A BLIND teenager who studied for his A levels using braille is preparing to enrol at York University after impressing in his exams.
Ethan Peacock, 18, has suffered from degenerative blindness and now has what he describes as "no useful vision".
But after scoring As in history and religious studies, and Bs in classical civilisation and English, Ethan has now met his conditions to study history and politics at the university of York.
The Colchester Royal Grammar School pupil said the school had been extremely supportive in helping him learn by supplying hard braille and electronic learning resources.
He said: "They’ve adapted resources into hard braille so I could read them, or I’ve used electronic resources – I’ve been able to access PowerPoints and word documents that way.
"It’s just a case of accessing the work in a different way."
Ethan explained he has now been fully blind for three years.
"My blindness is full – I have no useful vision.
"It degenerates over time; three years ago, it reached its current point."
Ethan’s mum added Essex County Council’s support via QTVIs – which stands for qualified teachers of children and young people with vision impairment – had also been crucial.
She said: "The QTVI team have supported him and supplied his equipment and everything – they’ve been brilliant."
Ethan is now looking forward to getting stuck into his new course at York, where he will start studying in October.
"I’m probably just looking forward to the student experience, getting involved in clubs and societies, and the subject will be really interesting too," he added.
"The course is fairly broad – I lean towards international relations and modern history, but I’m interested in all history really."
When asked about how he has had to adapt how he learns since going fully blind in 2020, Ethan said the process had gone fairly smoothly.
He added: "I think I’ve adapted fairly well.
"It’s been academically challenging, but in terms of accessibility, it has not been so bad."
Other high achievers at the grammar school included Kathleen Howard-Kelley, who is going on to study English and French at Exeter University, and Laura Heather, who is enrolling in an apprenticeship at accountancy firm KPMG.
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