[Blindmath] Question about having an assistant in the classroom for stem subjects

[Dave M. Thomas]

Sabra,

You do not come across as being at all confused to me I think you're spot on. Blind people can and do perform perfectly well without assistants in STEM lecture classes. As was the case in your Ceramics course, there might be times in STEM labs when some assistance would be helpful ... for example, in a chemistry lab. But you are right about not needing it in the lecture classes.

Dave


Dave Thomas, M.A.
Academic Counselor, Learning Effectiveness Program
University of Denver
Katherine A. Ruffatto Hall, #424
1999 E. Evans Ave.
Denver, CO 80208
Phone: 303-871-7758
Fax: 303-871-3939
E-mail: dave.m.thomas at du.edu

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sabra Ewing via Blindmath
Sent: Wednesday, November 11, 2015 3:21 PM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Cc: Sabra Ewing
Subject: [Blindmath] Question about having an assistant in the classroom for stem subjects

I am having trouble understanding the concept of using an assistant in the classroom for lecture style stem subjects as it relates to blindness. It is getting to the point where it is becoming a problem in my interactions with people who believe that blind people should have assistance for these subjects. I understand that if you are paralyzed, you would use an assistant in lecture to take notes for you because you can't write with a pencil and maybe you can't use an alternative device to take notes on a computer. I understand that if you are deaf, you would use an assistant to translate everything from English to sign language, you could have a condition that would make you run around for no reason or not be able to stay on task in an assistant would help with that. However, none of those apply to me. Let's say A blind student is in a lecture. It could be anything like math, science, or programming. If that person had an assistant in the classroom, what with the assistant do? If the
  assistant is supposed to be taking notes, why can the student not take their own notes and why has an assistant been chosen instead of removing excess ability barriers? I am just really trying to understand this, and I'm not going to go into details, but I am in a situation where I need a rational explanation for why I did not have an assistant in one of my stem classes. After fourth grade, I never really had an assistant in the classroom. If you are saying to just think about why I had an assistant in the fourth grade and before, I tried that, but I can't remember why. In the future if I am offered an assistant for class, should I just take it even if I don't know why so the professor can't blame any problems that occur in the class on the lack of an assistant? It would seem wrong to have an assistant just for that though. I had an assistant and my ceramics class who helped me find things in the room and know how to use the tools and glaze and keep track of my pieces, but I did no
 t do any of those activities in a stem class. I have really tried to think very hard about it even though it doesn't seem like it, but I just get more confused.

Sabra Ewing
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