[nabs-l] Equipment Coming In

Thu Sep 2 04:45:35 UTC 2010

Jewel,
Let me appolagize for making assumtions about your situation without knowing what your situation really was. Now having understanding of your situation and knowing how long you are on campus I do not blame you for delaying starting classes until the equipment is available. It is a total shame that paratransit does not go to your college just it is outside the city limit, but in most cities paratransit goes anywhere city buses go. Therefore, this means that since the city bus drops you to your college so should the paratransit. Perhaps you should consider getting a group of blind individuals together and setup a meeting with the paratransit authorities and demand better services. Perhaps you can bring in organizations such as the NFB and ACB to help organize this meeting. Having problems with paratransit is not just a problem in your community, 
but a problem across the country and a issue which needs to be addressed.
Anmol
I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.
Hellen Keller

--- On Wed, 9/1/10, Jewel S. <herekittykat2 at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Jewel S. <herekittykat2 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Equipment Coming In
> To: jsorozco at gmail.com, "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Wednesday, September 1, 2010, 8:29 PM
> I don't think you realize the
> computer I'm using...this computer is
> over ten years old, doesn't have Microsoft Office (so I use
> WordPad
> only), and has NVDA only, whic can be a mjaor pain. I use
> this
> computer for internet use only, and it's not even reliable
> for that,
> since it can randomly freeze up and require a reboot. It
> has also
> completely crashed several times in the last year,
> requiring repairs
> that left me without a computer for a minimum of a week
> (and once, it
> was out of commission for a month, since I couldn't afford
> the
> repairs). Other than what little I can do on this computer,
> I have to
> go to the public library (which takes minimum half an hour
> bus ride
> and quite a bit of walking to get to) or to the community
> college's
> computer lab (which takes me two hours to get to). With my
> school
> schedule, I was getting home at 6:30pm after classes
> already, so
> staying after school really wasn't an option, and I was
> leaving at 6am
> just to get to school 10 minutes before class started, so
> early
> arrival was out, too.
> 
> Don't assume that I wanted to postpone classes for my own
> reasons. I
> would do anything to be in classes right now, but now that
> I've
> dropped, I can't get back in. I *want* to be in classes,
> and I thought
> long and hard before dropping from classes, giving it a
> full week of
> trial without equipment. Between my physical condition
> deteriorating
> and my limited ability to participate in classes, it simply
> wasn't
> possible for me to stay in classes and work at my full
> potential.
> Sure, I could have stayed in and worked at less than
> potential, but I
> need to keep up a great GPA in order to get into the
> college I want to
> transfer to and get the grants and scholarships I need to
> attend that
> school. Because I am a visual and tactile learner, the
> audio books and
> recorded classes were difficult for me to work with. I
> needed hands-on
> learning, which I will get with the refresthable Braille
> display and
> the Victor Stream (which is audio, but allows me to spell
> words as
> needed, so I can write things down knowing the right
> spelling, like
> vocabulary and names).
> 
> Please don't make assumtions like this when you can't
> possibly know
> the full story. You are putting the blame on me for not
> being able to
> accept my fate and work at less than full potential. I
> *will* work at
> full potential, and I will not allow other people to stop
> me from
> that. Me stopping me is a different story, but other people
> stopping
> me from being all I can be is not acceptable.
> 
> ~JEwel
> 
> On 9/1/10, Joe Orozco <jsorozco at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> > Jewel,
> >
> > How does that Darryl Worley song go?  Sounds like
> life to me?  You know, I'm
> > not downplaying the necessity of equipment to
> successfully complete class
> > assignments, but between a recorder and a computer
> that appears to be
> > working reasonably well to write posts, I think you
> could have made it work.
> > >From this position it sounds as though you were
> looking for reasons to
> > postpone class, and now you'll have several months to
> contemplate why you
> > should not give up too soon.  Circumstances will
> not be quite so forgiving
> > when your sustainability depends on a job
> salary.  You may liberally yell at
> > me for assuming and for pretending to understand your
> situation, but it's
> > frustrating to see up and coming students generate
> much larger lists of the
> > challenges than the abilities.
> >
> > Respectfully,
> >
> > Joe
> >
> > P.S. You can hear the song here:
> >
> > http://s0.ilike.com/play#Darryl+Worley:Sounds+Like+Life+To+Me:105008242:s315
> >
> 60646.12494198.9720862.0.2.233%2Cstd_a3cbac552e9145ca912afe1e8fdd407d
> >
> > "Hard work spotlights the character of people: some
> turn up their sleeves,
> > some turn up their noses, and some don't turn up at
> all."--Sam Ewing
> >
> > -----Original Message-----
> > From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
> > [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On Behalf Of Jewel S.
> > Sent: Wednesday, September 01, 2010 8:38 PM
> > To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> > Subject: [nabs-l] Equipment Coming In
> >
> > Hey all,
> > I got my VictorStream Reader today, and have it
> authorized for RFBD
> > already and have the process started for NLS books.
> >
> > DSB says that my equipment is coming in and as soon as
> all of it is in
> > (except the VictorStream, which was shipped directly
> to my apartment),
> > they'll deliver it and get me set up and start
> learning it. This from
> > the people who said they likely wouldn't have it until
> the end of
> > semester...I am so mad that I dropped my classes now,
> since it's only
> > 3 weeks into classes now. I wish I had waited until
> the final drop
> > date.
> >
> > So I'm saying Yay for my stuff, but Grrrrr that now I
> have to wait
> > till next semester to get going with school.
> >
> > In the meantime, I'm going to be on DSB's butt about
> this. In NC, the
> > funds are not released until August 1, which is two
> weeks before
> > school starts...this gives no time for equipment to
> get shipped in in
> > time for school to start. This means that any student
> who needs
> > equipment to be able to work to their full ability in
> class can't
> > start in the fall but must wait until Spring semester.
> That's
> > ridiculous, in my mind. I wasn't able to keep up with
> classes on the
> > first week even because I didn't have even basic
> tools, like a way of
> > taking notes that didn't hurt me more than it helped
> or a good
> > accessible way of reading textbooks in class. Now I
> have the
> > VictorStream, so that'll be good for next semester,
> and they already
> > have my laptop (though they won't release it until all
> of the stuff
> > comes in).
> >
> > Does anyone else have trouble with late funding
> release in their
> > state? My local president and state president are
> pushing me to
> > self-advocate this, but I'm having trouble speaking up
> for myself (I'm
> > a bit timid in person), and I'm really not sure what I
> should be
> > demanding. Any suggestions on what I should be doing
> here? I think I
> > need to advocate for the fund release date to be
> changed to allow more
> > time, and I know I need to advocate for more students
> being allowed
> > into the college prep class at the Voc Rehab (they
> have a 15 week
> > maximum, and there was  a really long waiting
> list for college prep,
> > so I was unable to get into the college prep class at
> all). I'm also
> > hoping to see if they'll let me back in the voc rehab
> for intensive
> > college prep training to make up for the training I
> didn't get when I
> > was there full-time. They do allow intensive training
> (one week of
> > working on one subject only), but it is usually
> computer training, and
> > there is only one teacher there who can teach a
> scanner, one of the
> > things I'll need to learn, and she's the one who
> teaches the college
> > prep *and* consumer education classes, plus she has an
> intern she's
> > supervising, *and* she teaches a cooking class)...they
> have this poor
> > woman way overworked., and they aren't helping the
> students meet all
> > their goals by having a limited college prep
> placements...
> >
> > It's all a bit mess, and any suggestions, ideas, or
> advice would be
> > gratly appreciated. And horray for my equipment coming
> in finally!
> >
> > ~Jewel
> >
> > --
> > ~Jewel
> > Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
> > Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com
> >
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> 
> 
> -- 
> ~Jewel
> Check out my blog about accessibility for the blind!
> Treasure Chest for the Blind: http://blindtreasurechest.blogspot.com
> 
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