[Blindmath] MyMathLab and inaccessible etext

[Penny Gray]

Are you a Nemeth braille reader? If so, in the United States, they are required to make the book accessible to you. We'd braille our books for our students who need them.

Penny

-----Original Message-----
From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Michael Whapples
Sent: Wednesday, May 15, 2013 1:05 AM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] MyMathLab and inaccessible etext

See my comments below. My comments are general, in the US I do not know what the legal situation might be on whether you could push some of the points.

On 15/05/2013 04:05, Andy B. wrote:
> I am taking a college algebra class at school. The entire class is 
> done in MathLAB including the textbook. Unfortunately, I cannot get 
> the textbook in a usable format for screen readers; I use JAWS 14 and 
> Windows 8. I told the school to request MathML, but the publisher said 
> that the only format they have is an unlocked pdf file. I do not trust 
> these pdf files for math because JAWS reads left-to-right and 
> top-to-bottom. Considering the following things, what should I do to successfully get my math credit?
You are right to question PDF, at the moment PDF and math is not accessible.
>   
>
> 1.       I was required to buy into the class and textbook before having the
> ability to evaluate the accessibility of the textbook.
One would hope that then support will be given, probably this really should come from the school as they put together the course but the publisher might be able to help when it comes to the book.

While not really what you want, if they really cannot make it accessible then one would hope the course fee could be refunded.
> 2.       The school cannot get the textbook in a usable format
Depending on the circurmstance then the school may have an responsibility (may be a legal responsibility) to make the course accessible, this might involve them getting the book transcribed to a different format. In my view it does not matter the publisher does not have another format available, the school should have considered this when choosing their course books if they did not want the task of getting it converted to an accessible format.

While it comes at a price, one might try putting the PDF through infty-reader which will do OCR on the math and may be a starting point for a MathML version. The school may consider buying it for you.
> 3.       The publisher claims the textbook is online, and there is no screen
> reader usable format to give.
I would almost bet money that it was not created originally in PDF. 
However it does not mean the original format would be accessible. While not necessarily my preferred option, but some do ask publishers and authors for LaTeX copies, but I know publishers can be reluctant to give LaTeX versions, I have heard authors tend to be a bit better.
> 4.       The school cannot change the textbook because it alters the very
> nature of the class.
This is an understandable position, however depending what effort is needed to support you they may in future wish to investigate accessibility of a book before designing a course around it.
>   
>
>   
>
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