[nobe-l] need advice
Sarah Clark via nobe-l
nobe-l at nfbnet.org
Sat May 24 19:43:25 UTC 2014
My husband once worked with someone who had an interesting approach to the
issue of not receiving materials in an accessible form at meetings. This man
was a high level programmer with IBM. When a meeting would start and
materials were handed out and were not provided to him in a form that he
could read, he would simply stand up and say "its clear I am not needed
here" and excuse himself and walk out. Its something I would be very tempted
to do.
Sarah
----- Original Message -----
From: "via nobe-l" <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
To: <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>; <nobe-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Saturday, May 24, 2014 12:04 PM
Subject: Re: [nobe-l] need advice
> Ashley,
> They had two options.....
> 1) They could provide me the materials and presentation ahead of time via
> email so that I could print them off and make them in accessible format
> (large print)
> OR
> 2) They could provide me the materials and presentation in large print
> format that day.
> They did neither.
> Interestingly enough, I had colleagues that were sitting next to me that
> were sharing things with me (since I could see it).....and we ended up
> getting called out for talking, as if we are 5 years old. At that point,
> I
> wanted to really tell them what I thought....but I refrained.
>
> Ashley, it makes a world of difference as to who the administration is.
> My experiences have definitely shown me this.
>
> Good luck with future endeavors in education. It is very doable with the
> right support.
>
> Nicole
>
>
>
>
> In a message dated 5/24/2014 11:02:03 A.M. Eastern Daylight Time,
> bookwormahb at earthlink.net writes:
>
> Nicole,
> sounds tough.
> I'd file a complaint outside the school. If there is a helpful nfb rep in
> your state, you might have them come to the meetings.
>
> Which accomodation did you need in the training that was not provided?
>
> I'm glad you made it over 10 years. I am considering special ed either
> teaching blind kids or learning disabled ones so am on this list.
>
> Its interesting to see one administration really makes a difference in
> the
> treatment we get.
> I'd love to see the day when everyone in schools respects staff
> reguardless
> of their abilities.
> Ashley
> -----Original Message-----
> From: via nobe-l
> Sent: Friday, May 23, 2014 10:59 PM
> To: nobe-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nobe-l] need advice
>
>
> Hi,
> I am not one to put messages on the list very often and when I do, it
> is
> typically responding to someone else’s message.
> I am looking for some advice from others though…to get an idea of what
> others might do in my situation. I apologize for the length.
> Just some quick background information first. I am legally blind. I
> am
> finishing my 12th year of teaching in an inner city public school system
> as a special education teacher. I have taught in the same school
> district
> for my entire career. They hired me knowing that I was legally blind
> and
> might need a couple reasonable accommodations. For 10 years or so, the
> district’s administration was very helpful and very willing to provide
> any
> reasonable accommodations to me I requested. I certainly wasn’t pushy
> and
> only
> asked for things that were essential. They were always more than
> willing
> to comply with my requests and never questioned anything. Even during
> those 10 years, I had several different principals, 2 different Special
> Education directors, and a couple different Superintendents that I
> worked
> under.
> For the most part, with the exception of one principal that caused
> problems for everyone, I had no issues with any administration and any
> requests I
> made. The one issue I did have with the principal, the Superintendent
> at
> the time quickly corrected the issue.
> In the last couple years, we have acquired a new Superintendent, a new
> Special Education director, and new principals. The response I have
> received from the current administration has been very different.
> At the beginning of December of last year, I made a request for a
> reasonable accommodation to my principals. They ignored my request. I
> again asked
> a couple more times, getting more specific and more direct each time…
> .while still being professional and respectful. I was still ignored.
> Then at
> the beginning of January, I contacted the Superintendent in an attempt
> to
> resolve the issue, which had worked the one other time I had had issues
> with
> a principal. The Superintendent also ignored my attempt to contact
> him
> and never responded. After discussing it with our union’s attorney (who
> also happens to practice disability law), it was decided that I would
> file
> an
> internal ADA complaint within the district. I filed the complaint and
> chose to have our union’s attorney act as my representation. The
> district
> contacted their attorney who then contacted my attorney. After some
> discussion and despite my anger, I agreed to mediate the issue without
> the
> district
> having to go through the investigation process first. Although I was
> angry because I felt that the district’s actions were totally out of
> line
>
> and
> unnecessary, I was not going into this with an attitude of “I’m out to
> get
> them”. I just wanted to continue to be treated in the same manner I
> had
> been for 10 years and be provided reasonable accommodations when I
> requested them, nothing more. We held a meeting where it was myself,
> my
>
> attorney,
> the district’s attorney, and administration. We came to a written and
> signed agreement between the district and myself as to the reasonable
> accommodations that I needed and the district was willing to provide.
> I
> thought
> with the signed agreement and my dismissal of the complaint, that we’d
> all
> be able to move on and I’d get what I needed. The agreement was
> supposed
> to be distributed to all administrators that I work with or under so
> that
> they were aware of the agreement and its contents. About 2 weeks later,
> I
> was speaking to one of the administrators and I mentioned the
> agreement….and
> they seemed to be unaware of the agreement or its contents. This
> concerned
> me. I asked a couple other administrators and received the same
> response.
> So I called my attorney and told her my concerns. I said “How can I
> expect these people to follow an agreement that they don’t even seem to
> be
> aware of? I mean, that doesn’t seem very fair to them.” She then
> contacted
> the district’s attorney and we ended up on a three-way conference call.
> I
> explained my concerns. She did have documentation that all the
> administration had been informed of it but stated that she would make
> contact again
> with the Superintendent’s office and tell them that they needed to check
> again with their administrators to ensure they were well aware of the
> agreement
> and expectations. Again, I wasn’t out to “get them”…I was simply just
> trying to prevent another issue. This was like 2 months ago.
> So, now comes today. I was at a district level professional development
> meeting in which I was to be provided a reasonable accommodation that
> would
> allow me gain the information I needed and fully participate in the
> professional development. Mind you, this professional development is
> information
> and training on our new state level teacher evaluation system….which in
> turn, directly correlates to my evaluation and ultimately, my job.
> So,
> yes,
> it is extremely important stuff. The accommodation I was to be provided
> today was on the signed agreement we made months ago. The two
> administrators who ran the professional development were both people who
> were provided
> the information….one of which was ironically, the Special Education
> director. Despite the agreement, I was not provided the accommodation.
> I had to
> go through the training without it. Needless to say, I am angry and
> frustrated. I had 10 great years with no issues. I’ve tried very
> hard
> to
> work with the current administration and have tried to be understanding
> and
> forgiving. I’ve given them chances to make things right and do the
> right
> thing. They just don’t seem to care!!!
> So, my question is……..what avenue would you do next? Would you try and
> mediate yet again, even though they are obviously refusing to follow the
> agreement that is already made? Would you file a complaint outside the
> district? What direction would you take from here? What suggestions
> do
> you
> have?
> Any thoughts are appreciated!
> Thanks in advance,
> Nicole
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