[Ag-eq] Do I fight or just find some other way

[barbandzoe at comcast.net]

Hi Jody.  I don't want to give up on working with animals, I just an not shure if I should do it this way.  The Microscope, is the least of my propblems.  I wanted the degree to help me get a better paying job.  I do not want to be a vet tech.  there are only about two degreees that directly work with animals, I thought if did one that would help me get a job.  Plus with the economey not so good, I thought I could spend two years in school and by the time I was dun things would be better. 



As for the teacher, I am not quite shure what I want to do yet.  I will let her 

know how I feel about the way she is acting, I just want to make shure that I don't blow up at her and realy look like a dork. 





this last Friday.  I think she took me by suprise with her actions that I was a bit dumb founded.  Plus I am not shure if I want to make a seen infront of the class.  I will have to find her in her office to talk to her preivetly.  To talk to her after class is hard because the teachers are out of the rooms before the students.  I have never seen that before.  



I will say that if I was an A student I would have something to work with. 



Barb 


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Jody W. Ianuzzi" <jody at thewhitehats.com> 
To: "Agricultural and Equestrean Division List" <ag-eq at nfbnet.org> 
Sent: Saturday, July 3, 2010 6:44:05 PM 
Subject: Re: [Ag-eq] Do I fight or just find some other way 

Hi Barb, 

I have been thinking about your problem all day.  I know of a man who spent 
four years in a program to become a chiropractor and at the end the school 
refused to certify him because he was blind.  He sued and won saying that 
they accepted his money and they had a contract that if he met the 
requirements of the program then it was their prejudice only that kept him 
from being certified.  He won. 

I know a woman who had support from Voc. Rehab. to become a message 
therapist.  She had several teachers that thought she couldn't do it and 
they flunked her out of the program.  Even her counselor sided with the 
school saying she couldn't do it.  She went to another school on her own and 
she graduated top in her class.  she plants to mail a copy of her diploma to 
the first school (I think she has proof of discrimination) and a copy to her 
counselor.  Now she is thinking of adding Personal Trainer to her 
certifications.   

When Erik Weihenmeyer decided to climb Mt. Everest he had people telling him 
he couldn't do it all the way to the top of the world.   

How about an anecdotal story that I love.  There was a class of students in 
gym class and each kid was climbing a rope to the ceiling of the gym.  As 
they climbed the teacher kept telling them how dangerous it was, how high 
the ceiling was, how out of shape the kids were and one by one the kids were 
giving up and sliding to the floor.  One student kept going and finally he 
reached the ceiling, slapped it and slid down to the floor.  why did he 
succeed?  Because he was deaf.  He never heard all the negative comments. 

I think we have to be deaf to negative attitudes too.  I am 57 years old and 
I have always been a maverick.  When someone said I couldn't do something I 
had to prove I could.  I have yet to pick something I wanted to do without 
finding a way of succeeding, not because I felt I had to prove anything but 
just because I wanted to do it for the fun of it. 

I grew up before the ADA and before there was any legal recource for 
discrimination.  I had to be assertive and stick to my guns to get any 
where.  I think that by combining that with the new laws of discrimination 
you can't be stopped. 

I am not telling YOU what to do but I can tell you what I would do in this 
situation.  I would NOT give up or avoid the situation.  I would confront 
the person who is giving me the most problems and I would say something like 
You know, I have run in to people telling me I can't do things all my life. 
I realize you probably haven't met a blind person before and you assume that 
blind people can't do anything but let me tell you a few stories. Then I 
would list off a few really good stories about Erik and others to illustrate 
the point.  Then I would describe how people told them they couldn't succeed 
either but they did it anyway. 

I would say that I have been told I can't do things all my life and I just 
get tired of hearing it some times.  I figure if I can't do something one 
way, I just find another way to succeed.  I would then make a comment that 
my biggest barrier is prejudice and misinformation and that when given a 
chance I can demonstrate my ability but if I don't get a chance then that is 
really just due to discrimination and I sure wouldn't want that to be the 
case here.  (this is a threat since the school is liable for a 
discrimination suit)         

Since people are ignorant of alternative ways to do things I would then 
describe how I would work around problems.  I think it is important to take 
control here since you can provide more information then they have thought 
of.  If a higher power microscope would compensate for limited vision, then 
I would suggest it. I would explain that most people who draw blood do so by 
feel and many people actually close their eyes to do this.  This would be 
espec7ially true while trying to draw blood on a furry animal.   

If you don't mind me asking, how much vision do you have?  Working as a vet 
tech if you can't see shit then you really are at a disadvantage 
figuratively and literally.  hahahaha 

If this is something you truly want to do then the instructors will pick up 
on this.  The real dedicated teachers will work with you, not against you. 
You can use the dedicated teachers to help you get past the negative 
teachers.   

All I can say is that those times I gave in because of pressure from others 
I later regretted it very much and I usually discovered after the fact that 
it was something I really could have done if only I hadn't listened. 

So don't give up. 

JODY 







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