[nfb-talk] Filling forms and stubborn receptionists

[Karen Rose]

My personal strategy has been to refuse to fill out any forms that either a receptionist will not do for me or that I cannot do for myself digitally. I know that many doctors offices do not have H IPAA compliance secure email and that is their problem. I am i'm a psychotherapist in private practice and trust me all of my forms are on an H IPAA compliant secure website and can be filled out online. If they cannot do this they do not need my business. If I can provide this for my sided patients they can certainly provide it for me. They can also email me on my own secure site. Generally Nguyen told this receptionists do fill out forms that they need. I also remind them that they will not be paid co-pays or insurance deductibles unless they are willing to send me their invoices in accessible format. Karen

Sent from my iPhone

> On Mar 1, 2017, at 7:30 PM, Aleeha Dudley <blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> Actually, due to security, some businesses will not email documents. You see this a lot with doctor’s offices and other such places where stubborn receptionists are common. 
> As for the babysitters comment, I was not implying that I need, or that anyone needs, someone like that. However, a reader is, and will be until the end of print, a necessary tool in the toolkit for any blind person. It doesn’t matter how digital our lives get, there will still be things we cannot access, people who won’t give us information, and other such issues. And, while we can try to make change, we must have a strategy to deal with the problem until we can solve it in other ways. 
> Aleeha 
>> On Mar 1, 2017, at 9:20 PM, Karen Rose <rosekm at earthlink.net> wrote:
>> 
>> Yes but not all of us have cited babysitters who we can simply asked to do things for us. I often tell such receptionist that we need actually to enter the 21st-century and ask them to please email me those forms. Since the forms originated on the computer there is no reason that they cannot be sent to me digitally. Karen
>> 
>> Sent from my iPhone
>> 
>>> On Mar 1, 2017, at 7:15 PM, Aleeha Dudley via nfb-talk <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> 
>>> Hello, 
>>> Unfortunately, in most situations, you don’t have a lot of recourse if someone is just being stubborn about it. You could point out that progress would be significantly slowed by their reluctance to help, but that may not work. The best thing to do is to politely ask and, if they say no, take the form with you and ask someone you know to help you fill it out. 
>>> 
>>>> On Mar 1, 2017, at 8:47 PM, Tony Malykh via nfb-talk <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> 
>>>> Hi all,
>>>> 
>>>> I am relatively new to the world of visual impairment and I'm still
>>>> trying to learn how to do things without my eyesight. So I am asking
>>>> for your advice: what would you do if you are asked to fill out a form
>>>> and they are not willing to help you?
>>>> 
>>>> Let's not talk about sighted assistants here; I have asked about
>>>> assistants in another thread and that's a separate topic. Here I'm
>>>> wondering about your strategy when a sighted assistant is not
>>>> available or somehow is not an option.
>>>> 
>>>> People in general are helpful. In my experience in about 80% of the
>>>> cases people are willing to help. But here I am talking about the
>>>> remaining 20% of the cases. For example, if you come in to see a
>>>> doctor and the receptionist tells you
>>>> "Um, you have to fill out forms X,Y and Z. And yeah, No,  I cannot
>>>> help you, I'm too busy. And the nurses cannot help you either. And you
>>>> should've thought about that and asked a friend or someone else to
>>>> fill out the forms."
>>>> 
>>>> Another example from my own experience is dealing with large insurance
>>>> company. I tried to apply for insurance and they mailed me an extra
>>>> form to fill out. I have spent the following 2 months calling
>>>> different departments of that insurance company and none of them being
>>>> willing to help me. And the large companies have one extra trick to
>>>> waste your time: they tell you something like:
>>>> "Oh, we don't help people with their forms, but call number X, they
>>>> will help you."
>>>> ANd guess what happens when you call number X? They tell you to call
>>>> number Y. And so on ad infinitum.
>>>> 
>>>> So what is the best way of dealing with the stubborn receptionists and
>>>> stubborn clerks I large companies? What's the best strategy to push
>>>> them to stop playing cards on their computer for 5 minutes and help
>>>> you to fill
>> 
>