[Nfb-science] qualifying exam accommodations

Tue Oct 5 17:14:08 UTC 2010

Hi Stephanie,
I majored in human biology in college and got my masters in genetic
counseling. I am currently working as a prenatal genetic counselor in
southern California. I did not take qualifying exams, as my program had a
thesis requirement for my masters. Feel free to get in touch with me
privately if you want to ask me anything about my experiences. I am also
totally blind.

Ronit

-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org]
On Behalf Of Stephanie Hirst
Sent: Tuesday, October 05, 2010 10:10 AM
To: NFB Science and Engineering Division List
Subject: Re: [Nfb-science] qualifying exam accommodations

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 ...
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