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

Sun Jan 31 01:42:46 UTC 2016

Hi Elizabeth, you do not need to pay for the eloquence synthesizer for NVDA there are two free versions

Sent from my iPod

> On Jan 29, 2016, at 7:12 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello,
> 
> I honestly do not understand why it seems to me that no one is able to
> understand the fact that I cannot understand the voice that comes with NVDA
> and that this will most likely not change after trying to use it. And I do
> not have the money to pay for the voice that JAWS uses.
> 
> So if you do not mind, I would like for this discussion to end. I feel worse
> now than I did before I posted my question to the email list.
> 
> It seems to me like the best thing for me to do is accept the fact that I am
> simply not the same person I was before my accident. I am nothing but a
> failure who can barely do anything anymore without it being such a big deal.
> 
> Elizabeth
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Desiree Oudinot
> via nabs-l
> Sent: Friday, January 29, 2016 6:49 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Desiree Oudinot <turtlepower17 at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] A Struggling Blind Student Looking for Some Advice
> 
> Hi,
> I too am sorry that NFB training centers were suggested as the be all, end
> all. I'm going to catch flack for saying so, but I would be disgruntled in
> your situation, too, because that wasn't the question you were asking. You
> were asking a question about solutions that you could use in the here and
> now, and several responses did seem to be putting you down for not having
> attended a training center. That's not OK at all.
> 
> To answer one of the points you raised, though, you don't need to install
> NVDA on a computer to use it. You only need to put a portable copy on a
> flash drive, plug said flash drive into the computer, and launch the
> application from there. If you need help doing that, you could either ask
> someone who happens to be in the testing center, or, if no one is available
> or willing to help, you could launch Narrator so that you could find the
> flash drive and use NVDA. On versions of Windows below 10, you launch
> Narrator by pressing windows u, and in Windows 10, it's Windows enter.
> Although I seriously doubt that a college testing center is using Windows 10
> yet.
> 
> The Blind Access team is proud to present podcasts covering the Windows and
> Android operating systems, as well as demonstrations of accessible games and
> software!
> Why not check us out at:
> http://www.blindaccess.org
> Or like us on Facebook:
> https://www.facebook.com/Blindaccess
> Contact us directly:
> podcastteam at gigajoy.net
> 
>> On 1/29/2016 6:37 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via nabs-l 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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