[nabs-l] Interesting interaction with a professor

[Kaiti Shelton]

Hi all,

I've been thinking about this for a while now for a variety of
reasons.  The first is that I wouldn't necessarily describe it as a
dilemma in need of a particular solution.  The second factor is that I
do consider myself to be comfortable with my blindness, and typically
have no qualms about educating others on the equipment I use when
asked.  However, I just feel a little awkward about the following
situation and would like to get some ideas bounced off of it.

I'm taking a psychology course this spring, so of course I emailed the
professor to introduce myself and start the discussion about
accommodations in advance.  Generally the professor seems to be pretty
flexible and willing to adapt the existing plans when necessary, and I
think she and I can work well together.  However, she seems very bent
on her rules regarding the use of technology in the classroom.
Obviously I'm the exception to her typical rule because the
computer/notetaker is my pencil and paper, and she isn't banishing me
to the testing center for exam days like some professors have, which I
do appreciate.  However, whether or not I can participate on exam days
in the classroom is contingent upon me explaining to the class why I
need to use a computer when they are not allowed to.  My knee jerk
reaction was to say, "Well, it should be pretty obvious why I need
to," but I realize that this professor is just trying to cover all her
bases.  I just feel awkward about the idea of talking about my
accommodations to an entire class of my peers (not familiar with me
from my department) in a way that isn't expressly about educating them
on blindness, etc, especially on the first day of classes.  I don't
feel like it is fair to limit my choice of where I can take my exams,
which apparently are in essay format, based on whether or not I want
to explain how Jaws works and why I need it.

I have comfortably talked about blindness and such with classes
before, but not quite in this way.  Classmates in other gen ed courses
obviously figured out that I am blind plenty of times without me even
saying it, and were intellegent enough to ask if my computer talked to
me or how it works before.  I only had one incident about a year ago
when another student tried to use his laptop in class when he wasn't
supposed to on the grounds that I was allowed to use one so why can't
he, and the teacher just told him to read the syllabus and I qualified
for using one because I had accommodations and talked to her ahead of
time.  Part of me just doesn't get why I have to explain what I do to
a class of people when it's obvious I can't use a traditional pen and
paper.  I realize I'm the different learner here too, but this just
seems weird to me.  I told the professor in our last email that I had
never been asked to do this before and would think about it, and she
responded basically saying that the other students are owed an
explanation of why I can use something they can't so the rules are
clear.  I don't necessarily agree with that since the whole point of
accommodations are to make access equal, but maybe I'm looking at this
the wrong way.  Thoughts?
-- 
Kaiti Shelton