[nabs-l] Need some help college issues

Fri Nov 22 06:54:42 UTC 2013

Bridgit,
Another thing. It must be very stressful running into all these 
unaccomodating professors.
This might delay your graduation date, but it may help you get a good grade 
in the long run.

Can you drop the art and math classes?
Its obvious they are not working with the professor refusing to grade you 
and the other professor using My Math Lab which is not accessible.
I suppose if your math professor is accomodating, you can work around the 
issue by getting alternative assignments to complete homework.

I suggest taking them another semester with  a different professor.
When I had professor issues that were not resolved, I withdrew from the 
class and took it again with another professor.
Still another option might be to get a course substitution in place of the 
art or math class.
If you cannot complete a class due to your disability, all schools I 
attended let you substitute a class for that class that was related. I mean 
if it was an english class, they might let you take another english class in 
place of it.

I  think the ds office should provide a human reader to read the tests and 
inaccessible computer material. Have you asked for that?
I agree math and jaws are not a good combo.
Bridgit you have a legal right to take your exams in an accessible format so 
this means braille or a qualified math reader.
If I were in your shoes, I'd definitely file a complaint. This excuse about 
not being confident to run the embosser is crap. They have the 
responsibility to learn to use assistive technology. I would hope there is a 
blindness technology vendor who they could  learn from. If not, they can 
always hire one or take webinars.
Carroll center for the blind has online technology training for duxbury. 
Also AFB has technology trainers who can travel out there for a fee.
If I knew the state and / or the city, I might know of some resources where 
they could get tech assistance.

They also should have a reader to read the content on that My math lab 
software if you cannot complete your work another way.
That is terrible they cannot braille your math exams. They should have 
gotten the appropriate software to braille math.
All they need is scientific Notebook to convert text to nemeth.
They probably will come up with some excuse that they cannot even provide a 
qualified reader when you request this instead of jaws. They could hire 
someone from the math department to do this. You need someone that can 
articulate all those math symbols. Which kind of math class is this?
If they do this, one way is to work something out with your professor.
Some ideas are these.

1. Get a TA to read you the exam. You can write out the problems as they 
read it to you so you can work out the problems.
This assumes you have TA's; if not, maybe another staff member or professor 
of the math department could do it.
2. Have the professor read the test on a recorder or digitally record it on 
a pc and give you a USB drive with the file. Then you can write your answers 
in braille or with a pc and jaws. If braille, you'll need to read out your 
work to him or her since they cannot read braille. You could even take the 
exam orally with the professor in their office if you and he/she are 
comfortable with this. I never was comfortable taking a test privately with 
a professor though.
3. I know the latest Braille Note has support for nemeth.
If you have this, maybe use it. Take a USB drive and read the test on your 
Braille Note.
4. Do you or your school have access to a braille display? If so, try and 
hook it up to the pc so you can read the test in braille.
I doubt this will work, as I don't think it automatically converts to 
nemeth, but may be worth a try.
5. Hire your own reader and take the exam in the professor's office.
6. Do a take home exam.

Another idea is they can outsource brailling your tests.
Have you asked about this?
I don't know if there is a braille vendor near you. But, the lighthouses 
often do brailling on short projects like this.
If they are cooperative, they can find a braille source.

I hope it works out. I just wrote a separate email about the tests as I did 
not address that before and as I read your message again, I saw this and 
felt it is a major issue.

Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Bridget Walker
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2013 12:26 AM
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Subject: [nabs-l] Need some help college issues

Hi everyone,
I have reached a point where I need all the help I can get. First it helps 
to have some background. My primary disability is blindness due to a TBI. I 
have another component to my condition which is spastic CP.
So I am now a junior, an education major, and think I have it all. At least 
that's how the semester starts.
I need to know what do I do if due to my secondary disabilities that are not 
blindness professors either refuse to accommodate me all together or focus 
on one disability and not the other?
My next question is in the area of equal access. I am all for advocating for 
yourself in this area and using whatever you have to get the job done.
One of my professors uses google sites and although I made her along with DS 
aware of the accessibility problem I am still required to use the site. I 
sent everyone the letter Sean sent the list with my explanation but they 
don't care.
Now we move on to art. I'm taking a sculpture class nice and tactile. The 
professor refuses to grade me because I'm blind and have CP. I can't see and 
can't move my hands the way other people do. She said I receive a pass fail 
for the class and am required to do everything but not for an actual letter 
grade. She told me at the start I can see powerpoints. Ok no if I read 
Braille, have a guide dog, and get migraines when I use my eyes I don't 
think I can see. DS didn't even back me up I had to bring my eye report to 
the head of the art department to prove my disability. Let's add in the part 
there is already documentation about my disability at DS.
Finally we get to math. Let me say I knew math was going to be a challenge. 
My book is I not accessible on my math lab with jaws 15. The college wanted 
me to downgrade my screen reader and my IE version so my math lab might 
work. I tested it with an older version of jaws and windows seven it is not 
compatible as far spas I know. Bigger point I should not be downgrading my 
technology for a book.
Then to have them say what is the big deal?
We have an embosser on campus. We are lucky. I have Braille as an 
accommodation but, we need someone to Braille my tests because I can't 
that's not ok and DS is not trained. DS has brailled before and did well 
they just won't do it I guess a confidence thing. So I have to take my tests 
with jaws. Jaws and math are not a good combo.
I just want to know what do people think of all of this?
I have met with as many resources on campus to reach a common ground and I 
get nowhere.
I have a year and a half left. I don't want it to be like this.
I feel like I take five steps forward and ten steps back.
Thanks
Bridget

Sent from my iPad
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