Maja Reichard: Blind and studying civil engineering by University InSight

What is it like to study civil engineering when you are blind? We hear from Maja Reichard who studied civil engineering and city planning at KTH Royal Institute of Technology in Stockholm. Maja was born with retinitis pigmentosa, and as a result had lost most of her vision by the time she started university. She now works as a city planner focusing on sustainability and holds several world records in Paralympic swimming.

In this episode, Maja tells us how she accessed the civil engineering course material, which included mathematical texts, chemistry figures and circuit diagrams. We also talk about the social side of university, the importance of friends who stand up for you, and a teacher who went the extra mile to help by writing a new textbook from scratch.

If you have questions for Maja, please don't hesitate to contact her on maja.reichard@hotmail.com, or send her a message on Facebook.

For an introduction to the typesetting language LaTeX mentioned in the podcast, please see the following resources hosted by Overleaf: https://www.overleaf.com/learn/latex/Free_online_introduction_to_LaTeX_(part_1)

University InSight is a podcast where we share the experiences of visually impaired people who have studied at university. If you want to read more, please visit our website www.vipatuni.com. If you have questions about the podcast or if you would like to appear as a guest, please email us on vipatuni@gmail.com or tweet us on @vipatuni.