[Iabs-talk] 10 Best Tips for Professors

Wed Oct 29 15:54:41 UTC 2008

Joe,
Here are some of mine.

1.  Each student is different and will need different  accommodations.  What 
worked for one student may not work for  another.  E.g. Jane might need to sit 
close to the Board, have worksheets  in large print, and need her tests blown 
up for her.  John might not need  to sit in the front, might need lecture 
outlines sent to him electronically, and  might need his tests in Braille.  That 
isn't a student's preferrence; it's  the necessary accommodation each needs 
based on their particular learning and  testing medium due to the particular 
manifestation of each's blindness.

2.  Sometimes live readers who are classmates work well, and sometimes  they 
do not.  It depends on the reader and the student using them.   Paid students 
generally work better than volunteers, and Teacher's Aids work  well usually 
as well.  But the reader needs to have a good handle on the  English language 
and read well.  (No, I'm not kidding.  I had a reader  in a class that was 
nearly illiterate.  How did I get him?  The  professor asked for volunteers, and 
the student thought this would be a good way  to "learn English."

3.  A lab assistant in a science class needs to have a working  knowledge of 
the subject matter.  An under-classman or someone not taking  courses in the 
sciences usually is a disaster, and often dangerous at  that.  (Do you really 
want a Lit major mixing your Analytical Chemistry  substances?  Yeah, neither 
did I.)

4.  Professors have to get their textbook orders to the bookstore  several 
months before a semester.  Please make your book choice available  to potential 
students for the subsequent semester at the same time you make it  available 
to the book store.  Also, please let your secretary and  Department Chair know 
what you plan to teach from.  This way, a student can  actually begin working 
on getting a textbook in a usable format well in advance  of the semester.  
And if other faculty and staff know what a professor  intends to use, then the 
student will have an easier time figuring it out.   For example, if Professor 
Jones is on sabbatical a semester, and Kate wants to  take her class the coming 
fall, then Kate can get the textbook information from  Prof. Jones's Chair 
and assistant, meaning she won't bother Prof. Jones or get  frustrated when 
Prof. Jones doesn't respond to inquiries.

5.  Please don't change your mind about a textbook selection just  before a 
semester begins.  It often takes months and months to acquire a  book in an 
accessible format, and it might take longer if someone has to be  brought in to 
read it or scan it.  Also, please keep references of where  materials were 
acquired from if using various sources and distributing  them.  (I had a Health 
Law professor once who gathered 2000 pages worth of  documents, cases, and 
articles and bound them together and had the bookstore  sell them like that.  There 
were no references for where she got them, and  the "book" wasn't available 
until a week into the semester.  I had to drop  the class because I couldn't 
get anyone to read the book to me, it wouldn't have  been feasible to scan it, 
and I couldn't figure out where she'd gotten half the  stuff from.  It was a 
concentration course though, meaning it was required  for my law degree, so I 
had to register for it the next semester.  Surprise  surprise!  She did the same 
thing, compiled lots of stuff and didn't have  it available until the 
semester had started.  But she'd chosen enough new  materials and updated case 
materials that I couldn't use the "book" from the  previous semester.)

6.  Students want to earn their grades.  They should not  automically be 
passed because they're blind.  They want to learn the  materials, and they'll need 
to learn them in order to go on to the next level  course.  Professors don't 
do them a favor when they simply pass them;  instead, they make the knowledge 
gap even greater when the student goes on to  the next course.

7.  No one knows better than the blind student what accommodations are  best 
for him or her.  Whether it be a DSS Office, a well-meaning friend, or  a 
Department Chair, the student is the ultimate authority on what works and what  
won't.  Trust them to make the decisions about accommodations that they  need 
and that work best for them.  Afterall, they've gotten this far on  what works 
well for them, not on what the DSS Office, a well-meaning friend, or  a 
Department Chair has determined what will be best.

8.  If there's a will, there's a way.  Students can do virtually  any 
assignment, short of driving a car through an obstacle course, despite being  blind.  
Professors can often get solutions to problems they perceive in  access to 
materials or how a student will accomplish a particular assignment by  simply 
outlining it to the student and asking them how they intend to handle  it.  

9.  The professor should serve as a resource.  He or she is very  
knowledgeable about the subject she or he teaches, and may have wonderful ideas  on how 
to make an assignment accessible to a blind student.  Both the  student and the 
faculty member should take proactive roles in the student's  education.

10.  It is obvious to the student, to the peers, and to the faculty  member 
that the student is blind.  There is no need to point it out to  anyone, and it 
is unnecessary to single out the student in class because they  might do an 
assignment differently.  (Example, in an Evidence class in law  school, my 
professor distributed an outline of rules for the final exam.   It stated things 
like "Everyone must hand-write the exame, except for the  student who has a 
disability in this class and can't; she will be allowed to  type the exam using 
software that will make her computer read what she types to  her."  The outline 
also stated, "Every student will have three hours to  complete the exam.  The 
student referenced above will be permitted  time-and-a-half, which equals 4.5 
hours, because her disability causes her to  read more slowly."  So she 
singled me out, and her information was wrong,  as I had to hand-write the exam as 
well and did not receive extended time.   In fact, the nature of law school is 
such that grades are assigned ananymously,  meaning the instructor does not 
know which student turned in a particular  assignment.  She basically blew 
ananymitity out of the water, caused my  classmates to focus on me, some of them 
with resentment, and she was wrong about  what accommodations I'd be receiving 
(the Dean's Office handles testing for all  students).  This was all a 
violation of my right to privacy and also my  right to ananymity under the Rehab Act. 
 It is not pleasant for the student  to be singled out like that, and it's 
illegal.)

Thanks, Joe, for doing this.  Good luck!

Ronza

In a message dated 10/28/2008 11:44:28 P.M. Central Daylight Time,  
jsorozco at gmail.com writes:

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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