Ann Naber's Story

Judging by college freshman Anne Naber's active life and numerous accomplishments, it's clear that being blind has done little to prevent her from living the life she chooses. 

The 18-year-old is a strong student, active volunteer and avid skier. After attending Twin Cities Academy, a St. Paul charter school, she was accepted at St. Olaf College, where she now majors in political science. 

She has volunteered with the Animal Humane Society, the Salvation Army, Loaves and Fishes, and State Services for the Blind's Braille Services Unit. During the school year, she devoted one Saturday a month to mentoring younger blind students. She’s gone to several “Youth Slams,” National Federation of the Blind’s summer science program. “One year I was a reporter for the ‘Slam News,’ and another year I was on a team that got to test the first model car for blind drivers, then share our ideas with the developers,” says Anne.

Along the way, there have been some needed accommodations. Since she was three years old, she’s had an orientation and mobility instructor who has helped Anne orient to new environments, most recently the St. Olaf campus. Through SSB's Communication Center, Anne has had her textbooks put into braille, giving her timely access to the same instructional materials as her fellow students.

When she was younger, she also had such materials as Girl Scout manuals, school play scripts and camp materials put into braille. She currently uses the National Library Service’s digital player to listen to leisure books, such as mysteries and historical fiction. Anne’s mom, Dorie Miller, also learned basic braille through a “Braille for Parents” class put on by the Communication Center.

Anne appreciates the option to have information transcribed into braille. “It’s not as easy to find a place that will do braille,” she said. “But I learn better with braille text than I do with audio transcriptions.” She gives a little shudder when she thinks about taking her pre-calculus class without a braille text. “Listening to it on CD just wouldn’t have worked — it was HUGE to me to have that text in braille.”

St. Olaf will now take on the bulk of her transcribing needs, though the Communication Center will continue to do some of her materials, most recently an intermediate Spanish textbook, as well as the exam Anne took to test out of two semesters of Spanish.

With background in math, science, Spanish and journalism, to name a few subjects, why did Anne choose political science as a major? It’s because she considers political science good preparation for a potential career in disability law.

Anne is part of a generation born after the passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Education for All Handicapped Children Act (now the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act). These civil rights laws guarantee that people with disabilities have equal access to education, employment, public services, and public accommodations.

The federal laws tremendous steps forward in public policy, but Anne has had some recent experiences that have shown her that the ADA hasn’t completely eliminated discrimination against people with disabilities. 

“Two summers ago, I participated in a two-month Teen Empowerment Academy to help learn independent living skills,” recalls Anne. “A bunch of us wanted to go to a skating rink during our off hours and the rink wouldn’t let us in because we were blind.”

She also has faced challenges at airports. Even though she is well traveled, she finds that airline personnel don’t always trust her to know her own capabilities. “When I travel alone or with a blind friend, we ask for a guide to show us to the next gate, but even though we specifically say we do NOT need a wheelchair or a cart, they often make us use one,” she says. “Another time a friend and I were traveling with my parents and weren’t seated adjacent to them in the plane. Although my friend and I were both 17 and experienced travelers, the flight attendants insisted that people change their seats so my parents could sit directly behind me, even though we all told them it was not necessary.”

Most recently, Anne’s Advanced Placement exam for English was originally disqualified because she had used a braille writer to take the test, even though the accommodation had been approved in advance. Anne and her parents had to spend considerable time getting the ruling overturned. In summary, says Anne, “We’ve made a lot of progress, but there are still attitudes that need changing. We still need people who are willing to work to make all aspects of the ADA a reality.”

Don’t be surprised if 10 years from now, one of those people is Anne.