[Blindmath] CFA for Visually Impaired Candidates: Math and OtherChallenges

[Roopakshi Pathania]

Hi Greg,

Thanks, nice tip. I was going to try out the online option after I dealt with the download one. Although the application itself is accessible, the content is not. There is a basic text to speech option within Bookshelf.
Online books are readable to an extent. Math is completely unintelligible though. 
Besides when others can enjoy offline content, why can’t I in an alternative format?


--- On Fri, 2/18/11, Greg <gwblindman1 at gwblindman.org> wrote:

> From: Greg <gwblindman1 at gwblindman.org>
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] CFA for Visually Impaired Candidates: Math and OtherChallenges
> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics" <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Friday, February 18, 2011, 3:49 AM
> Hello,
> The school I attend, DeVry University online, is currently
> demoing Vital source.  I was fortunate enough to be one
> of the participants.  The best way to use vital source
> is to go to there site and log into your account.  View
> the books online.  From what testing I  have done
> it is very accessible. Once you log into your account and
> open up your book you can copy and paste the text you
> need.  So you could copy and paste the whole book into
> a document type of your choice.  It may take some time
> because you will have to copy and paste each page. 
> Another good thing about it is that all tables and figures
> are seperated out from the main page and are accessed
> seperatly. I really encourage you to take a look at the
> online version of Vital source.
> Hope this helps,
> Greg Wocher
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Roopakshi Pathania"
> <r_akshi_tgk at yahoo.com>
> To: <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 11:36 AM
> Subject: [Blindmath] CFA for Visually Impaired Candidates:
> Math and OtherChallenges
> 
> 
> > 
> > For those who are intrigued enough to read the email
> based on the subject, here is the story.
> > 
> > I have gone and done yet another crazy thing in my
> life: registered for Chartered Financial Analyst (CFA) June
> 2011 exam.
> > I knew that there were going to be problems especially
> since CFA people informed me that they do not have any
> special provisions for the Math portion of the course. No
> LaTeX source, no MathML, and no Braille.
> > But I thought that I’ll use InftyReader to solve
> that problem.
> > 
> > At this point of time, I’m guessing that there are
> probably around 10 – 20 blind individuals who have taken
> this exam. And if anyone on this list knows of such a
> creature, I would appreciate knowing about her or him.
> > 
> > Registration was tough as CFA institute’s website
> isn’t particularly accessible. Anyway, I’m use to
> inaccessible websites.
> > 
> > Now comes the interesting part. The curriculum ebooks
> have to be downloaded through a Bookshelf application by a
> company called VitalSource Technologies.
> > This application is accessible to a certain extent.
> However, I haven’t been able to download a single book.
> The folder that Bookshelf creates within My Documents is
> empty even after the download/ cancel button has disappeared
> for the book. No way of finding out the download progress.
> > There is also an app for iPhone/ iPod Touch. On my
> first try, it took so long to download a book that I got a
> “request timed out” message. Will try out again later.
> > 
> > But I’m now worried about the quality of the PDFs
> that would be provided. What if they have low resolution or
> what if they are only scanned images?
> > InftyReader doesn’t play well with those kinds of
> books.
> > Also, they might not allow me to move PDFs out of the
> folder.
> > 
> > As if that’s not enough, here is what they need to
> allow me the privilege to use a writer.
> > 
> > “4. In addition to Parts I, II, and a comprehensive
> evaluation, you must attach all relevant professional
> documentation such as: all past professional evaluations,
> school records, report cards, transcripts, special education
> reports, previous test results (such as SAT/ACT), faculty
> comments, job performance reviews, a personal statement, or
> any other documentation demonstrating a history of
> significant impairment.”
> > 
> > Why should I submit all these documents? Don’t they
> trust evaluation performed by a medical professional?
> > This is way more than what GRE guys ask for.
> > I’ll keep more of my personals views off-list.
> > All in all, I’m rather disappointed. I thought ADA
> compliance should be better than the kind of treatment I get
> from examination authorities in India.
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
> > 
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> > 
> 
> 
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