[Arizona-students] ASU Student

Tue Apr 2 23:21:51 UTC 2013

I've found the best way to stay awake while listening to audio, or
electronic speech, is to take notes while listening and write down all
the major points. I use Braille, but you can take notes in whatever
format works for you--handwriting or typing and then enlarging if you
prefer. Also, it's not too late for you to learn Braille. If you have
a good teacher, or use Hadley materials, you can teach yourself at
least the alphabet over the summer. You may or may not want to use
Braille for school stuff, but at least knowing it for writing down
notes and quick things could be very helpful. When I have taken math
and statistics and used an audio textbook, I took notes in Braille and
that is how I was able to learn the math using speech. Again, if you
feel like Braille would be too much of a jump, you can take your math
notes in regular or large print. Speeding up the speech may also help
you stay engaged.
I'm curious--what did you do during your 15-years off from school and
what are you planning to do with your computer science degree?
As I said, I was president of Arizona's blind student division a long
time ago. I live in Colorado now but I understand the group has gone
through some leadership changes. The current president is someone
named Garrett Mooney. There's a phone number listed on the NFB of AZ
website:
480-389-5627
which I think may be Garrett's number. Also, the National Federation
of the Blind has a chapter for people living in the East Valley, so
Tempe, Mesa, Chandler etc. Their president is named Mark Feliz. He is
a totally blind teacher of blind high school students. You  can reach
him at:
480-890-8943
They meet the third Saturday of each month in the afternoon, I think
somewhere at Fiesta Mall. I believe a few other ASU students have been
attending those meetings lately.
You are in luck because even though BookShare is based in California,
one of their employees, Allison Hilliker, lives in Tempe! (and is also
active in the East Valley chapter). She can help you get oriented to
BookShare and get signed up. You can reach her at:
allisonh at benetech.org
BTW, the Web address for BookShare is:
www.bookshare.org

I hope this isn't too much information at once :).
Best,
Arielle

On 4/2/13, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu> wrote:
> Thank you for the info. I did not know about Book share.
>
> I have pondered learning to work with speech but I am so used to using my
> vision that I don't seem to retain as well or stay awake for that matter
> with audio books. I was told if I up the speech rate it would help.  I
> think one problem faced by legally blind people is we are only taught how
> to use our usable vision but receive really no blind skills that we may
> need when we cannot rely on our vision.
>
> During the summer when I am only taking two classes I will probably check
> otu working with speech. I think it could work for my biology class but not
> calculus. I am just not proficientat audio learning.
>
> I am even slower with CCTV verses large print even though large print is
> harder to read.
>
> I am sure my skills will be much more proficient soon I have been out of
> the homework and school setting for over 15 years.
>
>
> On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 1:57 PM, Arielle Silverman
> <Arielle.Silverman at asu.edu
>> wrote:
>
>> Hi Suzanne,
>> Welcome to the list. I am Arielle Silverman, a past president of the
>> Arizona Association of Blind Students (AABS). I grew up in Scottsdale
>> and attended ASU from 2003-2007, graduating with my bachelor's in
>> biology and psychology. I am almost totally blind, so I didn't use
>> CCTV's or large print, but I wanted to ask you if you had thought
>> about using a screen reader like JAWS or VoiceOver to read your
>> assignments, or if you have thought about getting your books from
>> either BookShare or Learning Ally. Screen readers like JAWS are not
>> very hard to learn and there are tons of people in AZ who would be
>> more than happy to help teach you. I suspect that you will find
>> reading is much quicker using speech than it is using print, which
>> you've said is getting slower for you. Also, if you get books from
>> BookShare (which is free for students), you can get your books in a
>> digital version that can be read in audio format, large print, E-text
>> or Braille, and Learning Ally provides books in digital audio. I hope
>> that will give you some more options to work with. I'm at work now so
>> this note is a little rushed, but I'll write again later tonight or
>> tomorrow. Best of luck and go Devils!
>> Arielle
>>
>> On 4/2/13, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu> wrote:
>> > I am already signed up with Disabled Resource Center and they provide
>> > my
>> > tests in large print and make the CCTV available if I take the test at
>> the
>> > DRC. In the past I always took my tests in the classroom with large
>> > print
>> > but I was not sure how much I may need the CCTV so this semester I
>> > tested
>> > at DRC.
>> >
>> > So far all the instructors have been very accommodating with things I
>> > may
>> > need.
>> >
>> > I will contact you about the AABS meetings.
>> >
>> >
>> > On Tue, Apr 2, 2013 at 1:08 PM, Darian Smith <dsmithnfb at gmail.com>
>> wrote:
>> >
>> >> Hello and welcome to the list!
>> >>  my name is Darian Smith.
>> >>  While I am not from Arizona, I am on this list as regional
>> >> representative
>> >>  for the aNational Association of Blind Students  where I serve  as
>> >> it's
>> >> 2nd Vice President.
>> >>
>> >>  Sometimes in situations like this, it's helpful to get connected with
>> >> the
>> >> disabled students  Office on campus. This can help  you get the
>> >> accommodations you think you may need.
>> >>  If you are willing to do this (assuming this is something that you
>> might
>> >> find  useful) You might find that, their backing  might help
>> >> instructors
>> >> understand what you need better.  Sometimes you might need someone to
>> >> be
>> >> a
>> >> reader on those tests, sometimes  you might be able  to get them in
>> >> electronic format, other times you might need it in braille and they
>> >> should
>> >> be able to help out with this.
>> >>
>> >>  I don't know  when AABS meets these days  and how often they meet,
>> >> but
>> >> if
>> >> you contact  me off-list i will make sure you get connected to someone
>> on
>> >> the board who can tell you this more clearly
>> >>   Best,
>> >>   Darian maybe even
>> >> On Apr 2, 2013, at 8:20 AM, Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu> wrote:
>> >>
>> >> > My name is Suzanneand I recently returned to school to finish my BS
>> >> > in
>> >> > Computer Science after being out of school for over 15 years. I have
>> >> > been
>> >> > legally blind since birth and I am looking to connect with other
>> >> > blind
>> >> > students. I started at ASU in January.
>> >> >
>> >> > When I last went to school they never did group quizzes. How do you
>> >> handle
>> >> > those?  I find no matter how many times I say I am legally blind or
>> >> > visually imapired and ask if things are described or written bigger
>> >> > they
>> >> > just don't seem to get it. I have only had 2 group quizzes so far.
>> >> > One
>> >> > I
>> >> > chose to just do by myself. The other I kinda of worked with others
>> but
>> >> > mostly just to verify my work.
>> >> >
>> >> > Now that I am 49 my reading vision with karge print seems to be
>> >> > worse
>> >> and I
>> >> > use more magnification of ebooks and CCTV but I find that I seem to
>> >> > take
>> >> > much more time than I did when I was previously in school.
>> >> >
>> >> > I would also like to talk with others about how to handle career
>> >> > fairs
>> >> and
>> >> > other things like that.
>> >> >
>> >> > Does the AZ student group hold meetings?
>> >> >
>> >> > Suzanne
>> >> > _______________________________________________
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>> >>
>> >>
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