[nabs-l] I believe I have been discriminated against, where to turn for h...
NMPBRAT at aol.com
NMPBRAT at aol.com
Fri Feb 15 04:25:34 UTC 2013
Laurel,
I think many people have made good points. I'm going to make just a few
suggestions.....based upon my own experiences as a legally blind individual
who has had discrimination issues at the collegiate level as well as my
special education knowledge and the law.
1. Like many have said, follow the chain of command.
2. Always, always have a witness at any meetings you have. Take a
friend, family member, etc....someone who is not directly affiliated with the
university (employee of the university). Yes, you want someone from
disability services (or whatever they call it at your school) but you can't rely on
them as a witness. Give your witness the job of taking notes...they aren't
there to speak for you but simply as an observer and witness to what is
said. Sometimes, in the moment, when you are dealing with situations like
this, you can easily miss something that another person could easily pick up
on. Also, it holds those in the room accountable to what they say and shows
that you are serious about it.
3. Follow up meetings with written letters, restating what was discussed
at the meeting...just provides further documentation later on and also that
you are serious about your complaints. It holds people accountable to
what was discussed.
4. Decide how important this is to you and how much time and effort you
want to put into it. Determine whether it could impact further education
that you want to pursue, even if it is at another college. Going to grad
school, at least in some fields, can require certain grades or GPA's in order
to be accepted. You'll want to figure out how this might impact that for
you and that may help you to decide how far you want to pursue this. Like
people have said, grades can be changed....even when they are considered
"final"....they really aren't, they can always be changed.
5. Suing is the last resort. With that said though....I would highly
encourage you to either contact a "savvy" NFB person, maybe at the state
level/national level...or get legal advice from an attorney. This doesn't mean
because you speak to one that you have to sue. I have found in my
experiences that simply learning some specific "lingo" or terminology or legal-type
phrases...puts you in a completely different light to the people you are
addressing yourself to. It shows that you have "done your homework" and
that you aren't "playing around". Even simply saying "my attorney feels" or
"my attorney stated" along with specific lingo can definitely turn heads.
My point in telling you this is....I have had luck with this....which has
then moved things along...and has prevented me from having to actually do any
kind of legal action.
6. Finally, I would just say that....yes, you need to take care of you
first... but also remember that whatever you choose to do can potentially be
very beneficial to those that may follow you in the future at the college
or with that professor. You can be the trailblazer...so don't think that
just because your graduating that you taking action to put this professor in
her place has no value.....it without a doubt does have great value! Just
something to think about.
I wish you all the best in whatever you decide to do.
Best wishes,
Nicole
In a message dated 2/14/2013 2:56:14 P.M. Eastern Standard Time,
laurel.stockard at gmail.com writes:
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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>>
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti
>>
>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
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