In article <1992Dec19.065718.21873@nmsu.edu> nmcb@dante.nmsu.edu (Yolanda Thompson) writes:
>so let him teach, and you be forthright enough to make your requests
>to him, don't lay an expectation on him to approach you. This kind of
>attitude is what makes situations uncomfortable.
It seems that there is a balance between all this squabbling. Certainly an instructor
at the college level is not responsible for anticipating the needs of each
student in a class. However, it is curteous to make know up front that he or she
is available to discuss any reasonable accommodations that a student may need. I have
seen to many situations in which professors have absolutely refused students
reasonable accommodations. I personally know a learning disabled student who approached a professor who happens to be a department head, requesting arrangements
to take an exam. He responded "I have five of you in this class, you'll just have to make out", and
literally threw the exam across the table at her.
When I was a student the last quarter of my under graduate studies my last exam was taken
in a staff break room with chaos around me for a number of hours. By the way
I am totally blind and was working with a reader. There were a number of
alternatives to how this could have been handled, but he would not discuss it.
In both these case all that was wanted was a fair shot at taking the exam. Neither of us expected the professor to pat us on the
head and ask what we needed. We however expect an equal opportunity.
It is all well and good to encourage personal responsibility, a theme I spend
a great deal of time driving home to persons with disabilities, but the reality is that a disability is a disability and
there are circumstances under which accommodations are both necessary and fair. When I hear some one deny this
I often wonder how acceptable he or she find his or her disability. Does this person
have a strong dislike for what dannot be changed about his/herself? I will not speculate about this in responding to this,
