A Story I Felt I had to Share
This is going to be a long post. I'm going to try to type it up quickly, and I'll explain why. I had a really strange dream last night, but rather than forgetting about it upon waking up, it stuck in my head and I felt like I had to write and tell someone about it before it fades. I don't know why; I just feel like this is a story people need to hear for whatever reason. I'll be telling this story from the main character's point of view. Keep in mind most of these things never happened to me.
It was the first day of my final year of high school, and the board just changed a bunch of things. No, it wasn't for the better. They weren't really focusing on making actual rules at this point, and all the good students were being punished. Yes, even myself.
I feel it necessary to point out that I'm blind as a bat, so I have to use a lot of technology that sighted people simply don't need. This usually isn't a problem; I can get my work done just as fast as everyone else. However, this was going to be different this year.
I remember my teacher giving me busy work, i.e., taking flash cards, brailling on them, then doing the same thing on regular braille paper. No, they weren't using any of this for anything productive, and it was not going towards my final grades at all. It was something random given to me to see how well I could appease the busy work gods. Well, either that, or the super attendant just enjoys our pain, take your pick. Needless to say I wasn't happy, and she didn't seem to be either.
While I was brailling, she let me know that I was going to need to get started on some computer work, but she wasn't sure how much of it would be accessible for me. I informed her that since NVDA was installed on those computers, it probably wouldn't cause me any problems.Ah, yes, see, they've been a lot stricter about that lately. You can't use NVDA anymore; they switched to Jaws over the summer and that's what you'll be using now.
The second she told me this, I was livid. This school was now doing things to throw these government agencies a bone at our expense. Look, I don't have a problem with people using Jaws, this doesn't bother me in the least. However, don't force the rest of us to follow the crowd so you can earn big bucks. I was pretty sure that's what was happening, because why else would they switch away from a screen reader they'd been using on these computers for years for something you had to pay money for? That doesn't make any logical sense, unless they're getting something out of it or have been convinced they're getting something out of it.
I didn't even know how to use Jaws in the first place, because I never had to. The school used NVDA pretty much the hole time I was using computers there, which wasn't long. I suppose they didn't want to spend money on something unless they absolutely had to, so they stuck with the cheaper option.
A lot of the decisions they decided to make were based on making more money this year. For instance, they had a new rule where the students had to clean the toilet out frequently, and damn my luck, it was clogged on the first week. It was something all students had to do, including the sighted ones, but this was ridiculous! Didn't they have people who were hired to clean? Well of course they did, but to save money they took away one of their responsibilities and forced them upon us so they could save money. Was this even legal? I mean, first off, I thought there were labor laws in place so that you couldn't make miners perform labor without paying them. Second though, and more importantly, this meant that they lowered the wages and now the janitors weren't being paid hardly anything. I am definitely convinced this is an illegal practice in some way. Isn't the minimum wage in the US $12.00? Apparently they didn't care, because now they were paying them half that amount. Either way, this is important to the story a bit later, so I'll get back to what I was saying before.
When my teacher told me I had to use Jaws, I was furious. Bless her heart, she was just trying to cope with the new changes like everyone else. Yes, even the teachers were suffering from the new decisions made by the board. My teacher was nice though, she always cared about what would be best for me and my education. She understood how frustrated I was, so she had the principal come down to talk to me. I really felt bad for her; there was no telling how many students were complaining about the new changes to her as if she could do anything about them, and now I was one of those students.
The principal came down and asked me what the problem was.I have several problems, actually. First of all, these new changes regarding us cleaning the restrooms. I've never done anything like that before, and nobody taught me how to fix things like clogs when these decisions were made. Therefore, it stands to reason that when the toilet got backed up this week, I didn't unclog it because I had no idea how. I'm also not happy how you guys essentially forced us to switch screen readers. I'd like to speak to the super attendant regarding these decisions.
My principal started talking to me in a way that made me think he understood something I didn’t, or at least he thought he did. When he started acting like that, I was confused. I had no idea what to think. Either way, he got the super attendant down there, and of course he did all the talking, which I was not very pleased about.
The first thing he said to the man when he arrived was,I need help dealing with this nutcase.
I was appalled that someone in a position of power would refer to me with such an insulting term. I stared at him for a few seconds. I can’t see very much, but I could see just enough to see the super attendant nod back to the principal, almost as if they had this talk already with another student and he was already noting down red flags for his first impression of me.
So, this student was supposed to clean the bathroom this week, and there was a clog that he refused to fix.
At this point, I hated the principal with all my heart and soul. He was making up lies about me on the spot to everyone around me, and now I looked like the bad guy for not completing something I had no idea how to complete in the first place. I told the super attendant that I had no idea how to do it. He replied by placing a comforting hand on my shoulder and saying,
Hey, hey. Listen. I see the way this is going. I know you’re just fabricating this to make things look worse than they truly are. Just get back to work, OK?
With that, he and the principal hurriedly made their way out of the room. I tried to call out to them, but they kept going. Even the teacher seemed to be shocked at what had happened.
That’s it. That’s when I woke up and decided that I needed to post this. So what’s up guys, is there a reason I had this dream? Is it all in my head, or is my mind trying to tell me something? Am I just crazy? Let me know what you think.
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