The best way to develop a rapport with student is to be clear about your needs. On the first day of classes, I tell the students about myself and set clear guidelines on how to interact with me such as saying their name before they ask a question and responding audibly to questions instead of raising their hands. It's also important to stick to these guidelines, so that you have what you need to be successful in teaching.

If students have never interacted with a blind person before, they sometimes try to interact with my sighted access assistants instead of me. I believe it's important to prepare your access assistants for this, so I make it a point to be clear that they need to defer the students to me when they have questions.