Haley
Haley is a junior at UNH with an English major and Art minor. An athlete all of her life, Haley came to UNH as a scholarship athlete in lacrosse. Haley wasn't prepared for the size of UNH, having grown up in small community environment Now she is ready to conquer an even larger playing field; she plans to study in London during her second semester this year.
READ ALL OF HALEY'S STORY
or click below for individual sections
PLAYING DIVISION ONE LACROSSE
CHOOSING NOT TO PLAY LACROSSE
JOINING THE CYCLING TEAM
USING COLLEGE SERVICES
FINDING OUT I HAVE A LEARNING DISABILITY
STRATEGIES
INDEPENDENCE
THE FUTURE
RETURN TO HOME PAGE
USING
COLLEGE SERVICES
I went to a small prep school and there was a lot of support all of the time. My learning disability felt more hidden because there were a lot more students at my school with learning disabilities. When I first got my classes at UNH, I thought let’s see how far I can get. It didn’t take long before I realized that I needed a note-taker for a class. Plus my mom and dad were like, you have all the resources there but you need to go out and get them. They are all at your fingertips so why not do it? They were right. So at the end of my freshman year I realized I needed to go out and get the services. From Access and CFAR, I have all the help that I need now. When I go into the Access Office and there are people around seeing me, they wonder why I am going in there. I have to be okay with who I am. Why I need this is none of their business. It doesn’t matter what they think. It is not bad. I need to realize that I still have a learning disability. It is not going away. I need to live with it, deal with it.
I think you need to have a huge support system behind you. It is key for your parents to be supportive. I wouldn’t have gotten through if it wasn’t for them. Also I think getting help is important. At first you don’t want to get the help that you need. You think you can do it yourself. You need to understand your learning disability and reach out to those support services that you need. Otherwise you are not going to get through. You might, but it will be painful and a lot easier if you go get help.