[nabs-l] Fair payment for readers

Tue Oct 13 11:26:58 UTC 2015

Kaiti, I think this will depend on the school.  My school hires 
note takers and assistents from the students in the class where 
someone needs one, so it's certainly not inconceivable that yours 
would hire someone from your class, but you'll have to check with 
them.  I also wonder how much confidentiality is really an issue 
here if the client's name isn't associated with what they're 
reading.  It seems to me that you might be better off with a 
reader who isn't in your program and thus is less likely to know 
who your client is or what facility you work with him at.

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 12 Oct 2015 23:34:51 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Fair payment for readers

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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