[nabs-l] Any Suggestions for Blindness Literature?
Carly Mihalakis
carlymih at comcast.net
Tue Nov 8 20:00:51 UTC 2016
Afternoon, Elizabeth,
Well Elizabeth, if you don't want to put in the effort to
make the relationship with teach full, maybe even enjoyable, I'm
afraid you will receive the kind of in depth relationship that you,
yourself are willing to put in.
I don't think It is teach's job to chase you and your blindness.
Alas, you will probably experience the depth of relationship that you
yourself are willing to cultivate.
Car
07:10 AM 11/8/2016, Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L wrote:
>Hello All,
>
>Thank you for the continued discussion in regards to this matter. I
>have found this discussion to be interesting and helpful.
>
>However, it appears as though there may be an assumption that all I
>want to do is provide my professor with blindness literature rather
>than talk to him directly to answer all his questions and correct
>his misconceptions about blindness. Please know that I am not
>looking to provide my professor with blindness literature as a
>substitute for talking to him. I have sent him two well written
>emails as well as talked to him for about an hour after class the
>other day, and the only thing this seemed to accomplish was making
>him aware that I am uncomfortable with the way he is interacting with me.
>
>I feel like this should be a sufficient amount of time to devote to
>this issue as I am a rather busy college student. I do not feel as
>though it is my job to spend all of my spare time answering all of
>the questions my professor has about blindness simply because he is
>curious or because he does not have much experience interacting with
>a blind person before. Simply because I have not had much
>interaction with any particular subgroup of people, it does not
>automatically mean that I question their abilities or tell them how
>amazing they are simply for overcoming the obstacles they have faced
>in their lives.
>
>I am the one who is paying for the tuition required to take this
>class. It seems to me that if I am paying for this class in the same
>manner as any other student that I should be able to receive the
>same education as anyone else. I do not feel as though there should
>be some additional requirement for me to spend countless hours
>educating my professor on blindness simply because he appears to be
>incapable of treating me as just another student in his sociology class.
>
>Since I feel as though I have spent a considerable amount of time
>writing emails to my professor and talking to him after class, I was
>simply curious if there was any literature I could give him to help
>him understand blindness better. Sometimes hearing or reading
>something in slightly different words by different people can help
>people understand things better. Since I feel as though I am not
>very good at explaining blindness to others, I was just curious if
>there was any literature I could give my professor to help explain
>things better in a way that he might actually be able to understand.
>
>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 08, 2016 9:17 AM
>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?
>
>The next stop he follows you to the bus stop would be the perfect
>opportunity to talk to him. Presumably you'll be waiting awhile
>for the bus, so you could take that time to explain things.
>Vejas
>
> ----- Original Message -----
>From: Carly Mihalakis via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
>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
>Date sent: Tue, 08 Nov 2016 04:39:31 -0800
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Any Suggestions for Blindness Literature?
>
>Good morning, EElizabeth,
>
> Did you come later to the blindness party, or something?
>Seeing how Ol'Sighty gets all moved if he should chance to see
>the
>blink actually being self sufficient, as I see it, ought not be
>too
>suprising. So don't play stupid. I would imagine you know very
>well
>how Ol'Sighty can get.
>Car2016, Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L 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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