I just do not like meetings.
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@NicksWorld Yep, same thing with me. My dad had very high standards and I never was able to meet them. But you know someone's gotta be the disappointment in the family lol may as well be me.
@pawpower you're not a disappointment. Think about it, you live in New Orleans, have a good job as a teacher, have friends and dogs who care about and love you very much, and a house to live in that's yours. If anything, you can't get better than that in 2026, and all that while also being deaf-blind and having lung issues.
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@NicksWorld So here is the story, I was working for many many years at one of the blindness organizations in our city. I had a lot of wonderful colleagues that grew to be very close friends and are still very close friends. We had a terrible supervisor she herself was blind, but she had an inordinate amount of privilege, money, and help from the people in her life, all of whom could see. So she had a lot of unrealistic expectations about the demographic we were serving e.g. newly blind, largely poor older people. So I cared a lot about my clients, and I cared deeply for my colleagues, but one by one they all left and or were driven away by the harsh conditions of management and the poor leadership of my then boss. Eventually, I left as well and one of my colleagues who used to work at the first job with me and I formed the business and then we brought on my sign language interpreter. I care about them both very much and they are both very good friends to me and they have been for many years and the interesting thing is even though many of my other colleagues for my first job have moved away to find opportunities elsewhere. We are all still very good friends and stay in contact via text and we visit if we happen to be in the area. The boss on the other hand has had no contact with any of her people that she's supervised and is now in the executive level of management at that organization. So we each took from the experience what we valued. I took away friendships and community and she has taken away money and surface level success.
@pawpower I'm glad you found your people. That kind of stuff matters, it makes even the crazy days better when you know you have others willing to support you when you need it.
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@NicksWorld So here is the story, I was working for many many years at one of the blindness organizations in our city. I had a lot of wonderful colleagues that grew to be very close friends and are still very close friends. We had a terrible supervisor she herself was blind, but she had an inordinate amount of privilege, money, and help from the people in her life, all of whom could see. So she had a lot of unrealistic expectations about the demographic we were serving e.g. newly blind, largely poor older people. So I cared a lot about my clients, and I cared deeply for my colleagues, but one by one they all left and or were driven away by the harsh conditions of management and the poor leadership of my then boss. Eventually, I left as well and one of my colleagues who used to work at the first job with me and I formed the business and then we brought on my sign language interpreter. I care about them both very much and they are both very good friends to me and they have been for many years and the interesting thing is even though many of my other colleagues for my first job have moved away to find opportunities elsewhere. We are all still very good friends and stay in contact via text and we visit if we happen to be in the area. The boss on the other hand has had no contact with any of her people that she's supervised and is now in the executive level of management at that organization. So we each took from the experience what we valued. I took away friendships and community and she has taken away money and surface level success.
@pawpower At the end of the day, we value different things. The supervisor lady gets what she wanted, money and power, not altogether a bad thing, money equals choices, a lot of money equals a lot more choices. You however, have connections which is great for you. All this to say, you both ended up winning in the end, even in a round about manner.
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@pawpower you're not a disappointment. Think about it, you live in New Orleans, have a good job as a teacher, have friends and dogs who care about and love you very much, and a house to live in that's yours. If anything, you can't get better than that in 2026, and all that while also being deaf-blind and having lung issues.
@NicksWorld Oh no, I don't feel like I'm a disappointment. I am really happy with my life and I am grateful every day to be where I am and do what I do. I am immensely blessed, but I just meant that in my father's eyes and probably in the eyes of my family I am that family member! You know what I mean. But I am also 100% OK with that. It used to really hurt that I was always disappointing my parents and then I realized that I could either strive for what is probably impossible or I could strive for what I actually want and be truly happy with myself and so that is the course I chose and I have no regrets.
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@pawpower At the end of the day, we value different things. The supervisor lady gets what she wanted, money and power, not altogether a bad thing, money equals choices, a lot of money equals a lot more choices. You however, have connections which is great for you. All this to say, you both ended up winning in the end, even in a round about manner.
@NicksWorld Well, it helps that I'm not exactly poor! But even when I was at my most poor and most terrified when I first left my job to form the business, I was still grateful for the opportunity to at least try doing something different and to work with people who are affirming and kind
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@NicksWorld Oh no, I don't feel like I'm a disappointment. I am really happy with my life and I am grateful every day to be where I am and do what I do. I am immensely blessed, but I just meant that in my father's eyes and probably in the eyes of my family I am that family member! You know what I mean. But I am also 100% OK with that. It used to really hurt that I was always disappointing my parents and then I realized that I could either strive for what is probably impossible or I could strive for what I actually want and be truly happy with myself and so that is the course I chose and I have no regrets.
@pawpower Oh, I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I'm also dealing with after lecture brain so forgive me if I'm slow on the up-take.
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@pawpower Oh, I see. Sorry for the misunderstanding. I'm also dealing with after lecture brain so forgive me if I'm slow on the up-take.
@NicksWorld Well, my reply wasn't exactly very clear so I totally see how you could read into that. I hope you have a good time tonight with your fellow attendees. Have you met any cool people?
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@NicksWorld Well, my reply wasn't exactly very clear so I totally see how you could read into that. I hope you have a good time tonight with your fellow attendees. Have you met any cool people?
@pawpower I have. Most are older than me though. It's an interesting time but right now I'm in my dorm room. Most of the people here that I met have been here for months or this isn't their first time attending any of their training sessions. I don't really feel awkward though. I'm just not really the best at sitting still for hours and hours. I'll admit, I was browsing Mastodon while doing it because I just couldn't keep still and I just checked out before the interractive activity.
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@pawpower I have. Most are older than me though. It's an interesting time but right now I'm in my dorm room. Most of the people here that I met have been here for months or this isn't their first time attending any of their training sessions. I don't really feel awkward though. I'm just not really the best at sitting still for hours and hours. I'll admit, I was browsing Mastodon while doing it because I just couldn't keep still and I just checked out before the interractive activity.
@NicksWorld I know that's the one bad thing about tactile sign language, you can't really scroll on your phone during meetings without it being obvious, although I have mastered the art of receiving sign language with my left hand and reading braille with my right, but it still is pretty obvious!
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@pawpower I wasn't the best student in school and while I worked hard, its hard when parents have high standards and its hard to even pay attention in class.
@NicksWorld @pawpower Well, unfortunately you will have to deal with meetings in most professional jobs. So you'll have to get used to it.
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@NicksWorld I know that's the one bad thing about tactile sign language, you can't really scroll on your phone during meetings without it being obvious, although I have mastered the art of receiving sign language with my left hand and reading braille with my right, but it still is pretty obvious!
@pawpower Nobody seemed to care. I had my speech off so it didn't really matter, if anything, it could have looked like me taking notes but only I know it wasn't. I actually hate taking notes, tried it on many occasions and I just couldn't do it, not to mention I would end up forgetting to read them after, except during my real estate course for some reason, of course, i only had a few days to study for the class test so I am guessing that's why I put in the brain power I did.
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@NicksWorld And the adults act like they've never made a mistake in their entire lives. I think the reason I've always wanted to be a teacher is that I had so many really awful teachers. And you could argue that their hearts were in the right place, but they did an incredible amount of damage. The one thing I always want my students to know is that I am human, I fuck up and make mistakes, when I was young, I made a lot of really dumb ass mistakes! The mistakes I make now are different, but I still make them. I have been irresponsible, I have been thoughtless, I have been dishonest, I have done many things in my life and it does no one a favor to try and pretend that I am always perfect. I want them to understand this because I used to feel really discouraged that I was not as perfect as the adults in my life, and as the adults made pains too seem as though they were perfect and never made mistakes and like they didn't understand what it was like to be a teenager. I will never forget what it was like to be a young insecure teenager. It's one of the reason that middle school and high school are my favorite grades to teach. There is not a lot of understanding and compassion there and if I do one thing, it is my hope that I can bring those things to the table with my students.
@pawpower @NicksWorld I loved working in middle school. The kids were a mess but I managed to reach a lot of kids who needed support and to know they were respected and cared about. I have fond memories of some pretty tough students.
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@NicksWorld @pawpower Well, unfortunately you will have to deal with meetings in most professional jobs. So you'll have to get used to it.
@baxaphobia @pawpower Yeah, I know, still sucks though.
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@pawpower @NicksWorld I loved working in middle school. The kids were a mess but I managed to reach a lot of kids who needed support and to know they were respected and cared about. I have fond memories of some pretty tough students.
@baxaphobia @pawpower I bet you were a great teacher.
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@NicksWorld And the adults act like they've never made a mistake in their entire lives. I think the reason I've always wanted to be a teacher is that I had so many really awful teachers. And you could argue that their hearts were in the right place, but they did an incredible amount of damage. The one thing I always want my students to know is that I am human, I fuck up and make mistakes, when I was young, I made a lot of really dumb ass mistakes! The mistakes I make now are different, but I still make them. I have been irresponsible, I have been thoughtless, I have been dishonest, I have done many things in my life and it does no one a favor to try and pretend that I am always perfect. I want them to understand this because I used to feel really discouraged that I was not as perfect as the adults in my life, and as the adults made pains too seem as though they were perfect and never made mistakes and like they didn't understand what it was like to be a teenager. I will never forget what it was like to be a young insecure teenager. It's one of the reason that middle school and high school are my favorite grades to teach. There is not a lot of understanding and compassion there and if I do one thing, it is my hope that I can bring those things to the table with my students.
@pawpower @NicksWorld One of my former students in middle school ended up doing time for stealing a car. Well, he turned his life around and now has a blind son. When I saw him he apologized for being such a little shit in school. He is now a wonderful parent and his son is looking at going to law school.
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@NicksWorld Yes, the way that many of my students are treated in IEP meetings makes my skin crawl. Teachers and parents talking about the student not to them, and if I need to say negative things about a student, I try to frame it as diplomatically and as kindly as possible, and not as a moral failing, but as a skill that we need to work on. Then I say a lot of good things because I will never forget how it felt to be a student and one of those. Like I was worthless and never going to amount to anything but a bunch of mistakes and unachieved goals. I would leave and honestly wish that I were dead for days afterward.
@pawpower @NicksWorld Yep, they said I could probably never live on my own, in front of me. All that, in my senior year IEP. I honestly don't remember even going to any others.
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@pawpower @NicksWorld One of my former students in middle school ended up doing time for stealing a car. Well, he turned his life around and now has a blind son. When I saw him he apologized for being such a little shit in school. He is now a wonderful parent and his son is looking at going to law school.
@baxaphobia @pawpower The irony is not lost on me this time. Seriously though, I'm glad things worked out for him.
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@pawpower @NicksWorld Yep, they said I could probably never live on my own, in front of me. All that, in my senior year IEP. I honestly don't remember even going to any others.
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@NicksWorld And the adults act like they've never made a mistake in their entire lives. I think the reason I've always wanted to be a teacher is that I had so many really awful teachers. And you could argue that their hearts were in the right place, but they did an incredible amount of damage. The one thing I always want my students to know is that I am human, I fuck up and make mistakes, when I was young, I made a lot of really dumb ass mistakes! The mistakes I make now are different, but I still make them. I have been irresponsible, I have been thoughtless, I have been dishonest, I have done many things in my life and it does no one a favor to try and pretend that I am always perfect. I want them to understand this because I used to feel really discouraged that I was not as perfect as the adults in my life, and as the adults made pains too seem as though they were perfect and never made mistakes and like they didn't understand what it was like to be a teenager. I will never forget what it was like to be a young insecure teenager. It's one of the reason that middle school and high school are my favorite grades to teach. There is not a lot of understanding and compassion there and if I do one thing, it is my hope that I can bring those things to the table with my students.
@pawpower @NicksWorld Yeah. I act like a flesh and blood human in front of my students for that reason. They should know that I'm a person, not some Guru-esque authority figure. No matter how much my coworkers want to call me a Guru, tech wizard, whatever. I tried to get them to call me a Tech Priest, Warhammer 40K reference, but that never stuck.
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@baxaphobia @pawpower I bet you were a great teacher.
@NicksWorld @pawpower I enjoyed my students even if they were difficult.
