[Blindmath] access to statistics for blind students

Mon Aug 30 11:31:42 UTC 2010

It is nice to know that efforts are being made to make statistical packages 
accessible. I'm not as experienced as others are on this list. But here are 
my thoughts.

Starting from version 17th SPSs menus are readable with Jaws after 
installing java accessibility bridge. After using SPSs 18 I have not come 
across any major issue in using the menus. The output window remains totally 
inaccessible though. The available option is to import the output as a 
Microsoft word document. Though this is a reasonable solution. But it does 
not allow a blind user to take advantages of functions available in the 
output window.

I have found navigating in the SPSs data editor a problem. For example I am 
not aware of how to select specific range say from column one to case 50th 
in column 5 using a keyboard.

The ability to deal with graphics has already been mentioned in this thread.

I strongly feel that their is a need of tutorials on how to work with 
various statistical packages for Blind users. Dr. Godfrey's notes on using R 
are an only example I'm aware of notes on using any statistical package for 
Blinds. If we can make the learning of the software easier for the Blinds 
then they can spend more time on learning the concepts.

As a final thought I'm one of those students who receives little guidance 
from teachers and help from other students in statistics. So ideally I 
prefer a software that can format the results of my analysis. In my opinion 
SPSS does a very good job of it. But I've found R and stata, the other two 
software's that I have used, not  presenting results in a way that they can 
be directly incorporated into assignments and reports. I have heard that 
LaTeX is a solution of this issue in both R and Stata. But In my University 
no one is familiar with LaTeX. Though slightly off topic. But I guess we do 
need tutorials on LaTeX for Blinds as well.

 I must share the view point of many SPSS users on a major SPSS users 
mailing list. Members of that list believe that the cost of SPSS will soon 
make Universities to switch to Stata or to R. So without doubt SPSS may be a 
leader in the industry today. But this situation at least in Universities 
may change shortly.

Finally  in my opinion tutorials designed with a Blind user in mind are very 
important. For example, I have learned several things about outlook express 
which are not covered in Jaws documentation. But those documentations were 
pivotal in getting me started.

I apologise if my comments made no sense to anyone.

Regards,
Faiz.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Vincent Martin" <vmartin at mindspring.com>
To: <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2010 11:31 PM
Subject: [Blindmath] access to statistics for blind students

My advisor has assigned a Post doc and a couple of more people in the
sonnification lab at Georgia Tech to start working with me on an Accessible
Statistics project.  What we need to determine is exactly how to go about
approaching the entire problem.  The ultimate goal is to create both an
formal and informal approach towards the topic, such as just presenting and
teaching Statistics to blind high school and college students.  The other is
a way to make the output from SPSS and other calculating packages
accessible.

Since SPSS is by far the leader in the industry, we would like to make their
program accessible to screenreading programs.  We know that "R" can be
utilized by using command lines from the terminal prompt, but that still
requires blind students to do way more than their sighted peers just to do
their calculations.  What we really would like input from the community
about is what is the most important thing to attack first.  I have a STATS
class this semester and we are using SPSS for the lab portion and also to
complete any class project.  This is now the standard in most universities
in the country, whether it is undergratuate or graduate level.  Since I will
have another year and a half of classess in Statistics and then research on
a dissertation, making SPSS is the priority for me.

-----Original Message-----
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Behalf Of blindmath-request at nfbnet.org
Sent: Sunday, August 29, 2010 1:00 PM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Subject: Blindmath Digest, Vol 49, Issue 22

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Today's Topics:

   1. Fw: [Nfb-science] Fw: Canadian scientists envision synthetic
      corneas (Christine Szostak)

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Message: 1
Date: Sat, 28 Aug 2010 13:57:38 -0400
From: "Christine Szostak" <szostak.1 at osu.edu>
To: "Discussion list for NABS, National Alliance of Blind Students."
<nabs at acb.org>, "Blind Math list for those interested in
mathematics"
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [Blindmath] Fw: [Nfb-science] Fw: Canadian scientists
envision synthetic corneas
Message-ID: <5BEDF5F3F5F54D009DDDDB6D26C43B37 at cs11>
Content-Type: text/plain; format=flowed; charset="iso-8859-1";
reply-type=original

Hi All,
  I just thought some hear might be interested. I apologize as this is not
100% related to list topics, but  it may prove of interest to many here.
many thanks,
Christine
Christine M. Szostak
Graduate Student
Language Perception Laboratory
Department of Psychology, Cognitive Area
The Ohio State University
Columbus, Ohio
szostak.1 at osu.edu
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "qubit" <lauraeaves at yahoo.com>
To: <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>; <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 11:06 PM
Subject: [Nfb-science] Fw: Canadian scientists envision synthetic corneas

I recently got the following article from a friend and thought it was quite
exciting if it can be perfected.  I am sending it along for those interested

in corneal transplants.
Enjoy!
--le

----- Original Message ----- 
From: Gianfranco Di Cosmo
To: Undisclosed-Recipient:;
Sent: Thursday, August 26, 2010 3:13 AM
Subject: Canadian scientists envision synthetic corneas

Canadian researchers may have made a breakthrough in the treatment of
blindness caused by damaged corneas.

They've developed a biosynthetic cornea that can actually help the eye
repair its own damaged eye tissue and restore vision. And with further
research, they say their approach could help restore sight to millions of
people around the world who have lost their sight from diseases that lead to

clouding of the cornea.

The research, published today in the journal Science Translational Medicine
is a small one, involving just 10 people. But scientists say they were
surprised that the treatment worked in the majority of patients who had
scarred corneas, helping to restore the sight of nine of the 10 patients.

The cornea is the thin, transparent layer of collagen and cells that acts as

a window on the eyeball. In most cases of corneal damage, only a transplant
can restore sight.

But in this research, Dr. May Griffith of the Ottawa Hospital Research
Institute, the University of Ottawa and Link?ping University in Sweden
created corneas using biosynthetic collagen produced in the lab that was
moulded into the shape of a cornea, much like a contact lens.

After first testing the corneas on pigs (who have eyes similar to humans),
they recruited 10 Swedish patients with advanced keratoconus, or central
corneal scarring. Each patient underwent surgery in 2007 to remove damaged
corneal tissue. That was then replaced with corneas made from synthetic
human collagen, which were sewn onto the eyes.

For two years, researchers watched what happened. Over time, the implants
acted as scaffolding to help the eye restore normal corneal cell and nerve
growth.

"You put the material in the eye and it becomes almost an integral part. It
allows the natural cells of the person treated to go into the material and
become part of it," co-author Rejean Munger of the Ottawa Hospital Research
Institute told CTV News.

The corneas even became sensitive to touch and started making tears to keep
the eyes oxygenated.

Griffith says while the study was intended only to test the safety of the
new corneas, her team found that nine of the 10 patients saw their vision
improve, though some needed to wear contact lenses. The 10th patient is
improving though much more slowly.

"We were actually very surprised and happy that we saw improvement in the
vision," Griffith said.

"After surgery, patients didn't have perfect vision, but they could see
better," she says. "One patient had almost perfect vision; others had
slightly less than perfect vision."

The research was published Wednesday in the journal Science Translational
Medicine.

Page 2.
Dr. Keith Gordon of the CNIB notes that there are millions of people in
Canada and around the world who need new corneas, but there is a dire
shortage of donor corneas. A synthetic cornea from a lab would be an
important new way of treating patients.

"If these transplants are as effective as they appear to be, we have got a
winner. And it will be exciting and useful for people with vision loss due
to corneal disease," he says.

Researchers think it will take another five years to further improve the
implants, and to test them in other eye conditions.

With a report from CTV's medical specialist Avis Favaro and producer
Elizabeth St. Philip

CTV.ca News Staff

Posted at 2010/08/25 18:51:13

If you want to visit my website,   http://dicosmo.ifreepages.com/

Gianfranco

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