[nabs-l] Interesting interaction with a professor

Wed Jan 6 22:35:20 UTC 2016

Hi all,

Thank you for your feedback. I'm gratified to know that I wasn't being
overly sensitive about it. I really do enjoy being an educator on all
things blindness, but the way this instance would be framed is not how I
would choose to go about it. My point about telling the rod I'd think about
it relates exactly to what Arielle said about picking and choosing battles,
because if given the choice I do prefer to take exams in class. Karl beat
me out in explaining that using technology, a reasonable accommodation
recognized by my university, is what would allow me to participate just
like everyone else. Think about it; if I'm not allowed a computer to type
my exam just because of a tech ban the prof would need to ban pencils and
paper for the sighted students, which is completely and just as
unreasonable. Julie and others outlined a lot of the same reasons I have
for choosing to take my exams outside of the testing center whenever
possible, but the biggest reason is that I like having equal access to my
professors for clarification if needed and I also think it is pointless to
schedule a test outside of class when more than 9 times out of 10 I don't
need extended time at all.

Anyway, all syllabi do have a blurb from the university on them which
specifically states that students who feel that their learning would be
impacted by a disability should contact the disability services office and
discuss their accommodations with the professor. In most of my classes on
syllabus day the professor has also verbally stated this, but never singled
any student using accommodations out.

On Wednesday, January 6, 2016, Karl Martin Adam via nabs-l <
nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hi Kaiti,
>
> Is using your technology in class an official accommodation registered
> with DSS?  If so, the professor is required to let you use it.  In fact,
> the DSS office is not allowed to tell the professor what your disability
> is, and there is no requirement for you to do so.  I do understand the
> concern about you using a computer while no one else can and about students
> perhaps worrying that there is favoritism going on or something.  It is
> standard, however, for professors to say that no one is allowed to use
> technology accept under special circumstances or in the case of disability
> or something similar precisely to address this.  You should not be forced
> to explain anything to your professor or fellow students.
>
> Best,
> Karl
>
> ----- 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: Wed, 6 Jan 2016 12:43:10 -0500
> Subject: [nabs-l] Interesting interaction with a professor
>
> 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
>
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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!"