[nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Mon Feb 1 01:41:28 UTC 2016

Hi Elizabeth,

Yeah, one more person attempting to meet you half way here, but wait, I
don't have conventional advice. In fact, I don't care to offer any
technological or advocacy tips because I don't think that's what you were
originally seeking. This course might be proving difficult, but it seems to
be the easiest thing to pin your frustrations on at the moment. It's
something tangible, the face of a larger situation in your life at the
moment, and it's the easiest thing to attack. Let's forget the class and
address what I think might be the real issue. If I'm way off base, you can
tell me to go to hell.

>From what little we know, there was an accident. The aftermath had more than
just a physical impact on you. There's quite a bit of emotional damage, and
no practical advice about getting past a class is going to make that
emotional hurt go away. Do you have the means to see a therapist about the
situation? I know there are quarters where the thought of counseling is too
easily associated with crazy, but that's outdated nonsense. Sometimes we
need to find someone who can professionally listen and help guide us to more
solid ground. That's not the type of support you're going to find here,
because it's just not this list's specific nature.

Yet, that's not to say you can't find such a resource or referral elsewhere
in the organization. I understand your impression that the organization has
perhaps never been there for you in the past, but you clearly hope things
have changed or you would not have reached out so publically. That's not
chastising. That's only me giving it to you straight because I've seen your
name across this list for about as many years as I've been around the NFB,
and we both know that if the organization were so ineffective with
individuals, we would not keep coming back to see what's new.

OK, but all that amounts to a whole lot of not helpful. The NABS list might
not be able to help, but there's a division for just about every damn thing
under the sun it seems now, so perhaps there is a different group that could
be more understanding and supportive?

You write well. You're very articulate and could clearly excel at this class
if only given the opportunity to get back on your feet, but finishing this
class even with high marks is not going to put you back on your feet.
There's more going on, and you need to start there before you can move
forward.

Don't feed me this bologna that you can't learn Braille or get the computer
thing figured out. You won't' be reading fast next week if you start reading
Braille tonight, but you can slowly make it one more tool in your arsenal,
not for the benefit of one class but for the benefit of your overall
productivity. As for the technology bit? E-mail me off list with the name of
the disability director over there. I'll commit to schooling them on the
finer points of doing their job and see about making the computers work more
consistently for you. That's not an empty promise. I won't mention your
affiliate in case you want to maintain a level of anonymity, but if they
can't get off their butt over there to lend a hand, we'll get a group of
people together here and step up on your behalf.

The rest? Well, that's really up to you, right? Clearly there are tons of
well-intentioned people here ready to help, but you need to know what you
want before that help can be useful to you. I look forward to hearing from
you. Please keep us all posted on your progress.

All the best,

Joe

--
Musings of a Work in Progress:
www.JoeOrozco.com/

Twitter: @ScribblingJoe

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth
Mohnke via nabs-l
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 5:54 PM
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
Cc: Elizabeth Mohnke
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Hello Karl,

I am really getting frustrated by the fact that it appears as though no one
is listening to me. I cannot understand the voice that comes with NVDA, and
no amount of using this program is not going to change my ability to
understand the voice that comes with NVDA.

And if I really need to learn Braille to the point that I can use it in
class or for tests, then I am royally screwed. At this point in my life I do
not believe I could learn braille well enough to be able to read and
understand it enough to be able to read it and understand it at the same
rate and level as someone who reads print. This is simply not going to
happen, so please stop shoving this down my throat as if this is the only
answer.

Elizabeth

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Karl Martin
Adam via nabs-l
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 5:36 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Karl Martin Adam <kmaent1 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Dear Elizabeth,

You're right that many of the suggestions people have given you won't help
for your test in two weeks.  If you want to continue college though,
learning braille whether from a training center or a Hadley course or
whatever or learning how to use something like NVDA will be something you
have to do.  We can't do that for you.  I wish we could, but you have to
actually learn the skills you need to do college assignments.  One thing you
could do is take an incomplete get the skills you need and finish the class
in the fall.  I'm assuming that's more drastic than you want to do though.
You could work on trying to learn something like NVDA for the next test, and
maybe your professor would allow you to take this one later if you explained
it to them or maybe they would let you take it orally.  I understand not
wanting to learn new technology, I really do.  I hate it, and I've never
been able to learn Windows and a screen reader well enough to function
effectively, which is why I use my Braillenote for everything.  I think you
might be surprised at how easy it is to learn how to make a smartphone work
though.  Androids are known for taking some time to figure out, but Iphone's
are fairly intuitive.  When I got mine I hated it for a day or two because I
couldn't make it work, but then it clicked.  All you really need is to type
your answers into the body of an e-mail and either send it to your professor
or have your scribe write it out onto the test or e-mail your answers to DSS
and have them print them.  Learning how to do that much really wouldn't be
very difficult--even someone who has as hard a time with technology as I do
can manage it.  I really hope you can find a way to do well on your exam!

Best,
Karl

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Fri, 29 Jan 2016 17:02:48 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Hello All,

I honestly wish I had never posted my email to this email list. I really
hate the fact that it just seems like all you are wanting to do is tell me
that an NFB training center is somehow going to solve all the problems in my
life. Even if I could ever go to an NFB training center, I will probably
never gain the Braille skills necessary to be able to use them in a testing
situation.

I have never used a smart phone before, so this option would not work for
me. There is absolutely no way I would be able to learn how to use it good
enough to use for a test that is in two weeks. 
I am already trying to catch up in this class after being sick, so I am not
looking to add anything more to my plate than what is already on it.

Using NVDA sounds like a good option, but again, I have never used it
before, and I cannot understand the voice that comes with it . So I am not
quite sure how this option would work for me.

I am sorry that I am not able to fight my college and the vocational
rehabilitation all on my own. The Client Assistant Program does not do much
of anything here. And no one in the NFB has never really been willing to
help me either. All I wanted to do was to find a way to pass this class. But
it looks as though I simply do not have the support, resources, and capacity
to do the things I wanted to be able to do before my accident.

I should have never signed up to take this class. I really did not have the
money to pay for it in the first place, and right now it just feels like
this was only a waste of my money. And I should just learn that I am never
going to be the same person that I was before my accident.

Elizabeth

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