daredevilkink | Discussion/Off-Topic Post #1

Are you familiar at all with the schools that are in Hells Kitchen area? (im doing some preliminary research myself but im just... *frustrated shaking of my computer*)

Specifically I'm wondering what schools exist (primary & middle/secondary), generally what sort of funding and facilities they have.
(also what american primary schools are like generally & more specifically if you have any experience with the implementation of Disability act's in schools/generally because while I've done a lot of research I know the legislation can often be very different from the reality of it's implementation)

Sorry, but as a relatively recent transplant, I'm not so useful on this one. TBH, DD has invented seemingly all the institutions that Matt interacts with, so you'd be more than justified in making stuff up. Plus, IRL Hell's Kitchen is pretty much nothing like the neighborhood portrayed in the series, so the resources available to actual schools are (hopefully????) better than what might be there in the shitstorm of DD's HK.

And I'm terribly ignorant about the laws and practices around students with disabilities. Maybe someone else can step up to the plate here.

fair enough! I thought it was a long shot but that didn't stop me asking tho. You have a good one!

There are a lot of disability services in New York city, though that doesn't mean that it isn't supremely expensive and inconvenient to have a disability. The subway system is not very accessible, particularly to people in wheelchairs, as not every station is required to have ramps/elevators. They have to rely on the bus system, which is slower. Also we all feel bad about it, but we HATE when people with wheelchairs need to get on the bus, because the bus has to come to a full stop, the driver has to get out, put out the ramp, wheel the person in, buckle them in, pull up the ramp, and then restart the bus. Easily takes 5 minutes. My friends in wheelchairs hate it too, because they're self-conscious about how long it takes and how everyone is seething at them.

I used to work on 23rd and 7th, which is Chelsea, and there was housing for the blind between my subway stop and my office, so I would have to look out for literally "not putting a stumbling block before the blind" i.e. bumping into them. The first 20 times you can't help but feel self-conscious about it.

- devilofmidtownwest

this is actually really useful thanks!

Is public transport in NYC mainly centred around the subway system? That's what I've heard.. but its a weird thought that the buses run so infrequently because in my city they're the integral part of the public transport.
In regards to cabs are they generally quite expensive & how easy to get a cab is it? are they generally considered safe to use? Also do you guys have issues with card swipe machines in cabs? (a lot of my relatives have been scammed recently cause of those machines)
(is uber a popular service to use?)

Again I really appreciate some of the insight on these things because it.. like there's a difference between reading online about public transport in NYC and the actual reality of experiencing it.

also; how big is hells kitchen? like... how long would it take you to commute from one end to the other. Can you easily walk from opposite ends of Hell's Kitchen or would u need to get transport for that?

It's very small. Easy to walk. Ridiculous not to walk, actually, because it has no subway lines running through it. It's also crazy safe. There is no reason not to walk there, except I guess if you're a woman and it's night. I've done it, but I am stupid sometimes.

devilofmidtownwest

Hell's Kitchen is less than one square mile.

The bus system is SLOW and people are pretty reliant on the subway system. Technically there's nothing wrong with the buses - they're actually very clean and reliable and way better smelling than the subway - but they just drive crazy slow and take forever at stops. When I was in Israel, the buses wouldn't even come to a full stop if the driver didn't feel like it and you had to jump on, but the buses also GOT SOMEWHERE in a reasonable amount of time.

Cabs are pretty expensive but safe and relatively clean. There's a cab driver's union and they have to go through fairly strict security checks and there's bulletproof glass between you and the driver (for your safety and theirs) and now there's an automated TV screen that plays irritating clips from news shows and talk shows and you have to disable the volume every time you get in. The cabbies can also refuse to take you somewhere if you aren't in the car with the door closed already, so very often they will drive by and roll up their windows and ask your destination, then just say "No way" and drive away if they don't want to take you. That's why a lot of us just get in the back of the cab (which is our right) and shut the door before saying the address. I've had a few cab drivers refuse me even then, but it's too much hassle to file a complaint.

We have Uber now, and people like it because they can call up for an Uber car while you have to go outside and wave for a cab (and if you're a person of color, they might not stop for you), but Uber doesn't come with the same safety guarantees as a yellow cab.

Some areas make cabs really necessary, like if you're trying to cross through Central Park (which is out of Hell's Kitchen's zone), because there's no subway lines through the park and the buses suck. Or actually if the weather is nice you can just run across the park in about the same time that a cab will take you during regular traffic hours.

Transit is heavily subway-based in Manhattan, though coverage isn't as good in the outer boroughs.

It's not so much that buses are infrequent as that they are sloooooow compared to the train. They stop every few blocks to let people on and off, and therefore take forever to get where you want to go. Trains are comparably speedy, especially if you can catch the express. I'm able-bodied and can manage all the stairs etc. of the subway system, but the only time I ever take the bus is if the train is down, if I'm going to the airport, or if I'm making a rare east-west (as opposed to north-south) trip.

I almost never take a cab because it's so pricey, but they're strictly regulated and quite safe. You have the iconic yellow medallion cabs in Manhattan, and more recently, the green boro taxis serving upper Manhattan and the outer boroughs. I think that Uber's on the rise, but I have no experience there.

As for your question about the size of HK, it might take ~30 mins max to walk from the north end at 59th to the south end at 34th, less if you're fast. Unless I had to travel the full length and was in a hurry, I'd walk it. All east/west travel would be by foot.

A single bus or train swipe is now $2.75, though people who frequently use the train get weekly/monthly passes.

I tell you what though, I would NOT want to be blind or visually impaired trying to use the subway in New York. Subways in general are crowded, but the one in New York has open-air tracks and you could potentially just be jostled right off the platform. Also, the directional signage is confusing. And it just smells, really really bad. Also, it's crowded and you're in close quarters with a lot of strange people; the last time I was in New York I walked by a woman who was literally beating up a payphone and screaming at it because it "stole" her quarter.

They're also really bad about announcing stops on the subway and they will try to slam those doors closed on you. I sprained my thumb on one once. I get lost sometimes, and I LIVE here, and have for ten years. But money is money, so we all take the subway. I've seen people with disabilities on the subway, including walkers and canes and guide dogs. If you need to get somewhere, you manage.

I have worked in NYC public schools, and they are generally scary as fuck. (Well, by high school anyway - when I was a program assistant, I wasn't allowed to walk in the halls alone or use the student restrooms because the safety hazard was significant.) In general, the school system suffers from serious problems because anyone who can afford to send their kids to private school does so, leaving behind a largely impoverished student body that needs more social services that current funding provides. Elementary schools are not violent, but they can be really chaotic, and it can be hard for advanced students to get a good education because so many students are struggling academically. Facility-wise, you have to keep in mind that we're talking about big cities without a lot of space. Not every school is going to have a gym, for example. There are quite a few Catholic schools aimed at parents who might not be able to afford a really fancy private school, and in my head canon, Matt might have gotten a scholarship to one of these (or if the order that ran his orphanage ran a school as well, he might have just attended there).

NYC does have some truly fabulous public high schools, but they're magnet schools -- which means that even though they're public institutions, you have to apply to get in. Applications are extraordinarily competitive, and Matt probably would have been up against a lot of wealthier students who had tutors to help prep their applications. Nonetheless, in my head canon, he got in to one of them. Bronx Science and Stuyvesant are two likely candidates IMHO, and they both have awesome debate teams, which would be a likely activity for a future lawyer.

I didn't deal with the Disability Act when I worked in NYC, but I do as a high school teacher outside NYC now. Most schools have one designated Special Education teacher whose job is to coordinate special services for any student who needs one. The quality of the services provided usually has a lot to do with how good this person is. Availability of Braille texts may be the biggest challenge Matt faced because they are very, very expensive. Braille books are delicate and have to be assembled by hand, and they're also much larger than "regular" books, so one novel might require 3-4 volumes. A public elementary or an underfunded private school might have really struggled to obtain these. If Matt is mid-twenties/early thirties, then he grew up before the smart phone age, so he wouldn't have had an app that could just read text for him although he may have been able to have books scanned and use OCR software.

Beyond that, a lot of stuff would have been up to the individual teacher. Most public school teachers are really overwhelmed right now because our student loads are high and our schools are very poorly funded. A lot of teachers will move heaven and earth to see that all their students get what they need, especially if it's a good student like Matt. On the other hand, there are assholes everywhere, and some overworked teachers might view Matt as a thorn in the side, or just one more difficult task they don't need. The accommodations for having a blind student in class aren't too burdensome - you just need to be willing to talk out loud about anything you write on the board, describe diagrams in detail, etc. -- but I know some people in my building who would think that would be unreasonable (and it would require a substantial departure from how some math/science teachers work).

If you have more questions about the school system, or about blind students in general, let me know. I have a blind student coming into my English class next year, so I'm learning a lot about how to make a classroom accessible.

holy shit
anon i just saw this and i am the person who needs so much information about american schooling and blind student accessibility.

(if you are comfortable with exchanging emails or some form of contact that would be gr9 btw)
but holy shit this is so useful ohmygodddd. you are an angel in human form and I am blessed by this bountiful information.

Okay so with the IDEA act for education of disabled students I'm wondering what sort of funding goes along with that, in terms of providing the student with reasonable accessibility tools. Would the school be able to purchase a braille printer or screenreaders for their computers or not for example?
How involved is the parent in the process and is there a lot of paperwork and just general admin stuff that they have to deal with. (im assuming so lol)
I guess you might not know but I saw that O&M training was included in the 1996(??) IDEA act and if you have some idea of how that would be incorporated into schools or school education programs (from what ive seen there's usually an independent source/clinic involved in O&M training and that would be done at the clinic or in home but im wondering how that intersects with school education.

The information about the magnet schools is really useful. What's usually involved in an application process?

In terms of your experience what accommodations have you been making to prepare for the blind student you mentioned? In terms of technology and communication with the student & family. Do you have involvement with preparing the material for the student or is it mostly passed on to the Special Education teacher you mentioned (such as formatting braille text properly and so forth)

thank you for offering to take more questions because i have so many. so many questions (like ive said looking it up is way way different to getting someone's actual experiances)

I'm glad this answer helped you so far! I hope you don't mind, but I'd rather keep our discussion here on the kink meme so it's accessible to anyone who needs it (and also, I'm terrible at remembering to check my fannish email since I don't use it very often). I've bookmarked this thread so I can check back.

Every state/city/school district sets up its funding a little differently, but in general, each state sets aside a portion of its education budget for special services (aka students with physical or learning disabilities). That money is then distributed to districts according to how many special needs students they have. Large urban districts would usually have a central office that maintains resources and supplies for students with disabilities. Individual schools can then check out the equipment they need for particular students. On the one hand, being in a large district like NYC public schools would probably be to Matt's advantage because he's definitely not the only blind student, so there are probably things like Braille printers floating around. On the other hand, most students with disabilities have learning disabilities, so that's where the school budget goes. I'd guess Matt's teachers probably could have laid hands on a Braille printer...but whether it worked is a separate question, which is pretty much the case with all school technology ever. A lot of magnet schools have their own separate funding, both from the district and private sources, that could have been used to get the tech Matt needed. Stuff like screen reading software is not super expensive, so I don't think that would have been a problem. Matt and/or his teachers probably could have gotten a lot of help (and Braille books) from the NY Public Library Program and the National Federation for the Blind.

I can't tell you the exact system required under the IDEA Act because it was superceded by the No Child Left Behind Act around 2005. Under that system, any student with physical or learning disabilities is entitled to an Individual Education Plan. Those plans are formulated by the school's special services coordinator and principals, and they stipulate exactly what accommodations are required for each student. I'd guess Matt's plan would have included being allowed to make audio recordings of lectures, help getting stuff in Braille or in audio book form, and possibly extra time to complete assignments since reading in Braille or listening to audio recordings can take a lot longer than skimming through a textbook. He would probably also have been entilted to a seat near the front of the room (to hear lectures) and unlimited library passes to have a quiet workspace (if other students talking really bothered him).

Private schools each have their own systems for handling these things. "Reasonable" accommodations is the key word -- if Matt won a scholarship to some really swanky private school like the Dalton School, they would have been legally required to use some of their multi-million dollar endowment to buy whatever the fuck Matt needed (and they would probaly do so happily, because why recruit a kid you don't plan to serve?) On the other hand, if Matt were at a small Catholic school targeted at the kind of families who can barely afford a private education, "reasonable" probably would have meant "do your best to find some Braille books and make sure the teachers describe stuff they write on the board."

Since Matt is obviously blind, he wouldn't have needed to prove he had a disability that requires accommodation, so that takes a lot of paperwork out of the system. He and his father probably filed a form after his accident, and the rest of the paperwork is on the school side. Paperwork and parents get involved when a student feels that they are not receiving the accmmodations they deserve, and parents sometimes have to get really pushy about this. Since Matt's a really good student, I'm guessing that most of his teachers would be happy to accommodate him. It's just a question of what happened when he inevitably ran up against that one ableist asshole who didn't want to help him.

As an English teacher in the smart phone era, I don't have to do that much to accommodate a blind student. There are apps to read printed text, so it doesn't matter too much if Braille documents are available. The main accommodation are to make sure I narrate anything I put on the board, to give him extra time to complete assignments, and to be understanding of spelling mistakes (Braille uses a lot of contractions that don't translate well to written English). For math and science classes that depend on intricate diagrams, the challenge can be bigger.

As for magnet applications, I don't know exactly what is required in NYC. For my district, there is a required exam, a couple recommendation letters, and an attendance/discipline report.

Hope this helps!

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