[nabs-l] Any Suggestions for Blindness Literature?

Sun Nov 6 02:57:39 UTC 2016

Hello Vejas and Carly,

Thank you for your suggestions. My schedule has been rather busy lately, and I am not always quite sure how to answer vague questions about blindness, especially when my mind is focused on other things. So this is why I thought providing my professor with some literature might be helpful after trying to talk to him about how he is treating me makes me feel uncomfortable. 

I understand people may feel a bit awkward around me as a blind person when they first meet me. However, it is now beyond the middle of the semester, and it feels as though my professor still feels a bit uncomfortable interacting with me as a blind person.

One day as I was entering class and finding my seat, I heard my professor tell me that he does not know how I do it. Since it appears as though I have migrated in terms of where I sit in the classroom, I responded by telling him that I did not know how I do it either. However, it was not until after this exchange of comments were made that I realized that my professor and I were talking about two different things. It seemed to me that he simply could not understand how I could possibly get around independently as a blind person. However, since I was yet again migrating to the next row over when finding a seat, I was wondering how it is that I keep migrating to the next row of seats rather than simply head towards the seat that I normally sit in during class. I generally sit in the same seat in class for all of my classes, so the fact that I keep migrating to other seats for this particular class puzzles me a bit.

There was also another day where my professor followed me out to the bus stop and waited there with me until my ride showed up to pick me up. While I was standing there, I used my Victor Stream to find the phone number for the person who was picking me up, and called the person who was picking me up from the bus stop on my IPhone. From my point of view, I was just doing what I needed to do to find out if my ride was still planning to pick me up at this particular location. However, my professor thought that I was somehow amazing for being able to do this simple task. The fact that my professor followed me out to the bus stop really made me feel uncomfortable, and the fact that he thinks I am amazing simply for being able to walk to the bus stop and make a phone call tells me that he has rather low expectations of me as a blind person.

I honestly do not know how to describe the blindness techniques I use when getting around independently as a blind person. I have never really had any real formal training in the skills of blindness, so most of the techniques I use are simply based on what I have seen other people do that I have simply adopted to work for me. So when people ask me how I am able to get around independently as a blind person, I honestly have no idea how to answer this question because I simply do what comes natural to me. 

Since I have clearly demonstrated my capabilities as a blind student, I thought perhaps providing him with some additional information in the form of literature would help him understand that I am really just another student in his sociology class. I feel as though it is really not my responsibility to sit down with my professor and answer every question he might have about blindness just to satisfy his curiosity. I only have so much time in my schedule, and sometimes I simply have more important things to do. So again, I simply thought providing my professor with some literature on blindness might help this situation.

Warm regards,
Elizabeth

-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Vejas Vasiliauskas via NABS-L
Sent: Tuesday, November 01, 2016 11:48 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Vejas Vasiliauskas <alpineimagination at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Any Suggestions for Blindness Literature?

Hi Elizabeth,
I completely understand where you are coming from about it being frustrating for sighted people talking to  the blind. I am not an expert on blindness literature, but I do have a couple of suggestions nonetheless.
My first idea would be to think of the most common questions you think the professor would have for your specific situation, if that makes sense. For example, in my situation, I would explain that I use a cane to get around, and might elaborate on the fact that I have  2 types, one that folds. I tend to prefer the folding cane for easy storage in a holster, and this is just my personal preference, and often one professors in my experience seem a little more comfortable with.
Then I would explain my devices. In my case, I use a Braillenote Apex. I would give a bit of information about how it works, and that I use it with my phone as a pair so that I have better Internet access.
I could then explain how I would use these devices to complete work, and then explain my preferred method of handing work in to the teacher.
My second idea is to just leave everything completely open.  You could just send him an email asking him if he has any questions, and to direct these questions to you in his reply.
Like I said, I am not the best at blindness literature, but I feel that your professor might be more interested in something coming directly from you.
One more thing: in my experience it seems like people are awkward at first around blind folks just because they have never  had to deal with them before and don't understand how much to help. A sighted friend of mine at LCB who currently attends Louisiana Tech explained it well to me when she said that there are so many blind people around, all requiring, or thinking they need, different levels of assistance, so there is no standard.
Vejas   

> On Nov 1, 2016, at 09:07, Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hello All,
> 
> I recently posted a question about how to go about dealing with a professor who thinks I am the most amazing person simply because I happen to be blind. I really appreciate all the suggestions that everyone gave me about how to go about handling this situation. Since I did not have time to meet with my professor last week, I sent him an email telling him that I was beginning to feel a bit uncomfortable in his class due to the fact that he either feels uncomfortable or unsure about how to communicate and interact with me as a blind student.
> 
> However, I am not quite sure how well this email helped the situation as I was a bit frustrated with other things when I wrote my email to him. As a result of my stress and frustration, I am not quite sure how well I came across in the email I sent my professor last week. But hopefully it serves as a good starting point in being able to talk to my professor about this situation.
> 
> I am sure he is simply curious about how I do things as a blind person. It  sounds as though he has not had too much interaction with other blind people. I would really like to be able to sit down with him and answer all his questions about how I do things as a blind person. However, my schedule is rather busy right now, and I feel as though I simply do not have the time to sit down with him and answer all his questions. Since I do not have the time to sit down and answer all his questions about blindness, I thought perhaps I could just simply share some articles on how blind people do things as they live independent lives.
> 
> However, I must admit, it has been a while since I have read through NFB literature. So I am simply curious, what articles would you share with someone who had questions about how you do things as a blind person if you did not have the time to sit down and talk to them about how you do things as a blind person? Are there any good articles to share that would summarize how blind people do things as a blind person without going too in-depth on a particular skill that blind people use in their daily lives? I can think of a couple of good articles as it relates to blindness philosophy, but I do not think an article on blindness philosophy works for someone who is rather curious about how blind people do things as blind people living independent lives. So any suggestions on articles I could share with my professor would be greatly appreciated.
> 
> Thanks,
> 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/alpineimagination%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/lizmohnke%40hotmail.com