[nabs-l] Readers and Testing

[Serena]

I disagree on some of your points.  First, it's harder to find a good reader for Math or Science than, let's say, English.  That's probably why the prof. assigned the reader.  Also, I guess, Braille books are available to college students in some states, but aren't in others.  How do we really know what the student in question did or didn't do to to try to get the book?  Finally, it simply doesn't seem to me that this is the blind student's fault cuz the reader couldn't show up, possibly because of illness.  Taking the test at a later time, after the student has studied properly, doesn't seem to me to be asking people to let us do less because we're blind.  It seems to me that it's being fair and giving adaquate time to study.  I'd think that, if a sighted student got sick, he/she would be given adaquate time to prepare.  In this case, illness made it so the reader wasn't available.


  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Steve Jacobson 
  To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
  Sent: Monday, February 02, 2009 3:14 PM
  Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Readers and Testing


  Michael,

  When you are a student, it is a time to learn, not just what your professors want you to learn, but also how you will deal with situations when you are on the job.  As serious as it may be, making a mistake and failing a class is not the same thing as not completing a task on the job.  Forgetting the legal implications for a moment, it makes sense for those of us who are blind to develop our skills in managing readers and knowing how to check on the availability of textbooks while we are in school when failing usually means you can try again.  I don't really know what I would do if I were in your situation right now, but my heart goes out to you.  Some of what you should do depends upon how much of the material you have picked up in class, and how far your into the class.  If you have taken good notes on the lectures, you might still do all right, and you can try to pull your grade up from other tests.  However, in the long run, I would work on developing my own set of readers.  All situations are different, but I am a little surprised that a professor would assign a reader.  You also need to find out why a braille textbook is not available.  Did someone drop the ball, dis a publisher not provide an electronic file, did they provide an electronic file that wasn't useful, was the book available somewhere else but didn't get shipped, and on and on.  If you know the reason, next time you will have a better idea of which questions to ask maybe even before the class starts, to anticipate problems that might come up.

  This isn't attempting to address what is fair or what is legal, the attempt is to be practical.  If you don't complete a task on the job because a leader is sick, that will reflect on you and your ability to get your tasks done.  There is no law that says an employer must let you do less because you are blind but pay you the same.  Some employers will be somewhat understanding, but in the end, the responsibility is yours.  When in school, things are a little different because of what the law says and because of the existence of DSS offices and the like.  Still, taking a hand in monitoring the progress on your textbooks, making sure you have backup readers, even if it isn't your legal responsibility, will serve you well in the future.

  Best regards,

  Steve Jacobson


  On Mon, 2 Feb 2009 14:23:29 -0500
   Jamie Principato <blackbyrdfly at gmail.com> wrote:
  > This is more a survey than anything. I'm asking this 
  >question so that I will
  > be better able and more equipped to help someone that 
  >means a lot to me.
  > 
  > If you're a student in a math class and the university 
  >you attend can't get
  > you a brailled textbook, and the software the math 
  >department uses for
  > practice exercises and test preparation isn't at all 
  >accessible, and your
  > teacher assigns you a reader but no back-up reader, and 
  >your reader doesn't
  > show up for the entire week before a big exam, possibly 
  >due to illness, what
  > should you do? Should you still go and take the exam on 
  >test day even though
  > you couldn't adequately prepare? Should you refuse to 
  >take the test until
  > you are able to prepare properly? Should you try to 
  >write to the professor
  > who assigned the reader about the situation even though 
  >at such a big
  > university it seems like the professors just don't care 
  >about the needs of
  > one of thousands of students? Please help... :(
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