[nabs-l] my test accomodation problem

Sun Apr 28 06:06:51 UTC 2013

Hi Ashley, this is Helga. I just wanted to tell you that the Adviser's 
assistant who used to read me left on January, and as I told you before on 
this semester my Professors are the ones who read me the tests. I'm actually 
going to be taking English Composition 2 this summer, and since the reader 
who used to read me my tests is gone, I don't know who will read me my test 
this summer. I actually attend Palm Beach State College, which was a 
community college before. I actually have some issues with my Disability 
Adviser at my college. I actually like the idea of using JAWS in order to 
take my tests and quizzes since I never try it before; I'm probably thinking 
in using JAWS on this summer term when I'm taking my English Composition 2 
class. Also, I'm actually thinking in telling my professor to tell my DSS 
adviser to put my test in Braille, in order for me to follow the reader, 
since my my first Language is not English, and also since my prefer way of 
reading is Braille. Also, I just would like to ask you, Where did you get 
the personal readers that help you study and do your research? I'm just 
curious since I'm in my Freshman year in college still, and I'm studying to 
become a Lawyer; I would really like to have that, since she could probably 
help me do my assignments, since I'm still learning to work with JAWS. I 
just would like to know. Also, Did you use JAWS in order to do your English 
Composition 2 class tests and quizzes, and it worked? I'm just curious. 
Thank you so much and God bless!! :)

-----Original Message----- 
From: Ashley Bramlett
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 1:20 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] my test accomodation problem

Arielle,
Thank you. I think its an issue that the dss doesn't want to go the extra
mile in helping out.
She said she would not do it for other subjects. I thought legally they had
to provide something workable.

I will speak to the professor about this and see what she can offer. I can
not use a TA  as we don't have them. It might just be that I bring a  list
of these foreign terms with me to aide in reading them and knowing what they
are.
Maybe the professor knows someone in the department that I'm unaware of that
can assist me. I doubt it; it’s a small department but worth asking about.

I just checked our disability service webpage on the website. No policies
are on there about test taking and readers.
I'll check the handbook as well once I get one.

Thanks for the suggestions.
Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Arielle Silverman
Sent: Sunday, April 28, 2013 12:59 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] my test accomodation problem

Your DSS counselor is definitely being negligent, but at a community
college they might not have enough readers to match every subject.
It's unfortunate but might just be a limited-resources issue. Anyway,
we've all given you several suggestions of ways to bypass an office
that isn't meeting your needs. I hope at least one of these
suggestions will work out for you.
Arielle

On 4/27/13, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
> Hi all,
>
> This is the problem I alluded to before. Usually I have worked with less
> than adaquate readers issued by this community college.
> But this is a different senario. What happened was this. I am taking a 
> world
> religions final covering the monotheistic religions.
>
> Although its an elective I want to do well. We studied Islam and the Baha’I
> faith among other religions.
> The professor is nice and farely understanding. In fact, it was she who 
> said
> it would be challenging to do auditorily and suggested I request a reader
> competent in Aerabic or who was Muslim. We are testing on some Arabic
> vocabulary to match with definitions.
> We also have other parts of the test .
>
>
> I requested a reader from my dss counselor and stated the desired time as
> well as explained that I need a reader who can pronounce Arabic words. I
> explained that we have foreign words because its about Islam and the Baha’I
> faith. Words for the five pillars and their holidays such as Salad, Sawm,
> Zakat, Ramadan, and Hajj.
>
> The DSS counselor responded rather rudely that they do not match  readers
> based on subject matter competency, that they only base on availability. 
> She
> said I should know this since I’ve worked with her long enough. I of 
> course
> do not know this as I’ve never requested this before.
>
> I might  take a list of the words we have to match for the test. This 
> would
> help me know what the words are as the reader spells them out who likely
> won’t know how to pronounce them. I’ll also ask my professor for
> suggestions. She’ll likely just advocate with me to dss.
>
> I was planning on using the school readers, so at this late point I doubt 
> I
> can get someone else. They need to provide competent readers. My dss
> counselor went as far as to say that if a student took a math class, they
> would not provide someone proficient in math.
>
> It is discriminatory for them not to provide a reader who can read
> adaquately. I kid you not. She really used the math class example. She’d
> really set someone up to fail by providing a student reader not familiar
> with math to read a math exam.
> Email me off list for the counselor’s exact words which I can send
> privately.
> Its appalling.
>
> The best I can do i s explain the situation to the professor and see what 
> we
> can work out knowing that I might have an incompetent reader. What I
> probably do is rely on them spelling the words to me as we match them with
> definitions.
>
> Ashley
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