[Nfb-science] qualifying exam accommodations

[Stephanie Hirst]

Sorry for the repeated emails, not sure what happened there.  Out of
curiosity, are there any chemists or biologists on this list?  The only
chemist I know of is dr supalo...

On Oct 5, 2010 11:51 AM, "Stephanie Hirst" <sjhhirst at gmail.com> wrote:

Thank you all for the insightful comments.  This listserv has been
very helpful to me, and I love how it's so progressive and
encouraging.  It's nice to be finally be in contact with such
resourceful people who can understand being visual impaired.

I do admit that I'm only 25 and therefore have a lot of things to
learn in this life.  I have never, at least form my own perspective,
tried to use my visual impairment as an excuse to make things easier
for me or to get people to feel sorry for me.  In fact, it rarely
comes up in conversation, and people with whom I interact even admit
that they forget I'm VI in the first place.  One could even argue that
this is a bad thing or a good thing, but really, I've just gotten so
accustomed to adapting myself to the world around me instead of vice
versa.  I am not blaming my failure on the exam on the idea that it
was unfair.  I do think that I was at a slight disadvantage that may
have played a role, but there certainly were other factors that had
nothing to do with my vision leading to the resulting failure.

I work very hard, even to the point of the sacrifice of my well-being.
 If I did not work hard, I wouldn't have been first in my class in
high school, or graduated with honors in chemistry in college, or been
accepted to one of the best structural biology programs in the
country.   I recently got a manuscript accepted as a second-year
graduate student.  This is an accomplishment for anyone, even someone
without a disability.

The truth is, though, that being albino does play a huge role in my
life.  It is part of who I am, and it affects my day-to-day living and
functioning in a sighted world.  For example, I actually accommodate
myself to other people normally by making powerpoint presentations and
posters, even though these things take me much longer to prepare than
someone with good vision.  I cannot see my own presentations very
well, but I do them for the audience's sake.

The trick here is to accept that the visual impairment does cause a
person to be at a disadvantage in at least a lot of cases, but to not
let it become an excuse to get what you want.  I strive to not make
excuses for myself and to be considered equal to everyone else.
Still, sometimes people need assistance and accommodations to make
their goals achievable.  Structural biology is a field of science that
is centered around being able to visualize things.  I do have enough
vision to do this, but it's difficult even for a completely sighted
person.   I do not make blindness a topic of conversation, but I'm
only now really acknowledging that it actually does affect how I do
things.  It is difficult to understand why I am slower at doing some
things than my sighted peers until I realize that it is because they
can see better.  Then, I am not feeling inferior, slower, or dumber.
I just understand that I struggle with some things more than others,
and that this is fine.  It's life.  They do not look down upon me or
pity me, and I do not pity myself.

everyone has a different perspective, and this is my own.  It's
starting to work for me, too =)

~ Stephanie


On Mon, Oct 4, 2010 at 11:18 PM, David Hertweck
<david.hertweck at sbcglobal.net> wrote:
> I am blind ...