Opportunities and Expectations

Nadia Clarke: Exams


Nadia was born in 1992 in Hexham, Northumberland. At age five she attended a local special school and then moved to a mainstream school at age six, after the family moved to Halifax. She continued in a mainstream secondary school, then attended her local college. Nadia is planning to go on to university.

Nadia talks about her experiences of inaccessible exams.

Transcript

When you said they wouldn’t let you do exams, did they talk to you about it and did they involve you in the decisions? No.
But I had four GCSE exams, two failed, because they said not use words and DynaVox. and watch interpreter, it was bad. I can't write to spell and don’t understand what words mean, can’t read. I remember in exam room one interpreter someone write and someone watched me. I feel in police station and I felt dizzy because hot in room, it was awful. I remember to try the exam English in class, but I told my teacher I can’t read and I don’t understand it. He said don’t need exam English, I was happy. But I went to college three times failed English. I know to hate exam but I love coursework.
Do you think they should find better ways, by looking at coursework and talking to people, rather than just exams for everybody? I think (too) late now, because they don’t understand about communication aid and deaf.

Explore more

Explore stories by theme or view the timeline of significant events in education for disabled people

A selection of other stories...