[nabs-l] A few unrelated questions

[Greg Aikens]

Hi Kaiti,
Congratulations on your studies abroad. I have travelled internationally several times, both to developed and developing countries. I think on my first couple of trips I notified the airlines ahead of time that I would need assistance, but it made no difference. No one had passed along that info and so I still had to just ask for what I needed on the plane/in the airport. I don’t bother letting them know ahead of time anymore. 

Just ask your flight attendant for assistance filling out the customs form. They usually offer to do this anyway but sometimes forget. 

As for rejecting assistance if it is too much, this is far easier to do when you speak a common language. I usually play this one by ear when I get there. I have successfully refused a wheelchair without offending and have also decided that after trying a couple of times, it was not worth my time and energy, especially in an unfamiliar country where I’m not completely fluent. I have not travelled to the Caribbean but have visited Nicaragua twice in the last year. The attitudes toward blind people in Nicaragua sound similar to what you describe in Jamaica. Don’t be afraid to challenge misconceptions just like you would do in the states. Just be kind, gracious, and persistent and know that you are traveling up an even steeper slope than what you may be used to. :)

Please feel free to contact me on or off list if you have more questions.

Best,

Gregg
gpaikens at gmail.com

> On Jan 16, 2015, at 11:46 PM, Kaiti Shelton via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi all,
> 
> I have a few unrelated questions here, but if anyone could answer any
> combination of them I would be really grateful.
> 
> 1.  International travel.  I'll be flying internationally for the
> first time in June for a study abroad trip.  I am by no means a
> frequent flyer having only flown once before to a National Convention,
> and I am a little unsure of the differences between international
> travel and domestic travel.  It was very easy going from one airport
> to the other when I went to Orlando, but I don't know what the
> procedure is for filling out customs forms.  Would I want to call
> ahead to the airline to make sure the personelle are aware that
> someone will ned to help me fill out the customs paperwork?  I am also
> a little nervous about reaching my contact person once in the airport
> in my destination.  Thankfully English is the main language and the
> patois is pretty easy for me to understand, but I also understand that
> due to religious norms the disabled are seen as people "to be taken
> care of."  Not that this is extremely different from treatment we
> receive in American airports (I was surprised when I wasn't greeted
> with a wheelchair after getting off the plane in 2013), but I guess
> I'm just a little nervous going into a third world country where
> refusing unnecessary help might be more offensive than what I'm used
> to in the states.  Has anyone flown independently to another country,
> especially Jamaica or another island in the Caribbean?  If so, would
> you be willing to share your experiences?
> 
> Second, I am interested in bluetoothing my IPhone and BrailleSense
> On-Hand together.  I now have an IPhone 6 so my IOS is up-to-date.  I
> royally screwed up when I tried to do it with an IPhone 4, so if
> anyone has resources for how to do this, that would be awesome.
> 
> 3.  Has anyone here taken human anatomy?  I'm looking to take it next
> semester, and my DS office is starting to prep for it now.  I'm
> thinking that I will want to take the lab along with the lecture even
> though it isn't required for my major, mainly because I think having
> the lab will give me a chance to touch some of the things we talk
> about in the normally very visual course.  Some of my sighted friends
> struggled in Anatomy and think they also would have benefitted from
> taking the lab with the lecture, so I do think it will be even more
> important for me.  I know many science majors have had issues with
> getting profs to allow them to participate in disections and other
> hands-on activities with sharp objects, and being a music major I have
> no experience navigating these kinds of issues.  Any advice would be
> very useful to me, as I think I'll actually start meeting with the
> professor in February to make sure that she is on-board and has some
> input with her expertise into how we can accommodate me in these
> courses.
> 
> -- 
> Kaiti
> 
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