the second half we actually practice using these skills in sessions in which I work with two other students and we all take it in turns to play the counsellor, client and observer (whose job it is to give feedback to the counsellor).  I was apprehensive about skills practice at first because of my slurry speech.  I also lack control over tone and body language, both of which matter in the couselling setting.  However none of these worries have been founded and my disability, far from holding me back, has probably given me a head start on being empathic and real.  I think that people are less likely to share their story with a counsellor is isn't human and who hasn't been touched by life themselves, and in that way having a disability is actually a big positive.

We have one exam to do towards the end of the course.  For this I have opted to use amanuensis (a note-taker).  I have been awarded 100% extra time too (although I don't think any will be needed, it's great piece-of-mind to have it there anyway).

I plan on taking the follow-on course, Certificate in Couselling Studies, next year (September 2008).