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

[Karl Martin Adam]

Christina, the point of her attending a training center would be 
to learn braille well enough to use a slate and not need the 
technology she can't afford.  I'm not sure that would be 
feasable, but that was the suggestion that was being made.

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Christina Moore 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 11:53:56 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some 
Advice

Hi,

I am sorry to here about the struggles you are having. They are 
very
unacceptable and I hopw that you can find some solace in that you 
are
not alone in having difficulties of this sort.
These things should not happen but they do and we all can do our 
best
to educate others but at times that falls on deaf ears as they 
say.
First, in my opinion a reasonable accommodation for you is to be
allowed to have a recorder in your lectures. I am not sure what
devices you are using/have access to currently but you should be 
able
to record your lectures so you can listen to them later to study 
the
information.
Second, if you do not mind me asking, why is your vocational 
rehab not
helping you? You are pursuing an educational degree and need
technology that it is not surprisingly, too expensive for you to 
pay
for. They should be willing/able to help you pursue your 
educational
goals.
Third, the suggestion to attend the NFB center is an interesting 
one.
I have never attended such a center myself but I believe it would 
put
off your education considerably which is something you should 
consider
when weighing your options. I hear the centers are very useful 
but I
am not sure how it would benefit you since yes you would go home 
with
skills but still without the resources to use those skills. 
Advocacy
can go a long way but only to a point. If someone does not have 
the
economical means to pursue their education and their state and 
other
organizations are not willing to help, than a training center 
will do
nothing. Just my thoughts on that suggestion.
Fourth, it seems like you are in a position where a tutor for 
this
class would be beyond necessary. The tutor can read the notes 
from the
TA and others, ask you questions, be a scribe for exams/reader 
and
they can get paid for it.
I hope this helps you get somewhere. Your disability services 
should
provide the reader/tutor/scribe that is a reasonable and 
essential
accommodation for your circumstances.

On 1/29/16, Aleeha Dudley via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
 One of the big things that I want to say to you is this: do not 
give up. One
 of the things that would really help you is to get the Braille 
skills and
 problem solving skills from an NFB training center. You will 
gain confidence
 in yourself and be able to do whatever you want to do. I think 
that would
 really help you when it comes to getting accommodations for 
yourself and
 truly succeeding in your college life.
 On Jan 29, 2016, at 10:50 AM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l
 <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 Hello All,

 There was a message thread on here not too long ago about 
someone being
 upset about not being able to use a computer in the classroom. 
It seems
 as
 though people on here were offended by my response to this 
message.
 However,
 from my point of view, being able to use a computer in the 
classroom
 seems
 to be more of a privilege rather than a right because not 
everyone can
 afford a computer that they can take to class.

 I really wish I had the money to buy a new computer that I could 
take
 with
 me to class because then maybe I would not be so worried about 
failing my
 exams due to a lack of accommodations by my college. When I took 
classes
 before, I was able to use a computer in the testing center for 
answering
 short answer and essay questions that were on my exams. However, 
it
 appears
 as though the college no longer offers this as an accommodation. 
The
 college
 is supposed to have computers on campus with JAWS on them, but 
most of
 the
 time, these computers do not work correctly, and every time I 
ask about
 the
 status of the computer with JAWS on it in their new testing 
room, there
 always seems to be something wrong with it. So I am really at a 
loss as
 to
 what to do for my exams, and I am really scared that I am going 
to fail
 my
 class because of a lack of accommodations.

 So what exactly am I supposed to do if I do not have a way to 
write out
 my
 answers for the short answer questions that are going to be on 
my exam?
 My
 college seems to rely heavily on the disabilities office to 
provide and
 approve accommodations on campus. Therefore, if I talk to my 
professor,
 she
 will most likely tell me that I would need to talk to the 
disabilities
 office in order to get any accommodations for my exam. But the
 disabilities
 office does not appear to provide the accommodations I need, so 
I feel
 like
 I am just caught up in some bureaucratic mess.

 It seems to me the only reliable accommodations the disabilities 
office
 provides for exams are readers. However, this does not work for 
me when
 answering short answer questions on exams because I find it 
rather
 difficult
 to write anything longer than a couple of words by dictating it 
to
 someone
 else to write down for me. So the best accommodation for me in 
this
 situation is to use a computer since I do not know Braille very 
well. But
 since I do not have my own computer that I can take to class, 
and the
 college does not appear to know how to properly maintain the 
computers on
 campus that have JAWS on them, I feel as though I am at a loss 
as to what
 to
 do for my exams. If I had known this was the situation I was 
going to be
 facing, I probably would not have signed up to take this class.

 I guess some days I just really hate being blind. And I get 
frustrated
 when
 I see other blind students get pretty much everything handed to 
them from
 their vocational rehabilitation agency. Not everyone gets 
privilege of
 receiving services from a vocational rehabilitation agency, and 
not
 everyone
 has the privilege of having others help them advocate to receive 
services
 from the vocational rehabilitation agency either. And I guess I 
just find
 it
 rather difficult to make anything out of my life given my 
limited amount
 of
 resources and a lack of support from other people.

 Anyway, I am sorry if I have offended anyone with any of my 
messages to
 the
 email list. This is not what I mean to do. I am just really 
frustrated by
 life right now, and I am really struggling in trying to figure 
out what
 to
 do. It seems to me like nothing in my life ever works out, and 
that I can
 never really get the support I need from others when I need it. 
The NFB
 has
 never really been there for me before, so I am rather skeptical 
that I
 will
 be able to receive any help or support from the NFB, but I 
thought I
 would
 at least give it a try.

 Thanks,
 Elizabeth

 _______________________________________________
 nabs-l mailing list
 nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
 To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account 
info for
 nabs-l:
 
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/blindcowgirl1
993%40gmail.com


 _______________________________________________
 nabs-l mailing list
 nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
 To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account 
info for
 nabs-l:
 
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/christina.moo
re16%40houghton.edu


_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info 
for nabs-l:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/kmaent1%40gma
il.com