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

Fri Jan 29 18:26:59 UTC 2016

Hi Elisabeth. I understand what you are going through! When I started college I did not have a computer either before. It's am long story.  Do you have an iPhone? If you do, I recommend you to use your iPhone to answer short answers and send it by email to your professor. What do you think? This I s what I use in order to answer my quizzes in my last semester. Hope this helps. You can contact me off list. I look forward in hearing form  you soon. Thanks so much and God bless!

Helga Schreiber 

Member of National Federation of the Blind and Florida Association of Blind Students.
Member of the International Networkers Team (INT).
Independent Entrepreneur of the Company 4Life Research.
Phone:  (561) 706-5950 
Email: helga.schreiber26 at gmail.com 
Skype: helga.schreiber26 
4Life Website: http://helgaschreiber.my4life.com/1/default.aspx 
INT Website: http://int4life.com/ 

"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son, that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal life." John 3:16 
Sent from my iPhone 

> 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
> 
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