[nabs-l] Some Questions About Attending College

Sat Dec 21 17:25:23 UTC 2013

I would ask rehab to purchase a braillenote apex for you. I'm 
only in high school, so I can't talk specifically about college, 
but I'm found my braillenote VERY useful in my education. It can 
read many types of files, including PDF's, word files, and 
poerpoints. Also, unlike other notetakers, you can write nemeth 
symbols on the braillenote and have them come out on print, 
making it useful in math classes. Good luck in your college 
career!

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Joshua Hendrickson <louvins at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 21 Dec 2013 03:13:08 -0600
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Some Questions About Attending College

Hi Kerri.  I would also recommend applying for financial aide.  
This
is how I was able to get through my associates degree as far as 
cost
is concerned.  Asking your rehab services for a notetaker to help 
you
in class is perfectly acceptible.  I would highly recommend 
trying to
get a braille sense u2 from hims-inc.  As far as textbooks, you 
could
purchase the books and see if disability support services could 
scan
the book and give it to you in MSWORD format.  This is what my 
school
did for me, and I could read the books with my jaws just fine.  
Don't
be worried about asking for what you need to help you get your 
degree.
 Good luck.

On 12/20/13, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu> wrote:
 It depends on your school but here at ASU the disabled student 
services
 scans the books into electronic format.

 I have been out of school for over 15 years and applied for 
rehab and they
 are paying for my schooling. some states have very long wait 
lists. I was
 albe to get on in about 3 months. They purchased a portable cctv 
for me.

 You do have to have the goal of employment form the school in 
order for
 rehab to pay for

 Good luck

 On Fri, Dec 20, 2013 at 4:57 PM, Helga Schreiber <
 helga.schreiber at hotmail.com> wrote:

 Hi Kerri, this is Helga. How are you? I just wanted to tell you 
that for
 paying for your classes, why don't you apply for Financial Aid. 
I apply
 every year for it in order for them to pay my classes. In fact, 
they
 actually pay my classes that I'm going to be taking next 
semester! And as
 for textbooks, I use Learning Ally and I try to get my books in 
Braille,
 or
 get them in Microsoft Word format in order perhaps to put them 
in
 Braille!
 But since you don't like Learning Ally, maybe you can get your 
books in
 Braille, or as a Microsoft Word format. I don't really like my 
books in
 PDF
 format, but maybe you do. I don't really recommend it because 
sometimes
 the
 words come attach together, and it's very hard to understand, 
and very
 messy. Hope this helps! Thanks for listening to me! God bless!! 
:)

 -----Original Message----- From: Kerri Kosten
 Sent: Friday, December 20, 2013 6:29 PM
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
 Subject: [nabs-l] Some Questions About Attending College

 Hi Everyone:

 Well, after taking a few years off, I have decided to take the 
plunge.
 I have decided to go back to West Virginia University. I 
registered
 for three classes: Communications 122 which is Communication in
 Contemporary Society, English 111 which is Introduction To 
Creative
 writing, and a University Library course which is library 
research
 which is a class that is required for my major.
 I previously attended WVU from 2007-2009 but ended up dropping 
out
 because I didn't have any blindness skills and things just 
weren't
 working out.
 I have been debating for a long time now whether to go back to 
school,
 but I need to get back to a routine and since jobs are hard to 
find
 and I never finished my degree I figured going to school would 
be my
 best option currently. I figured going back to school would give 
me
 something to do five days a week, it would get me out of the 
house, I
 could learn things, and could work on finishing my degree. I 
haven't
 been on campus yet, but my mother and everyone says everything 
is
 right near each other and once I get to the student union I 
should
 have no problem walking to my classes. I could have lunch in the
 student union before class, then walk to my classes, then either 
go
 back to the student union or go home. Next to the student union 
there
 is even a Starbucks where coffee and such can be gotten. So, for 
all
 these reasons I figured school would be my best current option.
 Being that I have not been in school for a few years, I had some
 questions.
 First, how do you all handle the whole taking notes thing? I 
have a
 very very old Pacmate that I received back in 2007, and I guess 
I
 could dig it up and make it work but you all know the Pacmate is 
a
 very very old very outdated notetaker that is so old they don't 
even
 make it anymore!
 Do you all primarily use notetakers such as the Braille Note or
 Braille Sense for notetaking or is there a newer, better way?
 Do any of you do the whole notetaker as braille display with an 
Ipad?
 What is the advantage of this over just using the plain 
notetaker?
 How do I justify to Rehab (even if it's for next semester) to 
get me a
 new notetaker? Is there a better thing out now or are the 
notetakers
 still widely used even though they are overpriced?
 The one thing I do like about a notetaker is everything is right 
there
 and I can type and then check my notes on a braille display. If 
I am
 going to ask Rehab for something new, I definitely want some 
sort of
 braille display so I don't have to rely on my hearing to try to 
listen
 to the professor and simultaneously try to listen to Jaws or 
speech at
 the same time.
 How do you all get textbooks in accessible formats?
 I hate RFBD/Learning Ally. It puts me to sleep so I would do 
best with
 electronic copies of the books.
 What is the current way of going about getting books 
electronically?
 Finally, when I went to school before, I didn't really pay 
attention
 to things such as cost. After I registered today, I looked at my 
bill.
 For three classes, it is about $2,000. My mother is going to 
help me
 pay, but she also wants me to see if Rehab can help.
 How do I justify to rehab to help me pay for school? I'm having
 trouble because while I want to major in journalism, and I did 
well in
 my journalism and english classes when I attended WVU before, I 
have
 no idea whether I will be able to really realistically get a job 
after
 college. The amount of $2,000 really shocked me, and I guess now 
I am
 feeling extremely guilty because I'm doing this school thing 
because
 it seems my best option for turning my life around. However, I 
have no
 idea how to justify that type of money.
 When I asked Rehab to send me to training, that was a little 
different
 because I desperately needed training and really couldn't go 
further
 without it. Training was my only option at that time for 
bettering
 myself.
 I feel extremely guilty about the cost. Is it like training? 
Does
 Rehab have to help even if I don't necessarily get a job right 
away or
 even if I get a degree in journalism and get a job in something
 totally different/unrelated?
 Thanks, and if I have any other questions I'll ask!
 Kerri

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