[nfb-talk] Filling forms and stubborn receptionists

[kaye zimpher]

I haven't used a reader in years. I don't think I've had one since college. 
I let the offices I visit know what my needs are, and if necessary, but very 
rarely, what the laws are. I use KNFB and other products to read mail and 
other print, and I use the internet and my phone for everything else. I 
can't think of a time when I have needed an actual reader in the past 20 
years.
I've had friends read stuff for me when I was lazy and they were around, but 
I've been on my own for a lot of years and been in situations where help was 
not always available, so I had to learn to do things in other ways.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Aleeha Dudley via nfb-talk" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
To: "Karen Rose" <rosekm at earthlink.net>
Cc: "Aleeha Dudley" <blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com>; "NFB Talk Mailing List" 
<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, March 01, 2017 10:30 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] Filling forms and stubborn receptionists


> 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
>>
>
>
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