[nfb-talk] Filling forms and stubborn receptionists

Thu Mar 2 16:16:45 UTC 2017

Get in the habit of asking ahead of time, when going to a new office, to ask, will there be any forms to fill out.  If so, tell them that you will need assistance.
Come in a bit earley.

Terry Powers

-----Original Message-----
From: Aleeha Dudley via nfb-talk [mailto:nfb-talk at nfbnet.org] 
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2017 10:16 PM
To: NFB Talk Mailing List <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Aleeha Dudley <blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com>
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Filling forms and stubborn receptionists

Hello,
Unfortunately, in most situations, you don’t have a lot of recourse if someone is just being stubborn about it. You could point out that progress would be significantly slowed by their reluctance to help, but that may not work. The best thing to do is to politely ask and, if they say no, take the form with you and ask someone you know to help you fill it out. 

> On Mar 1, 2017, at 8:47 PM, Tony Malykh via nfb-talk <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I am relatively new to the world of visual impairment and I'm still 
> trying to learn how to do things without my eyesight. So I am asking 
> for your advice: what would you do if you are asked to fill out a form 
> and they are not willing to help you?
> 
> Let's not talk about sighted assistants here; I have asked about 
> assistants in another thread and that's a separate topic. Here I'm 
> wondering about your strategy when a sighted assistant is not 
> available or somehow is not an option.
> 
> People in general are helpful. In my experience in about 80% of the 
> cases people are willing to help. But here I am talking about the 
> remaining 20% of the cases. For example, if you come in to see a 
> doctor and the receptionist tells you "Um, you have to fill out forms 
> X,Y and Z. And yeah, No,  I cannot help you, I'm too busy. And the 
> nurses cannot help you either. And you should've thought about that 
> and asked a friend or someone else to fill out the forms."
> 
> Another example from my own experience is dealing with large insurance 
> company. I tried to apply for insurance and they mailed me an extra 
> form to fill out. I have spent the following 2 months calling 
> different departments of that insurance company and none of them being 
> willing to help me. And the large companies have one extra trick to 
> waste your time: they tell you something like:
> "Oh, we don't help people with their forms, but call number X, they 
> will help you."
> ANd guess what happens when you call number X? They tell you to call 
> number Y. And so on ad infinitum.
> 
> So what is the best way of dealing with the stubborn receptionists and 
> stubborn clerks I large companies? What's the best strategy to push 
> them to stop playing cards on their computer for 5 minutes and help 
> you to fill out the form?
> 
> Thanks
> Tony
> 
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