[nabs-l] Seeking advocacy assistance for college accommodations

[Sarah Jevnikar]

Hi Elizabeth,
I hope you are doing okay. It sounds like you've had a rough term and I am
so sorry to hear this. I know you need practical solutions, but I think it
is only fair of me to acknowledge your challenges first and tell you that
you will get through this, hopefully with some happy memories in addition to
your accommodations woes.

As to your degree "not meaning anything", I would disagree. Your degree is a
great accomplishment, especially given the challenges you've faced. You can
feel proud of yourself that you have come this far and will soon finish. Not
to mention the greater opportunities available to you with any higher
education.

Anyway, enough with my rambling. I can't provide NFB-based solutions, but I
feel your pain regarding math-related accommodations. So many schools are
unused to blind people taking these subjects that they don't know how to
handle it. They're also often not usually fans of math themselves, so don't
understand how and why the right readers etc. are so important. All that
being said, there are definitely options out there.

Just so I can give the most useful suggestions (I am finishing a degree in
economics so have had to take many math-related courses in university over
the years), what is your vision like? If Braille isn't an option, do you use
a screen reader? Or do you use magnification instead. Obviously a reader is
ideal, but if you wanted to access material in other forms, having a
computer-based solution is an idea.

Also, have you considered talking to your instructor(s) directly? I know
that this can be intimidating, but they might know a graduate student who
could act as a reader, or they might work with you to come up with a
solution everyone can live with. They're most familiar with their course
content, so can have a sense of how things could be altered if and where
necessary.

Please feel free to write me off list if you wish, but let us all know how
things are going so we can support you as a team.

All the very best,
Sarah


-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Elizabeth
Mohnke via NABS-L
Sent: July 21, 2017 1:05 PM
To: NFB of Michigan Internet Mailing List; National Association of Blind
Students mailing list; Blind Law Mailing List
Cc: Elizabeth Mohnke
Subject: [nabs-l] Seeking advocacy assistance for college accommodations

Hello all,

Last semester I was denied accommodations for a math class. When I contacted
the national Center, I was advised to file an official complaint with my
college. However, I found it rather difficult to complete the complaint form
on my own, and the national office was not willing to provide any assistance
in  helping me Phil out the complaint form. So I have not done anything to
follow up with the lack of accommodations I received last semester as I had
a difficult time keeping up with my classes when I got sick during the
second half of the semester.


I would like to be able to continue taking classes so I can complete my
degree even though I've been told that it will most likely not mean
anything. However, I am not quite sure how to go about receiving the
accommodations I need for my math classes. Since I do not know Braille very
well, or how to make a computer read all of the math symbols, I have found
that using a reader for my math classes works the best for me. However, last
semester my disabilities office provided me with a reader Who was not
qualified to read math, and would not allow me to use any other reader
besides the one they had a sign to me including my own reader, so I was
forced to drop my math class due to a lack of accommodations.


I am not completely sure where to go from here in terms of being able to
receive the accommodations I need for my math classes. I have been told that
the dean of students would like to talk to me. But I am not completely sure
what to say to her, and I do not feel comfortable meeting with her on my
own. The college has a past history of being rather hostile and aggressive
towards me. So I do not feel comfortable meeting with people at my college
on my own when I am not completely sure  what the purpose of the meeting is
supposed to be.


Anyway, if there is anyone out there Who would be willing to help me receive
the accommodations I need for my math classes, I would greatly appreciate
hearing from you off list. I feel as though I have not had much success in
contacting individual people, so I thought I would send out a mass email to
see if this might help me find someone who is willing and able  to help
provide me with some advocacy assistance and receiving the accommodations I
need for my math classes.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

Sent from my iPhone
_______________________________________________
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/sarah.jevnikar%40gmail.c
om