[nabs-l] Some Questions About Attending College

Ashley Bramlett bookwormahb at earthlink.net
Mon Dec 23 04:28:04 UTC 2013


Kerri,
Wow, a lot of questions. I assume you live fairly close to the school. Is 
your mom going to take you to school and then you meet her later on, and she 
bring you home? I am guessing you do not have other transportation to school 
based on other messages you sent. It sounds like you live in an area with 
not much public transit.

I'd advise you to try and get involved in clubs after class. Its harder as a 
commuter student. But do try and plan to stay after classes to do things 
like this because you will feel good about getting involved in college life 
and also hopefully make some friends.

Anyway, notetaking issues.
It’s a personal preference. I agree with others that a braille notetaker is 
an excellent idea.
As you pointed out, it  gives you instant access to your notes. I loved the 
convenience of taking notes silently and listening to the professor; with a 
standard laptop or netbook, I'd have to listen to jaws and the professor. 
This is very difficult for me to do. If you are a proficient braille reader, 
the braille notetakers with a braille display give you a portable and 
efficient way to write notes. In fact, I hardly use speech. I have an older 
braille note, but it still works, so I used it till I graduated school, even 
though the apex came out the end of my college experience.

So, I suggest a notetaker, which ever one suits you. Also, rehab should pay 
for this. its related to your vr goal after all.

The pacmate is no longer made?
I doubt that; I thought they made some version of the pacmate still.

For books, as others said, you can get electronic texts from publishers. We 
are totally opposite though! I learn best with learning ally books since its 
like a reader sitting with me to read. I can understand it so much better. 
Yes, some readers suck, and you do have to get used to various voices. But 
to me, it is not as bad as listening to synthesized speech; that to me puts 
me to sleep.
Anyway, electronic texts is fine; just ask your ds office for text formats 
like Word or RTF though.
I agree with Helga. PDFS are a nightmare because when I tried to read the 
electronic pdf files from a publisher, the words were stuck together in 
several places, and it was very difficult to understand and focus on 
reading. Other pdfs kept saying "graphic" in the middle of text being read. 
I use jaws.

So use electronic text if you want. But be aware of some format limitations. 
I think some publishers offer electronic books to the general market. These 
ebooks can be rented or bought.
Some ebooks are accessible; I believe Course smart's books are.

You can receive your texts as an accomodation from your ds office. You will 
be asked to buy the books and keep the receit.
Do this at the bookstore like everyone else or buy a book from amazon. Some 
general books for english classes such as novels can be bought from your 
standard bookstore; such as barnes and noble.

Once you provide the ds office proof of purchase with receits, they should 
provide accessible electronic texts to you.
Services greatly vary among ds offices. Some will be timely in getting 
books, others will not. Get them your book lists as soon as possible so they 
will have time to order the electronic texts. Some ds offices will scan 
books and place the books on a disk or storage drive for you.

For rehab finance, this is something you should discuss with your counselor.
State rules vary. But in general I'd say, no, they will not pay.
Kerri, you have to be a full time student for rehab to finance it, and you 
are not. Twelve credits is full time.
Second, your major has to be related to your vr goal, and it does not sound 
like you know what you want to do.
Third, if you are under 18, your parent's income is factored into the 
financial equation.
Vr simply does not pay for anyone to go to school. If your family can pay, 
they will be looked to to pay.
Most parents pay for their kids to attend school, or if they cannot afford 
it, students find their own way.
Even if your are over 18, your other income is considered. If you receive 
SSI from the government, you are likely eligible for rehab to pay.
But if you have income from other sources such as inherritance or 
investments from family, they will not.
Fourth, rehab may be unwilling to pay because  you tried college before. If 
you were on academic probation and / or flunked out, this is a red flag. I 
have know idea why you dropped out, it may not be for grades, but rehab may 
consider that.

I suggest you apply for financial aid and scholarships and grants if you 
need finance help.
Rehab will not pay for a part time degree.

Ashley



-----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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