[nabs-l] Question for blind students

[Chris Nusbaum]

Hi Osmond,

The first big challenge that I can think of is accessibility, 
accessibility, accessibility! As a lot of blind students here can 
probably attest, one of our biggest problems as blind students is 
not being able to access important Web sites, documents, and 
computer programs used in the classroom with our screen readers 
or other screen access technology.  It is sad that this problem 
is so common, because it is easy to fix.  Just ask the makers of 
Blackboard!

Another big problem that blind students face, and that all 
independent blind people face, is the negative attitudes and 
misconceptions about blindness which are widely believed by the 
general public.  Most of the time, there are just minor little 
incidents (which we usually come on this and other NFB lists and 
laugh about, swapping funny stories) of these misconceptions in 
our interactions with the public.  The difference with students 
is sometimes, these misconceptions about blindness effect our 
success, or stop us from taking certain classes or studying 
certain fields that we want to take or study.  A prime example of 
this happened to a good friend of mine who is currently going to 
our local community college here in Maryland.  He wanted to take 
an arobic fitness class for his PE credit.  However, the teacher 
of this class said she couldn't let him take the class because he 
was blind, and she "wouldn't be able to accommodate (him).)" What 
she didn't understand was that he could participate in the class 
on the same level as everyone else.  All she thought of was that 
she couldn't imagine doing the things that she was teaching in 
her class without her vision, and couldn't imagine how he, as a 
totally blind person, could do them, so she just assumed that he 
needed a lot of special accommodations to participate in her 
class, which she thought she couldn't provide.  People who do 
these kinds of things don't mean to be discriminatory or unfair; 
they're just ignorant about blindness! So, I would emphasize to 
the teachers you talk to in your presentation that it is 
important for them to keep a positive attitude about blindness, 
and to not assume that a blind person can't do some task in their 
classrooms without asking the blind person first.  If they have 
any questions, I'm sure you would be very open to answering them.  
But the bottom line here is this: Don't stop a blind person from 
taking a class or doing anything else in the classroom just 
because he/she is blind! For more on this second challenge, I 
would encourage reading Dr.  Kenneth Jernigan's speech called 
Blindness: Concepts and Misconceptions.  You can read this 
article here: 
?nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/convent/blndnesc.htmI also 
encourage everyone else on this list, especially college 
students, to post your experiences with both of these challenges 
and any others you have experienced to this list.  Osmond, I 
think it would be good to have some good stories to tell as 
examples of some of these challenges for your presentation.  
These are just my thoughts.  Good luck!

Chris Nusbaum

"For we walk by faith, not by sight."
2 Corinthians 5:7?

Sent from my BrailleNote?

----- Original Message -----
From: Osmond Kwan <osmond81 at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 sent: Thu, 19 Apr 2012 13:36:31 -0400
Subject: [nabs-l] Question for blind students

Dear All,

I was just invited to give a ten minute presentation to an 
audience of
faculty and administrators about the challenges sight impaired
individuals face in the classroom and on campus.  I am the only 
sight
impaired student represented.  I wanted to ask those on the list 
if you
could share some challenges you face on campus and in the 
classroom
that faculty and administrators should know.

Thanks,
Osmond

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