[Cabs-talk] 10 Best Tips for Professors

[Haben Girma]

Tips for Professors

1. Take Responsibility: Students who take your class invest their time, 
money, and energy in you, so that you can ensure the goals of the course 
are met. Do not relinquish all responsibilities to the Disabled Student 
Services. It is not their job to teach the student, it is YOUR job. Take 
full responsibility of teaching all students, whatever that may mean, 
and only treat the Disabled Student Services as a resource.

By the way, Lewis & Clark College calls it STudent Support Services, and 
I like that. They're making efforts here to make everything universally 
accessible, not just special accommodations for the disabled. By calling 
it Student Support Services they make themselves open to non-disabled 
students who may need support, too.

I've had to deal with a lot of professors who feel that they shouldn't 
have to do anything to make their course accessible to me, but rather I 
have to be the one to do behind-the-scenes magic to learn in the course. 
If colleges  had a department called Professor Support Services, it 
would help change the attitudes of many professors so that they can 
start feeling that the responsibility of making a course accessible is 
the professor's responsibility, not the students' or experts on disability.

Changing words, transforming our language, causes our thoughts and 
attitudes to change.

best,

Haben

Joe Orozco wrote:
> Hello all,
>
> Thank you for the excellent feedback of this past week regarding the best
> tips for up and coming high school students.  I'll be compiling all your
> e-mails into a document for the NABS board's approval.  The document will
> then be made available with the launch of the web site.
>
> You guys had a number of excellent thoughts.  I'm trusting your guidance
> will continue this week as we turn to professors.  If a document could be
> drafted to be made available to teachers and professors, how would it read?
> What would the top ten pieces of advice be for faculty members regarding
> blind students?  Ultimately, we'd all like to be treated equally, but break
> it down for those individuals who may be completely afraid to deal with
> something they may never have conceived of before.
>
> My advice, to get things started:  Do not single out the blind kid in class.
> No one likes to have the spotlight shined on them for being exceptionally
> smart or exceptionally, special.  No one wants to hear about Charlie and how
> Charlie is blind and how Charlie will need buddies to get some of the work
> done.  Can you tell I have firsthand knowledge?
>
> Anyway, no doubt you'll have better ideas.  Send them in, on list or
> off-list.  You're helping create what will be useful, downloadable tip
> sheets of use to a diverse audience.  We're counting on you!
>
> Best,
>
> Joe Orozco
>
> "Be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity."--James M.
> Barrie
>
>
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