What a nice start of my first week of third quarter! I sent my photo to Savannah, my university’s main campus, last week as the photo that I sent was chosen for my university’s annual photography publication. Last Monday afternoon, I got an e-mail telling me that my photo was BENT in the mail! It’s not like I can just go to a printer and reprint the photo! It was created in the DARKROOM which meant that my print is technically “one of a kind.” So, I had to rush to the darkroom last Monday night and spend two hours reprinting my photo! Because it takes HOURS for my photograph to dry, I had to wait until the next morning to get it and send it off. Last Tuesday morning, I rushed back to the photography department and got the print, and ran down a few blocks from the campus to a FedEx store to ship off my photo. According to the tracking, it arrived in Savannah today, but you know how university mail works….it has to go through series of departments before it gets to the actual person. So, hopefully, I’ll know tomorrow if my photo arrived OK. It better because I stuffed the package with a ton of bubble wrap!

Other than that craziness, I had a nice start off with classes. Two of the professors whom I have, I already had in the previous quarters and so, it’s sweet because I really like them. I just have only one professor who’s new to me, and she seems to be a real sweetheart so far.

When I have new professors, I always send them an e-mail before classes start so that there are no surprises when I come to class. Here’s an example of an e-mail that I send to my new professors:

Dear Dr. ——————,

I’m looking forward to being in your 20th Century Art History course this quarter on Mondays and Wednesdays at 8AM - 10:30 AM. I was born profoundly deaf, but I hear with an extraordinary technology, cochlear implants, and I hear like an almost normal hearing person. Because my hearing is still not perfect, I will have a few accommodations which include an assistive listening device. I will have a speaker near my desk and you will wear a microphone so that I can hear you well. I would like to meet you at least 15 minutes before class starts this Monday so that I can give you my accommodation memo and show you how to use the assistive listening device. Please let me know if this will work; otherwise we can certainly arrange a different time.

Thank you in advance,

Rachel Chaikof

All of my professors for the past two years have been outstanding in dealing with my accommodations. I couldn’t have asked for better professors. They all come to me after class or even throughout the class and ask me to make sure that I’m doing well. They would come to me and say, “Did you get good notes from your classmates?” “Did you understand what I said?” “If you have any questions, please ask me anytime.” These past two years were my first time in many years to have ALL outstanding professors who go beyond the call of duty. From eighth grade through senior year in high school, I had at least one teacher who had difficulties dealing with my accommodations. Those kind of teachers usually had other issues, and I just had to learn not to take their actions personally and to speak up for myself. I can definitely say that, in spite of having crappy teachers during all those years, they certainly did help me grow up, become a stronger person, and become a better advocate.