[nabs-l] unaccommodating professors

Sat Jan 12 06:22:06 UTC 2013

Ashley,
  I've never ran in to a situation quite like this, but it's probably
a matter of time.  In general, though, here's what I try and do
whenever I have a disagreement with an authority figure somewhere that
involves my blindness and acommodations that may need to be made for
me.
  First, I try and see if I'm thinking too narowly to solve the
problem.  I find it's real easy to get stuck in the rut of believing I
already know the one and only way I can do something, and therefore
nothing the other person says is of any value.  Maybe you could have
advocated for a paper braille copy of the book you'd need.  Maybe, by
listening to the class discussion carefully, you could have inferred
what part of the book was being talked about.  (of course this would
require some reading before hand, but it's usually worked for me in
discussions like the one you describe.)  Maybe you could have saved
the PDF file as a text file, then either read it on your Braille Note
as a .txt document or translated it into .brf or .kwb if you prefer
that format.  I'm not trying to judge, or criticize; I'm merely
suggesting that there is almost always a practical method to solve
something if only you look past your entrenched notions about how you
prefer to accomplish things.  If you don't have a way, make one.
Don't assume, ever, that you don't have multiple options to do what
needs doing.
  That being said, I don't blame you in the slightest for deciding
that this professor wasn't worth your time.  Being creative and
adabtable goes both ways and, in going behind your back to your DRC
counselor, your professor didn't show you the basic respect and
dignity you deserve.  To me, any instructor who would rather use your
case counselor to pressure you in to backing out of a class than talk
to you directly shouldn't be worth your time or energy.  Maybe another
professor teaches the same class?  Maybe you could, in fact, do it
online?  Or, if all else fails, I'm sure there's another interesting
class out there.
  Best of luck,
Kirt

On 1/11/13, Brandon Keith Biggs <brandonkeithbiggs at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hello,
> There is a pretty simple way of converting PDF to TXT:
> when you open the PDF go to
> "save as other"
> hit text
> Enter the name and location and there you go.
> Also, ask the disability center for a .doc and they should be accommodating,
>
> I've never heard of one that wasn't for that.
> There are a million other ways to get a PDF to TXT, but that is first.
> Thanks,
>
> Brandon Keith Biggs
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Misty Dawn Bradley
> Sent: Friday, January 11, 2013 9:45 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] unaccommodating professors
>
> Hi,
> If you are able to get the book from Learning Ally, the books are set up to
> where you can set them to go page by page, by chapter, by heading, or by
> sentence, so this may help with at least finding the page number, and then
> if you go by sentence or if there is a paragraph setting then you may be
> able to find the paragraph easier.
> Hth,
> Misty
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2013 12:34 AM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] unaccommodating professors
>
>
>> Brandon,
>> Yes professors are set inttheir ways. This is one of them. Students in
>> that class have to for instance, see paragraph 2 on page 14.
>> I usually use audio formats so cannot use text to search.
>> I have tried to get the electronic copy, but as I said before, they give
>> me pdfs which jaws has trouble reading.
>> Even if jaws reads it, I don't have page numbers since the book is broken
>>
>> down by chapters or parts.
>> Each part or chapter is a large file.
>> So its impossible to look at a book as others do.
>>
>> I'm glad it worked for you, but I know with videos coupled with the
>> reliance of books, it is a tough teaching style to follow.
>>
>> I just hate when professors are not willing to talk to you and go to the
>> dss office.
>>
>> Ashley
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: Brandon Keith Biggs
>> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2013 12:17 AM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] unaccommodating professors
>>
>> Hello,
>> I had a superstar professor who did this. He was an older guy and he was
>> very set in his ways. He had about 2000 students on his Corse load and he
>> was also an international star. He said I would probably fail his class
>> because he used lots of pictures and he wrote lots on the board. He also
>> said that I would not benefit from the top notch pictures he both
>> presented
>> in front of the class and had in the textbook he wrote. He told my
>> Disability counselor he was not sure how I would deal with the pop
>> quizzes.
>> On top of that, I was an honors student who had a steeper grading scale
>> than
>> the normal students.
>> I told him not to worry, if he was willing to listen to me, we could work
>> something out. I took the head of the Accessibility department to one of
>> his
>> office hours and we hammered him with every problem a week after class
>> started and we gave solutions. We also presented alternatives for him to
>> choose from. He then gave us his opinions and what he was willing to do.
>> I talked to the professor every week and just made sure things were going
>> well on his part. I ended up getting an easy A in that class and that was
>> one of my favorite classes I have ever taken.
>> May I ask why you can't read paragraphs other students are reading? I
>> just
>> do a search for words in my word document.
>> Teacher tells us to look at page 45, paragraph 7 that starts "He looked
>> to
>> where her boots lay in the mud..."
>> I search for that and it only takes a second to search through the whole
>> book.
>> Thanks,
>> Brandon Keith Biggs
>>
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nabs-l:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%40earthlink.net
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> nabs-l:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/mistydbradley%40gmail.com
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/brandonkeithbiggs%40gmail.com
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/kirt.crazydude%40gmail.com
>