[NABS-L] Nonacademic support in college

Wed Nov 7 13:41:30 UTC 2018

Hello,

I was just talking to my partner about your email, and he was telling me
that they do things the same way that they are done here in the US; it is
not the universities responsibility to provide students with the
nonacademic tools that one might need for success. Here in the US, you
would typically contact a vocational rehabilitative service, and they would
direct you to the different programs available for working on these
skills--whether that means going to a center for an extended period of time
to work on core skills, or receiving quicker, more specified training for
certain  areas.

Just in case you don't already know this (and my apologies if any of this
is incorrect, as this is second-hand knowledge, though my partner is also
blind so I can't imagine this being too inaccurate) :
The same is essentially true for the UK. It sounds like each city has a
different "society for the blind", each affiliated with the UK's blindness
organization (the RNIB--royal national institute for the blind). If you
wanted services related to orientation and mobility (so learning how to
navigate to and through a grocery store, for example), my partner tells me
that they do that, at the very least. If they do not offer services
directly related to cooking, organization, and living on one's own, they
should at least have phone numbers and other contact information to further
direct your search.

The webpage for the oxford association for the blind is here:
https://www.oxeyes.org.uk/website/

You can check out the 'helping you' link at the bottom of the page to see
the resources they provide, and the 'contact us' link to find the
information necessary to contact them to schedule an appointment to discuss
your specific situation. The website also says that their office hours are
changing to M-F, 10-3.

As I'm writing this, my partner also says that if you have a guidedog, you
might want to contact the guidedog organization in the UK to help with
mobility-related concerns, as they would be more specialized and able to
deal with a guidedog situation.

I hope that this information has been helpful to you!

Warmest regards,

Kassandra "K" Cardenas
Pronouns: she/they
University of Texas at Austin | Women's and Gender Studies 2019
(E): kassandrac at utexas.edu

"Alone, we can do so little; together, we can do so much."
- Helen Keller

On Wed, Nov 7, 2018 at 3:30 AM Roger Newell via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> As blindness does not impose limitations on learning to shop, cook and
> stay organized, I cannot see any issues with this.
>
> I understand you are from a developing country where blind people can
> expect to receive support in these non-academic skills, but in
> developed countries, blind people would be taught how these skills in
> the course of their education through their teacher of the visually
> impaired, and I would argue that blind people who have not learned
> these skills should learn them before going to university as
> non-academic skills are just as important as academic skills in
> employment. You may have all the credentials in the world, but not
> being able to care for yourself will limit you as employers may see
> you as a liability.
>
> On 11/7/18, Rahul Bajaj via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> > Hi Everyone,
> >
> > I recently started studying at the University of Oxford in the UK for
> > my postgraduate education. One feature of the support provided to
> > disabled students here has surprised me: while they are willing to
> > provide any kind of academic support, they provide no nonacademic
> > help, with things like going to the market for shopping, cooking and
> > staying well-organized.
> >
> > I am wondering, just out of academic interest, if this is how things
> > are in the US. For those blind people who possess the wherewithal to
> > do things completely independently, more power to them, but for those
> > who can't I find it hard to fathom how this is not a problem. Surely
> > ou cannot accept students, who may have lived with their parents until
> > now, to become fully independent over night? Also, I'm wondering if
> > the autonomy and freedom to choose of the disabled person, as opposed
> > to a certain conception of independence, should be prioritized here.
> >
> > This article beautifully describes some of these issues, in the words
> > of a blind girl who went to Yale:
> > https://yaledailynews.com/blog/2015/01/23/invisible-disability-at-yale/
> >
> >
> >
> > Best,
> > Rahul
> >
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