[blindlaw] Seeking advocacy assistance for college accommodations

[Elizabeth Mohnke]

Hello all,

Last semester I was denied accommodations for a math class. When I contacted the national Center, I was advised to file an official complaint with my college. However, I found it rather difficult to complete the complaint form on my own, and the national office was not willing to provide any assistance in  helping me Phil out the complaint form. So I have not done anything to follow up with the lack of accommodations I received last semester as I had a difficult time keeping up with my classes when I got sick during the second half of the semester.


I would like to be able to continue taking classes so I can complete my degree even though I've been told that it will most likely not mean anything. However, I am not quite sure how to go about receiving the accommodations I need for my math classes. Since I do not know Braille very well, or how to make a computer read all of the math symbols, I have found that using a reader for my math classes works the best for me. However, last semester my disabilities office provided me with a reader Who was not qualified to read math, and would not allow me to use any other reader besides the one they had a sign to me including my own reader, so I was forced to drop my math class due to a lack of accommodations.


I am not completely sure where to go from here in terms of being able to receive the accommodations I need for my math classes. I have been told that the dean of students would like to talk to me. But I am not completely sure what to say to her, and I do not feel comfortable meeting with her on my own. The college has a past history of being rather hostile and aggressive towards me. So I do not feel comfortable meeting with people at my college on my own when I am not completely sure  what the purpose of the meeting is supposed to be.


Anyway, if there is anyone out there Who would be willing to help me receive the accommodations I need for my math classes, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you off list. I feel as though I have not had much success in contacting individual people, so I thought I would send out a mass email to see if this might help me find someone who is willing and able  to help provide me with some advocacy assistance and receiving the accommodations I need for my math classes.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

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