Readers

If you go through the disabilities office for readers, make sure the reader you get meets your needs. Sometimes, the university I attend just puts me with whoever is convenient. The disabilities office tells me that they need a couple readers for several of their students, so instead of each student individually picking his or her own reader, they just select two random people for all students. This method does not always work very well for me. I often post flyers advertising for readers on my own. So if they have this policy, at least I picked the readers who will work with all the other students.

One huge advantage of hiring your own readers is that they are entirely managed by you, without any interference from the students with disabilities office. If you can afford to pay your readers yourself or you can find readers who are willing to be paid with a greater delay, I highly recommend using this approach. It will give you greater control and flexibility of the use of your readers.

Set up appointments to screen and interview all readers. Sometimes, if you get their voice mail, you can hear how their voices sound immediately and if you don’t like what you hear you can eliminate them right away. I have done this several times. Test your reader on how clearly he or she reads, the tone in his or her voice, whether or not they sound monotone, how fast or slow they read, etc. Also if you need a reader for an advanced class in chemistry, you might screen your readers for the ability to read chemical names, formulas and special notations. It will be a much more pleasant and efficient experience to work with a reader who can easily pronounce difficult words or technical notations

Let the reader know from day one who is the employer and who the employee is. Some readers can become controlling of the reading, the situation or even your personal affairs. This is inappropriate. You are their employer and have the authority to decide what material you want read, where you will meet, what library materials to search for etc.

The reader is the employee. They have the choice of whether or not to work for you. If they do not like the conditions, the material or other work duties, they can express their preferences to you. The two of you can work out the situation to everyone’s satisfaction or either of you may terminate the employment agreement.

When I had a math reader for example, I had this 57 year old man. He was an excellent reader and great at what he did, however, he thought he could totally control everything. He would show up to my apartment three hours late and think I could still work with him. I wanted to take a math course in the summer, and he would say, “I don’t think students with disabilities should take summer courses in math, because they go too fast.” He also stated, “I think the disabilities office should refuse to let you take summer courses.”

I firmly explained that we pay tuition like anyone else, and we can take any course we want to take. He said, “I think students with disabilities should be required to listen to the disabilities office.” He wanted to control more and more every time we met. I tried several times to sit down and calmly explain to him that I am his employer and regardless of what disability he thinks I have, he needed to respect me and my decisions. Then, he wanted to change our meeting spot, and told me I would meet where he wanted.

Finally, I fired him over his voice mail. That was not intentional, but he happened to not be home when I called, and I was just fed up. I said, “In case you are confused, I never hired you to… You’re fired.” He called the director of the disabilities office, thinking she had some authority and told her what happened. He was in for a surprise when she told him I could hire and fire any reader I wanted, and that I did not have to work with anyone who made me uncomfortable or disrespected me. She also told him to never bother coming looking for a job working with any of her other students with disabilities. She said when she told him this, he was just totally clueless, and had no idea what he did wrong. She told him that students with disabilities make their decisions like any other student at the university, and they are not disrespected and told what to do.

This experience taught me a very valuable lesson, which brings me to the next bit of advice… Always have more than one reader hired at a time. This is especially true if you are using other college students as readers. There will come a time when they will not be able to read for you because of needing to study, attend a special lecture, participate in sports or one of the other million things that college students do. There may also be a time when you need something read outside of the regularly scheduled meeting times with your reader. If you have a couple of people available, a couple of phone calls will usually turn up someone with a bit of time to read for you.