[Arizona-students] ASU Student

Wed Apr 3 02:25:34 UTC 2013

I originally left school in 1996 to work full-time to support my daughter
and make sure she had a Montessori education. I worked both as a Montessori
teacher. I have certification for primary.  Then I went back to computer
programming. I was laid off in 2001 and while looking for a programming job
I worked for awhile as a personal trainer. I met my now fiance and he got a
job in Illinois and we moved there with him. I chose to stay home while my
daughter finished high school rather since we could make it on the one
income. Unfortunately it was a quick move thre and we knew nothing of the
area and there were very few homes to rent so I ended up 1.75 miles form a
bus stop. Luckily I was within walking distance to the gym because from
2002-2001 I competed in bodybuilding.  Which was also  a benefit of being a
stay at home mom I got to really pursue my competing and did quite well on
the national level and almost won pro status. He was laid off and end up
with a job in Arizona and we had a two week window to move and despite
trying to find a place that worked we ended up 5 miles form a bus stop for
2 years. Needless to say I felt like a prisoner although he made sure I got
to any place I needed to go. And our focus was to find a house near a bus
route, that took dogs etc So in August we moved up to No Phoenix/Scottsdale
area. So finally everything came together financially and transportation
wise that I was finally able to get back to school. I plan on finding a
position as a software engineer.

I actually knew grade two braille and probably remember some of it. I had
friends that were totally blind and I would braille some stuff for them.

I actually went to school a few different times right after high school and
there were a lot of issues I came out of 12 years of be miserable at
school. Teased daily for either being blind or pretending I was blind
because I wore sunglasses. Although I had an itinerant teacher she never
really worked on good skills. For example never thought to suggest a
monocular or mini binoculars for reading the board. So when I first went to
SDSU I had very low self esteem and had difficulties with computer access
at the time. So i started trying to think of "less visual" careers out of
feel of not being hired. So I tried languages but would never have like
that as a career. I left for a few years. Then the community college teamed
up with voc rehab and a business mentoring group and had a computer
programming certificate for the disabled. All the same courses at the AS
but all the computers were equipped with magnification, speech, there was a
full time signer etc I went through that and excelled finished the AS
degree in CSIS then returned to SDSU to do my BS and that is when
financially I need to stop to support my daughter and split up with her
father. Even when I returned to SDSU the second time I had professors tel
me "I can't imagine a job you could do" even though I had the highest A in
their course and took my tests in large print in the classroom. They still
felt my vision would hold me back. And for a very long time I let all the
years of hearing this affect my self esteem.

Making the choice to be there for her and make sure she had the Montessori
education was the best decision I ever made. She graduated high school with
highest honors, in May with be graduated with her B.S. in Biology with a
3.9 and is applying to Med School.

But I always had the goal of completing my degree and am finally doing it.
I am not looking forward to my bus ride in the 8 months of Arizona heat. I
preferred Illinois and grew up in San Diego.

On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 4:21 PM, Arielle Silverman <Arielle.Silverman at asu.edu
> wrote:

> I've found the best way to stay awake while listening to audio, or
> electronic speech, is to take notes while listening and write down all
> the major points. I use Braille, but you can take notes in whatever
> format works for you--handwriting or typing and then enlarging if you
> prefer. Also, it's not too late for you to learn Braille. If you have
> a good teacher, or use Hadley materials, you can teach yourself at
> least the alphabet over the summer. You may or may not want to use
> Braille for school stuff, but at least knowing it for writing down
> notes and quick things could be very helpful. When I have taken math
> and statistics and used an audio textbook, I took notes in Braille and
> that is how I was able to learn the math using speech. Again, if you
> feel like Braille would be too much of a jump, you can take your math
> notes in regular or large print. Speeding up the speech may also help
> you stay engaged.
> I'm curious--what did you do during your 15-years off from school and
> what are you planning to do with your computer science degree?
> As I said, I was president of Arizona's blind student division a long
> time ago. I live in Colorado now but I understand the group has gone
> through some leadership changes. The current president is someone
> named Garrett Mooney. There's a phone number listed on the NFB of AZ
> website:
> 480-389-5627
> which I think may be Garrett's number. Also, the National Federation
> of the Blind has a chapter for people living in the East Valley, so
> Tempe, Mesa, Chandler etc. Their president is named Mark Feliz. He is
> a totally blind teacher of blind high school students. You  can reach
> him at:
> 480-890-8943
> They meet the third Saturday of each month in the afternoon, I think
> somewhere at Fiesta Mall. I believe a few other ASU students have been
> attending those meetings lately.
> You are in luck because even though BookShare is based in California,
> one of their employees, Allison Hilliker, lives in Tempe! (and is also
> active in the East Valley chapter). She can help you get oriented to
> BookShare and get signed up. You can reach her at:
> allisonh at benetech.org
> BTW, the Web address for BookShare is:
> www.bookshare.org
>
> I hope this isn't too much information at once :).
> Best,
> Arielle
>
> On 4/2/13, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu> wrote:
> > Thank you for the info. I did not know about Book share.
> >
> > I have pondered learning to work with speech but I am so used to using my
> > vision that I don't seem to retain as well or stay awake for that matter
> > with audio books. I was told if I up the speech rate it would help.  I
> > think one problem faced by legally blind people is we are only taught how
> > to use our usable vision but receive really no blind skills that we may
> > need when we cannot rely on our vision.
> >
> > During the summer when I am only taking two classes I will probably check
> > otu working with speech. I think it could work for my biology class but
> not
> > calculus. I am just not proficientat audio learning.
> >
> > I am even slower with CCTV verses large print even though large print is
> > harder to read.
> >
> > I am sure my skills will be much more proficient soon I have been out of
> > the homework and school setting for over 15 years.
> >
> >
> > On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Arielle Silverman
> > <Arielle.Silverman at asu.edu
> >> wrote:
> >
> >> Hi Suzanne,
> >> Welcome to the list. I am Arielle Silverman, a past president of the
> >> Arizona Association of Blind Students (AABS). I grew up in Scottsdale
> >> and attended ASU from 2003-2007, graduating with my bachelor's in
> >> biology and psychology. I am almost totally blind, so I didn't use
> >> CCTV's or large print, but I wanted to ask you if you had thought
> >> about using a screen reader like JAWS or VoiceOver to read your
> >> assignments, or if you have thought about getting your books from
> >> either BookShare or Learning Ally. Screen readers like JAWS are not
> >> very hard to learn and there are tons of people in AZ who would be
> >> more than happy to help teach you. I suspect that you will find
> >> reading is much quicker using speech than it is using print, which
> >> you've said is getting slower for you. Also, if you get books from
> >> BookShare (which is free for students), you can get your books in a
> >> digital version that can be read in audio format, large print, E-text
> >> or Braille, and Learning Ally provides books in digital audio. I hope
> >> that will give you some more options to work with. I'm at work now so
> >> this note is a little rushed, but I'll write again later tonight or
> >> tomorrow. Best of luck and go Devils!
> >> Arielle
> >>
> >> On 4/2/13, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu> wrote:
> >> > I am already signed up with Disabled Resource Center and they provide
> >> > my
> >> > tests in large print and make the CCTV available if I take the test at
> >> the
> >> > DRC. In the past I always took my tests in the classroom with large
> >> > print
> >> > but I was not sure how much I may need the CCTV so this semester I
> >> > tested
> >> > at DRC.
> >> >
> >> > So far all the instructors have been very accommodating with things I
> >> > may
> >> > need.
> >> >
> >> > I will contact you about the AABS meetings.
> >> >
> >> >
> >> > On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 1:08 PM, Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com>
> >> wrote:
> >> >
> >> >> Hello and welcome to the list!
> >> >>  my name is Darian Smith.
> >> >>  While I am not from Arizona, I am on this list as regional
> >> >> representative
> >> >>  for the aNational Association of Blind Students  where I serve  as
> >> >> it's
> >> >> 2nd Vice President.
> >> >>
> >> >>  Sometimes in situations like this, it's helpful to get connected
> with
> >> >> the
> >> >> disabled students  Office on campus. This can help  you get the
> >> >> accommodations you think you may need.
> >> >>  If you are willing to do this (assuming this is something that you
> >> might
> >> >> find  useful) You might find that, their backing  might help
> >> >> instructors
> >> >> understand what you need better.  Sometimes you might need someone to
> >> >> be
> >> >> a
> >> >> reader on those tests, sometimes  you might be able  to get them in
> >> >> electronic format, other times you might need it in braille and they
> >> >> should
> >> >> be able to help out with this.
> >> >>
> >> >>  I don't know  when AABS meets these days  and how often they meet,
> >> >> but
> >> >> if
> >> >> you contact  me off-list i will make sure you get connected to
> someone
> >> on
> >> >> the board who can tell you this more clearly
> >> >>   Best,
> >> >>   Darian maybe even
> >> >> On Apr 2, 2013, at 8:20 AM, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu>
> wrote:
> >> >>
> >> >> > My name is Suzanneand I recently returned to school to finish my BS
> >> >> > in
> >> >> > Computer Science after being out of school for over 15 years. I
> have
> >> >> > been
> >> >> > legally blind since birth and I am looking to connect with other
> >> >> > blind
> >> >> > students. I started at ASU in January.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > When I last went to school they never did group quizzes. How do you
> >> >> handle
> >> >> > those?  I find no matter how many times I say I am legally blind or
> >> >> > visually imapired and ask if things are described or written bigger
> >> >> > they
> >> >> > just don't seem to get it. I have only had 2 group quizzes so far.
> >> >> > One
> >> >> > I
> >> >> > chose to just do by myself. The other I kinda of worked with others
> >> but
> >> >> > mostly just to verify my work.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Now that I am 49 my reading vision with karge print seems to be
> >> >> > worse
> >> >> and I
> >> >> > use more magnification of ebooks and CCTV but I find that I seem to
> >> >> > take
> >> >> > much more time than I did when I was previously in school.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > I would also like to talk with others about how to handle career
> >> >> > fairs
> >> >> and
> >> >> > other things like that.
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Does the AZ student group hold meetings?
> >> >> >
> >> >> > Suzanne
> >> >> > _______________________________________________
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> >>
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> >> >>
> >> >>
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