When I finished High School I had neither the time or the money to continue on to college. At that point in my life I also had no idea what I wanted to do with my life.
As time passed I had a successful career in Emergency Services, took a few classes and courses here and there, gained personal experience as a person with a disability and took part in a federal ADA training and mediation program.
20 some years after finishing school I had a family, was working several jobs and owned a business of my own. I was a former two term elected official and was active in my community. I had lectured thousands of people and had even testified before the United States Senate.
Once again however I had neither the time or finances to drop everything and go back to school but, after all that time, I had knowledge, skills and decades of personal experiences.
I was considered an expert on the Americans with Disabilities Act, Accessibility and Disability Policy and yet I was questioned because I did not have a piece of paper with the proper title on it. I had learned more and gained more actual experience in my field than I ever would have gotten in a classroom but to some that didn't matter.
I began to search for a program that would allow my skills, knowledge and experience to be recognized for the incredible education that they in fact were.
I decided to participate in the Rochville University Online Degree Program. I submitted all of my past training, education, work history and all of my life experiences as a person with a disability, ADA consultant and educator. All of these factors were considered and a "course hour" value was put on my life experience toward the award of Degrees in the appropriate fields.
Now some people scoff at "Life Experience" degrees, claiming that they are not earned the same way that a traditional degree is. I would have to agree with that.
Most of the people that I know that "earned" their degree in the traditional sense spent most of their time partying or participating in extra-curricular activities. Then, after they graduated, they went out into the real world to actually gain the experience they needed. My degree was earned by my living with a disability on a day to day basis over 40+ years and actually working with the laws, and lawmakers, over more than two decades.
Who would you say "earned" their degree ? The person who read about disability culture and history, read about accessibility and universal design and studied about discrimination? Or would it be the person who was born with a degenerative and deforming disability, who grew up facing discrimination and a lack of access and who spent decades teaching people about disability awareness and accessibility? You decide.
Whatever your opinion, I am proud of my degrees and I believe strongly that they were "earned", earned with my hard work and years of hands-on experience.