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

[Suzanne Germano]

Hi Elizabeth

Are you a client of VR? I know you mentioned other people getting stuff but
you did not state if you are a client or qualify.

I had to fight vr initially. I did it on my own. I adked for something
justifiable. She said no. I filed an official appeal and my request was
approved.

Do you get financial aid? Do have more you can qualify for ie loans?
Getting a student loan for a computer would be well worth it if you
qualify.

Speak to the head of disabled student services, then speak to who ever is
above them and continue up until your situation is taken care of. It is a
pain but I have had to fight battles to get stuff.

Your disabled student office should have a minimum of one computer with
jaws for test taking. If not, push for it.

I hope you can get this resolved

Good luck

On Friday, January 29, 2016, 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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