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

Sat Jan 30 03:07:34 UTC 2016

Hello Suzanne,

Yes, I have already been in contact with my local NFB chapter as well as my
NFB state affiliate. Neither one seem to be of much help to me.

Elizabeth .-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Suzanne Germano
via nabs-l
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 9:45 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Do you have a local nfb chapter that could maybe support you with the
disabled services office?

On Friday, January 29, 2016, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Hello Suzanne,
>
> No, I am not a client of the vocational rehabilitation agency. And no,  
> I currently do not receive financial assistance. A student needs to be 
> enrolled on a half time basis in order to receive financial 
> assistance, and I am only taking one class.
>
> I am sure there are lots of things my disabilities office should be 
> doing, but that does not mean that they are doing them or have any 
> desire to do them in the future. Unfortunately, I do not believe I 
> have the capacity to fight the college disability office all on my own
right now.
>
> Elizabeth
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org <javascript:;>] On 
> Behalf Of Suzanne Germano via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 9:27 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org <javascript:;>>
> Cc: Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu <javascript:;>>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some 
> Advice
>
> 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 <javascript:;>>
> 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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