[nabs-l] waver

Mon Jan 10 01:43:15 UTC 2011

Hello,

Here is my two cents for what it's worth. I believe the answer depends on 
whether or not the one choosing to have a class waivered is concerned with 
the blindness community or with him or herself. If it were a personal matter 
only, the answer, in my opinion, would be no. However, when we make 
decisions about what to choose as a blind person, I believe we should also 
consider our blind brothers and sisters, if we can think of those that make 
up the blindness community in that way. No. It isn't fair that we should 
have to work harder or do extra to plant ourselves as blind people on the 
same soil as the sighted folks. However, the unfortunate reality is that 
what we should or should not have to do does not always agree with what 
needs doing. So when the opportunity arises, I choose not to have classes 
waivered because one, they are accomplishable with the appropriate 
accommodations, and two, doing so means I am saying to the sighted students 
who may be future teachers, future lawyers, future service representatives I 
want to treat me equal, etc. that the challenges associated with blindness 
can be conquered, and that my job is to figure out how and that I can figure 
it out since I have done it in the past. It may be someone else who is blind 
they encounter and if one of them happens to be in a position to employ the 
blind person, maybe they will say yes because of that positive experience 
they once had where they saw that a blind person they knew long ago wasn't 
helpless or incapable of doing certain things like the stereotype says. Now, 
let me say after all that that I agree it is irritating and all that. 
Sometimes there is a time to educate, and sometimes there is a time to put 
oneself first. Both choices are right. It is up to the person to decide when 
to choose which choice depending on circumstances and other factors, but my 
hope is that decision will be based on a logical, informed decision with all 
factors being considered. There are times I choose to put myself first as 
well. And, there are those days where I am not in the mood to fight the 
challenges. I just hope that I choose to fight those challenges for the good 
of everyone more days than I choose not to. Sorry if this offends because it 
is not intended for that purpose. Thanks for the ear. Anita

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Rob Blachowicz" <rob_blach at hotmail.com>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 8:19 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] waver

> ?
> The question I have if it's a college requirement and doesn't really 
> pertain to your major should you be required to take it if it requires a 
> lot of accomidations.  Should we stress our selves out twice as much as 
> sighted students for something that isn't even our goals.
> -----Original Message----- 
> From: Arielle Silverman
> Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 4:05 PM
> To: Ashley Bramlett ; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] waver
>
> Hi Josh and all,
>
> I can think of very few cases in which getting a course waived because
> of blindness is justifiable. I know this has been mentioned already,
> but in my experience almost any course can be completed with the help
> of a good human reader, regardless of the accessibility of necessary
> software. A reader will be much, much less expensive than SuperNova or
> other software.
>
> I think one of the biggest misconceptions, held by blind and sighted
> people alike, is that if a blind person can't do a task independently,
> they can't do the task at all. But decades of blind students who were
> educated prior to the computer era have proven that true success is
> possible through appropriate collaborations with readers and other
> assistants. Many state agencies for the blind have provisions in their
> statutes requiring them to pay for reader services. If not, it is
> possible to hire readers on a volunteer basis, offering to provide a
> service such as food, babysitting, etc. as compensation or working
> with volunteers from an organization that requires them to complete
> service hours. Many college clubs, such as fraternities and sororities
> or service organizations, or even groups at a church or other
> religious organizations require their members to perform volunteer
> service.
>
> For example, I have been successful thus far in my doctoral program in
> psychology despite not being able to independently enter data or make
> poster presentations. I work with research assistants who enter the
> data and help me with formatting my posters and graphical
> presentations of my research. I also cannot independently grade
> handwritten tests for my teaching assistant jobs, but I can do so by
> working with a reader who reads the tests to me. It would be a real
> shame if I, or someone in my graduate program, thought I couldn't
> participate in the program because I can't do these tasks all by
> myself. Similarly, some people think a blind person cannot teach
> elementary school because they cannot watch all the kids at once and
> ascertain whether they are fooling around silently during class. Yet
> many blind elementary school teachers work with assistants who help
> with visual classroom monitoring so they are free to instruct the
> class. In both of these cases, the blind person is still performing
> the important work. I still independently develop the content for my
> data presentations and I decide what grades students will get on their
> tests after the reader has told me what the students wrote. The blind
> teacher is still the one in charge of the classroom and the one who
> decides how mischievous students will be disciplined after they are
> identified by the teacher's aide. It is also important to remember
> that in many of these professions, sighted people also work with
> similar kinds of assistants. Some sighted teachers have
> paraprofessionals (teacher's aides). Although my sighted classmates
> don't use their RA's to help them with presentations, they do often
> work with RA's who provide data entry assistance.
>
> My point is that I would caution against saying something is
> impossible just because it can't be done without assistance. Of
> course, the ideal is to have software designed to be accessible out of
> the box so we can do everything independently. But until that day
> comes, I would not give up on a class or an activity until all
> options, including use of human readers, have been exhausted.
>
> Good luck!
> Arielle
>
> On 1/9/11, Ashley  Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> Josh,
>> Sorry to be blunt but your ideas seem like dreams.  Do you think your voc
>> rehab agency will buy you a different screen reader for one class?  I 
>> highly
>> doubt it because budgets are tight and its not cost effective to buy
>> something you'll use three months.  Any adaptive technology purchase has 
>> to
>> be justifiable and related to your employment goal.
>> Next for the companies to script their screen readers and make them
>> accessible its a large undertaking and will not happen in the time you 
>> need
>> it to.  Even if you take a semester off as you said you would, do you 
>> think
>> the companies will be ready?  Did you ask them the time frame of the
>> scripting process?
>> If MS project is graphical it may not be something that is rendered
>> accessible; some software is just not.
>> Also there needs to be a large demand for this.  Are many blind people
>> needing Ms project and made the request? I have no idea.
>>
>> Rather than getting a waver, I suggest some things.  Hire a reader to 
>> help
>> you; get a course substitution for the class.  Could you use another 
>> program
>> to accomplish the same goals of the class?
>>
>> Anyway, good luck figuring this out but I don't think asking companies to
>> script their software, and expecting it to be ready soon is a realistic
>> idea.
>>
>> Ashley
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Josh Kennedy" <jkenn337 at gmail.com>
>> To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Sunday, January 09, 2011 2:13 PM
>> Subject: [nabs-l] waver
>>
>>
>>> Hi
>>>
>>> I used to think I would need a waver for this project management class.
>>> You see if I can get gwmicro or serotek or both to make their readers
>>> accessible, great. if not, I will get voc rehab to get me supernova.
>>> supernova is the only screen reader which makes ms-project2007 and 2010
>>> accessible.
>>>
>>> Josh
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Arielle Silverman
> President, National Association of Blind Students
> Phone:  602-502-2255
> Email:
> nabs.president at gmail.com
> Website:
> www.nabslink.org
>
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