Category: the Rant Board
What, the fuck. Pardon the terrible language that's bound to follow here, but this school sucks, and I'm about to quit, with only 40 academic days left. My belongings have been searched, or as they call it, INSPECTED, twice, this week, without my fucking consent, and without me even remotely close to this dorm. Anyone who wants to know approximately where I'm existing, I go to some blindy school in the US Eastern Standard Time zone, and it just might happen to be the one with the Braillers. Yes, some accreditors were coming Monday. No, that does not allow my head of house, free reign in my shit. I had probably about seven or eight hundred dollars worth of my shit up here, not counting clothes and what all else have you, that she literally went through, moved, put where she thought it looked good. Today, I find everything rooted through again. Pretty damn soon I'm gonna start living out of suitcases and boxes.
Dude. Can't you complain to the staff or something? There are, like, laws about that kind of thing. You know...No searching without consent...Or warrant...I mean, that's just by the cops, but still. Isn't that, like, a violation of...something?
Okay, god, I sound like an idiot, but seriously...That's not at all cool, girl.
You can't complain to the staff, because the staff are mostly useless as tits on a bull. I.e., they either can't do anything for you, or they don't give a quarter of a flying fuck enough to do anything. Yes, it is a violation of the code of conduct that the staff are supposed to uphold, and a violation of our privacy.
Actually, as long as you are on a school campus, anything you own is subject to search. Backpacks, suitcases, boxes, lockers, closets, anything, is subject to search at any time without probably cause or even asking your consent.
Trust me, I had my stuff searched many times when I went to a blind school. It pissed me off too. Especially when they would just search your stuff and leave it in piles on the floor.
The only thing that they can't search, is your person. No one may search you without your permission, but not giving your permission to be searched is considered probable cause in most schools for you to be searched.
So, basically, your screwed. Every student who goes to a blind school is screwed.
You can't complain, cause the staff sucks and they get paid whether they give a shit or not. You can't go to the higher staff, cause they always side with the underlings of the staff. Basically, your screwed.
Or... become good at living out of a backpack, keep the backpack on you... would it then not be considered part of your person? Hmmm.
Fuck it! Just get a lok for your bag.
They would have ways of taking the lock off, and if you got one, that would give the staff more insentive to search your things.
Damn! I can't believe that's allowed to happen. Can we say invasion of privacy?
I made sure I hid any food or candy before they searched my stuff. They also check to see if everything is organized. My room was spotless and they had to tell me how they wanted everything to be. There were rooms way messier and they never say anything about them.
Yeah, they should tell you when they are going to search and give a re3ason to why.
searching your stuff? are you fucking prisoners or something? wankerings!
blind schools, in some ways are like prisons.
Blind schools are essentially prisons. Which is why, as long as I can help it, I refuse to work in one. Though with my luck, I'll end up somewhere with crapy public transport/a district who won't hire a driver for me/not being able to pay for a driver to work as an itinerant, so... meh.
Excuse me but if you work for a blind school, I may be forced to kick your ass from all the way out there, here to Boston. Well, you always wanted to come out here, didn't you? Anyway, the student handbook, and also the copy of the staff one that I ahem..got ahold of... says that they aren't allowed to search you without consent unless they suspect that you have some sort of illegal substance on you, i.e. drugs, alcohol, etc. I told the nonrediculous house supervisor that this had happened and he was rather annoyed with the whole situation, and honestly, so was my mother, who I didn't think would really have too much to say. 39 more days!
When I end up there, I surely won't be working at that school. Unless I go there, fire everyone, and start it over form scratch. Yes... because I could so do that.
Wow, this is appauling! No, they can't search your stuff, at least, not without giving you prior warning. As another poster said, they have the right to search, if they have a reason, but, if that's the case, they still have to provide you with notice.
Keep us updated on whether they get any flack for this.
FM
what do you mean they can't search your things? When I went to the school for the blind in Ohio they searched anyone they were suspicious of. Once they found out I was bringing cigarettes to school and I was not of age, they not only searched my bags when I'd arrive on the week but they removed the door to my room and the closet too. My room mates were pissed. It was because of me they could change in private.
that should be that they could not change in private.
They still don't have the right to search without warning. Did they search everyone's things?
That was the point I was making. Yes, they have a right to search your things, but not without informing you that they're going to do it. And, if they want to catch you without giving you prior notice, if for example they suspect you of having drugs, then they have to search the items with you present.
FM
Here's where I've gotten so far. Yes, I know. They have the right to search you, if, indeed, they are suspicious of you. I have not done anything that would lead them to think I'm a druggie, alcoholic, or otherwise. Somebody's going to a meeting tomorrow morning with a few of the people who are in charge, and bringing this up. My name will only be mentioned if it must, fortunately. And 39 more academic days till I get out of there! I can't wait till I do, either. I want some of the graduates I know around here to divulge their horror stories. Maybe that'll make people see the light of day about that school. On the outside they make it look like the best place in the world, inside, once ya get in there, they ass rape you for all you have, and suck the life out of you, molding you into a helpless, dependent, poor, little blind person.
NO, they did not search everyone's belongings. One specific dorm supervisor, decided she was gonna selectively root through people's shit. There are only a few people down there who I actually like, anyway, and three quarters of 'em are blind. The place has gone so far downhill, even in the three years and some change that I've been there, that I can't even imagine how the accreditors even gave it a good review. Oh, yeah, I forgot, that's because Perkins puts on its little perfect facade every time somebody shows up at the door wanting to review it.
Sounds a lot like the school I went to, thankfully, only for three years.
Hello there I have to agree with kitten that perkins so that all the time and also some staff I still like there.
This is exactly Why I never want to ever go to a blind school. In my experiances with them in summer programs and such the staff seem to feal that they can do what ever they want with out penalty.
And seeing as the administratorsdon't actually inforce policies in the staff guide lines its useless to appeal.Further more, I've been in several situations where my bags have been searched or I come back and am taken into the dorm managers office for questioning about things I have no idea about... I think its sad all the shit staff get away withh.
My seccond example (though I know this is off topic) is. last summer at TSBVI when we did fire evacuations they left 3 sleeping people in the building. even though it was just burning biscuits in the oven, I am still varry angry that the staff that burned the food didn't take responsibility for it.
that the staff told us not to repoart that there were 3 sstudents left in the dorm.
And that they wern't in any kind of trouble when we did repoart them. the dorm manager said "well, accidents happen" and left it at that.
try writing htat on the cause of death paper work. cause. accidents happen...
I went to a school for the blind and it was a state school. They can search unfortunately if they want. if I am not mistaken, can't they even search your lockers in public schools? having never had a locker in public school I don't know. I always carried my things with me. Doesn't mean its correct but I think they can do it!
oh, I'm sure that would go over well... Not!
You might check with the ACLU to see what the laws are in your state. Good luck.
Lou
in answer to the question above, yes, they can search your lockers in public schools, but they give u warning I think. I'm not entirely sure of this, because I have never had mine searched. I have never gone to a blind school. I've gone to public schools all my life. I seriously hope this works out for u.
Like poster 29
Mainstream schooling all the way.
Why do you need a "blindy school"?
Resource room, Vi teacher to provide braille training/braille transcription, O and M instructor, and you're pretty much set to go through mainstream schooling.
The fuck do states feel the need for a school dedicated for blind people? We are not aliens, we eat, drink, shit, piss and sleep just like the rest do. Parents also are at fault. They don't know what the fuck to do with their blind children so they send them off to an institution to deal with their "problem". I'm sick of this shit where blind folks are push aside, shoved in to a corner, and treated like a sack of shit.
Burn all the "blind" schools, fire the "sighties" who believe we are simply a burden on society/need to still be spoon fed at age 10+(send those former staff to an insanity ward IMO), and restructure mainstream public schools to have great resource rooms where the blind folk can go for aid while learning the mainstream courses.
You don't have blindy houses, blindy reputable colleges(reputable means recognized by the mainstream public :P), blindy jobs that the public will immediately recognize, blindy food, blindy drinks, blindy clothes, blindy music, so what the fuck does a blind person need to be placed in a blind school at age 4 or so just so they can live the rest of their lives trained how to be a "blind person", treated and pamperd like a blind person, and institutionalized and imprisoned because you're blind.
This shit makes me sick.
Thank you for posting that. I couldn't have worded that better. lol
I have no oppinion... i do but i already shared them with the pretty kitten. Anyway no they don'thave to let you know ahead of time about lochers. When I was in public school once a semester with out warning they had cop dogs come raound during classes and check for drugs. If anything was suspicious they had a master key to get in to lochers and with the kids like myself we had to bring a key to the office or explain our combo locks or else they'd be cut off. They have to give you 30 second notice to search a back pack though. lol so much time you know?
I agree with poster 30 all the way.
While I agree with the fact that being sent to a blind school does not solve anything entirely,
1. My school district did it to prevent being sued.
2. I had no resource room. The resource room was a holding pen for all the kids whose parents didn't give two flying purple and green fucks about them, couldn't take care of them, didn't give a shit about their academics, etc, and also couldn't even walk around the school on their own.
3. I had no mobility instructor.
4. I had no TVI.
5. Nobody knew how I was gonna be taught in the real world how to function. The attitude in my family was, "She's blind, she can't use the stove. She can't use the microwave. She can't do this, that, the third." The only people who didn't have that attitude, were my grandparents, and whenever they let me near the stove, microwave, toaster, whatever, my mother would shit a brick. "She can't do that, she'll get burned, you can't let her near that, she's blind, what the hell are you thinking???!!!" Those of you who know what my mother's like, know the drill. It got so out of hand, that the person who was hired to transcribe my Braille materials, and keep me from involuntarily having my ass kicked by people that hated me because I was different from them, which, by the way, was most of the school, took it upon herself to label the small microwave she had brought into her office for her own personal use, and teach me how to use it.
Not everybody over here is Satan. A few here, and they know who they are, are actually liked and respected by me. They know who they are, and it takes a lot for me to like anybody, especially here, where a good portion of the residential staff are only in it because it was the only job they could find, or the most convenient, or whatever else I've heard for reasons over the years. All I'm going to say is that this place has its faults, but not everybody within it is the devil himself.
Get the hell out of there.
Believe it or not, there are public schools in parts of the U.S. that does give a damn, does have good resource rooms, and gives a dam about a blind person's future development.
Oh, and I'd go and upgrade to new parents if I were in your situation. My blindness is one thing, but my fucking brain is my own.
I had parents like yours once. I said once because I didn't give a shit and simply proceeded to do as I wished after being fed up for so long.
They yelled and sputtered and protested through spitting teeth, I simply said fine, either you let me do what I want here and now, under your guideance and teachings, or I go elsewhere and do it, get hurt and sent to the hospital where you will feel guilty for not teaching me. Your conscients not mine. Then I will proceed to inform those doctors and nurses your neglegances of teaching me survival skills and we shall see how the social workers may consider your parental abilities.
They protested me riding on public transportation, cooking on the stove, cutting fruits and vegitables, and simply going out alone. I've been there, done that, so nothing new to me :P. I just went out and did it. Being blind is scary enough, being blind and gutless is debilitating.
To me, going to a blind school simply sends a message of giving up. I've had sighted people assumed that I went to a "blind school". I calmly tell them that I am blind, not stupid. The blind schools I have heard of dumbs down the curriculum because they believe that a blind person == a dumbass. *shrug* You can defend a blind school all you want, but it gives a bad stigma to all blind person. Sending a message like, "oh your blind? Of course you go to a "blind school"".
Now I have my own apartment, cook my own meals, pay my own bills, have a job, going for my m c s e, travel independently, build computers, and have my own "real life". I can tell you, it definitely wasn't due to yielding to unreasonable parents, sighted relatives, and ignorant people who thinks blindness is a mental disability. Perhaps being mainstreamed instead of being institutionalized had a major impact on that. I don't know of anyone who has gone through a "blind school" all their life having a "normal life". Perhaps there are some on this zone who are or know of some. To you, I apologize for presuming.
What I define as "normal life"?
1. You don't rely on government to take care of you. Being on SSI is one thing, living on it with the attitude that you don't need to work ever is another. I was on SSI, But I did my dues of searching, being turnned down many times, and being depressed because of it. But thats part of life.
2. Use your own facalties and abilities to achieve your goal. Sure its nice to have help, but if you can cook your own food, you'll feel that much better making your own burger instead of sitting there while your mother cooks it for you.
3. Find your own means of transportation. There are people who lives in remote areas to whom this may not apply to. But if where you live have plenty of public transportation, won't you feel better controling where you go, when you go, and when you need to go? I've had to wait and depend on rides and for the most part, it tends not to work out too well when having to depend on others.
Being blind is one thing, how you deal with it is all together a whole different color horse. I started with my parents and believe me, since they were Asians, they were traditional and hard headed to the point of stones. I simply had to be stead fast and as stubburn.
The same need to be applied to your "blindy schools". Since a person "can't help", but be placed in a "blindy school" by their parents, raise hell and high water to be treated with respect. Else you'll just be blind and gutless. In that case, such person deserves to be treated like a keneled dog.
Kitten, as far as the school thing, it'd probabily piss me off so much I'd just stand in the commons and start screaming out curse words. Hey, at least that'd get you kicked out.
About your parents, I've never really had that attitude, but I'd sure show them what I could do, fuck what they think. You have to stand up for yourself, and prove that you're a beast. I went to the blind school in nc for some retarded independant living courses which were like, this is how you open the washing machine, this is how you turn the knob.
Blind schools suck, thank God for public.
I'm the type of person, that if I were told I was going to a blind school and I had no choice, I'd freak out and have a fit.
Isn't it law that if you wanna go to a public school, they have to provide all that stuff for you? I have a braille room, it's tiny, hot, and crappy, but I have one.
Anyway, that's my non sensical rant. Good luck, kick they ass.
There are a few people who come out of blind schools normal but more go straight to indipendent living centers. I only went to a blind school from 10th to 12th grade and mainstreamed for half my classes the last 2 years. They have different level programs to accomidate various academic and skill levels.
At least this is the case in my state. I felt sorry for anyone who went there for more than 5 years because of the dorms. If I had a choice, I would go for the school part, but it was a seven hour trip.
agree with Cala.
I can't believe you're still at the school. If anything happened to me in that situation, I would demand the dismissal of who ever rearranged my propperty and who eer ordered/permitted the rearranging of my propperty. If my demands were not implemented within one week I would withdraw myself regardless of the desires orf others, including relatives, school staff, or the local education authority
The rearranger of my property was, (put politely), "spoken to." In layman's terms, this means that they were given quite a good deal of hell, and will not be screwing about with anybody's belongings for a good long time. Also, I just found out today, that in rearranging the property of others, a piece of someone's property was damaged. Thankfully, that was not me, or you bet your ass I'd be hootin' and hollerin' to whomever would listen. There's no need of it. My stuff has been left alone for the past week, and all my valuables and/or expensive shit gets either put in a bag and shoved in my closet, or taken with me, wherever I go.
good. glad to hear it all went well. I agree with Cala too.
Kitten
Glad to hear it's got sorted, although i'm disgusted that it happened in the first place!
FM
I went to the state school here in missouri for five years, i also attended the state school in jackson ms, and they did whatever they wanted till i raised fifty kinds of hell. I told them they touch my shit again i would sue them personally and have them fucked up by there rivals us kids. one guy knocked the fuck out of a houseparent for fuckin with his shit and the director of resedential laughed and told the houseparent to stop fuckin with people. i think that a while back blind schools were practical, but now they are just ways to lock blind people away.
Ok I can understand searching your stuff if the school suspects that you have drugs or sommething but srearching you for the hell of it is fucking wrong!
Yeah, that's fucked up and it pisses me off when that shit happens!
Even at rehabilitation places it happens...it's really screwed up and you should fight fight fight
Agh! I thought only my school did that! I went to CSDB in Colorado, and *twice* the supervisors searched my stuff. Once I knew 'cause everything was out of place, but the other time I was supposedly asleep and the supervisor came in and was like rifling through my drawers and my closet and stuff. it was like 11 at night.
Gah. I was so mad.
They do that because they think that just because we're blind we won't know.
What's next...a reach around in a dorm? Lol.
Damn, and I thought my school was bad. I've already raised a lot of hell, but thank God nobody has searched my stuff, or they wouldn't know what hit them. I keep waiting for them to give me an excuse to drop out and walk away, but they haven't quite pushed me to that point yet, and I only have 1 year to go, but it would feel so good to walk away from there and have them sit there wondering if something happened to me. Yeah, let them worry--they never give a flying fuck about anybody but themselves and their reputation anyways, so it's about time somebody does something to intentionally piss them off.
No...be the bigger person.