[nabs-l] requesting some advice about choosing a college science class for next semester

Mon May 20 00:12:25 UTC 2013

I have taken two geography courses before.  An intro class, and the one
right afterwards.  

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Arielle
Silverman
Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 1:29 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] requesting some advice about choosing a college
science class for next semester

This professor is discriminating against you and that is unacceptable.
Your disability office should advocate for you. If they don't, then go ahead
and talk to the chair of the geology department or an associate dean or dean
for the college. You may also be able to file an ADA complaint. While it's
up to you how much or how long you want to fight, I think it's worth
thinking about trying to prevent this professor from discriminating against
other students in the future.
There are many ways you can gain access to the course material, distinguish
the rocks, etc. that don't cost the college much if anything at all. We can
help you decide which accommodations to use but first you will need the
professor to let you into the class. You can tell the professor that many
blind students have taken geology courses and that you have help and support
from other blind students, so the professor won't have to research the
accommodations for you.

Arielle

On 5/20/13, Wasif, Zunaira <Zunaira.Wasif at dbs.fldoe.org> wrote:
> You have the right to fight for this class, but do you want to fight?
> You may be able to take a different class, Music Appreciation or 
> something else you enjoy.  Perhaps you can discuss other options with 
> your Dean.  Are you interested in this geology class?  If you really 
> want to take it then go for it!
> Zunaira
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti 
> Shelton
> Sent: Monday, May 20, 2013 12:33 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] requesting some advice about choosing a college 
> science class for next semester
>
> I absolutely agree with what has been stated.  This professor has no 
> right to pick and choose whether you take his class, (he can't pick 
> and choose his sighted students, right?)  If this is the class you 
> need to take then your disability services people need to help 
> advocate for you and set the record straight with this guy.  And, if 
> push comes to shove then you may need to file an ADA complaint about 
> that professor, which your DS office should be able to help you with as
well.
>
> On the issue of textbooks, the sooner you can figure out what you need 
> and get it to the appropriate people the better, be that Bookshare, 
> your DS office, or somewhere else.  A few other places you might want 
> to check are APH and the library of congress.  I have never taken a 
> geology course before, but I know APH has published several books of 
> tactile diagrams for different subjects which could get you what you 
> need and save time for the DS office that they can use to work on 
> otther aspects of your textbooks.  A lot of APH's books are also 
> available for free loans and you could send them back when you're done 
> with the class.  NLS might also have some textbooks on geology which 
> you can also borrow for free.
>
> On 5/20/13, Jewel <herekittykat2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> It is not up to the professor whether or not you take a class. If you 
>> sign up for the class, they are obligated to make all reasonable
> accommodations.
>> A good accommodation for this class might be an yb-class assistant 
>> (provided by your school's disability iddyxe)who could describe what 
>> each rock looks like. Then, when test time came, you would have to 
>> remember the descriptions and also weight when appropriate, and 
>> identify the rock based on information you ask for, such as what 
>> color
> is it or does it have any marbling.
>> This professor is being rude and discriminatory. If you really want 
>> to
>
>> take the geology of rocks, there is no reason you couldn't. I just 
>> finished a geu-semester course in biology. The lab for the first 
>> course (microbiology )was almost exclusively microscope work. 
>> However,
>
>> the disability office assigned me a lab assistant and many of the 
>> things that we were looking at under the microscope also had a 
>> tactile
>
>> drawing. These accommodations helped me get a B in the class. What I 
>> am trying to say is that if microscope work can be made accessible,
> surely so can rock geology.
>> If your disability office and the dean of sciences can't or won't 
>> fight this discrimination on your behalf, you will have to fight 
>> harder if you want this class. You could go to the dean of students, 
>> a
>
>> local disability efficacy group if one is nearby, abd/or contact your
> NFB state president.
>> Any of these should be able to help you. The most important thing is 
>> to stand up for your right to take any class you have met the 
>> prerequisites for, and be ready for a fight. If things don't go 
>> smoothly, you could be looking at a lawsuit.
>> Now, lets tackle the issue of books. If you know which book or books 
>> you will need for next semester, great! An easy way to get the books 
>> would be to send a request to Bookshare. On the Bookshare page, 
>> select
>
>> Contact Us, then select Requesting a Textbook from the dtuo-down menu.
>
>> Tell them the book's title, author, edition, and, if you know it, its 
>> ISBN. Processing a textbook request is fast, but it takes two to 
>> three
>
>> months before the book will be available through Bookshare. I have 
>> used this method when I knew the book far enough in advance, and the 
>> books are gufg-quality scans. The only drawback is the lack of 
>> alternative descriptions for pictures. Another method of obtaining 
>> your books is by requesting that the disability office provide you 
>> with accessible text. My disability office, for example, will take a 
>> copy of the book (you have to purchase it for ugrn), and scan each 
>> page with OCR, creating accessible text in a Word document. Then they 
>> go over it for errors, add page numbers and headings, and sometimes 
>> add alternative descriptions of pictures. Get the books to them as 
>> soon as possible, because most disability offices have to process a 
>> very large number of textbooks. Just be sure your disability office
> does this before you purchase the books.
>> I hope that has helped you, and I wish you the best of luck!
>> -Jewel
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>> On May 20, 2013, at 8:52 AM, Joshua Hendrickson <louvins at gmail.com>
> wrote:
>>
>>> --
>>> Joshua T Hendrickson
>>>
>>> Hello to all.  I'm glad to be a part of this list.  I am very close 
>>> to getting my Associates of Arts degree.  The only class I need to 
>>> take, is a geology science class with no lab.  I met with a 
>>> counselor
>
>>> and I was going to take a class called Geology 206 which was all 
>>> about rocks and things like that.  The Dean of The science 
>>> department
>
>>> had suggested I take this class, but there is a major problem.  The 
>>> teacher of this class doesn't want me to take the class.  This is 
>>> extremely frustrating.  I had went to my disability support office, 
>>> and asked Gloria to call the teacher and find out when I could meet 
>>> with him to talk about what acomidations I would need for the 
>>> upcoming class, the teacher wouldn't even talk to me on the phone.
>>> He told gloria, there would be no way I could tell the different
> rocks apart.
>>> I was going to take this same class a couple semesters before but in 
>>> the summer not in the fall like I still might take this class.  Lynn 
>>> who heads the disability department talked with the dean of science 
>>> again, and now people are suggesting that I take an online class 
>>> called geology of the solar system.  Lynn told me she thought I 
>>> should take this class, because the lady who taught the class was 
>>> supportive and didn't mind if I take this class.  I don't really 
>>> want
>
>>> to take an online class, because I don't know how accessible it will 
>>> be with jaws.  I was sent an email with a link to a page that was 
>>> kind of set up like what the online course would look like, but it 
>>> was very confusing.  Since there isn't much there as far as 
>>> assignments, or discussion questions, its very hard for me to figure 
>>> out if jaws will be able to read what needs to be read.  I'm going 
>>> to
>
>>> meet tomorrow with Lyn, and the teacher of this online course, to 
>>> see
>
>>> if I should take this class, although, I am already registered for 
>>> the lecture based geology rock class with the teacher who doesn't 
>>> even want me in his class.  Also, I don't even have any accessible 
>>> textbooks for either class yet, that is another concern.  Thanks for 
>>> reading this message.
>>>
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>>
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>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
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