[nabs-l] Fair payment for readers

Tue Oct 13 04:40:12 UTC 2015

Kaiti,

Schools handle things very differently. Schools I've attended, george mason 
university GMU and marymount university MU, only provide readers for exams. 
You cannot pick your reader or even specify that the reader be competent in 
that subject for which they read. So for my psychology exams, I was not able 
to request a psychology reader.
Apparently, Suzanne's school does it differently.

In your situation, I'd strongly not advise going through DSS. As I said, 
they probably will not hire you a reader; most schools do not provide 
readers for outside work.
Even if your school provides readers, I think they need to be familiar with 
your subject matter and confidentiality. Schools will have forms for them to 
sign about confidentiality I'm sure and tell them not even to orally discuss 
students they provide service to. Still, its not the same as having the 
familiarity with your professional ethics issues.
Besides, you would lose some control over the reader time and their quality 
if you went through DSS or any third party to hire readers.
Its best IMO to work it out yourself.
Pay readers as you suggested with starbucks drinks, snacks, or money.
I'm sure it will work out. You are so lucky you got a reader so quickly 
through your class.
I've asked in classes before, and sometimes I get readers, and sometimes I 
do not. Even when I do, its only 2 or 3 students of a typically full sized 
class of say 35 students.
So I usually have to recruit readers at random through people who respond to 
ads I put up.
Interesting we're on this subject as I was planning to find more readers for 
my history class since I need readers for our history assignment.
I will ask in class if I'm allowed, but also other classes and may put up 
flyers.
I have a few now, but their availability is more limiting  than I'd like it 
to be and I need someone more consistent.

Good luck.
Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l
Sent: Monday, October 12, 2015 11:48 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Cc: Kaiti Shelton
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fair payment for readers

Okay, great.  I don't think I'll do it this particular time because as
far as I know this will be a one-time event, but it's good to know for
future reference.  I didn't need a lab assistant at all until this
semester either, so I'm still getting the hang of having assistants
and other people helping with my academics.  I've worked hard to
handle as much as I could on my own without readers or assistant
people, so I'm learning.

On 10/12/15, Suzanne Germano via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I have asked for specific people to be hired. Never had an issues.
>
> On Mon, Oct 12, 2015 at 8:34 PM, Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> wrote:
>
>> 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!"
>>
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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!"

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