FORMER ROYAL BLIND SCHOOL PUPIL RECEIVES FIRST CLASS HONOURS DEGREE

A press release:

A former pupil of the Royal Blind School in Edinburgh who is blind, deaf and has mild cerebral palsy has defeated all odds and received a first class honours degree in Spanish from the University of the West of Scotland.

Jennifer Murray, aged 24, attended the Royal Blind School from August

2002 to June 2008. She has mild cerebral palsy and was born blind due to a premature birth. She also wears two hearing aids.

As part of her degree in Spanish, she spent third year teaching English in Murcia in south east Spain as part of the British Council English Language Assistants Programme. Jennifer then wrote her University dissertation on the Spanish education system and the integration of blind pupils.

Elaine Brackenridge, Head Teacher at the Royal Blind School said:

“I am over the moon for Jennifer – she is an inspiration to us all! I taught Jennifer from the age of five at another special school for pupils with visual impairment and was delighted when she later joined the Royal Blind School as a pupil.”

Jennifer is planning to return to Spain to teach English again. She said:

“This time I am going to work in Granada, Andalucía. I have applied to the British Council’s English Language Assistants programme again in order to teach English in a Spanish school. I wanted to go somewhere not too touristy where Spanish is the first language spoken.

“When I received the results letter from the University telling me that I have a First class degree in Spanish, I could not believe it! I really wasn’t expecting to get a First, I did not want to build up my hopes because if I had done that, I could have been disappointed with my final result. It feels absolutely amazing and I am still trying to take it all in!”

For more information please contact:

Davina Shiell, Marketing and Fundraising Manager, Royal Blind

Tel: 0131 229 1456 Email: davina.shiell@royalblind.org