I studied MA Graphic Communication Design at the University of the Arts London, Central Saint Martins and needed notetaking and transcription support.

My notetaker assisted me by typing/writing notes to record what was discussed in the class that day. They were also responsible for conveying all classroom materials presented orally or printed, namely, what the professor said during lectures and class discussions.

Added to this, my notetaker would even type captions for films played in class. Usually, I would get a laptop with assistive software installed to watch the live notes. But this extra level of assistance was fantastic – imagine you are watching a captioned performance, and there is an electronic caption unit on the side of the stage. My notetaker would also share the screen with me so that I could view the texts simultaneously.

I can’t praise the professionals that terptree booked for me enough! I felt very comfortable working with them. They are professional and patient, making all the written or typed notes legible and as subjective and organised as possible.

They are also good communicators as they kept email correspondences timely and made booking and cancelling easy for me.

I would definitely recommend students who are hard of hearing to choose terptree’s service. They strongly facilitated my learning while I was at CSM, and it was certainly less stressful for me to join the lecture and class conversations because there was no need to worry if I misheard something.

I believe my positive experience with terptree is not a ‘one-off’ and is likely to extend to other students who are similar in circumstances to me.