[nabs-l] unaccommodating professors

Sat Jan 12 07:13:31 UTC 2013

right, maybe I need to switch counselors. I just disliked the 
counselor'sattitude.
She could have acted empathetic or say something like "regretabily, I cannot 
provide" but instead her line is
"we cannot provide your prefered format and a pc works fine in this case"
She has few people skills; since it’s a certificate program after my BA 
degree, I'll make the most of it. My goal in seeking more schooling was to 
practice and boost my writing skills for the business world.
I also wanted to take advantage of continuing education classes while I look 
for work in a down economy so I took electives like public relations and 
introductory business concepts. If I can work well with professors, things 
go smoothly; if I cannot, well, I do not have equal access to the curriculum 
and get whatever I can out of class.

Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kirt Manwaring
Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2013 1:33 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] unaccommodating professors

Ashley,
  I don't think I'm exhagerating when I say that, if I were in a
college with a DSS office as terrible as you say yours is, I'd
strongly consider transferring the hell out of there as soon as I
could.  If you prefer braille, you have a legitimate reason to look
for DSS offices that are more willing to provide braille books.  I'm
not saying the DSS office makes or breaks your college experience;
but, I've found, it makes a huge difference.  Or, at the very least,
maybe you could advocate for a more helpful counselor?
  Best,
Kirt

On 1/11/13, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
> well, I've tried that in other classes. I'm not dumb.
> The computer either froze or the pdf would not allow me to save it as 
> text.
> I think the publisher protected it somehow so you cannot change it.
>
> Also, as I've said before, the disability office has not and never  will
> give me a doc file.
> Of course I asked for this. I wanted to put the doc file on a flash drive 
> to
> read on my braillenote  in class.
> They always tell me the publisher only can send pdfs; they have not 
> invested
> the time to attempt to convert it themselves. Also, they could fight with
> the publisher if they wanted to for a more accessible format such as rtf 
> or
> doc files.
> But they don't.
>
> This community college does not go out of its way to help and accommodate
> students.
> I often work out issues myself with professors and order my own books. I 
> try
> and leave dss out of it. but when the professor wants you to take another
> class and goes to your dss counselor without your  knowledge, there is
> nothing you can do.
> If he were going to work with me he would not have stepped behind me. The
> only reason
> I know he went to dss was since the dss counselor called me and stated she
> spoke to him and wanted to discuss with me.
>
> I don't know what so called accomodations she was going to discuss and I
> never will know. We are not! discussing this bad situation. I should find 
> an
> instructor willing to work with me. I
> have never found this counselor helpful and I'm not talking to her. I 
> think
> all she'll say is the challenges involved and when I ask for videos to be
> described by the professor or someone, she'll say the college isn't 
> required
> to do it. I've asked for a braille test before, and she told me they don't
> have to provide my prefered format; I had to take i t auditorily.
>
> Given her relunctance to do much but the bare minimum of things, I think
> discussing it is fruitless and I'll simply look for other options and 
> email
> her that.
>
> It’s a bad situation. Its shaken my trust somewhat. When you email
> professors it should remain between you and them period.
> I expect to keep conversations between us since  all other students have
> this right.
> No third party should be involved without your consent or knowledge. I am
> tempted to place in subsequent corespondence when I inquire about classes,
> that this communication is confidential. Heck, if anyone does this again, 
> I
> will do that.
>
> Then, if they violate my right to privacy and confidentiality, I have
> written proof of it.
>
> Anyway, I'll see what happens next week when I go to class.
>
> Ashley
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Brandon Keith Biggs
> Sent: Saturday, January 12, 2013 1:01 AM
> To: Misty Dawn Bradley ; National Association of Blind Students mailing 
> list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] unaccommodating professors
>
> 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
>>
>>
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