[nabs-l] Any Suggestions for Blindness Literature?

Sun Nov 6 14:10:18 UTC 2016

Hello Elizabeth,
I totally get where you're coming from, and like Kennedy said, his behavior
is pretty weird and inappropriate. I don't have suggestions for literature
beyond what's been suggested, except I'm sure there are probably some
excellent blogs out there, but I'd just like to throw it out there that
while you have a busy schedule and it is not your responsibility to educate
him about how blind people do every little thing, you are the only blind
student he knows, and how you do things might be more helpful for him to
know, or he might be more willing to hear about it from you than from some
anonymous literature. You could explain, briefly, that your iPhone has a
program called voiceover that allows you to navigate the touch screen, or
that you had orientation and mobility training to learn where the bus stop
is (or you learned it on your own with practice and asking for directions),
and then refer him to some literature. What I'm suggesting is a balanced
approach. Give him some of how you do things to ground him, but then refer
him to the wide array of literature out there if he wants to know more.
HTH
Jameyanne

-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of KENNEDY
STOMBERG via NABS-L
Sent: Sunday, November 6, 2016 1:59 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Cc: KENNEDY STOMBERG <kestomberg at coe.edu>
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Any Suggestions for Blindness Literature?

First of all, that is really weird. I felt uncomfortable just reading about
what your professor has been doing. While it is better than saying that
you're simply can't do things or discriminating against you by not allowing
you to be in class or something like that, it is still wildly inappropriate.
Second, I might have an idea for some literature. Someone correct me if I'm
wrong about this. But I believe that the national Federation of the blind
has something called Colonel books. At least, I think that's what they're
called. Anyway, they are literally just short stories about blind people
doing every day things. I think if you call the national office, you can
order a couple. Then, your professor would be able to read about other blind
people just doing normal things. Hopefully, he would see that being able to
call someone is not this amazing thing that you can do. I mean, he probably
calls people sometimes too. :-) Honestly, this is a very strange situation
and I do not envy you. Let me know if there's anything else I can do to
help.

Kennedy Stomberg 
(218)295-2391 

> On Nov 5, 2016, at 9:57 PM, Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> 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
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