[Nfbmo] {Disarmed} Reposting a Facebook post that my wife made.

Wed Mar 8 20:53:38 UTC 2017

Hi Gary,

Yes the instructor knows that I am blind.  I have talked with her
several times throughout the semester.  For this particular assignment
 I was not aware that she specifically wanted it to becompleted in
power point.  I take partial responsibility in my not knowing.   While
it says no where in the instructions for completing the assignment
which format it was to be done in, she did provide an example for us
to look at online.  I did not pay attention to the file extention and
therefore did not realize I was looking at a power point example.  The
assignment was to create a fact sheet about an assigned medical
condition and present your information to the class.  I wrote this in
a word document similar to how you would get a fact sheet from your
doctor about a medical condition.  I was ready to present my
information.  However, when it came time to present I realized that
everyone else was using power point to present their information to
the class. (only half of the class presented that day)  I talked to
the instructor that day after class and it came to that she really
wanted me to use power point and include images or photos.  I told her
I would try, but that I had not done this before with a screen reader
and did not know how it would work.  At that time I did not know if I
could use power point with JAWS.  I have since learned (hoping that I
have learned correctly) that I can use JAWS to enter text into the
power point slides, but that to insert images I need the assistance of
someone with sight.  To date I have not learned my way around power
point yet.  My daughter helped me to put my information into power
point slides and I am ready to present in class tomorrow.  Randy and I
have a different perspective on this situation, he believes that a
blind person should not be expected to do visual presentations and
that I should not be required to do this for an assignment and that
the word document I have created should be good enough.  I feel that
in a perfect world that would be great, but that is just not how life
works.  I feel that being a blind person in a sighted world I have to
adjust and accommodate to fit in even if that means at time I have to
ask for assistance to complete things.

Jenny

On 3/7/17, Gary Wunder via Nfbmo <nfbmo at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Yes, the teacher evidences a keen unawareness when it comes to the needs of
> special education students. Was this shown on the syllabus? Is the
> professor
> aware that Jenny is blind?
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Nfbmo [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Randy Carmack
> via
> Nfbmo
> Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2017 6:09 PM
> To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
> Cc: Randy Carmack
> Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] {Disarmed} Reposting a Facebook post that my wife
> made.
>
> Gary,
>
> Jenny was given an assignment to do.  I am not sure how it happened but
> Jenny was never told by the professor or in any of the instructions that
> she
> wanted it done in a power point, there was supposedly some visual example
> that the class was supposed to refer to.  So when the assignment was due
> everyone presented their project in power point except Jenny who had
> completed the assignment and presented it in a word document.
> Apparently the word document was not good enough for this instructor and
> she
> had Jenny redo the project and place it in a power point document and
> include pictures.  This is a masters level Special Education class not a
> technology or a M.S. Office class.
>
> Please correct me if I am wrong but this seemed completely unreasonable to
> me, especially seeing that this professor is tasked with teaching Special
> Education teachers.
>
> Thanks for your response,
> Randy Carmack
>
> On Tue, Mar 7, 2017 at 4:14 PM, Gary Wunder via Nfbmo <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
> wrote:
>
>> I come late to this discussion, so there may be comments that I have
>> missed along the way. I think there is some truth in the fact that a
>> picture is worth a thousand words. There are things that can be
>> understood visually and tactiley that take forever to explain. Imagine
>> trying to explain a seesaw and then feeling one. Would the explanation
>> of a jungle gym ever excite the kind of memories and experiences that
>> being on one would? Graphs have a wonderful way of making things clear
>> that numbers simply obscure. So, if you can't see a thing, can we
>> enlarge it so you can, or can we put it under your fingers so that you
>> can take advantage of the sense that is most equivalent to sight?
>> These are the things I worked to make happen when I was in college,
>> but the problem is making them happen in real time. I had to ask
>> somebody to help me after the class by using a raised line drawing
>> board to convey what was on the chalkboard. If there were words in the
>> presentation that I knew how to pronounce but not how to spell, I had to
> ask someone.
>>
>> Now I may or may not be hitting on the points that are bothering you.
>> When you talk about learning visually, you may be talking about the
>> inaccessibility of websites or the places to which they send you. I
>> remember that when Debbie was in class we had websites that she could
>> navigate with little difficulty, but when she pressed a button that
>> was to start a video important to her class work, it might well open a
>> player that had no identifiable buttons to JAWS for Windows. This was
>> like going 90 miles an hour in hitting a brick wall. It was like being
>> handed an ice cream cone and then being told you couldn't eat it.
>>
>> I am guessing that there are solutions to the problems you're facing,
>> but to really help, I need to know more. Please share on the list or
>> send me a private email. Also remember that there is a National
>> Association of Blind Students list and a Missouri Association of Blind
>> Students list. Both can be joined by going to Nfbnet.org. I caution
>> that the national list has quite a bit of traffic, so part of being
>> able to use it effectively is asking your questions and looking at
>> those items that relate to what you have asked or to those items that
>> you can respond to in helping someone else.
>>
>> Warmly,
>>
>> Gary
>>
>>
>>
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