Deaf students
Continued from Pagel
mode of communication.
While some deaf students,
such as Andrea Roberts, a junior
English major, are able to use a
sign language interpreter, other
deaf students do not use sign lan
guage, which can make commu
nication difficult.
Roberts said the energy it re
quires her to follow her inter
preter during every class leaves
her tired at the end of the day
and often gives her a headache.
Alexa Schriempf, a graduate
student in philosophy, faces the
problem dually as a student and
as a teacher for her graduate work
because she is deaf. Schriempf
does not sign and says this does
cause some difficulties.
“I have to actively receive in
formation all the time,” she said.
“I am taking courses next term
based on a professor’s clarity of
speech and whether they have a
beard.”
Note-takers help many stu
dents absorb information that
they might otherwise have
missed.
Natasha Nowakowski, a first
year MBA student, is able to hear
10 percent of what most people
hear with the assistance of a
hearing aid, and she relies on
reading lips. In the classroom,
Nowakowski estimates she can
only make sense of about 30 per
cent of the information the pro
fessor gives.
“Every time the professor turns
his back and talks to the black
board, I miss it. Every time a stu
dent behind me asks a question, I
miss it,” she said.
Looking down to write would
mean the risk of missing what the
interpreter is signing, Roberts
said. Having a note-taker relieves
some of that stress, she said.
Outside of the classroom, the
University arranges assistance for
any activities related to the Uni
versity. This could include ar
ranging for a teletypewriter
phone to be installed in a resi
dence hall room or calling a film
company to obtain a captioned
version of a fdm for a class.
While the rigors of the class
room are intense, the University
has come to many levels of assis
tance for students.
“The University has been quite
helpful,” said Sherwin, who uses
a note-taker in some of his larger
classes.
Nowakowski attended George
town University for her under
graduate studies, where she had
very limited assistance. Compar
atively speaking, she said, the
University of Oregon has offered
her far more assistance. She can
receive free speech therapy
through the University, and
note-takers are offered far better
incentives than at Georgetown,
where she frequently had to go
without.
Schriempf, however, has
faced some accessibility difficul
ties at the University. In the dis
cussion sections she leads, she
has difficulty reading the lips of
her students during conversa
tions. Having a captionist who
would type the students com
ments into a computer for her to
read would help her immensely,
she said.
The disability services office
could not find a captionist in the
area, she said. Instead, Schriempf
would like to use an electronic
classroom to communicate with
her students. Organizing this is
eating up her time inordinately,
she said.
“It is not the University’s fault,
though; it is a fact of life,”
Schriempf said.
The students said the Universi
ty can only do so much. Some of
the problems they face daily as
students can’t be alleviated.
Communicating with other
students and colleagues is a com
mon problem.
“If I am sitting at my desk in
studio with my back turned, and
someone is calling my name,
everyone else in the room can
hear them, but I can’t, and they
end up throwing a piece of paper
at my back,” Sherwin said.
Sherwin and the other stu
dents said once classmates and
colleagues begin to adjust to fac
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ing them when they are speaking
and making other minor adjust
ments, it becomes easier to com
municate. Problems, however,
cannot be completely obliterated.
“If I am walking down the
stairs and talking to a colleague,
turning to face them and walk
could break my neck," Schriempf
said.
Socially, communication can
be difficult. Bars are nearly im
possible because of the excess
noise, Sherwin said. Having a
personal conversation over TTY
loses some of the intimacy,
Roberts said.
Talking on the telephone is
near impossible without assis
tance. TTY phones that relay
what people are typing to a
voice interpreter to the other
line can be cumbersome. Many
deaf students rely heavily on e
mail.
“No matter what obstacles
have come up. I have always
been able to come up with a way
to bypass that,” Nowakowski
said.
Regardless of the University’s
involvement, students say per
sonal effort, family support and
governmental regulation have all
assisted many students’ experi
ences.
“The ADA makes it a require
ment to make accommodations,”
Sherwin said. "That has really
helped in creating opportuni
ties."
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