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

Sat Jan 30 06:36:28 UTC 2016

Jamie,
That's a good idea, about the recorder built into windows.
I was thinking that if I were in her shoes without jaws and the ability to 
write my answers in hard copy braille, I'd do the exam orally.
This poses some challenges when it comes to writing essays or even short 
answers longer than a few sentences, but it can be done or tried.
You have to problem solve is right.
Elizabeth will have to sit down with the professor and think of a sollution 
that might work for herto get through the class.
I think its better to try something and have a bad outcome  than not do 
anything.

I know oral exams are harder especially if its short answer. I'm guessing 
this defensive behavior stems from fear of it not working or failing.
I remember taking my intro to social sciences class with a reader. The 
format was short answer.  This required a few words but often it required a 
few sentences.
I remember the struggles of getting my thoughts together and dictating. I 
would lose my thoughts easily.
Sometimes I spoke a few sentences, and the scribe read them back and we had 
to erase a sentence as it did not make sense.
Dictating also was challenging because even though I tried to speak slowly, 
sometimes my scribes would say slow down or repeat that.
I'm not sure why I did not take it via computer. I think I went the reader 
route because I thought it would take longer with jaws and I'd understand 
the questions better with a human reader.
All this is just a personal illustration to say I know the challenges of 
oral exams where you have to speak answers.
I could manage multiple choice exams much better with a reader/scribe.
But, exams where you have short answers posed more challenges.

I do hope Elizabeth hangs in there and does something that works for her.

Ashley
-----Original Message----- 
From: Jamie Principato via nabs-l
Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 10:18 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Cc: Jamie Principato
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice

Ok. Why are you getting defensive and shooting people down for offering you 
suggestions? Isn't that what you asked for? Be an active part of the problem 
solving process. Help us understand your strengths and weaknesses better so 
we can offer more ideas. Another is to talk to your professor about an oral 
exam, either on a recording evict or in her office. Yet another is to have 
your scribe simply start the audio recorder that is built into windows for 
you so you can record your answers, then stop it while you think about the 
next question or when ever you're finished. Then you just save that file for 
your teacher. You're probably going to accuse me of assuming your disability 
services office would do that. But instead, why not ask them first of they 
will.

-Jamie

Sent from my iPhone

> On Jan 29, 2016, at 7:37 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l 
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
> Hello,
>
> Simply because this suggestion works for some does not mean it will work 
> for
> all. I have a hard enough time typing with the use of a screen reader, I
> cannot imagine how horrible my typing would be without the use of a screen
> reader.
>
> Elizabeth
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Carly 
> Mihalakis
> via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 9:32 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>;
> National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at comcast.net>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
>
> Evening, List,
>
> That is a good suggestion~! 'smatter of cfact, at times I was editing my
> writing with sighted student writing tutors, I used the in class computers
> in exactly that manner. And, it works well.
> CarAt 04:02 PM 1/29/2016, Jamie Principato via nabs-l wrote:
>> Another option would be to type your responses without JAWS, and have a
>> scribe or reader read it back to you and help you correct typos and
>> errors it's still your independent work, but you'd have a reader do the
>> job of JAWS until the school gets the computers with jaws fixed.
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>>> On Jan 29, 2016, at 4:56 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello Jamie,
>>>
>>> How can you assume the disabilities office would have a tape
>>> recorder? As far as I can tell, the disabilities office does not have
> much of anything.
>>>
>>> And if I have a difficult time using the screen reader voice that I
>>> have been using for years, I do not believe I would be able to learn
>> how to use a
>>> new voice that I simply cannot understand.
>>>
>>> I am sorry if you do not understand or believe me. And I am even
>>> more sorry that I posted my question about how to take my exam on this
> email list.
>>> Having everyone jump down my throat about not being able to attend
>>> an NFB training center or not having perfect Braille skills was
>> definitely not what
>>> I needed today. It looks as though the positive support of the NFB
>>> is for everyone else besides me.
>>>
>>> Elizabeth.
>>>
>>> -----Original Message-----
>>> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Jamie
>>> Principato via nabs-l
>>> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 6:31 PM
>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>> Cc: Jamie Principato <blackbyrdfly at gmail.com>
>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some
>>> Advice
>>>
>>> The disability office probably has a tape recorder. Also, if you
>>> don't understand a speech synthesizer, practice actually does help
>>> with
>> that. It's
>>> just like how toddlers don't understand grown up speech until
>>> they've listened to it a lot. A big part of it is to not throw ideas
>>> out with an "I can't" or "I'll never be able to" right off the bat.
>>>
>>> Sent from my iPhone
>>>
>>>>> On Jan 29, 2016, at 3:35 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l
>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>
>>>> Hello All,,
>>>>
>>>> If I cannot understand the voice from NVDA then what good is it
>>>> going to be for me to practice using it? No amount of practice is
>>>> going to change this for me.
>>>>
>>>> The only recording device I have is a Victor Stream. So how exactly
>>>> would this option work for me? It would seem to me the only way to
>>>> allow my professor to listen to my answers would be to give her my
>>>> victor stream. I would not feel comfortable doing this because I
>>>> have all my reading materials on it. And since the victor stream
>>>> has its own special recording format, I cannot just simply save a
>>>> copy of the recording and send it to my professor.
>>>>
>>>> It seems as though there would be too many logistics for this option.
>>>> And I have absolutely no idea if the disabilities office would
>>>> allow such an accommodation. The disabilities office seems to be
>>>> rather controlling in what it is willing to approve of as an
> accommodation.
>>>>
>>>> Elizabeth
>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>> From: Mikayla Gephart [mailto:mikgephart at icloud.com]
>>>> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 5:13 PM
>>>> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Cc: Elizabeth Mohnke <lizmohnke at hotmail.com>
>>>> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some
>>>> Advice
>>>>
>>>> Elizabeth, I understand some of the frustration. We are not at all
>>>> implying that a training center would solve all your problems. How
>>>> many of our members have left a training center, only to still need
>>>> help with their colleges? could you practice with NVDA from
>>>> wherever you are emailing right now? The more you practice, the better.
>>>> Blindness and health problems do not have to stop you from living
>>>> the life
>>> y want.
>>>>
>>>> Sent from my iPad
>>>>
>>>>>> On Jan 29, 2016, at 5:02 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l
>>>>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> 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
>>>>>
>>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>>>>> for
>>>> nabs-l:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/mikgephart%40ic
>>>> lou
>>>> d.com
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
>>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>>>> for
>>> nabs-l:
>>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/blackbyrdfly%40
>>>> gma
>>>> il.com
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>>> for
>>> nabs-l:
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/lizmohnke%40hotm
>>> ail.com
>>>
>>> _______________________________________________
>>> nabs-l mailing list
>>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info
>> for nabs-l:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/blackbyrdfly%40gma
>> il.com
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> nabs-l mailing list
>> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/carlymih%40comcast.
>> net
>
>
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/lizmohnke%40hotmail.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs-l mailing list
> nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> nabs-l:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/blackbyrdfly%40gmail.com

_______________________________________________
nabs-l mailing list
nabs-l at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs-l_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
nabs-l:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nabs-l_nfbnet.org/bookwormahb%40earthlink.net 