NACC

Wow, the moment I’ve been waiting for has arrived!

On June 4, 2013 I received the email from Serge A. Buy the CEO of National Association of Career Colleges stating that they were letting Everest College know it was now ok to enroll me in the Early Childcare Assistant (ECA) program.

I’m not going to rip NACC apart in this post in regards to the emails they sent me last because in the end I got the result I was waiting for, the “right” result!

I will state however that I do not appreciate the fact that NACC tried to make themselves look good and me the bad person in the final emails. I am keeping everything that happened over the last couple of months until I have completed the program and I am certified.

On June 5, 2013 I received an email from Mike Lacroix asking if we could set up a day to meet and get things rolling for the ECA program. I was extremely excited to see that email and a bit confused because some steps had to be repeated, but hey it was a step in the direction that got me going in the direction I want!

So on June 11, 2013 I met with Mike Lacroix, Melissa Kingston, kate whom sorry I forgot what her title is and Natalie the instructor for the ECA program. The meeting with all parties went very very well and I can now look forward to my start date.

Hey, does anyone know when that is yet? Hmm, well August 26th or sometime in October.

The bad news is I have to be up at 5:30, yes I said, 5:30 in the morning! I mean not that I sleep much or at all most times, but that’s besides the point. 5:30 in the morning is just not right!

So I will now happily close chapter 1 with NACC and hope that I do not have to start another chapter. I would like to thank all the parties involved that helped me during this time and who stood by me and told me not to give up while I fought for what I wanted.

I hope that if another person that wishes to attend Everest College for the ECA program who is visually impaired or legally blind does not have to jump through these hoops. I hope I have at least been able to open that door for you.

Cat

Finally, the Serge A. Buy the CEO of NACC decided to get in touch with me. It only took them 2 months to do so! But sadly they didn’t have anything good to tell me.

Lets go over the recent contact shall we?

1. Based on discussions we’ve had with several parties, we may be looking at a solution for you. The solution would be to look at adapting some parts of the program for you and also trying to find innovative solutions during the delivery of the program itself.

I would like to know where was I during these conversations? How can you adapt something for a person without speaking with them as well and seeing what adaptations work for them? How come Everest College wasn’t also included in this conversation? I mean it is Everest College giving me the education after all, not NACC.

2. There are three conditions however.

I can’t believe they had the nerve to ask for these!

Condition 1. We need to be able to confirm that you would be able to graduate the program. This protects you as you pay for your education. While we are willing to attempt the accommodation, there’s no way for us to confirm that you would be able to graduate. You would need to sign a waiver stating that you are aware that you may or may not be able to graduate and, should the college and NACC make efforts to accommodate your needs, your relieve them of any responsibility should you not be able to graduate.

Would you ask a sighted person to sign anything stating they won’t hold the school or you responsible if they don’t graduate? No one knows for certain they will be able to successfully complete a program.

NACC everyone keep in mind is only the organization that provides me with the certification after I complete the program at Everest. It is between Everest and myself on discussing the education side of things. Everest has not asked me for any letter. If I don’t successfully complete a program due to any reason besides adaptations for me being refused or something is on me. Why would I hold anyone else responsible except myself?

Condition 2. We will need confirmation and agreement from the Ministry of Training Colleges and Universities that they agree with any changes that we will make to the program.

Sorry I don’t even agree with this. Again you have not spoken with me to see what adaptations I need or how I learn. How can you adapt something for someone you’ve never sat down and spoken with? Again NACC you’re stepping out of your role. Everest and I already have adaptations for me in place for the ECA (early child care assistant) program. This is something I gathered over a month ago. A job you were suppose to be looking into but never did.

The problem with this is you could pick adaptations that are way out in left field. They might help someone, but they won’t help me. Why would anyone in their right mind say yes to something like this and leave themselves in a bad spot if the adaptations don’t meet their needs? I mean last I checked not all students learn the same. One adaptations work for one person may not work for another.

Condition 3. The College and the instructor need to be ready to work with you and accommodate your needs.

Hmm, how many times must I repeat this one? Lets see, Everest and i have been in communication since day one about adapting programs for me and how best the staff can be of help. Everest College and I have already come up with adaptations for me for the ECA program that are satisfactory for all parties. NACC you have nothing, absolutely nothing to do with the education side of this issue! Any problems on that side are delt with between myself and Everest College, not you!

NACC’s closing remark:
We’re sincerely trying our best to help you succeed in this project.

Um, they are? Am I missing something then, because I definitely don’t see them being helpful right now.

This that I’ve gone over today is the letter I received yesterday after my advocates finally reached NACC. I also forwarded this letter over to them since they were somehow left out of the communication.

My advocates called me after receiving this letter and my response back to NACC so we could touch base. According to them Serge A. Buy is concerned that I will sue NACC if I can’t complete the program.

Great, have them worried, but they are worried for the wrong reason.

I will only sue them if I am not allowed to take the program or complete the program if accomidations aren’t made. This is the only reason this has come to the attention of anyone.

My advocates and I are going to wait until June 1st to see if they respond to my recent letter back to them before discussing the next step.

For anyone that needs to catch up on this thread, then a great place to start is right over here

Thanks for reading.

Cat

Today is May 10, 2013 and as of today I have still not heard a word back from NACC on the matter of their out right discrimination against me.

Serge A. Buy the CEO Director General of National Association of Career Colleges has been the one I have been communicating with. This CEO is the one that claims they would “look” into things and “work with me on seeing how the program could be adapted for a blind person like I said it could.

But, where is Serge A. Buy hiding? I’ve sent emails asking for updates and have not heard back. A person from another organization on my behalf has also tried contacting Serge A. Buy with no response. Are they hoping that this matter will just go away and I won’t push this matter forward? Sorry, not going to happen!

What I would like to know is why hasn’t NACC tried to follow up on anything they said they would do? Why are they refusing a person with a disability the opportunity to get an education? Why in their out right discrimination are they also dragging Everest College down with them?

Everest College is now because of NACC stating that they will not enrol me in the program until my fight with NACC is complete. I believe this is a pile of crap and told them so. Everest provides the education, NACC provides the certification or whatever after I have successfully finished the program. My fight with NACC should not hinder me being successful in the program.

Everest has no reason to say no since the adaptations are already in place for me to do the program and I have the perfect placement in mind that is also in the area I wish to work when it comes time to placement time. So in my opinion right now Everest is being stupid and I told them as much. They are just too afraid of standing on their own or who knows what. They rather listen to a company who’s discriminating and they know they are than the student they’ve sat down and spoken with, made adaptations for and also agree that what NACC is doing is wrong.

What’s wrong with this picture?

If you’d like to catch up on this situation then please go here and if you have any suggestions, thoughts, comments or whatever on what I should do next please feel free to voice them.

Cat

Hi there everyone that is following this thread. If you’re not, then why not? Quick go over to the initial post so that you have an idea of what’s up and won’t be scratching your head.

The fight is now moving up the ladder and another person is entering the dispute. The last communication from NACC was on March 27th. They have not attempted to update me on if they are doing anything. So therefore I assume that they are just sitting on their ass and hoping that I drop the matter.

Sorry, that’s not going to happen!

Especially since I did their work for them and know even more on how the Early Child Care Assistance program at Everest College can be adapted for me and how I can be successful.

So, now to wait on the next person on my ladder of fighting discrimination from NACC to give me a call. I will update again when there’s more to report.

Cat

All names have been left out of this posting for now since it is an on going issue.

It’s frustrating enough being blind and trying to get a job when job seekers don’t look any further than your disability. What do you do when you’re blind and an organization absolutely refuses to let you get training in a field that you know you can do due to your disability?

A person over at National Association Career College states that

“With a disability myself, I would certainly not want to discriminate against anyone. Nor would I want any organization that I work with to discriminate.”

But it is exactly what they are doing.

A blind student is trying to apply to Everest College in the Early Child Care Assistance program. This field requires that you’re able to observe children at different age groups, (infants to school age) and NACC feels that a blind person is absolutely unable to do this in any way, shape or form!

Yes, it is difficult to do everything that a sighted person can do in this job, but is it impossible? No! Just ask any blind parent or any organization that actually works with disable children that are willing to work with a person that is blind who wishes to work at their facility.

This blind student did attend Algonquin College in a different program that in the end didn’t work out. The program although attempted was too hard to arrange so that the blind student could be successful. The program at Algonquin College is no where near the same as the one at Everest College, but since Algonquin told NACC in the end that it couldn’t be done with this student NACC feels that it works for Everest as well.

Wrong! The program at Algonquin College was more sighted than anything. The student would have had to be able to give shots, administer meds, give oxygen and so on. Maybe in time it could be figured out, but after some time off and really thinking about it the blind student figured it would be best not to continue. It wasn’t the exact type of job they were wanting.

The program at Everest is more hands on in working with children, getting down on the floor and playing with them if they are toddler/pre-school age or changing diapers if they are infants or helping with school work if they are in school. The program at Everest is a lot easier to adapt for a blind student course wise for one main fact of the courses are only one at a time and the longest is maybe 2 weeks in length. When the blind student tried pointing out that Everst would be easy to adapt, this is what they received.

A NACC representative says that “I would be interested to understand how you believe that program would be extremely easy to adapt. If that is the case, and we can do it, I’ll be more than happy to facilitate the process.”

But when they were given some examples on how this could be done and how frustrating this is becoming, this is the response that was returned.

“And just so you understand, I’m also annoyed we’re hitting a brick wall. I was hoping that what you had said about Algonquin would have helped us but that’s not the case.”

Well duh! Of course it’s not the case the programs aren’t the same. NACC would know this if they’d actually take time to listen to what the student is trying to tell them.

There are all sorts of accomidations that can be arranged in the program itself and placement setting for the blind person, but NACC is refusing to even consider working with the person to see how it will work.

Is a person that’s blind suppose to just let this go and say, “ah well, no big deal. I’ll just take some meaningless job that I’m not interested in?” Is that what NACC really wishes would happen? Is that what the NACC representative that says they are blind as well did?

Hmm, maybe they did and that’s why they don’t see it as a big deal and are closed minded.

As a blind parent of 2 adorable monsters and a person that has helped take care of friends little ones and volunteered with children in many cases I’m out raged by this. By NACC’s way of looking at things because I’m “blind” I can’t “observe” my children. There’s just no way.

Cat