[nabs-l] Campus Housing and social concerns.

Thu Jan 9 19:32:32 UTC 2014

It's possible but I don't think this is a disability issue at all.
Kaiti's situation could have happened to anyone whose two closest
friends moved out of campus housing. There are probably lots of folks
in a similar situation and the trick is just finding them.
Arielle

On 1/9/14, justin williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Maybe other students with disabilities are in the same situation. Instead
> of
> having the disability office force a dorm space, then try to find some
> other
> students with disabilities to live with if your first efforts don't work.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti Shelton
> Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2014 2:00 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Campus Housing and social concerns.
>
> Hi Justin,
>
> The bulletin board thing may work.  I have put several posts out on
> Facebook, including on in my class group.  I have also messaged another
> girl
> who said she was looking for potential roommates for next year, but she has
> not responded in the few days since I got back to her.
>
> On 1/9/14, justin williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> Maybe try a bulletin board or facebook announcement.  Something that
>> will reach a lot of people.
>>
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kaiti
>> Shelton
>> Sent: Thursday, January 09, 2014 12:14 PM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: [nabs-l] Campus Housing and social concerns.
>>
>> Hi all,
>>
>> Please let me know if you have any suggestions on this.
>>
>> I go to a fairly small university, where 90% of the students live on
>> campus.
>> Figuring out housing for the next year can be very complex, as the
>> university pushes students to have groups put together.  The groups
>> are especially important for upperclassmen to have, since a lot of
>> their housing is apartments and houses around campus.
>>
>> Two friends and I formed a group of 3 in freshman year, and at the
>> time we thought we would stay together.  We got an apartment this year
>> and things were going really well.  Just over break one of the girls
>> decided that she was going to transfer to a school closer to home for
>> personal reasons, and the other has said for a while that since she
>> lives fairly close she is planning on commuting for junior year.
>> Therefore, the plan of my friend who transfered and I getting an
>> apartment together has fallen through.  I have also applied to live in
>> my fraternity house, but unfortunately I was not accepted.
>>
>> One of the things I've noticed about my school is that the students
>> can be pretty cliquey.  My two friends and I sort of had our own
>> little group because we didn't fall in to any of the larger ones early
>> on in freshman year.  I now see two problems forming for junior year;
>> I am friendly with a lot of people, but wasn't particularly close to
>> anyone other than my two friends on campus.  I'm pretty extroverted
>> though, and love being around other people.  It was so easy to
>> socialize as a freshman because even though I was a little shy in the
>> beginning other people would go out of their way to be friendly and
>> welcoming.  It seems kind of awkward now that I'm halfway through
>> sophomore year.  A lot of those I am not close to do not really know
>> me that well, but I'm worried that since a year and a half has gone by
>> with us just being acquaintances that it might be difficult for them
>> to really get to know me.  The second issue is of course that I will
>> not have someone to be in a group with me for housing.
>>
>> I have looked at the housing web site.  Juniors and seniors cannot
>> live in the dorms because they're reserved for freshman and sophomore
>> students.  I would use a dorm as a fall back plan, but that isn't
>> going to work.  A lot of the apartment suites are either quads or
>> tripples, so I would need at least 2 more people to get into one of
>> those.  There is almost nothing available for two people, and there
>> appear to be no options available for just one in case I would need to
> just look for myself.
>>
>> I've come up with a few obvious ways to try to fix this; A lot of the
>> problem that I'm sure other music majors can attest to is that I spend
>> a lot of time around the same very small group of people.  There are
>> about 100 students in the department, and these are the people I am
>> always around.
>> They have already grouped up, and that was also how I met my two
>> friends that I lived with last semester.  I will be taking some more
>> gen ed courses this semester which could help with getting out of the
>> familiar social circles, but since I'm going to be going to class I'm
>> not sure how much time there will really be for socializing.
>>  I have looked up some clubs which might be good to join, and a lot of
>> them sound like things I will really enjoy.  However, I usually take a
>> large number of credits, and have a lot on my plate for next semester
>> again.  I really do feel like joining a new club would be a good way
>> for me to branch out and meet new people, but I am not sure if I will
>> have the extra time to devote to it.  The added component is that a
>> lot of the clubs that caught my interest were social justice groups
>> like Best Buddies and Big Brothers Big Sisters, so if I joined one of
>> these groups and had to back out I would also be letting down someone
>> else.
>>
>> I know that if all else fails the disability office can help secure
>> housing, but I'm hoping to get a group together and not have to go
>> through them.  Of course, if it comes down to just needing a place to
>> sleep, I will do it.
>>
>> Has anyone ever been in a similar situation where either you had
>> housing concerns or felt like you really needed to branch out?  What
>> were some things which worked for you?
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti
>>
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>
>
> --
> Kaiti
>
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