[nabs-l] I believe I have been discriminated against, where to turn for help?

Kaiti Shelton crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com
Thu Feb 14 20:40:28 UTC 2013 

And going off of Cindy's post, if you have past records of reasonable
ADA complaints that were not acknowledged properly by the university
save those as well.  Sounds like the ds office is a little misinformed
about the ADA or isn't following it or something.  Try showing that to
the dean of the college; if they have any knowledge of the ADA they
might notice that something is really wrong, bigger than just this one
descrimination event.  Sometimes it takes showing documentation to the
right person in order for a problem to actually be recognized.

On 2/14/13, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Yes, Hannah is right.  Not all colleges are bad.  My freshman year has
> been going swimmingly for the most part, and we're even working
> through the tougher issues associated with Stats formulas and graphs
> and such.  Everyone, especially my music professors, have been very
> willing to make accomodations based on what I've needed and work with
> me to find solutions to problems as they've come up.
>
> On 2/14/13, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Hi,
>>
>> I get that you're trying to make a point, and that she should hear
>> that she wasn't pulling one over on you, but I don't think a letter
>> will do much for the situation.  She is doing this blatantly and knows
>> what she's doing, and if you've beaten at your own game then she's got
>> to know that this hasn't gone unnoticed.  Congrats to you for that
>> though!
>>
>> Chairs of departments fall under the supervision of the dean of
>> whatever college they belong to.  Try that if you haven't already.
>> Even professors with years of pull behind them can have consequences
>> if the reason for doing so is severe enough, and I'd definitely say
>> that this is such a case.  If not then definitely go through with the
>> ADA stuff.  It sounds like you've filed some unsuccessful ADA
>> complaints before, so you may need some lawyer's input if it comes
>> down to it.  The main point is that ADA or no, it's not right to mess
>> with someone's GPA like this, and not wanting someone in a class just
>> because they require some accomodations is an excuse a prof with no
>> professionalism would make.
>>
>> How much longer do you have till you could get your degree?
>> Thankfully you can go somewhere else for grad school, and hopefully
>> pick a university with much better attitudes and resources geared
>> towards accomodating fairly.
>>
>> On 2/14/13, Laurel <laurel.stockard at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> Exactly. She is long track, and has tuns of power overthere.
>>> Basically, her word is law. I'm thinking that at least, if I can't do
>>> anything else, I am going to wait until I have my degree in hand in
>>> August, and then write her a letter and just tell her, look I know
>>> what you did and I want you to know that it's not ok. HOnestly, she
>>> didn't want me in her class because I'm blind. She tried to fail me,
>>> but I didn't even know I was being discriminated against at the time.
>>> I beat her at her own game and passed. I literally just thought it was
>>> that hard and at the time I didn't know anybody in the class.
>>> Laurel
>>>
>>> On 2/14/13, Loren Wakefield <theweird1 at centurylink.net> wrote:
>>>> The problem here also is that if the prof is chair of the department,
>>>> then
>>>> she is probably tenured.  This makes it harder to bring complaints
>>>> against
>>>> and have any sort of meaningful action taken.  But you should follow
>>>> the
>>>> chain of command first.
>>>>
>>>> Loren
>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti
>>>> Shelton
>>>> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 1:03 PM
>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] I believe I have been discriminated against,
>>>> where
>>>> to
>>>> turn for help?
>>>>
>>>> Josh,
>>>>
>>>> The ADA is great, but you can't just automatically slap everyone who
>>>> descriminates against someone with a disability with a lawsuit.  If it
>>>> comes
>>>> down to it and that's what must be done then that's one thing, but
>>>> there
>>>> are
>>>> certain steps which should be taken before putting the time, effort,
>>>> and
>>>> money into suing a person.  Plus, I'm assuming that this is not
>>>> Laurel's
>>>> last semester in school, so it wouldn't be wise to just hire a lawyer
>>>> and
>>>> make a bunch of legal fuss without going through the chain of command
>>>> first.
>>>> I feel that would just create more enemies than this one professor, not
>>>> to
>>>> mention make Laurel look bad for not trying to resolve the issue in a
>>>> more
>>>> dignified and civilized way before going to court.  A sensible dean
>>>> will
>>>> not
>>>> stand for descrimination from a faculty member, especially if they see
>>>> Laurel in an appointment.  College administrators are mindful of things
>>>> which could causse lawsuits and will do what they can to avoid them,
>>>> and
>>>> if
>>>> this French professor really did descriminate and Laurel can prove it
>>>> in
>>>> a
>>>> calm, civilized way by presenting the facts I bet her prof will have
>>>> some
>>>> form of consequences from the university.
>>>>
>>>> On 2/14/13, Kaiti Shelton <crazy4clarinet104 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>>>> Laurel,
>>>>>
>>>>> If Scott Labarre were to even represent you, you wouldn't get the case
>>>>> up and running till after this semester was over and your grade would
>>>>> surely be final.  Talk to your disabilities councelor and see if they
>>>>> can help; part of their job is to advocate for you in situations like
>>>>> these.  Make an appointment with the dean of the language department
>>>>> first.  Make sure it's face-to-face.  If you have a copy of your exam
>>>>> instructions or the disabilities office has them on file bring them so
>>>>> that you can show the dean.  It would also be helpful if you could get
>>>>> a sighted student to describe either verbally in the meeting or in
>>>>> writing which they can give to you what their exam procedures were so
>>>>> the dean could compare.  If the dean refuses to do nothing go to his
>>>>> boss, and if that doesn't work then I'd look into legal action against
>>>>> the university, but follow the chain of command first.  You don't want
>>>>> to overstep people who could help you without making a bigger deal out
>>>>> of the situation.
>>>>>
>>>>> On 2/14/13, Joshua Lester <JLester8462 at pccua.edu> wrote:
>>>>>> I'll write you offlist, because I need to ask you something anyway.
>>>>>> Thanks, Joshua
>>>>>> ________________________________________
>>>>>> From: nabs-l [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Laurel
>>>>>> [laurel.stockard at gmail.com]
>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 12:43 PM
>>>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] I believe I have been discriminated against,
>>>>>> where to turn for help?
>>>>>>
>>>>>> What's his email? Sorry, I'm in school and can't answer the phone,
>>>>>> but I can get away with email. :-)
>>>>>>
>>>>>> On 2/14/13, Joshua Lester <JLester8462 at pccua.edu> wrote:
>>>>>>> Good grief!
>>>>>>> You better sue them!
>>>>>>> Contact Scott LaBarre, and he'll help you!
>>>>>>> That's terrible!
>>>>>>> Blessings, Joshua
>>>>>>> ________________________________________
>>>>>>> From: nabs-l [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Laurel
>>>>>>> [laurel.stockard at gmail.com]
>>>>>>> Sent: Thursday, February 14, 2013 12:32 PM
>>>>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>>>>> Subject: [nabs-l] I believe I have been discriminated against,
>>>>>>> where to turn for help?
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> As my subject says, I believe that I have been discriminated against
>>>>>>> by a professor at my university. I am wondering if one of you fellow
>>>>>>> listers can tell me where to get help. I had a French professor last
>>>>>>> semester. With out making this too long of a story, basically, I
>>>>>>> have just found out that she gave me different exams and quizzes
>>>>>>> than she gave everybody in the class. She made me do a different and
>>>>>>> much harder final exam for example. On the final, I had to go to my
>>>>>>> Disability Servic Testing office and answer 4 or 5 questions, in
>>>>>>> French of course, one page responses single spaced without use of a
>>>>>>> dictionary. I did not know then what everybody else did, I assumed
>>>>>>> they did the same as me. I found out yesterday, accidentally, that
>>>>>>> what she did was have everybody else come to class and get in
>>>>>>> groups.
>>>>>>> She then gave each group a dictionary, and assigned the groups 1
>>>>>>> question each. They then had to answer it and write their answers on
>>>>>>> the board. The whole class then discussed each question. All 20
>>>>>>> students made 100s on the exam. I made a 74. Had I made an "A" I
>>>>>>> would have made an "a" in the class. This is the most major thing
>>>>>>> she did, there's a lot of smaller things, but I think I can pin her
>>>>>>> down on this one. Where/what NFB resource/resources should I turn to
>>>>>>> for
>>>> help?
>>>>>>> Thanks
>>>>>>> Laurel
>>>>>>>
>>>>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>>>>
>>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
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>>>>>>
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>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> --
>>>>> Kaiti
>>>>>
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> --
>>>> Kaiti
>>>>
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>>>
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti
>>
>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>


-- 
Kaiti

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