[nabs-l] Reasonable technology requests from Rehab and someother college questions

Mon Apr 25 02:00:14 UTC 2011

Hi, Jordyn and listers.

Great question! Although I'm not getting ready for the 
transission to college, I know a little about it since I'm active 
in working with a foundation called the I CAN Foundation that 
helps visually impaired students in Maryland buy the technology 
necessary in college that is super expensive without a school 
system's help.  We're hoping to go national soon, but we're just 
not there yet.  To answer your question, rehab covers a lot of 
technology, but not all.  With all the technology you're needing, 
you'll probably need to find an alternative source of funds 
besides rehab to pick up the slack they didn't cover.  For this, 
I would reccomend going to your local Lions Club or any other 
foundation that helps blind or visually impaired students with 
the purchase of technology for college.  If you do live in 
Maryland, you can always look into getting help from the I CAN 
Foundation.  You can check us out online at 
www.icanfoundation.info.  Don't worry, the site's accessible now, 
both to screen readers and notetakers.  Hope this helps.

Chris Nusbaum

"A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Cindy Bennett <clb5590 at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 21:07:36 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reasonable technology requests from Rehab 
and someother college questions

I totally agree about the roommate thing.  In my opinion, having 
a
single room just is a way to single yourself out.  Some people 
have a
single room because of all of the space their equipment takes up 
or
because they have a guide dog.  This did not apply to me, because 
I did
not see the point of personally owning a braille embosser, so I 
did
not need more space than the average person.  So, I would 
definitely
encourage roommates, and borrowing equipment from your school 
that you
might not need super often.

I'm not sure how housing works.  I don't remember specifying that 
I am
blind on my housing contract, but I think they figured things out 
when
I requested braille signage in my dorm.  I don't know.  When I
registered my disability with the disabilities office, it might 
have
been transfered there, or there might have been a question about
ability in case of emergencies or something, and I might have
indicated it.  I don't remember.  So, I am really glad that I 
visited
the housing office, because they were planning to put me on the 
first
floor.  There are a lot of conveniences to living on said floor, 
I
enjoy the first floor now, but I had applied to live on a 
leadership
and service floor, the 4th floor, and they were going to ignore 
this
request and put me on the first floor because of my blindness.  
But it
took a pretty short talk with housing for them to understand that 
I
did not need the first floor.  So maybe talking to the office 
just to
make sure they have not made assumptions such as giving you the
handicap accessible room, intentionally placing you on the first
floor, a nicer upperclassmen dorm, or in a single room hasn't
happened.

Cindy

On 4/24/11, Jordyn Castor <jordyn2493 at gmail.com> wrote:
 Hi again guys!
 I'm going to college in the fall, as I already said yesterday.  
This is
 why I have so many questions! I just want to be sure I'm doing
 everything right, and what better way to do this then asking 
other blind
 students? :) So, thanks for all your great advice on everything!
 My other question is, what are reasonable things to ask Rehab 
for in the
 way of technology?
 I'm thinking a laptop, 40 cell braille display, Window Eyes, and 
a
 printer scanner combo thinggy with software like OpenBook or 
Kurzweil.  I
 don't know if I'd get a notetaker though as these are super 
expensive.
 lol Any suggestions or other things you'd ask for? What are you 
all
 using as far as technology in college?
 My college also has a place where I can, I think, borrow 
technology like
 an embosser or Braille Display.  Should I use that rather than 
asking
 rehab for some of the things like the display and the printer? I 
think
 it would be awesome to have a printer in my dorm though lol!
 Oh, speaking of dorms, do most of you have a roommate or a 
single room?
 A lot of my blind friends seem to have single rooms because of 
the
 expensive technology, but, I want a roommate, I think.  lol 
Thoughts?
 Anyway, I'll stop rambling! :)
 Thanks again,
 Jordyn

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--
Cindy Bennett
UNC Wilmington Psychology major

clb5590 at gmail.com
828.989.5383

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