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

Fri Jan 29 22:59:07 UTC 2016

Hello Anya,

It is great that you were able to get a scholarship to pay for your training at an NFB training center. Where exactly can I find more information about this scholarship? 

Elizabeth

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Anya Avramenko via nabs-l
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 5:41 PM
To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list' <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Anya Avramenko <annita.co.usa at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Dear Elizabeth,
I wanted to give you some advice regarding the NFB training centers.
I understand it is berry difficult to afford paying for the program, especially if you do not have a VR counselor. I am an international student myself, and I received a scholarship to attend the training program at the Colorado Center for the Blind. I've never regretted having had this opportunity, and I learned a lot of great skills there! You might want to look in to it. I'm not sure about your health problems that you mentioned earlier, but I know they are pretty good in  accommodating students' needs.
If you need more information, please contact me off the list.
Best,
Anya

-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elif Emir Öksüz via nabs-l
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 10:57 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Cc: Elif Emir Öksüz
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Hi Elizabeth,
I totally support you. It is possible for a blind person not to have a laptop, and schools should not expect you to have one. They provide computer labs for all other students, so you should be able to use them as a student of that school. What I am trying to say is those computers should be accessible to you, because this is your right as a student.
I understand how frustrating it is for you to be in this situation.
I have some suggestion’s
NVDA have a very nice portable version and it is free. You just put it in a flash drive and it works on every windows computer. You just need to plug in your drive to a regular computer and then start NVDA. Then it turns into a talking computer. The keyboard commends are very similar to jaws, so you can use this for your exams.
Let me know if you want to try this option and need any help.
I am ready to do whatever I can, because our education journeys are hard enough and I don’t want to see any blind students suffers from this anymore.
This can be your first step solution. Then you can contact your state NFB people and ask them specifically contact to your school on behalf of you. They may talk to disability office and explain the legal requirements.
You can contact me from my personal e-mail.
filerime at gmail.com

2016-01-29 10:56 GMT-05:00, Aleeha Dudley via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>:
> 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
>>
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