[NABS-L] Food for Thought: Time Management Materials for Blind Students

Sun May 12 02:03:02 UTC 2019

Hi all! 
As for the college world, particularly for blind students, I think there isn’t enough text out there that covers such things like longer time for tests and homework for example. I also don’t see any books that address burn out and how to get rid of it while in college. Just like the work place, burn out is an issue in college. I personally have experienced it first hand in math classes. Since math takes a blind student two or three times longer than the average sighted person, I think that it would be greatly benefitial to have books out there to address this barrier. I for one, would benefit greatly from books that address college burn out and how to reduce it. I would also benefit from knowing how to determain if it’s impossible to eliminate burn out, in my case, during math classes. Last term, I took college algebra which turned into a total nightmore! For one thing, I had new technology that I wasn’t fermiliar with using. For another thing, halfway through term, the rest of my required braille textbook didn’t arrive until a week before term ended. Since I’m on the trymester schedule, this alone, only made my experience with college algebra even worse. As though that wasn’t enough, even without the accessability related issues, it took me three times as much time to get through my homework, tests and quizzes, than it did with my sighted classmates. Ouch!!! I had my third round of math class burnout. Mind you, I had little control of preventing it, nor even for that matter, solving the problem, even though I tried. I can’t just solve the problem in the middle of a math class simply because I don’t have the time nor the energy to keep up with just the basic survival to survive the class. Even now, while I’m away from math classes, I’m trying to sort out how to reduce burn out and/or trying to discover if there is a way to reduce that problem. Just like NASA has to do when they solve problems which is to solve the ones that aren’t solveable during space flight; they have to solve them in between mitions. I have to do the same with addressing burn out. I have to solve it before I can take another math class. I have to also determain if I can even take another math class in the first place. I suspect that it might be physically impossible to take another math class without experiencing burn out. Because of this problem, I’m looking for information that addresses this kind of problem. So far, I have not found any good information except to reduce general burn out and general time management. I have not even found podcasts that address this kind of issue. As for time management texts themselves, the other difference for us blind readers is our technique to manage our time. For braille readers, we can’t just use a regular print planner except for what’s on our smart phones or braille note takers. Thank the gods for the callendar apps on iPhones! I use my callendar every day on my iPhone. I wouldn’t be able to keep track of my appointments that I have to make just to survive college, let alone, my non school life. I use it to stick my homework assignment due dates on it as well. The thing with college verses the work place is that college has a lot more homework in less you either work from home or work in a job that comes with a lot of homework. Usually, loyers, maybe journilsm and other writing jobs. Besides those kinds of jobs, most don’t come with nearly as much homework as college. Time management books don’t take that into account. I’ve also not seen a lot of time management or work/life balance books that include disabled college students or disabled workers. This is a gap because even though we still benefit from some of their ideas, we are still missing the time gap that we require that normal, non disabled people don’t have to touch with a ten foot cane. 

Thank you for taking the time to read this E Mail! 
Blessed be!!! 
Kendra Schaber, 
 Chemeketa Community College, 
 350 Org, 
Citizen’s Climate Lobby,    
National Federation of the Blind of Oregon,  
Capitol Chapter, 
Salem, Oregon. 
 Home email: 
Redwing731 at gmail.com 
 Chemeketa Community College Email: 
 Kschaber at my.Chemeketa.edu  
Phone: 
971-599-9991 
"When the student is ready, the teacher will appear" Author Unknown. 
 Sent From My iPhone SE. 
 Sent from My Gmail Email. 
 Get Outlook Express for IOS.    

> On May 11, 2019, at 17:53, Nina Marranca via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> I think that a lot of texts are suitable for both blind and sighted students. However, this could open up a very interesting discussion.
> I think that time management, in terms of making sure that materials are available for you, accounting for extra times on exams, etc, is where this topic differs for blind students.
> 
> On 5/11/19, 18:28, "NABS-L on behalf of Tina Hansen via NABS-L" <nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org on behalf of nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
>    My name is Tina Hansen, and while I'm not a student, I have a friend who is,
>    and I want to be aware of what's happening with students now.
> 
> 
> 
>    I have a food for thought question I'd like to put out there.
> 
> 
> 
>    I've been looking at the books and other materials on the general market
>    concerning time management and work life balance. I know this is a critical
>    concern of students, especially those juggling work, school and family.
> 
> 
> 
>    Many of the books have valuable information about how to organize your life
>    and time, whether you're a student or not. They don't discuss college, but
>    they do give valuable tips. I know that when I was last a student, I used a
>    book on time management that wasn't targeted to students, but was incredibly
>    valuable. Now that I'm no longer a student, I'm always looking for ways to
>    improve my own time management skills.
> 
> 
> 
>    As far as work life balance, I view school much like work. For students who
>    have their priorities right, school is like work. Deadlines for papers,
>    tests, and so forth are not unlike deadlines for reports in the work place.
> 
> 
> 
>    However, I've not seen a lot in the audio book arena that is specific to the
>    needs of college students. There are many texts on Learning Ally that
>    discuss how to be successful in college, and all have valuable information.
> 
> 
> 
>    The closest thing to a targeted book on BARD that I found was Organizing
>    from the Inside Out for Teens. Other than that, I've not seen a lot of books
>    out there.
> 
> 
> 
>    In the past, there was more of a gap between the visual paper planners and
>    those offered in the blind community. Most of the specialty note takers have
>    some kind of planner, but they're costly. Before the iPhone, you either
>    needed to improvise some kind of portable planner or buy the only Braille
>    planner I know of, one from the American Printing House for the Blind. Yet
>    many of the books still seem to talk about visual planners, at least, when
>    it comes to the paper type. I have gotten to use my iPhone as a planner, and
>    I'm so pleased at the many reminder and calendar apps created for it.
> 
> 
> 
>    In the past, before the age of the iPhone, I wondered if there was a need
>    for anything that would talk about time management from the perspective of a
>    blind college student. Given the recent increase in mainstream audio
>    programs, I'm wondering if there is such a need. If there is, the material
>    could simply come in the form of a single article, blog post or podcast. If
>    nothing, there could be discussions on how to use your smart phone as a
>    planner, and what apps are good for that purpose.
> 
> 
> 
>    If nothing, is there still a need for articles, blog posts or podcasts
>    discussing time management and work life balance from the perspective of a
>    blind college student? If there is the need, what would the material look
>    like? How much should be offered? If there isn't the need, what's already
>    out there? What blog posts, articles or podcasts are out there for any
>    blind/visually impaired college student? Is there the need for targeted
>    content? If so, what would it look like? Any thoughts? Thanks.
> 
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