[nabs-l] Disability office policies

Thu Apr 28 14:00:24 UTC 2016

Hello Anna,

It sounds to me like you are rather upset regarding this situation. However, I would probably be just as upset if I had faced this same situation.

Since different colleges and universities have different policies regarding accommodations, if you have any questions about the policies regarding your specific college or university, I would suggest that you ask to receive a copy of these policies from your disabilities office.

In general, it seems to me the best line of communication regarding accommodations is through direct communication between a student and a professor. If for some reason there is a problem with this direct communication, then the disabilities office should be willing to act as a mediator between the student and the professor. However, there should ever be any communication from the professor to the disabilities office without notifying the student.

If your professor was simply contacting the disabilities office to inquire about you missing a class, then this was inappropriate for your professor to do. The role of a disabilities office is simply to help coordinate accommodations for students on campus. The role of the disabilities office should not be to speak on behalf of a student, especially concerning the personal matters of a student. If the email was simply about why you were missing class, then I would believe what your professor did was wrong. However, if the disabilities office responded to the email, and said anything other than the professor needs to ask you this question,  then I believe the disabilities office did something wrong here as well.

Others with more experience can chime in on this if I am somehow incorrect about this, however, I believe the clause in the Americans with Disabilities Act stating that a person has the right to refuse any accommodation they do not want is probably the strongest argument as to why your professor should be talking to you and not the disabilities office. There have been discussions on the NABS email list in the past that have discussed putting together a list of best practices disabilities offices and professors should use when working with blind students. However, I am not quite sure if any official document was created based on any of these discussions. Perhaps the pamphlet of the "Courteous Rules of Blindness" might be something you might find to be helpful. If this pamphlet is still around, you should be able to find it on the NFB website.

I have never encountered a professor who would rather speak to the disabilities office instead of talking directly to me. The only time I can think of where a professor talked to someone from the disabilities office instead of me is when a professor talked to a reader to see what would be the best way to do pop quizzes without providing me with any additional information as to whether or not we would be having a pop quiz on any particular day. However, this conversation took place in class before the class started, so I knew the conversation took place. So having a conversation take place between your professor and the disabilities office without your knowledge of it taking place just does not seem right to me.

Anyway, I hope you find this information to be helpful for your specific situation. It definitely sounds like a rather frustrating experience. 

Warm regards,
Elizabeth

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Anna via nabs-l
Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 11:51 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: annajee82 at gmail.com
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Disability office policies

I agree that it is a good policy to notify professors when you must be absence.  I do it just to show that I am dedicated to the class, and not just skipping it.  I notified her once and the second time I did not.  It would have been good if I did, but I think I forgot... 
Having said that, it makes no difference whether I notified her or not.  Attendance is part of the grade but that was made aware to all of us in the beginning.  My presence or absence, or grades, are nobody's business but mine.  What I want to know is not so much why she did that, but is that ok?  I have had situations in the past where things are sent to my coordinator to be sent to me, or told to her to be told to me.  And I didn't like it, and I mentioned it.  It wasn't ever a huge deal before.  But going and telling her I've missed class, is over the top ridiculous to me.  In my view, it's disrespectful,inappropriate,unnecessary and I would assume against University policy.  
Why would a University even allow a professor to go to someone at DRS with that information?  I realize it could, in some cases, have something to do with accomodations, but in this case it has nothing at all to do with it. So anyway, what I really want to know is whether or not this is even allowed?  I want to ask my DRS for a copy of their policies and such but I don't want to cause issues, I just realize that I want/need to be more educated about these things.  
So I'm just kinda wondering if anyone knows about general policy.

Anna E Givens

> On Apr 27, 2016, at 7:38 PM, Valerie Gibson via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I cannot speak for your professor, but this is the only way it makes sense to me…keep in mind, i said makes sense, i did not say I agree.
> 
> She probably spoke with your coordinator because she’s uncomfortable with your blindness, and she probably feels more comfortable talking to someone who’s sighted but who understands your disability.  It’s like your coordinator is the middle man in this or she’s using the coordinator as a sort of buffer against her own discomfort about your disability.  If this is the case, it is here ignorance, but I don’t think your prof is meaning to be difficult or to go behind your back. She’s probably just dealing with having a blind student in her class the only way she knows how. She could have been concerned, but didn’t know how to approach you.  Common sense would say to talk to the student directly, but if she’s that uncomfortable with your disability, common sense could have gone out the window.
> 
> I’d advise talking to her, but not to take it too personal, unless, during the conversation, she does say something to give offense.
> 
> I’m pretty low key when it comes to this sort of thing though.  If I know someone means well and what they’re doing is not putting me in danger, I find it difficult just to get upset and angry at them, even if what they are doing is completely ridiculous IMO. 
> 
> After you talk with her, if she does it again, then i think you have grounds to get a bit snippy.
> 
> Hope this helps.
>> On Apr 27, 2016, at 7:28 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> Hello Anna,
>> 
>> I believe in some cases allowing a student with a disability to miss 
>> more than the allotted hours of class can be included as part of the 
>> accommodations a student can receive from a college as a reasonable 
>> accommodation. Perhaps your college has such a policy, and this is 
>> why your professor contacted the disabilities office. However, this 
>> does not seem to be an accommodation that a blind student would 
>> typically need, so I am not quite sure why your professor chose to 
>> contact the disabilities office and not you.
>> 
>> I attend a community college where class sizes are small, and where 
>> attending class is generally counted as part of our final grade. 
>> Therefore, if I have missed two class periods in a row, I will 
>> generally contact my professors to let them know what is going on. 
>> Sometimes sending a quick note to let your professor know that you 
>> have been sick with a bad cold and will be back in class the next 
>> class period can go a long way with professors who really care about 
>> their students. However, I am not quite sure how appropriate or 
>> necessary this would be for a larger university with larger class 
>> sizes. This is just something I find works well with smaller classes where you have more of a relationship with the professor.
>> 
>> Whether or not you choose to say something to your professor about 
>> how you feel as though her communication with the disabilities office 
>> was inappropriate is up to you. However, I would probably feel the 
>> same way if a professor contacted the disabilities office without 
>> notifying me about it as well.
>> 
>> Warm regards,
>> Elizabeth
>> 
>> -----Original Message-----
>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Anna via 
>> nabs-l
>> Sent: Wednesday, April 27, 2016 5:59 PM
>> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> Cc: annajee82 at gmail.com
>> Subject: [nabs-l] Disability office policies
>> 
>> Hey I have a question about something that happened at school.  
>> I missed a couple classes and my professor apparently emailed the 
>> coordinator lady at the disability office.  I don't know what her 
>> email said other than that i had missed some classes.  So my 
>> coordinator emailed me and asked me if everything was ok cuz my 
>> professor said i had missed some classes.
>> My question is, is it any business of my DRS coordinator that i 
>> missed classes?
>> What is the policy on bypassing the student and going to the DRS 
>> coordinator to say I've missed classes?  Why would my professor do 
>> that?  She never spoke to me about it.  If she is concerned, why is 
>> she not talking to me about it, and what right does she have to talk 
>> to the DRS coordinator about it.  It has nothing to do with my disability or accomodations or anything?
>> Does someone have a better understanding of the role of DRS?  My 
>> understanding was that the role of DRS is to accomodate me as related 
>> to my blindness and to help me (if i ask for help) in working things 
>> out with professors in relation to accommodations. Nothing else.
>> Someone please clarify.
>> 
>> Anna E Givens
>> 
>> 
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