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

Sat Jan 30 00:19:06 UTC 2016

Hi Elisabeth. This is Helga! I know how you feel about understanding Scrreen readers. I do have an issues with that still since my   First language is not English,and I did learn Braille when I was 16 years old. Now I'm currently 23 years old.  Yes, screen reader are very hard to understand  in order to read adn so on. But what I do in those cases whenever I understand the screen reader, I  read sentence by sentence, or word by word, or character by character! That is what I do when I read my books or text on the computer. I'm willing to help you in everything you need. I'm even willing to help you  help you advocate for your rights as a student. I'm even willing to help you learn how to use a screen reader successfully! I went through the same thing when I was in college, They are different circumstances, but don't say that you  are going to fail. I can even teach you how to use Braille. If you said that learning something new or understanding something is difficult, imagine me? When I came here I d  I did not speak English,  I d is not understand anything! Waht I am trying to say is, even if you go to this very hard time in trying to fight for  your rights, just stand firm and know that things  will work out. Being frustrating, will not change or fix anything you are going through, will make things worse.  In other words, I think for this first test or quiz, you should ask th e Professor t o  give you your test orally, or send  the test it you in order to take at home. You just need to be specific, adn tell her you r problem and that disability office is not helping you. And since yu mention that you have another disability, it is understandable that things will take longer to understand. So don't feel down and upset. I'm  here to help and just remember that all of us have  our own troubles. Definitely yu need to go to the Higher authorities in order tell them your difficulties that  JAWS in your school is not working the way you want  and the problems that your disability office is not helping yu the  way they are suppose to. If you want contact me off list,and we can talk! On the phone ok? I'm willing to help you!! We can talk as friends if you  prefer! Or I can give you some advise!  I look forward in hearing form you soon. Thanks 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 6:37 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello Karl,
> 
> It is apparent that you are not listing to me. I never said I was against
> learning Braille or using technology. I already know that I cannot
> understand the default voice for NVDA because I have heard it before and
> could not understand it. I also have another disability which I am not
> comfortable disclosing publically that makes it more difficult for me to be
> able to understand the default voice of NVDA. And I do not have any
> administrative rights as a student to be able to put programs on the campus
> computers. If they could just simply figure out a way to properly maintain
> the computers on campus that have JAWS on them then I would not be having
> this problem.
> 
> I truly regret posting my question to the NABS email list. I honestly did
> not need people shoving down NFB training centers and braille as the only
> solutions to my problem. This does absolutely nothing to help me and it only
> makes me feel worse about things. I know that at this point in my life I
> will not be able to learn Braille well enough to use it as my primary mode
> of communication. If I am never going to be good enough succeed as a blind
> person with other disabilities then perhaps I should not try at all and
> simply consider myself to be a failure who is never going to be able to make
> anything out of my life.
> 
> Elizabeth
> 
> 
> 
> Elizabeth
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Karl Martin
> Adam via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 6:16 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Karl Martin Adam <kmaent1 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
> 
> Elizabeth,
> 
> First of all, NVDA can work with different voices.  Second of all, you don't
> know if you can understand the default voice or not unless you've worked
> with it a while to acclimatize yourself.  
> You could of course use another screen reader, but the other's aren't Free
> like NVDA.  You might even be able to put Jaws on a thumbdrive if you have a
> licence already, you'd have to check with the manufacturer.
> 
> I'm not sure what you think you're going to do if you don't want to learn
> Braille and you don't want to use technology.  Those are the ways blind
> people have of being literate.  At some point, you have to use one if you're
> going to go to school or work.  Maybe there are other choices, but I don't
> know of them, and I assume you don't either or you wouldn't be asking.  I
> don't know why you're so hostile to Braille, but it's worth pointing out
> that you don't have to use Braille as efficiently as a sighted person uses
> print in order to organize your thoughts for an essay and then be able to
> read it to your scribe instead of doing it all in your head.  We're not
> talking about you reading Braille other people have produced hear, so you
> could write in uncontracted braille if you wanted and memorizing the
> contractions is part of your problem.
> 
> Best,
> Karl
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Elizabeth Mohnke 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 17:54:02 -0500
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
> 
> Hello Karl,
> 
> I am really getting frustrated by the fact that it appears as though no one
> is listening to me. I cannot understand the voice that comes with NVDA, and
> no amount of using this program is not going to change my ability to
> understand the voice that comes with NVDA.
> 
> And if I really need to learn Braille to the point that I can use it in
> class or for tests, then I am royally screwed. At this point in my life I do
> not believe I could learn braille well enough to be able to read and
> understand it enough to be able to read it and understand it at the same
> rate and level as someone who reads print. This is simply not going to
> happen, so please stop shoving this down my throat as if this is the only
> answer.
> 
> Elizabeth
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Karl Martin
> Adam via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 5:36 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Karl Martin Adam <kmaent1 at gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
> 
> Dear Elizabeth,
> 
> You're right that many of the suggestions people have given you won't help
> for your test in two weeks.  If you want to continue college though,
> learning braille whether from a training center or a Hadley course or
> whatever or learning how to use something like NVDA will be something you
> have to do.  We can't do that for you.  I wish we could, but you have to
> actually learn the skills you need to do college assignments.  
> One thing you
> could do is take an incomplete get the skills you need and finish the class
> in the fall.  I'm assuming that's more drastic than you want to do though.
> You could work on trying to learn something like NVDA for the next test, and
> maybe your professor would allow you to take this one later if you explained
> it to them or maybe they would let you take it orally.  I understand not
> wanting to learn new technology, I really do.  I hate it, and I've never
> been able to learn Windows and a screen reader well enough to function
> effectively, which is why I use my Braillenote for everything.  I think you
> might be surprised at how easy it is to learn how to make a smartphone work
> though.  Androids are known for taking some time to figure out, but Iphone's
> are fairly intuitive.  When I got mine I hated it for a day or two because I
> couldn't make it work, but then it clicked.  All you really need is to type
> your answers into the body of an e-mail and either send it to your professor
> or have your scribe write it out onto the test or e-mail your answers to DSS
> and have them print them.  Learning how to do that much really wouldn't be
> very difficult--even someone who has as hard a time with technology as I do
> can manage it.  I really hope you can find a way to do well on your exam!
> 
> Best,
> Karl
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Elizabeth Mohnke 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 17:02:48 -0500
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
> 
> Hello All,
> 
> I honestly wish I had never posted my email to this email list. I really
> hate the fact that it just seems like all you are wanting to do is tell me
> that an NFB training center is somehow going to solve all the problems in my
> life. Even if I could ever go to an NFB training center, I will probably
> never gain the Braille skills necessary to be able to use them in a testing
> situation.
> 
> I have never used a smart phone before, so this option would not work for
> me. There is absolutely no way I would be able to learn how to use it good
> enough to use for a test that is in two weeks.
> I am already trying to catch up in this class after being sick, so I am not
> looking to add anything more to my plate than what is already on it.
> 
> Using NVDA sounds like a good option, but again, I have never used it
> before, and I cannot understand the voice that comes with it . So I am not
> quite sure how this option would work for me.
> 
> I am sorry that I am not able to fight my college and the vocational
> rehabilitation all on my own. The Client Assistant Program does not do much
> of anything here. And no one in the NFB has never really been willing to
> help me either. All I wanted to do was to find a way to pass this class. But
> it looks as though I simply do not have the support, resources, and capacity
> to do the things I wanted to be able to do before my accident.
> 
> I should have never signed up to take this class. I really did not have the
> money to pay for it in the first place, and right now it just feels like
> this was only a waste of my money. And I should just learn that I am never
> going to be the same person that I was before my accident.
> 
> Elizabeth
> 
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