Selection of Speeches by Bapin

Deaf-Blind Students Seek Educational Opportunities
By Anindya (Bapin) Bhattacharyya
Sixth Helen Keller World Conference
Paipa, Colombia
September 13-19, 1997

This article is divided into five sections: Deaf-Blind Students at Post secondary Institutions, Disability Support Services, Services Offered to Deaf-Blind Students, Logistics of In-class Interaction and Participation, and Communicating with Classmates and Faculty.

DEAF-BLIND STUDENTS AT POSTSECONDARY INSTITUTIONS

Like everyone else, deaf-blind people also have dreams to achieve successful lives and education. Many people assume that, without sight or hearing, deaf-blind people could not lead "normal" lives. We need to remember that no one has a "normal" life or can ever go through anything without struggles. When we want to do something, we will always experience obstacles. I personally have gone through many problems and barriers during my pursuit of a post secondary degree; however, being deaf-blind has never stopped me from going to school or a post secondary institution. This article is intended to raise public awareness about effective ways to provide services in a manner that minimizes barriers to post secondary education for deaf-blind students.

It would be beneficial to start with some logical questions that need to be addressed by post secondary institutions to help understand what "deaf-blind at the college level" means. What is "deaf-blindness?" How can deaf-blind students possibly compete? How can they be served? How do they communicate? What do they expect from post secondary institutions by way of accommodations? The reason most post secondary institutions find these crucial questions difficult to answer because of limited literature regarding post secondary education for deaf-blind students and the fact they have not yet experienced serving this unique population of students. When deaf-blind students apply to post secondary institutions, these questions arise regarding how to accommodate them.

While many people may think of Helen Keller as the only deaf-blind individual, she definitely is not alone. The word "deaf-blind" refers to an individual who is either born both deaf and blind, or is born deaf or blind and loses the other sense later in life. Deaf-blind also includes people who have functional limitations in both hearing and vision. Due to the fact that more and more deaf-blind students are seeking post secondary degrees, increasing numbers of post secondary institutions are in search for ways to better meet their needs.

DISABILITY SUPPORT SERVICES

Higher education is increasingly becoming one of the many tools most desired by deaf-blind students as they can now see how it can open more doors in their future. In many cases, the first time a deaf-blind student chooses to attend a post secondary institution, the institution usually has not yet made the types of changes necessary to accommodate the student. Many post secondary institutions now have what is called disability support services (DSS) intended to assist students with disabilities in achieving equal access to education. It is important, however, that each DSS provider focus on the individual nature of each student's accommodation needs rather than assuming that everyone requires the same service(s). This is especially true in serving deaf-blind students as compared to deaf students.

Unlike Helen Keller in the early 20th century attending Radcliffe Women's College having only one person to accompany, interpret, read, and guide her, deaf-blind students today can take advantage of laws which allow them equal access to the fullest extent possible. Thus, these laws have mandated post secondary institutions to provide access and accommodations which often results in an array of services to facilitate equal access and communication between deaf-blind students and the campus community, i.e. their classmates, professors, as well as other aspect of campus activities and services. The more information, helpful hints, and resources faculty and staff receive, the better they will be able to initiate positive working relationships with deaf-blind students.

"The most important step when providing disability-related services to students who self-identify as deaf-blind is to discuss methods of communication and accommodation with them. Some of the ways in which a deaf-blind person may communicate include: using sign language either visually or tactually (hand over hand), speaking, reading, writing in braille or large print, or tracing capital letters in the deaf-blind person's palm with a forefinger. While the primary mode of communication used by the student is usually influenced by which disability (hearing or vision loss) occurred first, the decision on how to communicate is a personal one.

Since each individual's background is unique, the student is usually considered the best judge of his or her own disability-related needs. DSS providers are encouraged to set up an initial meeting with the student in order to discuss and assess needs and determine appropriate accommodation. Prior to the meeting, DSS providers should determine how the student will communicate. If the student will require an interpreter during the meeting, the DSS provider should ask for the names of interpreters with whom the student has worked in the past, and who are qualified to work with deaf-blind individuals. There is no centralized listing of interpreters who are qualified to work with deaf-blind individuals, therefore, the DSS provider and the student must conduct their own screening process" (Hammett, 1995). It is strongly recommended that all interpreters are handled under this type of screening to ensure their skill level in working with deaf-blind individuals, not just deaf individuals.

During the meeting, the student is responsible to discuss with the DSS provider his or her communication preferences for classroom and program accommodation. For example, a student may be raised culturally deaf and use sign language, but a person with a low vision who is losing hearing may just have begun to learn sign language, or may not sign at all. The first student may require an interpreter, whereas the latter student would not benefit from an interpreter and may choose to sit in the front of the classroom to be able to lipread the instructor and to see the board. Once the student has explained his or her communication needs, the DSS provider, for example, can suggest accommodative strategies such as interpreters, note takers, technological supports, and alternative formats for the student to try.

"Some students who are new to the post secondary setting may need time to explore and determine what accommodations are most appropriate. Some deaf-blind students may either be unaware of DSS's or may be reluctant to admit they need services. DSS providers are encouraged to conduct awareness activities with residence hall administrators, faculty, advisors, orientation personnel, and other student affairs officers who interact with deaf-blind students" (Hammett, 1995).

SERVICES OFFERED TO DEAF-BLIND STUDENTS

When first exposed to a post secondary environment, a deaf-blind student presents unique challenges for support services to meet his or her needs. Faculty is also challenged with learning effective methods to help deaf-blind students to successfully complete academic endeavors.

Registration and Coordination of Service Needs

Early exploration of accommodation and cross-departmental cooperation are necessary to succeed in providing support services and allowing a deaf-blind student to fulfill educational requirements and goals. Additionally, qualified staff can satisfactorily meet the needs of deaf-blind students by adopting a proactive stance toward designing and providing services and following a philosophy of equal access within and beyond statutory requirements.

Planning ahead plays a crucial role in providing services to students with disabilities. In general, students can register for classes one day before they begin. Deaf-blind students do not have the same luxury because of the time needed to schedule services such as interpreters, note takers, textbook transcription, etc. necessary to ensure full access and participation in achieving their educational goal. Since making print materials accessible alternative formats requires an enormous amount of time, it is strongly recommended that deaf-blind students register for classes two to three months prior to the beginning of the semester.

After having registered for classes, the student should provide a copy of his or her class schedule to DSS to assure that interpreting and note taking services can be provided. Furthermore, DSS, the deaf-blind student, and professors of the intended classes can work together to obtain required texts ahead of time in order to make arrangements for lternative formats. The student is also responsible to inform the interpreter coordinator what types of interpreters he or she requires. The coordinator tries to cover all classes with highly qualified and competent interpreters. When the pool of interpreters is minimal, providing qualified interpreters may become a difficult task. It is important that the coordinator works closely with the deaf-blind student in resolving this situation (i.e. using an interpreter that may be less qualified but is agreed upon by the coordinator and deaf-blind student).

There are different methods DSS uses to perform transcription of the print materials into alternative formats including large print, braille, diskette, and audio tape. In the past, many deaf-blind students had to find an agency that would braille their textbooks, and always had to pray that the books would be returned to them in time their classes began. This procedure was often inefficient and frustrating. Since professors tend not to use textbooks in their entirety, it is a big waste of time and money to have the entire book transcribed. Nowadays scanners, similar to photocopiers that scan printed materials and copy them into electronic or digital form on a computer, have been playing a big role in the transcription process. Many DSS's now hire and assign student workers to use this technology to produce textbooks in alternative formats. Rather than having to type word for word, much time is saved by letting the scanners take over most of their work. After the scanned texts are in digital form, editing must still be done because often words are scrambled or misspelled.

To accelerate the transcription process, either DSS or the deaf-blind student should contact professors to request syllabi. With these syllabi in hand, the student workers will be able to know which materials are needed to begin the semester, if they are not able to have all the materials completed by the first day of classes. As the semester progresses materials can be transcribed according to the syllabus. Of course, it would be the optimum situation to have all materials in alternative formats completed before the semester begins.

DSS also makes many calls to publishers to request copies of books on disk. If these books were already digitalized by the publishers, DSS could easily pass them on to students with very little additional editing needed. Information in digital form can easily be printed into large print and braille formats, while moving information in the other direction, from paper to digital form, is more difficult and time consuming.

Since note taking is critical in achieving an education, post secondary DSS providers use several means by which to obtain note takers. Some DSS providers advertise to recruit note takers, either students or volunteers, to sign up under DSS. The note takers are then sent to scheduled classes to sit and take notes for deaf-blind students. These note takers are either paid or volunteer. Other DSS providers have a deaf-blind student request someone from each class at the beginning of the semester to volunteer to take notes. DSS provides a memo to instruct note takers how to routinely conduct notes. The student also can request his or her professors to check the notes from time to time to ensure the information from class lectures was recorded accurately.

Note takers may use one of the following ways to take notes and distribute them to the deaf-blind student. First, the notes can be taken using carbon paper or copied using a photocopier. The deaf-blind student would then take the notes to DSS to have them transcribed into braille on paper or digitalized onto a computer disk. Second, the student can bring his or her own laptop computer to class and have the note taker take notes on it. This procedure is faster because he or she gets the notes right after class to read on a refreshable braille display (a computer device with electronically raised braille characters) or print it out in braille. Third, the student can ask the professors for their own working notes, either on paper or disk, and fill in the additional information with information provided by the note takers.

Orientation and Mobility/Navigation on Campus

Another important aspect of accessibility for deaf-blind students is orientation and mobility (O&M). This is necessary to help deaf-blind students be able to navigate independently on campus. The ability to walk around independently depends largely on the layout of a college or university. A campus may be intersected with city streets, busy traffic, various walkways, or have numerous buildings (Bourquin, 1994). The student can contact DSS to request that O&M training be provided to him or her. Once an O&M instructor has been assigned to work with a deaf-blind student, he or she will determine how the student will safely be able to travel independently on campus. The instructor will work with the student to insure maximum independence.

The O&M training includes traveling from class to class, from "a dormitory to various campus facilities, and navigation of the dormitory and cafeteria" (Bourquin, 1994). The O&M service is provided for a few days at the beginning of each semester. If a deaf-blind student is comfortable with the entire campus, the training may not be required. If travel in particular areas is unsafe due to heavy traffic or the areas are difficult to find, the student informs DSS of the need to find a guide. DSS will schedule someone to meet the student at a certain location on campus to guide him or her.

LOGISTICS OF IN-CLASS INTERACTION AND PARTICIPATION

Like everyone else, a deaf-blind student reserves the right not to have anyone read returned papers or tests to him or her. If he or she makes a bad grade, he or she may prefer to keep the matter confidential. With the help of modern technology, many limitations of deaf-blind students have been eliminated.

Using a computer assisted by a refreshable braille display, a deaf-blind student can write a paper on a word processing program the same way as sighted people can. The student can then print out a hardcopy for the professor. While professors normally would write comments on papers and return them to students, it would not be the same for a deaf-blind student. There are two options to resolve this problem. The student can attach a disk to the hardcopy of the paper. The professor then can load the file from the disk on his or her computer and insert comments in brackets or mark them with asterisks. Another option is for the student to send the paper via electronic mail (e-mail) to the professor. The professor uses the same procedures as in the first option and returns the paper by e-mail.

Many people assume that DSS is responsible for assisting students with alternative formats for textbooks, articles, or handouts, as well as creating raised-line graphics from the reading materials for courses that are visual in nature. However, individual campus departments may also be required to assume some of the responsibility for making materials accessible. DSS is always available to consult with individual departments. Each department should determine who within the department will be responsible for the accommodation (a secretary, student worker, graduate assistant, lab assistant, or faculty).

Test accommodations should also be provided on an individual basis. Deaf-blind students are responsible for informing professors at the beginning of each semester what alternative formats or testing arrangements they would prefer. For example, a deaf-blind student can ask a professor to have the test converted onto an IBM disk. In most cases, deaf-blind students do require extended time, therefore, before the test date, they should make arrangements with professors to take tests at DSS or in an agreed upon place.

Some deaf-blind students prefer to take tests using interpreters due to the high level of vocabulary used on the tests. Students who are raised with using sign language as their primary mode of communication on a daily basis may not have sufficient command of the English language to understand complex sentences. They may understand the intent of the message better with interpreters translating words or concepts into sign language.

In classes that involve extensive writing, teamwork, and presentations where students are required to review or give feedback on others' papers, it is important for a deaf-blind student to notify the classmates to bring their papers on IBM disk to allow for full participation. The deaf-blind student can use a laptop computer with a refreshable braille display to load the papers from disk to read and insert comments/corrections the same way a professor would on a deaf-blind student's paper. Since reading in braille can be very time-consuming and the time given in class may not be sufficient, it is advisable for the deaf-blind student to ask the members of his or her group to send the papers via e-mail beforehand if at all possible.

Although an interpreter can interpret the presentations by students, it is quite difficult to keep up with speakers that read out loud. Some deaf-blind students may want to see exact spoken language text rather than the content of the paper interpreted into sign language because when working between two languages exact word to word translations are not always possible, e.g. American Sign Language (ASL) to English, British Sign Language (BSL) to English, French Sign Language (FSL) to French, etc. When students are scheduled to give presentations in class, the deaf-blind student is responsible to inform the instructor whether he or she would like the presenters to bring their papers on disk. It is also important to ask the presenters to bring hardcopy of their papers to help familiarize interpreters with technical jargon, names, dates, or any unusual words or phrases used in the papers.

When making materials accessible, it is important to note that conversion from one software program to another may be necessary (UALR student Handbook, 1994). Many deaf-blind students use refreshable braille displays that are supported only by IBM compatible computers. Although IBM allows documents to be saved in different word processing programs, many educational institutions use Macintosh computers which are incompatible with IBM computers. A deaf-blind student is responsible to inform DSS or individual departments about which type of computer he or she prefers to have the materials made accessible on. Software for translating documents between two different computers is available at most retail computer stores. If the student is not comfortable making the conversions, the easiest solution is to take the disk to a computer lab on campus and have a lab aide convert the documents.

COMMUNICATING WITH CLASSMATES AND FACULTY

Communication is very important to all students including deaf-blind students. Those passing students walking on campus using white canes may assume they are only blind. It is true that in this world no one will ever know if a blind person walking with a white cane is also deaf. Naturally, a blind person would not want to walk around campus with a sign identifying himself or herself as being both deaf and blind. DSS may be a helpful resource for strategies on approaching deaf-blind people.

Many deaf-blind individuals encounter people who, rather than meet the deaf-blind person face to face, try to speak by aligning their mouth up with the deaf-blind person's ear. In most cases, deaf-blind persons are very sensitive and can sense that others are trying to talk to them by feeling air from the mouth. The most amicable way for a deaf-blind student to initiate physical contact with another party is to smile and at the same time gently approach him or her. A communication card that may say something like "to communicate with me, please print capital letters in my palm with your forefinger" can be very helpful. If the deaf-blind student does not have the card handy, he or she can simply reach for the other party's hand and draw "hi" in the palm as a gesture to illustrate a communication method. To receive a response, the deaf-blind student has to hold the other party's forefinger and point it toward his or her palm to indicate to go ahead and "write" the response.

Once people realize a blind person is also deaf, the appropriate way to approach him or her, as preferred by most deaf-blind individuals, is to pat his or her shoulder or upper arm. This way the deaf-blind person can have time to stop and prepare to communicate with the other party. Although "writing" in one's palm is much slower than using sign language, it still keeps communication open. When there is no interpreter for assistance, it does not mean that the public is blocked from communicating with a deaf-blind person.

It is common for sighted people to watch what is being printed on their palms because they are not accustomed to comprehending letters by touch. They may assume that tracing in one's palm is for "easy and short sentences" communication, however, some deaf-blind people use this method to communicate on a daily basis. Once people know what to expect they can feel more at ease and, with practice, they would be able to automatically recognize the shapes of letters drawn on their palms without even having to watch. Those who are accustomed to printing on palm or POP are able to communicate quickly and effectively with a deaf-blind person.

Those who find POP difficult to comprehend, the most effective way for a deaf-blind person to communicate with them would be to write on paper with a pen. However, this method is even more time-consuming because the deaf-blind person has to fold the paper to make lines, to use his or her other hand as a guide to direct the pen to avoid overwriting on already used lines, and to write slowly to assure the letters are readable. If the writing is illegible, the deaf-blind person has to repeat. Those who communicate with the deaf-blind on a regular basis are encouraged to learn sign language or become more sensitive to POP.

Technology has broken down many communication barriers for deaf-blind people. There is less excuse for lack of communication between deaf-blind people and the general public. Other than POP, using a laptop computer with a refreshable braille display is like going around independently to communicate with everyone--professors in private conferences, classmates, librarians, lab aides, and any other party a deaf-blind student wishes. When POP obviously becomes too slow for a long conversation, the deaf-blind student and the other party can set up a time and place where they both can use the computer setup to communicate. The deaf-blind person can type on the computer and the other party can see the words appear on the screen. He or she then types back responses and the deaf-blind person reads in braille. This enables the deaf-blind person to access the real world quite easily!

CONCLUSION

We need to remember that leading "normal" lives without hearing and sight is not an issue that affect us, we will always face obstacles when we want to accomplish certain goals. Everyone including deaf-blind students has a dream to achieve personal and educational success. It is important that deaf-blind students do not undervalue themselves and disregard their collective abilities in the face of their various disabilities.

Quite often, it is not just the attitudes of others that deaf-blind students must combat, but also their own attitudes and fears that must be first addressed and overcome. Laws do not, in and of themselves, make post secondary education possible or accessible for deaf-blind students. The difficulty for deaf-blind students in accessing higher education resources most often lies not in lack of effort by post secondary institutions, but in overcoming other challenges with which they must deal. Deaf-blind students must examine different services and appropriate accommodations to meet their individual needs. As discussed earlier, technology also plays a key role in hammering out barriers and opening doors that will allow deaf-blind students to achieve personal and academic success. In order to establish a strong foundation of post secondary education opportunities for deaf-blind students, it is crucial that institutional organization and personal effort be united.

REFERENCES

Bourquin, Eugene A. "Providing Support Services for a Deaf-Blind Student in a Mainstream University Environment." Journal of the American Deafness and Rehabilitation Association 28.1 (1994): 31-38.

Hammett, Richelle. "Deaf-Blind Students on Campus." The Deaf-Blind American 33.3 (1995): (br) 9-17.

"University of Arkansas at Little Rock Assistive Technology/Adaptive Equipment." UALR Student Handbook (1994): 1-19. University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

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