[nabs-l] Any Suggestions for Blindness Literature?
Carly Mihalakis
carlymih at comcast.net
Tue Nov 8 20:20:33 UTC 2016
Afternoon, Vejas,
Thank you for that. At 12:14 PM 11/8/2016, Vejas Vasiliauskas via
NABS-L wrote:
>Carly,
>I think you have misread what Elizabeth is saying. She sent some
>long emails and talked to her professor for an hour.
>At this point I feel that it is more of a case of the professor
>choosing not to allow himself to be educated, so I don't think that
>this is any of Elizabeth's doing.
>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 12:00:51 -0800
>Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Any Suggestions for Blindness Literature?
>
>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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