Category: Cram Session
Hi,
Curious how many people who are completely blind go to College, and how many of them actualy graduate.
I'm totally blind except for some light perception, and I went to college and graduated last year. :)
Lots. I have a Bachelor's degree and my husband has a Masters and is also ABD on his PHD.
College is the easy part; it's getting a job afterward that's most challenging.
Plenty of people who are totally blind have graduated from college, me included. the way you've posed your question makes me think that you believe it an imposible feat, or otherwise one that's hard to attain. Why do you doubt that blind people can simply graduate like anyone else?
Agreed with Write Away. the way you phrased your question seems to suggest you doubt this can be done. I am totally blind, and went to college and graduated. Most of my totally blind friends have gone to college and graduated, several with their Master's degrees. two from law school. The very few totally blind friends of mine who have not gone to college have done so by choice, not because they thought they couldn't do it as blind people.
I'm sure it's easier now than when I went in the late 80s early 90s. Then there was no "accessible" this and "inaccessible" that.
It's not about the eyes. What will get you through college is an intellegent head atop two shoulders that won't let people push a person around easily. Also, like anything in life, there will be challenges that'll be frustrating, but the only way to succeed is to work around the challenges. If you're going to school for simply partying and sex, your stay will be short lived.
hahaha, ryan, that's not always the case. Sex and partying prevail when you're a trust fund baby, doncha know? lol
depends on the school I guess. Having to write those 50 to 150 page papers my senior year, I had no energy to go partying, even if I wanted to or had the time lol.
Did not go to college but instead went to a trade school. I definitely think it can be done though by any blind individual. Have lots of friends who have bachelors and law degrees.
I went to university for a while as a music major, but found work so left and now attend a school that is just music.
Honestly, I wish I would have gone to a trade school rather than College. Perhaps though that's just because I got a degree in something only to discover I hated working in that field. lol That'll teach me to follow the path of something I felt confident that I could do, rather than following the path that held my dreams.
Agreed! currently in college right now, but it's finding jobs afterwords that seems to trip us up, .., but then, no one is finding jobs right now, whether your blind or sighted!
I'm of the same mind as other posters. I'm a totally blind junior in college with a 3.74 cumulative GPA as of right now and I absolutely love it. I have no worries about graduating. A little nervous about applying to law school, but who wouldn't be? And of course the major challenge is finding employment after graduation, so we shall see where life takes me.
And lol Ryan, you have to just know how to balance partying with school work. A lot of freshmen don't manage that too well, blind or not, and that's their ultimate downfall. I didn't start partying too much until sophomore year when I was more comfortable academically, which was wise on my part, so now I've figured out a good balance. And partying isn't the only way to have fun in college either. Lots to do on a college campus.
Similar to what Alicia said, I know a blind person who didn't complete college, but not for their visual impairment. It was a financial issue that prevented my friend from finishing school. They ended up getting a job instead, and plan to work until they are able to return to school. This is something that obviously happens with many college students, blind or not, so sight shouldn't be a factor into whether or not a person decides to go to college.
another college-going totally blind person here. in my final year of my undergrad. It's tough but I wouldn't change it!
Partying is all some people go to college for though. Personally, due to the alcoholism problems that run in my family, I may be a bit more cautious than most, but I get what y'all are saying.
I'm totally blind with only a bit of light perception and a junior in college. I'm trying hard to convince myself that college isn't the biggest mistake I've ever made.
Why do you feel like it might have been your biggest mistake--just curious.
I think that a lot of people, and some of the posts on here illustrate this, believe that the point of college is to learn how to get a job, and to succeed in that job. College serves so many more purposes than that. It's a way to submerge yourself in the world. You're supposed to drink up all you can. That means everything from parties, to social constructs, to learning about other walks of life, beliefs and persuasions. Its not supposed to be a place where you just go to take classes teaching you how to be this or that. People try to make it into that, and they find that it fails them in that respect. Undergrad especially, there is so much more to learn at college than how to site in MLA format and when the constitution of the United States was ratified. Look deeper.
I completely agree with you Cody. That's very true.
*raises a hand* that's me. in college right now!
I am totally blind have no vision. I went to college to study Spanish, got nothing I needed in braille and had to drop out. I went to Kutztown University. I also spent a month in the country of Costa Rica and learned lots lots more Spanish there back in 2004 than I did at the college here in the United States. The costa ricans went out of their way to make things accessible so I could then put worksheets in my brailleNote and read them, print them out and so on.
I then went to the colorado center for the the blind and graduated from the independent living training program. and lions world services for the blind and graduated blind later on and got my a-plus and network-plus computer certifications. Got a job then my wife who is blind and her sighted family made me lose the job so now I've been jobless for going on three years here and gotta wait till my sighted son is out of elementary and high school before I pursue getting a job and moving out of state in 15 or so years. in the meantime I'll try to find work around here but its a quiet area so I doubt I'll find anything.
wonder why so many blind people are interested in law? even people when I was a kid said oh you should be a lawyer or musician. I'm not really into any of those things. tried spanish, failed because no braille at the college. and succeeded at lions world for the blind everything was accessible and was pretty much all hands on except the intro to binary code which I managed to make hands on anyways. now if I could get a job in tech support or teaching this new window-eyes and office stuff remotely found at www.windoweyesforoffice.com .
also I put my resume on several websites and just seem to get calls asking if I want to do telemarketing. I say no.
now that dictation technology is getting very good if I were in college these days I would just dictate my papers to my android tablet, let the tablet write what I speak out, then edit on the computer format it nice and turn it in. nobody need know I didn't type it and that I dictated everything lol.
dictation is so much faster than typing. especially with google dictation or windows speech recognition.
Sounds like you're not trying very hard to get a job if you turn them down.
I'm confused. How did your wife and her family make you lose yoru job--and why is it that you wouldn't be able to get another till after yoru son graduates high school. Seems to me like it would be more logical for you to support your son with a job while he's still underage.
Hmm, I'm not sure how long ago it was when you were there, but I know quite a few blind people who went/go to Kutztown University. They have all had good experiences. Also, KU has one of the better offices for students with disabilities so I'm not sure what went wrong for you in terms of accessibility, but maybe things have gotten better over time :)
Or maybe its that you kept wanting things in braille, and that just isn't viable anymore. I love braille as much or more than the next person, but its just not viable in a college setting anymore I'm afraid. You have to have some audio and computerized material.
telling people they can't have braille is like telling a sighted person you can go to school but you cannot have any print books and you are not allowed to use a pen or pencil to take notes. I really wish I had known how to use a slate and stylus as a notetaking device, would have really helped me out with studying spanish I think. I learn better tactually, gotta have things in braille especially foreign languages. I lost my job because my wife's family my wife is blind anyway they convinced her to divorce me and she went along with it for no good reason. just because they told her to. they tell her, she does it no questions asked. she's very very sheltered. as I have found out. Also I live in a small very rural country town. The nearest city is an hour away. If I moved out of state with my son I probably would not see him at all during the summers because then the custody agreement would be changed. it'd have to be I'd guess.
I learned how to use the slate and stylus while in colorado. but that was 3 years after going to college. also when I was at Kutztown I had to scan all my books in myself. I had to spend hours and hours scanning in the books just so I could read them. In high school I had an itinerant teacher which allowed me to have all my books on time, first day of elementary and high school just like everyone else. and in braille mostly. In college I had no access to braille material. but if I ever went back I would push for and if needed get the nfb or A-C-B involved, to get braille books. I would also get a braille embosser something I didn't get or think I would need the first time. And I would do what was needed to get books in braille even if it meant getting a single room to myself. Maybe when my son is out of school I'll go back to college when I'm around 42 or 43 years old who knows. but really is it worth it at that age? I don't think so I aught to stick with what I learned at lions world and get another job with those skills.
I'm gonna tell you this simply. You're never going to get all your books in braille. Its never ever ever going to happen. Throw a fit if you want to, call the NFB or AFB FBI or FDA or any other agency with an F in the initialism, won't make a bit of difference. Those books don't exist.
Braille books are extremely difficult to make, and making college books, which may be used once by one professor and then never used again would be economically disastrous. College textbooks are simply too rare and too numerous at the exact same time to put into physical braille. A professor who teaches the history of American television may assign William Johnson's "Silver screen", and another professor who teaches the exact same course at the college down the street might assign Jennifer Green's "A brief history of Hollywood". (both made up titles)
Both of these professors might then change the book they assign when a new, better, more effective book is produced. They may drop the book entirely. So no braille publisher is going to be able to keep up with them.
You might get lucky every once in a while, but you'll never get all of them in braille. It just isn't going to happen.
Your best bet would be a braille display, but even that is limited in many ways. Its just a hard fact of going to college. You never have things exactly as you want it to be. But then, neither do sighted people who go to college.
Still not clear on how you lost your job because of your wife's family though.
Well, with a braille display you have bookshare and the various bookstores available to you on an IDevice. that makes many books a ton more accessible in braille nowadays. But guess what? That's life. I sat there in my dorm room scanning books for hours upon hours at a time and I read them with a synthesizer--and even a braille display when I could, but I can say now that I graduated. You do what you gotta do. At such a point as you're describing, it's a question of: do you want to graduate and succeed by any means necessary, or are you going to be so hell-bent on getting things done your way at your specified time that you're going to sabotage your entire education because you cant' have everything your own way. News flash--that's adulthood for you. You have to be resourceful and willing to adapt if you want to succeed and survive.
I also still dont' understand what your wife (or now ex-wife?) divorcing you has to do with losing your job. Many people--even blind people--get divorced and they most certainly don't automatically lose or quit their jobs.
I'm a little late here. This post might be a bit longer so I wouldn't be offended if you decide to skip over it. I also went to KU and decided recently that I wanted to drop out. It was not because I wanted to just sit at home and collect SSI, that I couldn't get things in Braille because like it was mentioned above that won't be readily available, that another person encouraged me to give up on school, etc. I did it because I accepted the fact that college was not for me, and because I was there for the wrong reasons. For a while I convinced myself that I wasn't there only in terms of my future career, but I was kidding myself because that's all I thought about. I didn't care about school anymore and the majority of the topics and classes were of no interest to me, with the exception of sociology. But what the hell can you do with a sociology degree anyway? It is so general, like the psychology degrees. I have friends who graduated last year with psych degrees who still have not found a job. This past year, one of my best friends had a Batchelor's degree in psychology, and was going for a Master's degree in some sort of family counseling or something along those lines, but he suddenly decided he was tired of school like me and that he was all ready far enough in debt as it was. I did all right in school -- I had below a 2.0 my first year, and the last semester I got it up to a 2.02. It took a lot of hard ass work and effort, but I thought about it seriously for hours over the Winter break and decided I don't want to have to drag my feet through college because I won't do as well unless I have the motivation, and I won't be totally screwed out of luck if I decide to go the working route. I was surprised with how supportive most people have been about my decision. Everyone has told me, make these decisions for yourself, not because people tell you it's the best way to go. I only have one person in my family who refuses to give up encouraging me to change my mind. He has spent hours on the phone with me, and no matter what I say he finds a way around it. But my goal is not to convince him that I am right. He is not me. He does not know what is in my best interest, whether or not he thinks he knows is irrelavent. The experience I did have in college certainly was not a complete waste. I did get a lot out of it beyond the classroom as Cody mentioned. A lot of that stuff I did gain from my college experience. but the purpose of college and my intentions do not match up. I am ready to begin in the working world. In fact, I have felt more prepared getting set up for work and looking for potential jobs than I was for college in the first place. My career of being an O&M instructor is not totally lost as a result of dropping out of college. I may be able to go to Baltimore to do an apprenticeship. The gentleman I spoke to sounded interested in training me, and I am presently waiting to hear back from him. He also did not finish college and understood where I was coming from. One of the keys to success is networking. The more people you network with, and the more you put yourself out there, the more options you will have regardless of the route that you decide to take. Another key element to being successful is, whether or not you go to college, do as much research as you can. The world is always changing and coming out with new things, especially in an era where technology is booming and constantly updating. All of you reading this right now have the ability to do research and network so take advantage of it. There are people who have it way harder than we do who do not have the options we do. But the more we educate ourselves and others, the more ways we can find ways to help those who are in need and willing to work with us, if that is something you would be interested in doing. That is one of the main reasons I decided I want to teach orientation and mobility. Hope this helps some.
Maybe I am just an old crank or something, but scanning for hours?
Shit, son, I was using a Kurzweil Personal Reader from the 1980s and yeah it took many hours and I thought it was pretty out-fuckin-standing. Now of course like you I'd have rather got texts in Braille and I do think there are certain kinds of texts which do better in Braille, foreign language is one if you can get it. But for most the coursework doing it via scanner has got to be pretty awesome. With the Kurzweil Personal Reader you couldn't save your documents. I had no computer only a typewriter and a slate and stylus.
Told ya I'm being an old crank, it's all true though. Don't get me wrong, I'm not down on technology. I just bought my college daughter some equipment and her grandparents bought her a MacBook Pro. She comes over all the time to print, use our wireless which doesn't have a data cap, do laundry and pretty much anything else she needs from us we assist with. So don't take what I'm saying the wrong way: I'm all for use of technology.
But saying you dropped out because you couldn't scan books? That has got to be crazy. I think there must be more to it than that. No, I wouldn't want college kids now being stuck using a Kurzweil Personal Reader and a daisy-wheel electric typewriter from 1985. That would be stupid.
But in the spirit of being an old crank, I say, get off your fat ass and get it done, boy. whatever 'get it done' happens to mean in your case.
Thank you leo, for this modicum of common sense. As usual. lol. Couldn't have said it better myself.
Man, if I had dropped out of collegedue to not being able to get braille materials, seeing as I had other options to gain access to my textbooks, etc., my mom would have skinned me alive. lol.
And she's not a violent person. hahaha.
Yeah, maybe an exaggeration, but still. Even as recently as 2009 when I was in college, the school hired a reader for me to work with in each class whenever necessary. it was just another student who happened to be taking the same class who contracted with the disability office to get paid to help me out with reading once in a while. Is that an ideal outcome in terms of accessibility? No, of course not. but shit got done. And thats' what matters in the end.
Ryan, I think that as long as you're comfortable with yoru decision to leave college, then more power to you. College isnt' manditory and if it's a waste of your personal time and you dont' get much otu of it anyway, it's good that you have enough wherewithall to recognize that and get out. One question though. What's you're backup plan if you're not going to get into the work force as a mobility instructor? That's a tough hoop to swing through, seeing as the majority of facilities still don't believe in hiring blind mobility instructors--so what's you're plan b if it doesnt' work out?
Well, I have a plan b and c. As a matter of fact you have a lot of experience in one of them. I have been told by a lot of people that I am a great writer. When I was in high school I wrote some articles for my school's newspaper, and I also helped out at a community college with writing articles and interviewing people. I don't know what the requirements would be to be a writer for a local newspaper, but I would be willing to do that or any other job that involves writing and perhaps traveling. The other plan would be something along the lines of being a personal trainer. As you know I love to work out, and I think that would be a fun job. I have done some research about it, and there are ways I can get certified to be a personal trainer online. There are study matterials on the websites, and some quizes as well. Then I think there would be a final exam I would take to get certified. Whatever I end up doing, I want it to be something where I will be moving at least some of the time, and not just sitting at a desk. It's hard to sit still being a runner. Lol
Another option I have is playing the lottery, but thus far I am a loser. Lol
Thanks Bernadetta. And yet when raising my own daughter I always tried to be extra careful to say 'when I was your age' this or that. But in this case the sleeping crank just woke up I guess.
* I meant, extra careful to *not* say those things. WE all hated it, right, so I'm sure she could tell us where I fell short but I did try and not do that.
Well, ryan, there are a lot of steps involved when getting into journalism. But a degree is not necessarily required. You probably would fair better writing online than you would writing for a local newspaper though, because the local papers want you to be the journalist, the reporter, the photographer, the typesetter--so on and so forth. Back in teh good old days when there was enough of a budget to go around to be able to hire all these separate people to run a newspaper, blind people who wanted to write and report faired pretty well. They even got a camera crew and a personal asistant. No dream of that nowadays, though. Now you are expected to go out on yoru own, get teh story plus teh photos, draft it, format it, and send it in.
Best of luck with that sort of thing. lol. I knwo it isnt' for me at least.
But if you'd like to get into writing online, I can help you--definitely. Let me know if you need a hand. I can even direct you to a couple places where you cna make money while you hone yoru skills as a writer.
and I have an a-plus and network-plus certifications and want to do tech support possibly remote support or start my own business, maybe teach myself some programming so I can write screen reader scripts for people. College just didn't work out for me.
Sorry, while I'm in full support of people not going to college if it isn't right for them, judging by what you've told us, you didn't try at college.
Look, the sad fact of the matter is that college is bordering on a necessity these days. If you want to be competitive, you almost have to have a degree. Is it a garrantee, no, but if you want to be in the tech world, how do you think you're going to stand up against a guy or girl with a degree in computer science? You wouldn't stand a ghost of a chance.
Ryan is a little different, he wants to get the degree, and that's commendable. You want all the rewards without even putting in the work. college, much like life, is a lot of hard work, and its made even harder if you don't have vision. That's just the facts, suck it up and get over it.
Oh absolutely. You can pm me the info or let me know if you see me on here what I need to do, where I have to go, and any other advice you can give me. I know you have a lot of experience with these sorts of things. I appreciate it.
Cody's right about software. Only the real stars make real money at it, until the jobs get outsourced somewhere.
Now, Ryan, a couple things: I don't understand peoples attitudes about blind mobility instructors. My only experience with one was outstanding. I applaud your efforts and desire to not wirk at a desk. I hate it. If I could make enough money at it, I'd be a pedestrian delivery service, kind of like a bicycle delivery service, pretty popular in inner city areas with professional people and others that need something picked up and such.
I'd have to be single and living in a studio to afford to do that. But anyway, I get it where you're coming from. Not all of us can be happy being, as my marine brother calls it, office pukes. I know the blind have a lot of pressure to be that, though. Maybe someday I'll do the personal delivery service. I grew up on these streets abnd can find any address in Portland. When my costs aren't what they are now,or I've accumulated the necessary savings.
Hmmm, that's another idea... I have no idea what I could deliver as I haven't really known people who delivered stuff to customers or people on a regular basis, but that's something worth keeping in mind. Glad someone knows / can relate to the problem of sitting still and how hard it is for those of us who are active.
Ryan, here is how you would set this up.
First, your deliveries are usually smaller than UPS, they are the sorts of things that need to be run across town and are, as I said, often high-paid / professional customers. They need someone to run over to Fed Ex and pick up a package, they need someone to run their mail to the post office, or more likely, need someone to take a package from a store to their residence.
It's not all about being out and about, as incredibly attractive as that is. You need to reliably create a method to secure the package, to and from delivery location. There's quite a bit to these individualized delivery services. You're not bound by postal rules and other things, it's just you. Personal delivery services are available on Craigslist in larger cities at least.
And hell yes I do get it. Not all of us are happy as office pukes. My favorite activities when running stores were, ironically, the things most store owners hate: running to the bacnk, running to pick up supplies, etc., most of which I did on foot. Save the major food service supplies where I hired a driver. But honestly, most manager hired people to do that stuff, and I saved a ton of money by doing it myself and really enjoyed it. You're best off using a cart you can pull behind you with one hand while using your cane with the other.
But just because we lack usable vision doesn't mean we're cut out to spend most our days in the unnatural position of sitting at desks, popular mythology notwithstanding.
You won't make a ton of money doing this until you have built up a good clientele, even then you won't make a ton of money. Not enough to pay for college for kids, diapers, kiddo's cell phone that fell in the drink, automobile costs if your partner drives, etc.
And you need to be able to live in an area where you can get to a lot of neighborhoods, and especially wealthier business districts.
No, I totally get where you're coming from. We in American society place the highest value on those sitting on their ass doing their jobs, and look down on those who are mobile and costing the rest of us less in health insurance. Yo know, living a mobile lifestyle is actually healthier than your trips to the gym? Don't tell your popular kiddies / dogmatics this, but it's true. Simply moving about all day long is way healthier and mentally better for you than working it all off in the gym for an hour after work. And I actually know now: I did it for awhile. Only quit for financial / male provider reasons.
If you're in snow right now, go get a snowshovel and offer to do the neighbors' driveway. Shit I shoveled snow a lot as a kid, and there's no reason a blink can't. A snowshovel is just a blink cane with no colors and a broad tip.
I tried college back in 2007/2008, but had to drop out due to medical issues among other things, and now that I look back at that difficult time, part of me is wondering what in the hell I was thinking. I went for something to do, not really knowing what I wanted to do with my life. Honestly, I went way before I was ready. I did not have the ability to advocate for myself. so much happened, I just couldn't keep up.
Now that I know what I want to do with my life, (early childhood education), I'm focusing on getting out of the parental home first, because I am currently in an environment where I am far too easily distracted to get any sort of work done. I need my own quiet space awayfrom this house before I can really buckle down and get back to the schooling thing. I am determined to do well and be successful when I go back. I've learned a lot about myself these last few years, and will certainly do things differently to get the degree I would like.
I am currently in college and already have 2 associates degrees. I am currently working on my third one in my major and yah it has been hard especially some of the classes but for the most part it has been a good experience for me. I am wanting to bring up my GPA though as it is a little low now in the high 2's now.
So, yes I do know it is possible for a blind person to go and succeed in college. For the most part the teachers I have worked with have been good about making things accessible for me so that has not really been to much of a problem for me.
I'm tonally blind, and I had a great experience at college. I made a lot of friends, and the office for disabilities services and most of my professors were very accommodating. I graduated in 2007 with a B.A. in French and a minor in German.
Well if you want I can count. Where do I start? Lol a lot of people, anyone who
isn't sighted can go to college too
I'm studying computer science at the University of Texas and have about a 3.9 GPA. I know I'm bragging a little but it hasn't been easy. Before transferring to UT I spent a few years at the community college. At first I had absolutely no idea what to do because I didn't know many blind people who had real jobs. Then I discovered programming and was so happy to find out people will actually pay you to do this all day! Now, Leo, if only there were a computer I could somehow wear and use efficiently while I paced around my office.
A couple of things I've learned: First, professors are my best allies. Usually I find that people who work in disability offices aren't very technically skilled, which is a very bad thing since these are the people who are supposed to make are tests accessible. Recently one of them told my professor (who is from Spain and speaks and writes Spanish as his first language) that I should use MS Word for my exam because the only way to make accent marks is by using MS Word. The prof and I both knew this was nonsense so I just changed the keyboard settings on the office computer myself. I cannot count the number of problems I and others like me have experienced in those offices (including things as bad as tests being accidentally deleted) because the workers are so unskilled. On the other hand, when I want to come up with a real solution to a problem I talk to a professor. This semester I signed up for discrete math, so I emailed the professor before the first class. It turns out that he prepares all his lecture notes in LaTeX, which I can read, so he just lets me access those source files. If I have questions about them I ask either him or the grad student. Problem solved.
Second, I don't ask the disabled office for anything unless I really, really need it. That's because when I advocate for myself I'm not afraid to make their lives uncomfortable. I needed some of my math books Brailled because there was no other alternative. When they were slow about providing the book I couldn't do without they never heard the end of it, but if it was a book I could prepare myself they never heard a word about it.
Now if I could just figure out the whole making friends in college thing.
I meant totally blind in my last post.
To post 53, if you needed books in Braille for math, how far in advance did you ask the Office for students with Disabilities to get it Brailled? If you did not receive the requested Braille materials when the class started or shortly before, how did you cope? What are some techniques one can use to ask the people in the Office for students with Disabilities about the progress of acquiring said materials, without being rude about it? (That last question assumes they're just dragging their feet.) What other means of making your textbooks accessible have you used that have worked for you that may work for others who eventually want to return to school? Examples I can think of off the top of my head are: using a scanner and a program like K1000, finding a reader, Bookshare, and the dreaded RFB&D. That last one, I'd only use as a last resort, as I don't like being read to most of the time. sorry for this lengthy post, but I'm trying to arm myself with as much information as I possibly can so I know how to interact better with those people next time.
I am totally blind and will complete my undergrad degree next spring. Then I'm off for a master's degree.
I was thinking of a time I had asked them literally months in advance for a calculus book. I gave them an entire summer, and at the end of it they said, "well we really don't have to Braille your book early because you're not going to be in the class until August."
As we all know, if they don't start Brailling until the semester has already begun then it's too late. So you know what I did? I wore a protest sign to the president's office and suggested that my next step would be to contact the media. The people at the Austin American Statesman, I was sure, would be happy to get an update from me since they had published an article about my success in physics the year before. I received my first Braille calculus volume that same day.
This situation was something I had been suffering through for years, and I'm not suggesting that we all march to our respective campuses wearing signs, although that's fun to daydream about. I am suggesting that we all be persistent.
To post 56, what will be your degree of study, and what are you going for now? Congratulations. *smiles*