[Blindmath] CFA for Visually Impaired Candidates: Math and Other Challenges

Fri Feb 18 18:39:46 UTC 2011

Hi

Yes, FRM is actually my #1 desired certification, one I considered
before CFA. I worked as a market risk analyst for 2 years and my
colleagues were taking this certification, though it is notoriously
difficult. Most of the guys I worked with had a PHD in math or
engineering from American universities and were insanely smart, still
they struggled.
I want to do this, but only when math accessibility has been sorted
out so that I feel I have a reasonable chance at concentrating on
studying, as opposed to fighting for accessibility.
I think math accessibility is so vital, precisely because of
certification programs, where the only help you can get is via law
suits, there is no disability staff available to transcribe your
material, there is precious little that can be done other than
manually scan and transcribe math into alternate formats, which is
very expensive and takes weeks or months, and I am not even sure how
to go about it outside of a university setting, whether to sue the
content provider until they provide the material and pay for the
transcription, or hire me a reader, which is not how I want to do
things and would not serve me when I want to use this information for
work.
Also there is the issue of important professional books one needs to
read as part of one's job. I got a copy of a asset management
benchmarking and strategies from the author after showing proof of
purchase but, guess what, equations were entirely inaccessible, and
this made the book mostly useless to me. Of course now, I could, at
least, ask for Word with MathML in it and use MathType to convert all
MathML objects into LaTeX, which would make them more accessible but I
was not aware of this possibility back in 2007.

We have to work together to make math more easily accessible,
publishers by providing MathML within their documents (which can
benefit them in multiple ways, enable search and better device
compatibility) and Assistive Technology people for generating
accessible formats from MathML, braille, refreshable braille, speech,
large print etc.
There are a few good initiatives, Duxbury has done a lot with Math
support in DBT 11.1, but everyone needs to do more to make this a
reality.
Math users need to complain and point out options, government to
provide some regulatory guidelines and standards and make math
requirements more formalized, publishers or content providers have to
make an effort to find a solution to either expose MathML to Assistive
Technology or turn it into accessible interfaces themselves, such as
reading or braille support on the Kindle.
MathML is a key technology both in the newly released first draft of
ePub3 for eBooks as well as HTML5, so it seems that we have an
opportunity at better access to mainstream information soon (the ePub
standard should be finalized and published in May, that is the goal,
HTML5 is a few years away from being formalized and published, but
aspects of these technologies are already being used).
But we still need to be sure that our technology and the eBook reading
platform technology will enable us to take advantage of the
standardization.
I really hope that NFB and other organizations will get involved,
provide feedback to everyone, guidance and voice their concerns on
behalf of the users. So far I have contacted them and they do not seem
to be particularly interested (math accessibility is only a small
portion of accessibility and, I think, may often fall by the wayside).
At least it has been hard to get feedback from them, and I hope this may change.
But, keep up the fight and let us know what you hear from CFA, this is
extremely important for our futures, I believe.
I know if anyone can get this done, you can.
Cheers
-B

On 2/18/11, Jennifer C. Allen-Barker, OTR/L <jcbarker at calpoly.edu> wrote:
> Thanks for clarifying their location.  Certainly, since it is US based, it
> should be ADA compliant, as should the VitalSource book.  I would think that
> NFB would be interested in addressing this, as the accessibility issues
> could keep people from certifications that would benefit their employment.
> Good luck to you,
>
>
> Jennifer C. Allen-Barker, OTR/L
> Access Specialist
> Disability Resource Center
> CA Polytechnic State Uni.
> 805-756-0134
> jcbarker at calpoly.edu
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Roopakshi Pathania" <r_akshi_tgk at yahoo.com>
> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics"
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2011 10:01:49 AM
> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] CFA for Visually Impaired Candidates: Math
> and        Other Challenges
>
>
> Hi Jennifer,
>
> Thanks for your comments.
> CFA conducts tests internationally, and since they are based in USA, they
> have to offer there courses that meet ADA guidelines to everyone.
> So, technically, it shouldn't matter whether I'm in India or in USA.
>
> They seem to be easing slightly on the documentation issue.
> The form that mentions these guideline is berried in the website and you can
> only see the guidelines once you've created a login id.
>
>
> --- On Thu, 2/17/11, Jennifer C. Allen-Barker, OTR/L <jcbarker at calpoly.edu>
> wrote:
>
>> From: Jennifer C. Allen-Barker, OTR/L <jcbarker at calpoly.edu>
>> Subject: Re: [Blindmath] CFA for Visually Impaired Candidates: Math and
>> Other Challenges
>> To: "Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics"
>> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
>> Date: Thursday, February 17, 2011, 11:37 PM
>>
>>
>> I'm not clear whether your exam is taking place in the US
>> or India.  If in the US, I remember in the past year the
>> NFB taking on law school admissions processes due to lack of
>> accessibility of the online application form, which was
>> required to be done electronically, was not accessible to
>> screen readers and the third party handling the
>> applications for a number of law schools in this country
>> refused to offer assistance to an applicant who could not
>> independently use the online system.  My recollection is
>> that NFB caused the third party, or the individual law
>> schools, to provide assistance to applicants who could not
>> use the online system, and the third party is working to
>> make the online system accessible.  So, if this is in the
>> US, you may want to contact NFB for assistance on the
>> accessibility issues.
>>
>>
>>
>> The NFB may also be interested in the scope of
>> documentation required to justify your accommodation
>> requests.  Good luck
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jennifer C. Allen-Barker, OTR/L
>> Access Specialist
>> Disability Resource Center
>> CA Polytechnic State Uni.
>> 805-756-0134
>> jcbarker at calpoly.edu
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>>
>> Jennifer C. Allen-Barker, OTR/L
>> Access Specialist
>> Disability Resource Center
>> CA Polytechnic State Uni.
>> 805-756-0134
>> jcbarker at calpoly.edu
>>
>>
>> ----- Original Message -----
>> From: "Roopakshi Pathania" <r_akshi_tgk at yahoo.com>
>>
>> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
>>
>> Sent: Thursday, February 17, 2011 8:36:30 AM
>> Subject: [Blindmath] CFA for Visually Impaired Candidates:
>> Math and Other        Challenges
>>
>>
>> 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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