[nfb-db] Careers

[Marsha Drenth]

Hi Jennifer,
yes I was recently hired, just a little over a month after graduation.
This might be different because I attended a big university. 
Yes, as my reasonable accomendations, I used a tactual interpretor, two of them, for each class. Yes, my university paid for an SSP for my internship. Not while on campus as my interpretors took over that role. So for example, while one interpretor facilitated communication, the other was guiding and providing environmental information. And then they would switch. SSp, Support Service Providers are not interpretors and vice versa. 
Because my hands were busy the whole time listening to the lecture of the class discuss, I could not myself take notes. so my university paid for CART, which then recorded a full text transcripte of the class, and this became my notes. Before I started using tactual sign language, I used CART exclusively, the CART person put NVDA on her computer, used her normal software to take the transcript, which then would export to a text file and be displayed on my braille display, and I would read. the hard part of this is that you have to be a super braille reader, and although this helped fill in the gaps of my hearing, when my hearing became less and less, this no longer worked to fill in. 
Professors would also send me any and all Power point presentations, notes in which were written up n the board, and sometimes I would get notes from other students. 
If I needed to view a film, if there was a transcript, I would use that, along with an SSP describing the film. 
It took a village to get me through school, but it worked. 
I attended temple University in Philadelphia, PA. For my senior year of my undergrad degree, I carried 17 credit hours, yes I was out of my mind. With a 2 or 3 days a week internship. 
My point to this is not to say that I am a super blind person, or super deafblind person, but to say that it is possible. I wanted that degree, I am the first in my family to get her degree from University. Its hard, a juggling act, your professors are going to need to be accomendating, the college will need to provide you above and beyond, but you can do it. 
Hope that helps, 

Marsha drenth  
email: marsha.drenth at gmail.com  
Sent with my IPhone  
Please note that this email communication has been sent using my iPhone. As such, I may have used dictation and had made attempts to mitigate errors. Please do not be hesitant to ask for clarification as necessary. 

> On Jun 17, 2015, at 12:28 AM, Jennifer Woods <jenn.purplepuppy2 at icloud.com> wrote:
> 
> Hi Marsha,
> 
> Thanks that is really encouraging for me to hear.  Have you been able to find a job yet?
> Does your employer provide an SSP and Interpreter for you?
> Where did you go to school? Did the school provide an interpreter and SSP? How did you go about taking notes? Did you have to use a student interpreter or did your college hire someone to take notes for you?
> The community College that I will attend uses students to take notes, so they are not always the best notes and I have to find someone who brings an iPad or laptop to class which is not easy to do.
> 
> Thanks for sharing your experience 
> Jennifer
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