[nabs-l] public versus private universities

Thu Jan 16 14:50:15 UTC 2014

Sophie,
First, judging from your posts, you will have no problems advocating
for yourself, no matter where you go.
The best advice I can give, is to apply to colleges based on what you
want to get out of your college experience. I had very little guidance
when i applied to colleges, and indeed, had no idea that disability
services was even a thing I should think about, For me, it was about
academics, I had worked very hard in high school to try to get into
the best possible colleges I could. As a result, I did wind up
applying to private universities. But no matter whether you go to
private or public university, if a university receives any type of
federal funding, which every college and university in the country
does, except for like two, they must comply by ADA and section 504
standards, meaning that you must have equal access. I've noticed that
a lot of colleges and universities which have a higher profile
reputation are a lot more willing to accommodate you as you need, even
if they have small disability offices. A huge part of that is that
they have a reputation to maintain, and the last thing they want to do
is open them to a law suit. Something else to keep in mind, is that
you must go to a place that you love, because inevitably things will
get rough, no matter where you go, but you are more likely to keep
fighting and stay strong, if you are going somewhere you really want
to be. I chose Emory University, not because it was the best
university to which I was accepted, though it is certainly a fine
institution, but because when i went to visit, I just fell in love and
knew that's where i wanted to spend the next four years. At one point
I had some serious issues with access, I requested braille books for
stats and music, and was flat out refused, I did have to fight it, but
after some rather savvy negotiation, during which they found out that
i knew my rights, and was not a shrinking violet, I got everything i
asked for, and never had a problem before. Overall, I had an
incredible college experience, and would not change anything about it,
because I went exactly where I wanted to go.
All that is to say, apply everywhere you'd love to go to, go visit,
and go where you fall in love. From there, you know what to do, meet
with ODS, meet with professors, and always communicate. And have a
great resource with NABS and NFB.
So best of luck!
Mary F

On 1/16/14, Ryan Silveira <ryan.l.silveira at gmail.com> wrote:
> Hi Sophie,
>
> I agree with everything that has been said.  Choose your college based
> on the corriculum and the people that you meet during your visits.
> While the disability resources should be a priority, it should not be
> your first.  In my experience, I have actually found disability
> resources to be more accomidating at a private school than a public
> school.  This is not at all a blanket statement; it is just based on
> my own experience.  I started out at Ithaca College, a fairly
> well-known private college in upstate New York.  I chose it for its
> music program, not for its disability services.  The disability office
> was fairly small, but they were more than willing to work with me to
> provide the accomidations I needed.  Also, the school of music
> coordinated with disability services very well.  They assigned a grad
> student to prepare any hand-outs necessary for class, inputting the
> music into the computer.  He would then e-mail it over to the
> disability services office where my case manager would then emboss it
> for me.  When I transferred to a public university, the disability
> services office was much larger and had many more "resources", but I
> found that they were also very controling.  They kept a close eye on
> me, requiring that I meet with my disability services mentor once a
> week just to check how everything was going.  Also, rather than me
> discussing accomidations with them, they pretty much told me exactly
> what my accomidations would be and I had no say in the matter.  If I
> didn't like what they wanted to do for me, I had to just deal with it.
>
> In essence, based on my experiences, I found that the smaller
> disability office with less resources was much more accomidating than
> the larger one with more resources.  The larger one seemed to me more
> like a factory, churning out services for students.  I seemed to be
> nothing more than a case number to them, whereas with the smaller
> office, I was treated as a person and asked what I wanted.  My
> strongest point of advice is that which everyone else has said: choose
> the college based on the college, not based on their disability
> services.  On the flip side, don't choose a college where you know
> you'll have to fight for everything because that will just ruin the
> whole college experience.  If you have to advocate some, but you feel
> you can live with it and you love the college, then go with it.
>
> Sorry for the rambling novel.  Hope this helps.
>
> Ryan
>
> On 1/16/14, justin williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>> I keep close communication with my instructor also; my professors and I
>> have
>> worked around several issues.
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Joshua
>> Hendrickson
>> Sent: Thursday, January 16, 2014 8:06 AM
>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] public versus private universities
>>
>> Hi Sophie.  I can only agree with what everyone else has already stated.
>> I've only been to a community college thus far, but overall my
>> experiences
>> have been pretty positive.  I can not stress strongly enough to advocate
>> for
>> yourself.  My DSO was very good at getting me textbooks in audio format
>> and
>> getting me other things like handouts from teachers.  I would visit the
>> colleges you are interested in, and talk to people at the DSO to see what
>> services they offer.  I don't now about the rest of you, but as I went on
>> with doing my courses, I found myself relying on the DSO less and less to
>> get things I needed.
>> I would just talk to my instructors and see if I could just have them
>> email
>> me handouts or just email my assignments to them instead of printing out
>> reports I'd done.  I am looking forward to going to a university after
>> I've
>> gotten some indipendent Living training at a center in Chicago.  Thanks
>> for
>> a great list.  This is a great place to ask questions and get respectful
>> helpful answers from students who know what we're going through.
>>
>> On 1/16/14, justin williams <justin.williams2 at gmail.com> wrote:
>>> My only experience has been at a public university; I've never been to
>>> a private university, so I can't really speak on those, but several of
>>> us have attended private universities.  I attend the University of
>>> South Carolina.
>>> I've had a pretty good experience there.
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ashley
>>> Bramlett
>>> Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2014 10:20 PM
>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] public versus private universities
>>>
>>> Sophie,
>>> No there Is no resource to rank support services. I think you should
>>> visit schools you are interested like anyone else would. Visit the
>>> disability office and see what they offer. Sometimes if you voice a
>>> need, they might be able to do it, even if they have not before.
>>>
>>> It is generally true that private schools have smaller disability
>>> service, ds, offices. They have less staff, but also they have less
>>> students to serve.
>>> They may be less aware of disabled student needs but that's where
>>> advocacy comes in.
>>>
>>> Just go and visit the schools you want; loyola and tulane are great
>>> schools.
>>> I wouldn't prejudge  services too much. Don't be discourage what one
>>> professor said.
>>>
>>> I went to  a private catholic school, btw. I transferred out of george
>>> mason university, GMU. GMU is public.
>>> I liked the private school more because of smaller classes, small
>>> campus, upholding my religious values, no not  catholic but do agree
>>> with some principles they have, the atmosphere, and religious
>>> activities.
>>> Oh, and the quality was excellent of instruction since you get
>>> professors, not grad students teaching your classes. Universities will
>>> have grad students teach some classes.
>>>
>>> Good luck with your decision.
>>> Ashley
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: Sophie Trist
>>> Sent: Wednesday, January 15, 2014 9:42 PM
>>> To: nabs
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] public versus private universities
>>>
>>> Greetings,
>>>
>>> I'm a junior in high school, and as such, I'm beginning to look for a
>>> college. The other day, a blind friend and I were talking about which
>>> colleges we were checking out, and I mentioned Loyola, which is a
>>> private Catholic university in New Orleans. My friend, whose mother is
>>> a professor at Tulane, another private New Orleans school, said that
>>> it was very difficult for blind people to attend private colleges
>>> because they weren't as good as protecting textbooks and other
>>> necessary materials. He said in general that private universities'
>>> disability services weren't as great as those of public universities.
>>> I know this is true for post-secondary public schools--they're more
>>> able to provide braille and technology than are private schools--so I
>>> was wondering if it was the same with colleges. Also, is there a list
>>> that ranks colleges' disability support? I know that whenever we visit
>>> a college, we visit the DS office, but I also know that those people
>>> are often trying to sell their school. So I was wondering if there was
>>> any concrete resource I could use for this information. Any info or
>> comments would be super helpful and appreciated!
>>>
>>> Yours sincerely,
>>> Sophie Trist
>>>
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>
>
> --
> Ryan L. Silveira
>
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-- 
Mary Fernandez
"I've learned that people will forget what you said, people will
forget what you did, but people will never forget how you made them
feel."
—
Maya Angelou