[nabs-l] Back to school

[Justin Young]

Hi Arielle and all!

I begin my second year of grad school next week.  As to the questions
proposed, once I know who the names of the professors I send them an
email explaining I'm a blind student and will be in their course that
semester.  This is when the discussion of accommadations occurs at
first and then a more in depth conversation in person results from it
where I give the professor my official accommodation letter and we
talk about how I can be successful in their course.  However; in
undergraduate courses I have experienced the professor a tad resistant
to accepting my accommadations especially to separate location and
extra time on tests.  I had to tell this professor more than once
these accommadations were necessary for me to succeed in their course.
It got so bad I had to have the Director for the Office of Services
for Students with Disabilities get involved and advocate on my behalf
because the professor wasn't properly understanding the situation.
The funniest part was on the first day of class the adjunct professor
was so unsure how to teach me she walked me over to the full professor
of German (Elementary German 102 was the course) who I was already on
great terms with the full professor who was for lack of a better
phrase the head of the German language program at the school.  He said
to the adjunct professor "let's not reinvent the wheel on this" which
is what the adjunct professor tried to do.  The end of that story was
I passed the course, but it was a very difficult professor.

Unfortunately students with disabilities at times will face the
unwilling professor to accommodate their needs which is when if
necessary a dialogue with the professor, the student and the Director
of Services for Students with Disabilities sit down to ensure the
accommadations are met.

Hope this helps in your questions and good luck to others who are
starting the semester soon!

Justin

On 8/19/14, Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi all,
> I thought I'd start up a less controversial discussion.
>
> I'm curious how many of you are starting school this week? How is it
> going with meeting your professors?
> Do you notify professors ahead of time about your blindness or just
> come to class and meet them on the first day?
> Have you had to do a lot of advocating about accommodations or are
> things moving pretty smoothly?
>
> Arielle
>
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