[BlindMath] Accessibility for Stats courses

[Godfrey, Jonathan]

Thanks everyone.

The paper Bill sent around is a review of four statistical software options. The options for blind students studying statistics courses and their instructors across the whole range of issues is to be found at:
http://www.amstat.org/publications/jse/v23n3/godfrey.pdf
This is the paper that was inspired by the experiences of people on this list (and others) as well as a summary of many tools suggested by people on this list. It is filtered to the problems and solutions found in statistics courses specifically because that relates to the authors’ expertise, and it was published in the Journal of Statistics Education with the intention that the instructors of statistics courses are our primary audience. This paper has been used by blind students as a tool for making their pathway through a statistics course all that much easier and more successful. I’ve had positive feedback from students, parents, and most often, from instructors about the paper. In the end, I feel that we achieved more than just an academic research output. As academics, Theodor and I put our colleagues on notice that they can and should be prepared to assist a blind student coming into their classroom. We acknowledged this list as a primary tool for communication of ideas and solutions and I believe what we did was entirely in keeping with the general culture of this community. We did it our way; others will use a different tool to help us all get more blind students succeeding in STEM disciplines.

Only one person’s contributions get a mention via a “personal communication”  because that person made a statement (on this list actually) that we felt deserved quoting in the most direct fashion, and then in a subsequent (off list) exchange, he made another statement that showed the possibilities and the desires we wanted to show our sighted colleagues. There are numerous individuals that have made contributions on this list that I have valued. I consider myself fortunate to have met quite a few of them at the NFB Convention in July.

I know there are people out there that want to talk about the poor chances of blind people succeeding in all manner of situations. It’s a pity that these come from blind people themselves at times, when so many of us are trying so hard to make sure that a blind person can live the life they want.

I’ve never said succeeding in STEM is easy. It isn’t for sighted people either, but they do find it easier than we do as blind people. I do think the difference in success in STEM versus other disciplines is reducing though, in part because so many other disciplines are incorporating things that were previously in the domain of the STEM geeks. The question for me, which remains unanswered, is whether that difference is widening for blind people. I think it has over the last twenty years or so, but I do believe the tide is turning.

Cheers,
Jonathan




From: BlindMath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Bill Dengler via BlindMath
Sent: Sunday, 10 September 2017 7:49 a.m.
To: Sabra Ewing
Cc: Bill Dengler; Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Accessibility for Stats courses

I’ve attached the article.


Bill

> On Sep 9, 2017, at 7:42 PM, Bill Dengler <codeofdusk at gmail.com<mailto:codeofdusk at gmail.com>> wrote:
>
> Sabra,
> Read *this* sentence: "Sabra doesn't know it and I've not ever shared it explicitly in public before now, but her negative experiences and their ongoing airing via this list were a major source of inspiration for the article Theodor and I wrote.”
> He said “major source of inspiration”.
> He did not say the article was written about you.
> There is a difference.
>
> Bill
>> On Sep 9, 2017, at 7:38 PM, Sabra Ewing <sabra1023 at gmail.com<mailto:sabra1023 at gmail.com>> wrote:
>>
>> Sabra doesn't know it and I've not ever shared it explicitly in public before now, but her negative experiences and their ongoing airing via this list were a major source of inspiration for the article Theodor and I wrote.
>
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