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

[Natalya D]

Hi Sabra,

I work with "disabled students" including blind and partially sighted 
students in a UK university and not all of them have an assistant in all 
classes. Where I work, having an assistant is entirely the student's 
choice and can be minimised if the student is given good prep materials 
and has strong skills for managing recording the session and or 
notetaking etc.

I have some totally blind students who don't use an assistant at all in 
lecture classes or only use an assistant in a handful of specific 
classes when they request it and they are fine.

I'm sorry you sound like you're being pushed to have an assistant when 
you don't need that. As a disabled person myself I am familiar with the 
experience of my requests being ignored and "disability support options" 
being pushed at or forced upon me.

Natalya


On 11/11/2015 22:46, Dave M. Thomas via Blindmath wrote:
> 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 di
d 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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