[stylist] More on this subject of working in blindness field
Donna Hill
penatwork at epix.net
Tue Feb 19 19:55:21 UTC 2013
Julie,
My guess is that you would find opportunities to grow. I think they're
always there for everyone. It's up to us to take advantage of them.
Donna
-----Original Message-----
From: stylist [mailto:stylist-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Julie J.
Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 2:37 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] More on this subject of working in blindness field
Linda,
It sounds worse than it was. Yes, everything I recounted is entirely
accurate and true. I didn't make any of it up or exaggerate it.
However it was a long while ago. I rarely think about it now. I have seen
both college professors in the years since. We laugh about it now,
realizing how everyone had made a much bigger deal out of things than was
necessary. that's part of the process though. You live and you learn. He
learned something about blindness and I learned a lot about myself. I was
very mad then, but now I feel mostly gratitude for the experience. I look
back on those times with fondness. What doesn't kill us makes us stronger.
I often wonder what sort of person I would be if I was never presented with
opportunities to grow.
Julie
On 2/19/2013 11:44 AM, Lynda Lambert wrote:
> My gosh, the horror stories here when it comes to being allowed into
> college classes! Where I taught, our philosophy was that we were there
> to "serve" our students - and that meant figuring out what they need
> and getting them where they wanted to go with their academics and even
> outside of classes. It was no unusual for me to be speaking with
> troubled students at 3 am sometimes.
>
> I never checked on any student's physical abilities when they signed
> up for my classes. I took them all over Europe, Puerto Rico, Arizona,
> and on the campus in my courses - yes, there were problems and
> sometimes big ones. But, we always worked through them and things
> turned out very good.
>
> I had many handicapped students over the years, and it is the
> profesors J O B to work with the student to find out how to best serve
> them. Most all of them graduated and many went on to higher education
> after their undergrad. work was completed. At our college, the student
> was our highest priority. We were educating them to be "servant
> leaders" themselves.
>
>
> Lynda
>
>
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Julie J." <julielj at neb.rr.com>
> To: "Writer's Division Mailing List" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 11:45 AM
> Subject: Re: [stylist] More on this subject of working in blindness
> field
>
>
>> Linda,
>>
>> You are awesome! We need more college professors like you!
>>
>> I had a college instructor for Biology and Canoeing who did not want
>> me in his classes no way no how. Before I could take the Biology
>> class I had to attend this meeting with the school administration,
>> the instructor and my rehab counselor. It was awful. The school
>> listed all the ways it was going to be a problem. I and my rehab
>> counselor tried to explain some techniques that I could use to make
>> it work. Finally I had to put my foot down. I told them I was
>> taking Biology so we could spend our time productively or not that
>> was their choice, but taking the class was not up for debate. There
>> was a moment of silence while they absorbed that. Of course I did
>> take the class and got an A.
>>
>> then came the PE class I wanted to take which was a weekend canoeing
>> trip, with the same instructor. We didn't have to have the big
>> meeting this time, but I did find myself in his classroom having a
>> heated discussion about the fact that I was really taking this class.
>> the instructor told me everything that could possibly go wrong and a
>> detailed list of every canoeing accident that had ever occurred in
>> the past 20 years, complete with the blood and guts Gorey details. I
>> think my rehab counselor did some behind the scenes letter writing
>> and "discussions" with the school administration. the next time I
>> spoke with the instructor he had an entirely different attitude.
>>
>> The next year I took a backpacking class with a different instructor.
>> I'm not sure if he was afraid of the consequences of telling me no or
>> if he was genuinely okay with me, but we didn't have any meetings or
>> any retelling of helicopter rescues of mamed hikers.
>>
>> I think though that those experiences of denial in the early years
>> of my blindness taught me a lot. I learned to control my temper, to
>> channel my anger into productivity, to never take no for an answer,
>> to get support when I needed it and to believe in myself even when
>> others didn't.
>>
>> Julie
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> On 2/19/2013 9:59 AM, Lynda Lambert wrote:
>>> Bridget,
>>> This is so unprofessional for a professor to tell a student that
>>> they cannot take a class they are teaching. Instead, she needed to
>>> sit down and find out how she could HELP YOU to realize your
>>> potential in her class. I had a blind student take my Drawing and
>>> Writing in Salzburg Class one summer - it was my job, in my view, to
>>> find out what we needed to do to help her get through the course. In
>>> fact, our whole class helped her do it. They took turns working with
>>> her in the classroom and out on our daily excursions - and I had
>>> never asked them to do this. We all worked together for her. We had
>>> a number of problems that made us realize her difficulties, when she
>>> was denied entrance into some major places we visited - we all
>>> waited it out as I kept dealing with the powers there - and it took
>>> over an hour and many people coming to talk with me, before we all
>>> gained entrance into the Doge's Palace in Venice. They were
>>> determined a guide dog was NOT going in, and we were determined that
>>> our student and the guide dog WAS going in - and we finally did. But
>>> they put a patrol on to follow me and the student - it was very
>>> trying - we were looked at like we were going to destroy their palace.
>>>
>>> You are such a good role model, Bridget, that reflects what
>>> determination and patience can do for you. You took it all in
>>> stride, and you made it through - despite the professor who was not
>>> very helpful. Honestly, she was frightened of you and she did not
>>> know how to get out of it, but she tried anyway. I can imagine the
>>> groaning she was doing to her colleagues, too.
>>>
>>> I had another student who had a debilitating disease - she had a
>>> helper dog, was in an electric wheelchair, was on oxygen, and had to
>>> have a nurse standing by at all times. I moved our entire class to
>>> another building so we could have her in our class - and I had her
>>> in more than one class. She is a brilliant young woman, and she
>>> never missed a beat in getting anything done. She could have had a
>>> dozen good excuses as to why she could not do my classes, but she
>>> never neglected anything. Even with her difficulties breathing, she
>>> delivered her own papers orally - I would never have expected her to
>>> do this, but she did it. It was one of the highlights of my course,
>>> to have her there. The other students loved her. Courageous peole do
>>> not whine about their circumstances or make excuses - they meet the
>>> challenges, I have found. You are one of those people.
>>> Lynda
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
>>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Bridgit Pollpeter"
>>> <bpollpeter at hotmail.com>
>>> To: <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>>> Sent: Tuesday, February 19, 2013 9:34 AM
>>> Subject: [stylist] More on this subject of working in blindness
>>> field
>>>
>>>
>>>> Back at university, for an elective, I wanted to take a stage
>>>> make-up class. The instructor had been my Intro to Theatre prof,
>>>> and as a final project, we had to write a scene, then the class
>>>> voted on which scenes to produce. Small groups were put together
>>>> and assigned a scene. I really wanted to direct my scene, which was
>>>> one of the scenes chosen. I had to convince her that I could direct
>>>> even though I can't see.
>>>> She was
>>>> so sure my *visual impairment* would cause too many problems to
>>>> effectively direct anything. I gave her detailed ideas I already
>>>> had formulated. She let me direct but I was the only director
>>>> assigned an assistant director. I spoke with my assistant
>>>> explaining the situation, and all I might need from her was to make
>>>> sure my actors were in deed following directions when it came to
>>>> physical movement and otherwise I was good. I knew how I wanted the
>>>> set, what music to use, how the characters should look, and
>>>> considering the scene was one I wrote, I knew how I wanted it
>>>> performed. My scene was one of the favorites by the class.
>>>>
>>>> So anyway, when I decided to sign up for her stage make-up class,
>>>> she found out I had registered and emailed me stating we needed to
>>>> talk. I knew she wouldn't want me in the class, and during our
>>>> meeting, she proceeded to tell me how difficult the class would be
>>>> and why I couldn't be able to handle. The sighted lady who had
>>>> never been blind was telling me why I couldn't do it. I calmly
>>>> explained how I could and that I already was pretty good with
>>>> make-up. She told me that she would have to judge my work the same
>>>> as others, and I said I wouldn't expect anything less. She said I
>>>> would have no perspective, to which I added that having had sight
>>>> before, it gave me a little advantage to understand things such as
>>>> creating wrinkles or bruises. I even networked with blind actors
>>>> just to get more ideas on how to do things nonvisually. The prof
>>>> still wanted me to drop the course.
>>>>
>>>> I took it and was grudgingly given an A, smirk.
>>>>
>>>> Bridgit
>>>> Message: 14
>>>> Date: Mon, 18 Feb 2013 21:47:21 -0500
>>>> From: "Donna Hill" <penatwork at epix.net>
>>>> To: "'Writer's Division Mailing List'" <stylist at nfbnet.org>
>>>> Subject: Re: [stylist] more on this subject of Working in blindness
>>>> field
>>>> Message-ID: <53130C8156D84A26B96DD5692BF79D0C at OwnerHP>
>>>> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"
>>>>
>>>> Lynda,
>>>> Yes, there are many marginalized kids and adults in this world, and
>>>> with the recession more than before. It is enfuriating when you
>>>> think of the "privileged" and how much they take for granted and
>>>> how they have insullation against their own short-comings and bad
>>>> decisions. Good for your daughter trying to help them.
>>>>
>>>> By the time I got to junior high, they were asking kids to choose
>>>> either college prep or commercial as a course of study to pursue
>>>> starting in the eighth grade. I chose college prep, but I had an
>>>> encounter with a fellow 7th grader that really riled me up. She was
>>>> the daughter of a Lafayette College professor. She came to school
>>>> on the morning we were to make our decisions final and sought me
>>>> out. She explained, in what I thought was a rather haughty manner,
>>>> that her father was a professor and that she discussed my situation
>>>> with him at dinner the night before. She knew I wanted to take
>>>> college prep. She said that the entire family had agreed that it
>>>> would be a mistake for me to consider going to college; there
>>>> simply was no way I could do the work. I wish I had punched her,
>>>> but alas, I didn't.
>>>> Donna
>>>>
>>>>
>>>> _______________________________________________
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>>>>
>>>>
>>>
>>>
>>>
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>>
>>
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>
>
>
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