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Tuesday, June 28

Camp Courage Journal by Paula

Today for breakfast we ate sausage and pancakes. After breakfast, I went down to the water to send off the cabin when they went fishing.

Then I came to college preview and they had a speaker that talked about robots and the applications of them for disabled people. They talked about a lawn mower that you can program to mow your lawn and a vacuum that can vacuum your house if you program it. They also talked about a mechanical arm that people are working on so that you can tell it what to pick up for you and they talked about a guy with bionic arms who got injured so biomedical people had to fix him. We talked about a robotic surgeon that can be inserted into a wound to find the injury inside of the person and stop the bleeding. Then we programmed a robot and learned about how easy it is to make programming mistakes that can impact the whole project that you’re doing. Then we wrote biographies for the web page and went to lunch where we ate spaghetti.

Then my wonderful counselor Laura who is the best on the planet agreed to help me type. Later this week we are going to St. Ben’s College to have a campus tour. I am especially excited for that! I learned that when you are in college you are the person that is mostly responsible for making sure that you get the accommodations that you need to succeed in school. Most schools have an office called the Disabled Student Services Office. It’s very important to look and see what things they will help you get accommodations for before you apply because that way you can make sure that you can get what you need. I learned that you should probably go to the school and get registered with the DSS office before classes start. You should meet with your professor to discuss how your disability will affect your performance in class and what accommodations you’ll need to be a GOOD student.

We got to practice talking to a real professor, Dr. David Burgstahler of the University of Washington. We pretended we were in his class. We introduced ourselves, told him what we do to make ourselves successful in school, and asked him for accommodations.

We learned that the professor isn’t responsible for making sure you get what you need. You have to go to the DSS and tell them. Also make sure to check that your classroom is accessible and that there is a space for you.

Remember that you only need to do the homework you are handing in, but there might be other problems you should do for practice; you should check with your professor. Try to do as much as you can on your own.

After college preview I went to the craft shop and made a bookmark for my sister. Then I wrote a note to my grandmother. After that I went to dinner and we had corn dogs and melon. During evening program I sang Martina McBride’s "In my daughters eyes." We also dressed Amber up like a Mexican. She really looked like a boy. After evening program we came back and talked. Kels helped me relax my arms. Then we got ready for bed. During the night Megan and Kim got caught talking. I was talking to them also but only because they were talking to me.