[nabs-l] rights as blind students and responsibilities of universities

[T. Joseph Carter]

Sometimes the line is hard to see.  Usually it’s pretty easy to tell 
when it has been crossed by leaps and bounds.  Trust your gut, but 
document everything all the same.  That’s just a good habit to get 
into, and it will be appreciated by your boss in the workplace as 
part of normal everyday operation.  Well-kept records are good for 
honest business.

Joseph


On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 10:36:02PM -0400, Anjelina wrote:
>Joseph,
>Thanks for your honest advice and experience. It's not fair that you 
>had your career derailed, but as you said your efforts have benefited 
>future students. Where is the line drawn between what is reasonable 
>accommodations and discrimination?
>Although the self-service Banner site is not completely inaccessible, 
>many of the elements such as links are not properly labeled. I had to 
>have sighted assistance to accept financial aid awards. I am not 
>opposed to using the JAWS cursor and trying to navigate the site but 
>the design could be better. Do I have a plausible claim? How much 
>time should I give the university to make changes?
>Thank you all for your input.
>-----Original Message----- From: T. Joseph Carter
>Sent: Tuesday, July 12, 2011 9:29 PM
>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] rights as blind students and responsibilities 
>ofuniversities
>
>Be prepared to document EVERYTHING.  Get it in writing, save every
>email you receive or send out.  Come up with an indexing system now,
>because you’ll need it later.  Don’t expect that just because you’re
>facing discrimination that the NFB will come to your rescue with
>legal help—I had email where the professors actively said they were
>looking for a student teaching site that would ensure I failed, and
>yet I had no support.
>
>You may never get anything for your efforts, and your efforts may be
>long indeed.  But you can pave the way for others, if you’re
>determined to do it.  I was, and I did.  It ended my career before it
>began though.  Others have benefited from my work, including one of
>our scholarship winners this year.
>
>Joseph
>
>
>On Tue, Jul 12, 2011 at 09:20:51PM -0400, wmodnl wmodnl wrote:
>>
>>
>>Get ready for retaliatory acts by your school.  Here in NYC at 
>>educational institutions such as CUNY, they are good at that.  Your 
>>grades and reputation will suffer.  I am unable to get into 
>>graduate school or get a job since I have been blasted on websites 
>>and blogs for my advocacy efferts.  My GPA went from a 3.9 to a 
>>final 2.6.  So much for trying to “”lives the American dream." 
>>while helping others.  I dealt with this when the economy was good; 
>>just, picture what you are against now that every corporation 
>>blames the economy and current-day politics. This happens 
>>regardless of the special funding that they receive superseding the 
>>current economical situation.
>>Sorry for the rant,
>>Joe
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>>From: bookwormahb at earthlink.net
>>>To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>Date: Mon, 11 Jul 2011 21:17:00 -0400
>>>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] rights as blind students and 
>>>responsibilities ofuniversities
>>>
>>>Anjelina,
>>>There are some similar issues at Nova, northern Virginia 
>>>community college;
>>>I started a writing certificate there and ran into access issues. 
>>>While the
>>>site for grades, transcripts, etc wasn't inaccessible, I'd say it wasn't
>>>very screen reader friendly.
>>>
>>>I complained about inaccessible stuff on the website like unlabeled
>>>graphics. I also requested an update to jaws in the library.
>>>I haven't seen much change; not to mention several violations of 
>>>ADA to the
>>>environment for those with physical disabilities; all doors 
>>>should be wide
>>>enough for wheel chairs and they need more push buttons for doors.
>>>
>>>Yes its reasonable to request jaws. Its about the same access; all other
>>>students have the access to computers on campus and you should 
>>>have access
>>>to at least some of them. Your tuition covers technology access.
>>>
>>>I'd make a written complaint if I were you and go up the chain of 
>>>command.
>>>Mention in your complaint about how schools need to comply with 
>>>section 508
>>>regulations. I assume your school receives federal support and if 
>>>they do,
>>>they are bound by civil rights laws like ADA and section 508 of the rehab
>>>act.
>>>
>>>Ashley
>>>
>>>-----Original Message-----
>>>From: Anjelina
>>>Sent: Monday, July 11, 2011 8:36 PM
>>>To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>Subject: [nabs-l] rights as blind students and responsibilities
>>>ofuniversities
>>>
>>>Hi all,
>>>I hope all who attended convention had a great time. The stream was very
>>>informative.
>>>My University has gradually migrated to a system called Banner 
>>>self service.
>>>All students are required to use the system for scheduling, 
>>>financial aid,
>>>updating information among other functions. The site is not fully
>>>accessible. Even with Safari and Voiceover, JAWS with Firefox and IE9 I'm
>>>unable to activate buttons or links. I've contacted the ds office and the
>>>tech office. This might be a silly question but I'm wondering how 
>>>much time
>>>is reasonable to give to see significant change?
>>>AAs a blind student is it unreasonable to request JAWS in the 
>>>library, or am
>>>I responsible for providing a key? I've always just taken my 
>>>laptop with me
>>>when having to do group work which is a work around.
>>>Thanks for your input.
>>>
>>>Anjelina
>>>Sent from my iPhone
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>
>Anjelina
>
>
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