[NABS-L] Nonacademic support in college

Fri Nov 9 01:59:54 UTC 2018

I was going to argue with your opinions, but I don't think I'll
convince you. so I hope that you are convinced by the hundreds of
people in the stories I'll put a link to below.

Please read some of these stories.

https://nfb.org/kernel-books

On 11/9/18, Rahul Bajaj via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Thank you, Kartik, Roger and Kassandra.
>
> Roger, to your point first - while being from a developing country has
> certainly made things harder for me from the standpoint of addressing my
> nonacademic needs, I would respectfully argue that the notion that a
> disabled person must possess the wherewithal to do everything independently
> is one which I find not only unreasonable, but also deeply harmful when
> imposed on someone under the guise of making them more employable or some
> such. At any rate, that is your view and people can disagree about this and
> that's fine.
>
> Kartik, while programmes do exist in the West for this kind of training,
> people have told me that they are often far too long  for themv to be viable
> for many.
>
> Third, and more broadly, I have seen blind students, who because they have
> been taught to think that they must do everything independently and
> shouldn't need help, prefer not eating because they cannot cook; not going
> to places because they do not know how to; not eating food of a high quality
> because they don't want to ask for help in making it easier to eat and are
> unable to tap into so much of the potential that university life and the
> world offers.
>
> Fourth, given that how few of us there are in mainstream institutions,
> perhaps it's time we made getting our needs met, rather than making
> ourselves more palatable to others, the primordial consideration driving our
> actions. It is not like they find us very palatable in the present state of
> affairs anyway.
>
> Rahul
>
> Sent from my iPhone
>
>> On Nov 7, 2018, at 1:41 PM, Kassandra Cardenas via NABS-L
>> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>
>> 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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