[nabs-l] Fair payment for readers

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

The main issue is that I cannot hire just any person through
Disability Services because the nature of what I need them to read
needs to stay confidential.  If DS were to hire a non-music therapy
major currently enrolled in a practicum course of which there are
about 10 or so of us, they would also need to go through my music
therapy faculty and sign off on other documentation.  Is it possible
to tell DS I need a particular student hired if the student is willing
to be recognized officially in that capacity?  I'm not asking this to
be picky; I have a DS-hired lab assistant for my anatomy lab who isn't
a science major and has no prior experience with blind people, and
he's working out fine so I have nothing against the hiring process and
letting them find people.  I need to abide by professional
competencies and standards of clinical practice, which are very strict
on confidentiality and ethics for good reason.

I am going to discuss payment with the classmate in person, because I
started trying to text her about it when we were setting up the
meeting time and that felt really awkward.  I think negotiating that
in person will go a lot better for both of us.  I'm glad to know I
wasn't far off the mark; lunch at the little bistro in our building
might also be a fair-priced but enticing form of payment, as I know
this person is pretty busy and probably could use someone picking up
in-building lunch costs at some point (I believe sandwitches and
salads are around $5).

On 10/12/15, Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Kaiti. I think buying your reader a drink from Starbucks is about
> the right amount to pay for a half-hour of work. When I was an
> undergrad ten years ago, (has it been that long?) I was told the going
> rate was $7. By now it's probably gone up to $10 or so, so a $5 drink
> seems about right.
> Using a DSS employee has its ups and downs. If you will need a lot of
> reading time, it could save you money. On the downside, it can take
> some time to get the reader job set up, and when you use a DSS
> employee, you sometimes lose some control over the management process.
> I once had a lab assistant hired by DSS, and in the beginning she had
> problems with showing up to my class late. It frustrated me that I
> couldn't directly fire her if she was repeatedly late, and that
> getting a replacement would take several weeks. Fortunately my lab
> assistant did get better about punctuality, but my point is that you
> do lose some control and some efficiency if you go the DSS route.
> Anyway, I'm glad you found someone who is interested and I hope the
> reading relationship goes well. In the best cases, a reading
> relationship can be mutually beneficial to both people involved.
> Best, Arielle
>
> On 10/12/15, Miso Kwak via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hi Kaiti,
>> If it's something related to your coursework, one route u could take is
>> have
>> your reader hired by the disability service office.
>> A down side of this could be having to go through the hiring process.
>> If circumstances work out, you could have a student who is already hired
>> by
>> the office as your reader, and that student could log his/her reading
>> time
>> into the time sheet.
>> I hope this makes sense and is helpful.
>> Miso
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Oct 12, 2015, at 7:59 PM, Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hi all,
>>>
>>> I finally broke down per lack of choice (those who saw my last thread
>>> know why) and emailed my classmates to get a human reader for
>>> handwritten documents which can not be handled by the DS office or
>>> Robo Braille due to confidentiality and ethics concerns in my field.
>>> One of my classmates responded tonight and said she is willing to read
>>> the documents to me.  They're song lyrics and I suspect that they'll
>>> be fairly simple for her to read, and that we'll get through the
>>> process quickly enough, but I have never had a reader before so I'm
>>> not sure how best to offer fair payment.  How does this typically
>>> work?  I mentioned in my email that we could work something out, but I
>>> said that more because I had no clue how much or how little would be
>>> fair (though I am willing to pay the person in a drink from Starbucks
>>> or something if they prefer that over cash).  We've set aside 25
>>> minutes to read these three documents, so what should I shoot for?
>>> Thanks to those of you who have advised me so far on this.
>>>
>>> --
>>> Kaiti Shelton
>>> University of Dayton-Music Therapy
>>> President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
>>> Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
>>> Division 2015-2016
>>>
>>> "You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"
>>>
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-- 
Kaiti Shelton
University of Dayton-Music Therapy
President, Ohio Association of Blind Students 2013-Present
Secretary, The National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts
Division 2015-2016

"You can live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back!"