[nabs-l] Sad news, from my DSO

Sun Aug 28 19:43:30 UTC 2011

Peter,
Ideally, we should think of everything before the  semester begins; but we 
are human. Its not good to criticize
people for what they did not do. I hate when my mom does this. IF you did 
not do it, you did not do it and people pointing it out is hurtful.
We should not have personal attacks. This list should be supportive and 
answer people's questions.
I believe you miss the point. Joshua's VR agency, DSB, fails to support him 
by buying a braille notetaker and if they do not do that, they will not pay 
for a book.
So he is turning to his disability support office, DSO, to contact 
transcription agencies and procure the book on his behalf. This is what a 
DSO is supposed to do. As a student you tell them the accomodations you need 
and point them to the right resources. We have to educate the DSO because 
they don't know much about blindness resources.
You actually have to go through the DSO for electronic books and test 
accomodations. The publishers go through the DSO so they have proof of your 
disability. Other accomodations are handled through them because
they need proof of a disability; yes its obvious someone's blind, but still 
everyone needs documentation now a days.
We can work out some things ourselves like accessible handouts and talk to 
the professor, yet some things need to go through the DSO. Joshua is doing 
the right thing.
Its not Joshua's responsibility to pay thousands of dollars for a textbook. 
It’s the college's responsibility.
It is his responsibility though to purchase the print textbook and show 
proof of purchase; then the college does what it can to render it 
accessible.
Times have changed and DSOs are here to stay. Its best if we work with them 
to have a good college education.
When you went to school, you did everything yourself because there was NO 
DSO. But now there is and they play a role in accomodating us.

Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Peter Donahue
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 12:50 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Sad news, from my DSO

Hello Chris and everyone,

    And a 30% rate of employment among the blind. More to the point his guy
bit off more than he could chew. He should have investigated  all of these
concerns prior to enrolling in school for this semester. Now he must deal
with the consequences of such a decision. He is not alone in this respect.
I've seen it happen numerous times. Blind people enroll in school that have
not received good blindness training and lacking the skills and equipment
needed to study independently and succeed in college. This is well
documented by our organization. Hence it's not just Peter Donahue blowing
off hot air. 70% or not if you want it bad enough you'll find a way to raise
the needed funds to persue your dreams. Peter Donahue

  Peter Donahue

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "chris nusbaum" <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 28, 2011 10:46 AM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Sad news, from my DSO

Hi Peter and everyone,

That's one thing I agree with you on. That's the NFB right there: "If
the going gets tough, the tough get going, and win in the end!" I've
heard Dr. Maurer say this a lot. Now, as to the rest of your comments,
you can't jump to conclusions and criticize people without knowing all
the facts. This was the same problem we had when we were discussing
national convention and its online streaming. Remember that there is a
70 percent unemployment rate among blind people. So, "raising the
funds yourself" is, more often than not, much easier said than done.
This, unfortunately, will stay a proven fact until we get totally
integrated into society, and we have a long way to go in that area. I
am not trying to be a downer, in fact, I'm very optomistic about the
work of the Federation. I'm trying to be a realist, and this, I
believe, is the unfortunate reality. Therefore, I don't think you can
fairly criticize other list members when they ask for advice to
resolve their problems with getting the needed accomodations in
school, when none of us; you, me, anyone, know every little fact about
the person's situation and the person in general. So, I propose to all
of you that we work to just give some constructive advice when a
lister posts a question about a problem they're having. If one of us
feels that they could do something differently, we could just suggest
it encouragingly: "Have you tried doing this? Maybe you could try this
instead of that." Hope this makes sense!

Chris

P.S. Joshua, while I understand your frustrations, I don't think Peter
should be banned from the list altogether because of his recent
comments. Of course, that's up to Mr. Andrews, but I think we should
encourage freedom of speech on our lists. I think people should only
be banned from the list if they are spamming it (Alexander Kaiser, for
example,) or posting inappropriate content to it, i.e. sexual material
or a lot of cursing.

On 8/27/11, Peter Donahue <pdonahue2 at satx.rr.com> wrote:
> Good evening Josh and everyone,
>
> If you're faced with a "Last resort" situation you'll need to hire a
> transcriber and have the book translated and embossed and raise the funds
> for this service yourself. Furthermore why did you not research this
> before
> the semester began! It sounds to me like you have a rough road to hoe. The
> good news is that when the going gets tough the tough get going and win in
> the end. This is what Mary and I would do if we were in your situation.
>
> Peter Donahue
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Beth" <thebluesisloose at gmail.com>
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, August 27, 2011 7:08 PM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Sad news, from my DSO
>
>
> I would try APH and the Hadley School for the Blind's Braille
> transcribing services.  It may cost a bunch, but that's all I can
> offer.
> Beth
>
>  ----- Original Message -----
> From: Joshua Lester <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Sat, 27 Aug 2011 18:17:56 -0500
> Subject: [nabs-l] Sad news, from my DSO
>
> Hi, it's Joshua Lester.
> My DSO lady informed me, that they've contacted the National
> Braille
> Press, about my Math textbook.
> They said, that they don't have any college textbooks, in
> Braille.
> Where else can we go?
> Thanks, Joshua
>
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-- 
Chris Nusbaum

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight. The real
problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that exists. If
a blind person has the proper training and opportunity, blindness can
be reduced to a mere physical nuissence." -- Kenneth Jernigan

Visit the I C.A.N. Foundation online at: www.icanfoundation.info for
information on our foundation and how it helps blind and visually
impaired children in MD say "I can!"

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