[nabs] First time college student with a couple questions

[Miranda]

Hi Netta,
Thanks for the info. I wish my college had a contemporary or practical math course. They don't even have Algebra! Arg!
I like the calculator idea... *Smile* My Pac Mate has a pretty cool calculator built-in, and I've been using that as I prep to possibly take the ACT.
Thanks again, and have a great day!

In Christ, Miranda

-----Original Message-----
From: Dornetta <dornetta at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 2:07 PM
To: Discussion list for NABS,	National Alliance of Blind Students. <nabs at acb.org>
Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple questions

Hello Miranda:
I am currently in college now and to satisfy my math requirements for my 
degree I decided to take a nontraditional math course-comtemporary  math 
with didn't have alot of algebra, trig, graphing and such. With my other 
classes the college contacted the publishers and got alternative formats of 
the textbooks in either PDF, MS word and my favorite online/web based books. 
For my computer class I applied for a reader and scribe because of the 
issues with JAWS and Office 07 at the time.  I used RFBD for my math 
textbooks which was great, a pDF format of the textbook for explaination of 
some elements, VP Algebra to do my assignments (honestly, I had difficulties 
with the software bc of the learning curve), Audio Graphing Calulator (also 
with some difficulties bc learning curve) and a handheld talking 
calculator-which was the best investment because it had all of the 
conversions already handy and I didn't have to use alot of formulas...just 
input #s and pushing buttons *smile*
If I can help you any way please feel free to let me know below is my email 
address
dornetta at gmail.com
hollaatnetta at gmail.com

Netta

"Just because you are blind, does not mean you lack vision"-Stevie Wonder
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Miranda" <knownoflove at gmail.com>
To: "Discussion list for NABS, National Alliance of Blind Students." 
<nabs at acb.org>
Sent: Wednesday, December 29, 2010 2:35 AM
Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple questions


> Hi Laura,
> Thanks for your email!
> As far as planning ahead, I originally planned to start college this 
> Fall... But, after finding out my application deadline is Feb 1 I quickly 
> thought better of that idea! *Smile*
> I'm majoring in music with an emphasis on vocal performance. What I mean 
> by books without grapics are your English (or other books that normally 
> wouldn't contain diagrams/maps/graphs, ETC).
> I studied Braille music for a bit in high school, and I'm getting back in 
> to it.
> I'm actually going to a local private college as a non-traditional 
> student, and my husband and I own our home so I won't need to deal with 
> housing. *Smile*
> I'll certainly ask for a biology lab assistant as an accomidation for 
> sure.
> Thanks again for your message, and have a great day!
>
> In Christ, Miranda
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Laura Glowacki <orangebutterfly87 at gmail.com>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 11:25 PM
> To: Discussion list for NABS, National Alliance of Blind Students. 
> <nabs at acb.org>
> Subject: Re: [nabs] First time college student with a couple questions
>
> Hello Miranda, and welcome!
>
> You are certainly planning early for college which is awesome.
> I'm not sure there is such thing as planning college too early.
> Smiles.
>
> Joseph gave you some fantastic information, and I'm not sure I
> have a whole lot to add.  As far as biology, I took a very basic
> bio course and the most helpful accomodation I received was an
> assistant from the disability services office on-campus to help
> me in the labs each week.  She had already taken the course so
> knew what to expect and was able to describe things to me as we
> conducted the labs as well as help my group members with some of
> the practical aspects of the lab that I could not due to lack of
> vision.
>
> I began my college career as a music major, but only stuck with
> it a year.  Do you read braille music?  Are you looking at
> performance, education, or therapy?
>
> Bookshare has almost all of its books available in brf format,
> and the NLS's collection seems to be ever-growing.  I'm not sure
> what you mean about not having graphics though as I thought brf
> books didn't have graphics.  Perhaps I'm just not understanding.
>
> Above all, the most important skills that I found to have at your
> disposal will be your ability to advocate for yourself to
> professors, disability services staff, housing personnel, dorm
> staff, and other students.  Please feel free to email the list
> with any and all questions no matter  how big or small.  Going
> off to college can be daunting in general, and we all know that
> being blind or visually impaired can throw some interesting
> challenges in to the mix sometimes.  We've all dealt with most of
> them from figuring out how to adapt dorm laundry facilities to
> learning how to discuss our varying types of visual impairments
> with professors to advocating for our rights for having a guide
> dog with housing and most everything else inbetween.
>
> Again, welcome to the list, and I look forward to hearing from
> you!
>
> Laura Glowacki, First vice president of NABS
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Miranda" <knownoflove at gmail.com>
> To: <nabs at acb.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, December 28, 2010 6:55 PM
> Subject: [nabs] First time college student with a couple
> questions
>
>
> Hi,
> I will be attending college in 2012 for my BA with a major in
> music.
> Do any of you know of Braille transcribers who will provide
> textbooks in BRF format to read with a Braille display? I have a
> Pac Mate, and want to get books not containing graphics in BRF if
> at all possible.
> Any ideas on how to make biology and a pre-calculus course (with
> algebra, geometry and trig review) as accessible as possible?
> If anyone has any other advice pertaining to college I'd greatly
> appreciate it.
> Thanks in advance for any help you can give, and have a great
> day!
>
> In Christ, Miranda
> _______________________________________________
> nabs mailing list
> nabs at acb.org
> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs mailing list
> nabs at acb.org
> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs
>
> _______________________________________________
> nabs mailing list
> nabs at acb.org
> http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs
> 

_______________________________________________
nabs mailing list
nabs at acb.org
http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/nabs