[nabs-l] A Question for the College Students

Wed Nov 19 15:42:03 UTC 2014

Here are some things I wish my teachers, parents, etc had drilled into
my head before going to college:
There is no shame in asking for help when you need it.  To this day, I
hate asking for help because I feel like people expect it of me.  But
lately, I have been learning to ask someone if I wanted a reader
rather than struggling through hours of dealing with powerpoint.  Or
if I am having trouble learning my music, why shouldn't I ask my
accompanist to help me count the rhythms?  Everyone needs help with
something fromm time to time, and it doesn't make you look like the
helpless blind person if you ask for some.

Learn how to tell people what you need, and realize that some
situations will be new for you, making it difficult for you to know
exactly how you will work them out.  You will need to be able to tell
Disability Services and your professors how you learn best, how you
prefer to take tests, and how you want to turn in assignments.  Do you
want to use Braille for everything?  Can you take your tests in the
classroom with everyone else?  Do you want to turn in your assignments
through email?  When would you like to use a reader?  Can you tell
your professors all these things?  You should be ready to tell them
all these things.  Also, when you are in a class where you are unsure
how you would like to do things, be aware of this, and don't be afraid
to change your mind.  If you find out that you need the extra time on
a particular professor's test because there is matching or more visual
content that it takes you longer to interpret, don't be afraid to go
back and use it.

Work on your cooking, cleaning, and other home management skills.  I,
like Kaiti, had to learn how to cook by trial and error.  It was not
the best way to learn.  And learn how to make coffee!  Baking is
another great thing to do while you're studying your brains out over
finals week.

I could probably come up with more...  But I hope this is helpful for now.

On 11/19/14, justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> With powerpoint, we are at a slight disadvantage, but it is possible; I did
> it last semester.  I haven't gotten the proof reading part down in
> powerpoint het.  I copied and pasted my points from word, but I had
> mistakes
> that I really don't understand.  I would have to go back and look at the
> tutorials to learn how to use it again.
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michael D
> Ausbun via nabs-l
> Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 11:20 PM
> To: Cindy Bennett; National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Question for the College Students
>
> Greetings!
> 	If I could go back in time, the one thing I would have liked to add
> to my IEP, is extra training in Microsoft power point and Microsoft excel.
> I
> work as an assistive technology specialist on campus and find myself facing
> a rather large learning curve, because I don't already know excel. It's a
> nifty program, though. Most of my classes outside of my
> major--philosophy--require a power point or two, when dealing with
> presentations. I've gotten out of it a few times by playing the 'blind
> card', that is, dragging my feet and not 'looking' at the power point
> requirements; however, it would be extremely useful and you wouldn't have
> to
> be like, "ah, what, power point was required?" if you had a fundamental
> understanding of the program already.
> 	I like the google AP's idea, but more so because of my
> extracurricular. I'm a part of the University debate team, which utilizes
> google aps often.
> 	I hope you have some success. If you ever have any questions, and
> want candid, nontopical responses, feel free to email me any time!
> Respectfully,
> Michael Ausbun
> University of Nevada, Reno
> Assistive Technology specialist
> Secretary of the Nevada NABS chapter
> President and cofounder of the Universities Philosophy club
> Skype: enderdw4
>
> ________________________________________
> From: nabs-l [nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Cindy Bennett via
> nabs-l [nabs-l at nfbnet.org]
> Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 7:30 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Question for the College Students
>
> Hi Chris,
>
> First, props for being proactive and for reaching out to other blind people
> for advice!
>
> I think this is a great topic that has already received a lot of great
> suggestions. Perhaps we could create some sort of Wiki or section on the
> NABS website of crowdsourced advice.
>
> Get training on Google apps. If you get it in your IEP, specificly Google
> apps training, not computer training, the school system has to provide
> resources to do this. There is currently no standardized training in Google
> apps, but I know a couple of people who are pretty good with them. Google
> apps are ubiquitous and you will want to be able to use them the best you
> can.
>
> Cane travel, cane travel, cane travel!
>
> Cindy
>
> On 11/18/14, Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi, Chris,
>>
>> I would say that one thing I definitely wish that I had a better
>> handle on before going to college was cooking.  It didn't matter so
>> much my freshman year when I had a meal plan and only a microwave in
>> my dorm, but once I got a kitchen my sophomore year, I was pretty
>> dependent on my sighted roommates for most dinners beyond a sandwitch,
>> soup, etc until I learned how to use a stove.  I'm thankful that I can
>> cook now, but I wish that I didn't have to learn through trial and
>> error on my own as much as I did.
>>
>> Also, I wish that I would have been more prepared for the culture
>> shock of being the one blind person, who people could easily take
>> advantage of.  I don't know if this is something I could have
>> necessarily prepared for, or that you could even prepare for, but it
>> was difficult for me to adjust to that.  Most people were very nice
>> and treated me normally, offered help but were still okay when I
>> politely declined, invited me to go places, etc.  I had a really
>> awkward and bad roommate situation my first semester which resulted
>> from my roommate thinking she could get away with anything because I
>> wouldn't see it.  I wasn't sheltered by my family or anything, but I
>> was fortunate enough to never have to deal with bullying beyond what
>> my sighted classmates got from time to time as a kid, and no one had
>> really tried to take advantage of me like that before.  I'm not trying
>> to scare you, and like I said 99.999% of people were really cool and
>> nice to me, but it was just something I was more naïve about than I
>> wish I had been.
>>
>> I agree with Justin.  I was lucky enough to be set on my career from
>> sophomore year of high school on, but career explanation at the least
>> confirmed this for me, while letting me see if I'd like other fields.
>> I'd recommend doing what you can to settle on a major that you'll
>> stick with through undergrad; don't be ashamed of switching if that
>> situation comes, but depending on what you want to switch from and
>> what you want to switch to, it may or may not add some time on to your
>> schooling if it happens.  You also don't necessarily want to be the
>> kid that switches a bunch, not just for the money and time but also
>> for your own sanity.  I have a friend who started as music ed,
>> switched to early childhood ed because she thought she didn't like
>> teaching music after the first year, only stayed in that degree for a
>> semester because she decided teaching itself was what she didn't
>> really like, and is now finally settled on pre-med.  She loves her
>> major now, but she's added an extra year onto her program because it
>> took her so long to find what she wanted to do, and was really
>> stressed about her career choices until she got to this point.
>> College is stressful enough at times when you do feel like you're in
>> the right program.
>>
>> Hope this helps.
>>
>> On 11/18/14, justin williams via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Career exploration. Make sure you do that.   Wish I would have had
>>> guidance.
>>>
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Chris
>>> Nusbaum via nabs-l
>>> Sent: Tuesday, November 18, 2014 7:22 PM
>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>> Subject: [nabs-l] A Question for the College Students
>>>
>>> Hey Fellow NABSters,
>>>
>>> As many of you know, I am currently a junior in high school who is
>>> beginning my college search and the long journey of preparation for
>>> this transition.
>>> I
>>> have an IEP meeting coming up and I'm trying to come up with
>>> appropriate goals for me in the coming year. At this time in my life,
>>> I would like some input from those of you who are currently in
>>> college. If there is one key skill which you wish you would have
>>> learned in high school and needed for college, what would it be? I'm
>>> trying to be as proactive as possible in preparing for college and
>>> setting the goals which will best help me do so, and the experiences
>>> of current college students would be a great help to me.
>>> Thank you in advance for your advice and perspective. I look forward
>>> to hearing from you soon.
>>>
>>> Chris Nusbaum, Vice President
>>> Maryland Association of Blind Students Coordinator of Social Media,
>>> National Federation of the Blind of Maryland
>>> Twitter: @Chrisn98, @MDMDABS, and @NFBMD
>>>
>>> "The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not the
>>> characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we raise
>>> the expectations of blind people,  because low expectations create
>>> obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can live the life
>>> you want; blindness need not hold you back." -National Federation of
>>> the Blind One Minute Message
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>>
>>
>> --
>> Kaiti
>>
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>>
>
>
> --
> Cindy Bennett
> 1st Year Ph.D. Student, University of Washington Human Centered Design and
> Engineering
>
> Treasurer of the Greater Seattle Chapter and of the National Federation of
> the Blind of Washington Affiliates of the National Federation of the Blind
>
> clb5590 at gmail.com
>
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-- 
Julie McGinnity
National Federation of the Blind performing arts division secretary,
Missouri Association of Guide dog Users President, National Federation
of the Blind of Missouri recording secretary,
graduate Guiding Eyes for the Blind 2008, 2014
"For we walk by faith, not by sight"
2 Cor. 7