[blindlaw] Blackbard Compatibility Issues with ZoomText

Tue Dec 9 22:18:15 UTC 2014

Anita,

If you believe you are being denied access to a college on-line program, you have the right to file a discrimination complaint with the U.S. Department of Education's Office for Civil Rights.  The complaint may be filed on-line at www.ed.gov.  

If you believe you are being denied access to a program of a place of public accommodation that is a private entity, you may file a complaint with the U.S. Department of Justice at www.ada.gov.

Please call me if you think I can help.  My work # is 206-607-1632.

Noel Nightingale

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Anita Keith-Foust via blindlaw
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2014 10:19 AM
To: 'Stephen Alexander Marositz'; 'Blind Law Mailing List'; 'Susan Kelly'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Blackbard Compatibility Issues with ZoomText

Dear Alex:

I agree. Here is the response that I received from PowerScore on Friday, December 5th when I asked about changing the images to pdf:
	"I am not aware of a way to convert the Blackboard slides into a PDF format, but I am looking into it. I am afraid, even if it is possible to create a PDF of the slide, that the content may still appear as an image rather than text. I will keep you posted if I find out anything further."

I am following up, but the class starts tonight and the problem has not been fixed. If they ever get it into pdf, I will be able to use Adobe Acrobat to convert the images to text..

The other problem is that Blackboard would freeze and stop working. The PC would have to be rebooted.

I agree that some professors may not know that they cannot post images of text, so their content would cause issues. The PowerScore course works to a degree, except the AppReader tool cannot be used on the materials that probably are images. 

It has been my experience that Blackboard's technical support personnel, that my professor and I contacted, absolutely made no efforts to solve the issue by contacting Ai Squared (the makers of ZoomText). They recommended JAWS. That is not resolving a compatibility issue that Blackboard has with ZoomText

Thanks.

Anita Keith-Foust
919-430-1978

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Stephen Alexander Marositz via blindlaw
Sent: Tuesday, December 9, 2014 11:38 AM
To: 'Susan Kelly'; 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Blackbard Compatibility Issues with ZoomText

Anita and All 

Can you be specific as to what difficulties you are having?  One thing to consider is that it may not be Blackboard itself that is presenting you with the accessibility problems you are facing.  In terms of learning management system (LMS) accessibility, there are "3 Cs" to keep in mind, containor, content and capability.  Blackboard, the containor, is fairly accessible as compared to the other competing LMSs.  It has no control over the content put in to it by your institution nor does it control what your institution does with it though.  PerhapsWhile you are working with Blackboard, you should also involve your institution, faculty, administrators, disability service provider and information technology to be sure it is not the content itself that is inaccessible to you.  

I hope this helps.  

Alex
-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Susan Kelly via blindlaw
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2014 7:55 AM
To: 'Anita Keith-Foust'; 'Blind Law Mailing List'; 'Michal Nowicki'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Blackbard Compatibility Issues with ZoomText

I'm not really sure about Window Eyes - the resident magnification program in Windows is what I was first using.  I think they are separate.  I currently use JAWS and MAGic at work, and Voice Over at home.  If you have access to an iPad or Mac, Voice Over is pre-loaded and seems to handle almost everything - but I agree - countless companies with countless different computer apps / programs need to learn and follow the law.

-----Original Message-----
From: Anita Keith-Foust [mailto:anitakeithfoust at gmail.com]
Sent: Tuesday, December 09, 2014 8:36 AM
To: Susan Kelly; 'Blind Law Mailing List'; 'Michal Nowicki'
Cc: AnitaKeithFoust at gmail.com
Subject: RE: [blindlaw] Blackbard Compatibility Issues with ZoomText

Dear Melanie and Susan:

So, is Windows Eyes a reader or just magnification?

I need a reader that will work with Blackboard and ZoomText. 

Note: JAWS is expensive, so that is not in the cards as a purchase to use Blackboard. Blackboard has got to step up.

Thanks.

Anita Keith-Foust
919-430-1978 

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Susan Kelly via blindlaw
Sent: Tuesday, December 9, 2014 10:02 AM
To: 'Michal Nowicki'; 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Blackbard Compatibility Issues with ZoomText

>From past experience with the Windows magnification, from before I had to move on to more powerful magnification and JAWS  / Voice Over for computer use, I personally would not rely on the Windows magnification for anything.
A major problem is that it tends to cut off otherwise viewable portions of the screen, and permit the user to manipulate the image to allow the entire screen to be seen.  This may not be a problem if the user is only magnify small portions of the screen, rather than the entire view, but I suspect that any of us who also need speech would not be able to benefit from anything less than total screen magnification.

-----Original Message-----
From: blind law [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michal Nowicki via blindlaw
Sent: Monday, December 08, 2014 8:14 PM
To: 'Blind Law Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Blackbard Compatibility Issues with ZoomText

Hi, Anita,

I'm sorry to hear that you have not been able to access Blackboard with ZoomText.  I am somewhat surprised that you are experiencing this problem, given that I successfully used Blackboard with JAWS in my undergrad years and always thought it was fully compatible with assistive technology.

Since I am a screen reader user, I can't give you any ZoomText-related tips.
However, Windows does have a built-in screen magnifier.  I don't know how it compares to ZoomText (though I suspect it to be much more basic since it is a free product), but if it does what you need it to do, perhaps you can useit to access Blackboard without accessibility barriers at least until the issue with ZoomText compatibility is resolved.  Good luck.

Michal

-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Anita Keith-Foust via blindlaw
Sent: Monday, December 8, 2014 7:36 PM
To: blindlaw at nfbnet.org
Subject: [blindlaw] Blackbard Compatibility Issues with ZoomText

Dear All:

Has anyone had problems with Blackboard and ZoomText or ZoomText with Speech?

I have had problems for years and the Blackboard technical support team has not tried to rectify it. They just say that Blackboard is compatible with JAWS.

I have contacted the CEO and Blackboard's legal department because I finally had to draw the line. I was enrolled in the PowerScore Online LSAT course, but had to withdraw because of compatibility issues. Also, because Blackboard is used by a large amount of colleges and universities, this will probably be an ongoing challenge as I move to graduate school.

Ai Squared (the makers of ZoomText) has tried to work with Blackboard for years and it seems that the ball is in Blackboard's court. I hope that others will contribute their experiences so that Blackboard will see that this is a consistent problem.

I look forward to your responses.

Thank you.

Anita Keith-Foust

919-430-1978

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