[Blindmath] Consultation regarding an Academic Mission Needed

[Birkir R. Gunnarsson]

Hi

How familiar are you with programming languages and accessible environments?
That is the largest payoff, in my experience. If you know that you
will be using .net or Eclipse, or some other environment, start
learning it now and practice.
Also find books like "teach yourself Java in 21 days". They are on
Bookshare, but also accessible for some fee ($20 a month I think) via
O'reilly publishing (their html bookself).
And go to town with those books, do the exercises, study the chapters,
become comfortable with the programming language and environment.
The math is kind of a secondary thing. Discrete mathwas the easiest
math course I took at the undergraduate level, that and linear
algebra. I hard a hard time with differential equations and advanced
claculus, whether it is me or accessibility or a combination I don't
know. I got acceptable grades (b+ I think in both) but had a hard time
with it.
So focus on computer science and if you need to drop a course or
postpone it, make it math.
See what MathPlayer can do for you with MathType (both from www.dessci.com).
Learn LaTeX if you don't know it already.
Check out www.access2science.com for resources for all of these things.
And, most imporantly, be optimistic and do not panic. I find that with
programming and math, especially, myself and other people I have
helped end up being so worried about whether they can do it, and so
afraid of the consequences of failing, that they spend more energy on
that than on learning the subject matter, and it distracts them
hugely.
If you fail in the beginning, just try again, and you can do it.
I know this is a bit more pep talk than something overly useful, but I
think you might benefit from it.
Cheers
-B

On 6/2/12, Tim in 't Veld <tim at dvlop.nl> wrote:
> Hamid,
> What graduate program will you take in which university? Do you depend
> on speech or can you effectively read large print?
>
> Regarding course load you'll just have to see how it works out - it all
> depends on your individual circumstances, time you can commit to the
> courses and previous experience. If you just turned visually impaired it
> would be reasonable to assume you'll probably need some extra time for
> your program but nobody can give you a generalized advice. Just check
> how it goes only don't carry on trying to keep up with all courses for
> too long if you notice you can't keep up, drop one of them in time.
>
> Your equipment list looks good. You may consider a magnification product
> such as Magic for which you can download a demo at the freedom
> scientific website to check if this is effective for you. Jaws is
> probably the best screen reader for programmers and even supports
> Microsoft visual studio 2010.
>
> A large screen is very beneficial when programming, but what size you
> need depends entirely on your residual vision and the only way to find
> that out is by trying a few options. Personally I have a very limited
> vision and a 19" screen is optimal for me, larger screens or widescreens
> just make it harder for me to keep an overview of the screen.
> I have my monitor on a monitor arm, so I can bring it very close to my
> face. If like many visually impaired users you have to bend over your
> desk to see your monitor I highly recommend a monitor arm, the Newstar
> D940HC is a very flexible choice.
>
> On 6/2/2012 11:54 AM, Hamid Hamraz wrote:
>> Dear all,
>>
>> I am going to start a computer science graduate program in US in the
>> upcoming fall. However, this is my first academic mission after I got
>> visually impaired. The standard load for a semester would be 3 graduate
>> courses. On the other hand, as you know, we blinds and VI folks are
>> remarkably slower in CS-related assignments like math, programming, etc.
>>
>> Now, I greatly appreciate it if experienced people in the list offer me
>> suggestions regarding the course load, etc. Besides, I should order
>> VI-related equipment for my workplace well in advance. So far I've thought
>> about these:
>>
>> 1. A large LCD (+25 inch)
>> 2. Headphone
>> 3. Scanner
>> 4. Printer
>> 5. Whiteboard (on which I can read single letters and digits or very large
>> figures/diagrams)
>> 6. Software (JAWS and Open Book to which I am very well accustomed)
>> 7. An ergonomic keyboard with many extra function keys
>>
>> Please note that I can not read Braille effectively (mostly because of
>> some very little tremor in my hands and fingers).
>>
>> If anybody has some other things to add to the list, I'd be glad to hear.
>>
>> Look forward to hearing back both your academic and non-academic advices.
>>
>> Many thanks,
>>
>> Hamid
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>
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