[nabs-l] professors and disability services
Hope Paulos
hope.paulos at maine.edu
Fri Dec 5 01:49:04 UTC 2008
Serena. I also agree with you. On a number of occations I've
had to ask for extensions and in all cases have received them.
One time it had to do with the health of my guide dog and I
needed to concentrate on her at the time. Another time it was
because my computer stopped working. Other times it's because I
didn't have particular material needed (from disability services
office) and the professor actually got it for me. She read it
aloud for me because it was Spanish and none of the disability
services staff spoke it. Professors can be very devoted to their
students if they want to be. This is what makes a good teacher
or professor. You need to really care about your students and
what you teach. Another thing professors need to understand is
that life intrudes. Yes, we're in school to learn, but life
intrudes. Things happen that prevents us from producing things
at certain times, like Sickness, family emmergencies, etc. A
professort understands this is a good professor. A professor
that doesn't is obviously jgoing through the motionsof teaching
and cares more about the actual performance and production of
the student than how much the student learns. Just my opinion.
Hope and Beignet
> ----- Original Message -----
>From: "Serena" <serenacucco at verizon.net
>To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Date sent: Thu, 4 Dec 2008 20:05:11 -0500
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] professors and disability services
>I don't exactly agree with Jamie about the prof.'s not giving
extra time.
>First, it can be hard to find readers to proofread papers for
formatting.
>Second, whether you're blind or sighted, you can ask for an
extention in
>college, maybe, even easier than in high school. You're being
sick has
>nothing to do with blindness and, because of the barrier of
needing someone
>to proofread the paper, you deserve the extra time. It's not
like you were
>asking for a month to finish the paper! You had it done the day
you said
>you would.
>Serena
>----- Original Message -----
>From: "Jamie Rhoads" <jrhoads284 at gmail.com
>To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
><nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 5:42 PM
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] professors and disability services
>> Hey Valorie
>> First thing, wellcome to the list, and glad you have come
seaking help.
>> Now to your issues. As far as the DSS office not getting the
papers to
>> you on time. What you probably should have done and should do
next time
>> is make sure to call them every couple days to see if the paper
is ready.
>> I noticed you said that they usually call you when something is
ready.
>> That is good, but keep in mind they probably have many other
students to
>> keep track of, and it isn't their responsibility to let you know
when
>> something is ready to be picked up even if they say they will.
You need
>> to remember you are not in high school anymore, and you need to
take these
>> kinds of issues into your own hands. This will probably impress
your DSS
>> office as well if you put an active effort into getting your
materials no
>> matter what they may be. As for not getting your outline, keep
on your
>> professor. If need be, get someone from your DSS office to
contact
>> him/her. Just remember that old saying *the squeeky wheel gets
the
>> greace* It is hard sometimes to do these types of things, but
while I was
>> in school, it was one of the things I needed to learn in order
to get
>> things accomplished in an orderly fashion and when I wanted to.
>> Secondly about your english professor, this is just one of
those
>> things we as blind people need to accept and honestly we
shouldn't be mad
>> about it. Yes, we have other opsticals to overcome and yes it
seems very
>> unfair, but in the end we want to be treated just like any other
student
>> would, so we need to accept and understand why sometimes
professors won't
>> give us that extra time or help. We can't go around saying we
want to be
>> equally treated, but then want extra time on something such as
when we are
>> sick. Now, if she were giving her sighted students extra time
if they were
>> sick, that's a different issue. You need to step back and see
this as the
>> professor is probably only trying to treat you as the same as
she does her
>> sighted students.
>> One last thing, I don't see why you have a problem with
using DSS. I
>> used them all the way through school and it made things much
easier. I
>> got my books in formats that I needed, a letter to give to all
my
>> professors explaining my disability and the accommodations i
would need,
>> and many other things that helped school go a lot more smoothe.
We want
>> to be independent and that is fine, but if we need the help from
the DSS
>> office that is also fine because that is what they are there
for.
>> I hope this helps. Please don't take this as i'm being mean.
These are
>> things that I either have had said to me at one point, or things
I truly
>> believe. It isn't anything against you personally.
>> Jamie
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Valerie Gibson" <valandkayla at gmail.com
>> To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Sent: Tuesday, December 02, 2008 5:11 PM
>> Subject: [nabs-l] professors and disability services
>>> Hi,
>>> my name's Valerie. don't really post here much, but looking for
>>> feeback on two situations i've got going on, which as you prob
know:
>>> situations before finals is never good. anyway...
>>> one issue, i probably should have worked out sooner, but here it
is:
>>> when first regestering for my first year of psych, yes i'm a
freshmen
>>> btw, I emailed my professor and asked hi if he could send me any
notes
>>> and things that he shows the clas via email. He's one of those
>>> teachers who teaches in a large auditorium, and projects an
outline
>>> for the class to cpy and fill out based on his lectures. Well,
>>> natureally i don't see the outline, so i asked this
accomidation.
>>> "No." was his responce. he said that he needed to see a paper
from
>>> disability services (DSS), if he was going to provide that.
>>> I didn't want to fight, and what harm could there be in going to
DSS
>>> to get the paper so long as i passsed the class, i thought. so
i did.
>>> Well, the paper was a letter of accomidation where i had to
write down
>>> any accomidations i may need, and take each paper to my
professors.
>>> they would sign off on it, and i'd bring it back to DSS. Well,
after
>>> filling out the paper DSS told me to ome back in a few days to
pick up
>>> the copies to give to my professors. Normally, they'd call my
cell
>>> when i needed to come by, and it wasn't until three weeks later
that i
>>> finally got the paper, and even after my psych professor's
signature,
>>> i've still not gotten my outline.
>>> Second issue: my english professor was probably the most open
>>> professor i've gotten this year. she was open to working with
me, even
>>> when i didn't want to work with DSS, and emailed anything she
gave the
>>> class to me.
>>> We have four projects that we have to write by the end of the
>>> semester, and we can revise as many times as she wants. My
first
>>> project got a good grade, but she pulled me aside on the second
>>> project, and told me that it earned an "unsatisfactory", the
lowest
>>> grade, based on the formatting. natureally i understood that i
should
>>> have worked on finding someone to check the formatting. So i
had to
>>> revise.
>>> The papers were due yesterday, and unfortuneately, i was sick
over the
>>> holidays, and wasn't in school. I emailed my professor and
asked her
>>> if i could email her the papers that day, and give her the
physical
>>> papers the next day, to which she rudely told me that i could.
>>> If anyone knows my household, i don't get that much support with
>>> little things, like having a sighted person check to see if my
lines
>>> are double spaced and things, so the next day, i got back to
campus, i
>>> ran by the writing center just to ask them if my formating was
okay,
>>> before running to my english teacher's office and turning it
in...and
>>> now, she's "having to think on wether she will even take it".
>>> and if she doesn't, i will fail. and i'm already failing psych
due to
>>> the information provided above...any thought?
>>> Val
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