[nabs-l] questions and assistance needed for starting onlinecollege
Melissa Hambleton
mysticalcharm at comcast.net
Sat Aug 4 21:48:57 UTC 2012
I'll be looking into how the Lions Club may be able to assist me, if at all
plus, looking into the NFB scholarship.
I'm not depending on the Virginia Department for the Blind too much; I'd
like to see how far I can push it with them because with all the negative
results or lack there of, I believe I deserve a little something for all the
trouble they have caused me. I'm speaking of my own personal experience and
if anyone else has had success with the Virginia Department of the Blind
then, I'm glad you had a nice experience rather than the ones I have had in
the past. Quite a number of years ago I initially desired to be a massage
therapist (didn't know all about the complete field of holistic health back
then) and there was a massage school in my city. I had ran into problems
with the supervisor at the Virginia Department of the Blind at the time,
which I will not go into here, and I had a technology assessment (if that is
the correct name for it) to see what equipment I may need. The rehab
counselor I had at the time talked to me on the phone and would not discuss
the results of my assessment and told me that I needed to get a job and stop
wasting tax payers money (I was, and still am, on SSI.) I had told the rehab
counselor that I would be getting a job after I would complete my schooling
with the massage therapy school and going to massage therapy school was
going to lead me into the workfield; she didn't want to hear it and still
went on about telling me to get a job. The conversation went extremely bad
from there. What is incredible is that just a couple of years ago, when the
Virginia Department of the Blind had a new supervisor, I had met a man who
lives only a street or two away from me, who is blind and the Virginia
Department for the Blind assisted this man with his schooling into massage
therapy school. The massage therapy school I wanted to attend several years
ago closed up more than 4-5 years ago and I wasn't sure how I would pursue
this. I had found out from the man who lives near me that the one he
attended was around an hour and a half away but, I had recently learned that
this massage therapy school has closed now. So, the closest one now would be
just too far away to travel to each day.
Melissa
----- Original Message -----
From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 6:38 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] questions and assistance needed for starting
onlinecollege
> Dear Melissa,
> I agree completely regarding the Virginia department for the blind and
> especially the staff in the Fairfax office. No, I would not count on them
> assisting you in paying for an online school since it is not traditional.
> They will not believe you can do it. More importantly, they only pay the
> tuition of the highest Virginia school. So, you would not get full funding
> anyway.
> BTW, you do not have to be in VABS to be a member of the vabs list, but it
> is never active and may as well not exist. I've not gotten a message in
> forever and I did not participate in vabs because I felt that it was
> inactive and the students were not as inclusive as they could have been.
> You can feel free to try vabs yourself though. I think Brilley Pollard is
> the current president, but it did not work for me.
> I got support from this list and went about it on my own during college.
> At my first college, they had other blind students, but since it was so
> big, it really didn't matter. When I transferred to a private school, I
> was the only blind student there.
>
> I did not ask the rehab department to pay for my schooling.
> If you do try it, be aware of the rules about it.
>
> Regarding other financial sources, I'd also suggest lions club. Try for
> the NFB scholarship too.
> If its expensive, you may have a hard time paying without family support.
> You could try a general loan from
> Citibank; this may offer you the best solution as a scholarship from a
> charity will not even cover a semester. If its as expensive as a private
> school, you are looking at 20 thousand a year.
>
> Its an interesting field, one of which I don't think blind people have
> tried. Good luck.
> Ashley
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Mystical Charm
> Sent: Thursday, August 02, 2012 6:11 PM
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nabs-l] questions and assistance needed for starting online
> college
>
> I have copied and pasted below an email that I sent to the VABS (Virginia
> Association of Blind Students) moderator but, I have not received any
> response so, I am writing here in hopes I can receive some assistance of
> some kind so that I can begin my studies.
>
> -------------------------
>
> Greetings to you Angie Matney,
>
> I wanted to write you in hopes that you may be of some assistance to me. I
> was unsure if I would correctly qualify to join the list or not for the
> Virginia Association of Blind Students or not so, I wanted to write you
> directly and find out if you can give me any information or a direction to
> go.
>
> Now to tell you a little bit about me and my situation.
>
> My name is Melissa, I am 32 years old and I am blind; I was born with a
> visual impairment, Glaucoma. Over the years I did have the normal
> treatments; the usage of multiple eye drops and in hospital surgery as
> well as laser surgery but, none of these were effective so, my vision
> declined over time and I am left with no usable vision.
>
> I truly believe I belong in the health field however, the particular area
> in health is viewed by some as absurd, while others try out different
> methods and can take it or leave it and others still like having the
> option to incorporate in methods in their life's and others truly believe
> in the benefits. What I am talking about is natural medicine. This covers
> complementary methods as well as alternative therapies. It includes
> anything from holistic dentistry and Chiropractics to Acupuncture to
> Homeopathy and Massage therapy and goes into the subjects of Vitamins and
> Minerals and exercise/fitness to energy work and meditation and so many
> more other topics.
>
> The average university/College may only have a course or two in a subject
> named above or something similar if they offer them at all. The only
> colleges that I know of that deal specifically with these subjects are
> Naturopathy Colleges and there are only perhaps 3-5 of them in the United
> States. I don't desire to move to one of these states in which one of
> these Naturopathy Colleges are located, the only alternative I have is
> searching the internet for legitimate schools online so that I can do the
> schoolwork from home. I have found a couple of Colleges that are of
> interest to me with what they offer and I have checked to see if their
> accreditation is legitimate or not and they do seem to be so.
>
> I do know that being a doctor is possible for a person who is blind; I
> once went to a lecture/discussion at my local hospital and the man that
> was speaking had been a doctor for a number of years and he was blind. At
> the time, I wasn't interested in being in the health field, I was a young
> teenager and was still trying to have fun and be me. Later, as I explored
> the internet and searched for doctors, I found these articles:
>
> blind doctor sees patients in a different way
>
> http://nfb.org/legacy/bm/bm01/bm0105/bm010514.htm
>
> blind medical student earns his me.d.
> http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/7318398/ns/health-health_care/
>
> This next article is about a woman who went to one of the Naturopathy
> schools I had briefly mentioned above:
>
> PAC Mate User Story: Chris Cooke, Medical Student
> http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/PAC_Mate_HQ_ChrisCooke.asp
>
> This woman does have her own practice, which I hope to have one day, and
> she also does have a website:
>
> http://www.healing4you.net/
>
> I believe that Holistic Practitioner is what I am aiming for because
> again, the Naturopathic Colleges are just not possible for me to attend. I
> would eventually do what others would need to do by becoming board
> certified and then having a license to practice.
>
> One of the biggest challenges is the tuition for these programs/courses
> online and I am not sure how to go about finding out if there may be any
> possible scholarships I could apply for or not. Both of the Colleges that
> I would like to study from does not participate in any federal or state
> financial aid programs at this time, therefore, no federal grants are
> applicable (including Stafford and Pell). I would like to mention here
> some of the possibilities that the Admissions had told me about from one
> of the Colleges--
>
> -I was told that a private loan or alternative loan is possible, most big
> lenders (e.g. SunTrust, Wells Fargo, Citibank) will offer such options.
> However, I would like to stay away from loans if possible.
>
> -Other suggestions that were mentioned to me either do not apply or that
> are not possible for me. One of the Colleges does have a scholarship
> available to students however, with the requirements to be able to apply,
> I do not qualify. Also, an employer tuition grant does not apply to me.
>
> -Local Community Service Organizations such as Masonic Organizations,
>
> Eastern Star(OES), Moose and Elks Lodges, or Chambers of Commerce may
> provide grants.
>
>
>
> I was possibly thinking about contacting one of these but, didn't know how
> successful I would be. What came to mind was the Lions Club since they
> assist with people who are blind. I am not sure if they would have a
> grant/scholarship or what they may be able to provide. I did notice in the
> list of mailing lists the NFB has available to the public is the NFB Lions
> so, I would like to know if you recommend me writing to that list and
> providing this same information that I am sending to you?
>
>
>
> -Another suggestion that was mentioned was
>
> Vocational Rehabilitation Programs
>
> for assistance. What came to mind was the Virginia Department for the
> Blind and Visually Impaired. I know I would need to deal with the one
> located in Fairfax since that is the closest to me and I have also dealt
> with them in the past. I am apprehensive about contacting the Virginia
> Department for the Blind and Visually Impaired because my experiences with
> them in the past were quite unpleasant and some were even unprofessional.
> I don't know if the Virginia Department of the Blind and Visually Impaired
> can be of help in assisting with expenses or what they may be able to do
> in my situation or if it would be willing to assist me in making my desire
> to help others come true.
>
>
>
> -Other suggestions were for women who have been harmed violently and
> again, this does not apply to me.
>
>
>
> I am willing to do what is required to earn a scholarship of some kind so
> that I may be able to proceed with taking these programs/courses if a
> scholarship's requirements apply to me.
>
>
>
> The only other thing that concerns me is, when I am enrolled into certain
> programs/courses, how to have certain materials more accessible or even in
> an alternative method like having something tactile. The doctors who are
> blind have had to have alternative and/or tactile materials of some kind.
> Whether in the Allopathic field or the Holistic field of health care, you
> need to study Anatomy/Physiology and reading the text book is good and all
> but, having something tactile to possibly go over the different areas of
> the body would be wonderful and also knowing where to get something like
> this is a question of mine as well that I need some assistance with how to
> find. In Holistic health care, you also have to identify the different
> types of herbs and the woman I had mentioned above, would have had to do
> so when she was going through her schooling and I would like to find out
> ways to be able to do this. I don't know if she had sighted assistance and
> someone did a very thorough job of explaining the look while she may have
> had the chance to examine the herbs tactily or not.
>
>
>
> So, what i would like to know is:
>
>
>
> -if the Virginia Association of Blind Students mailing list would apply to
> me or be of benefit.
>
> -if you have any suggestions of other lists or people I can contact to
> find out more about how to proceed with scholarships or finding out about
> certain alternative materials I will need and where to locate it so that I
> can have them as I move through the programs/courses.
>
> -If the Lions Club would be of help.
>
> -any other suggestions you may have for me.
>
>
>
> Thank you for your time and any help would be appreciated. Helping others
> in a more natural, holistic way has been a passion of mine for quite some
> time but, I really never knew where to begin and the more I looked into
> it, the more questions I had about beginning the process because of the
> finances as well as the materials I may need because of my disability.
>
>
>
> Thank you,
>
> Melissa Hambleton
>
> mysticalcharm at comcast.net
>
>
>
>
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