[BlindMath] Question about electronics safety in the lab

Thu Jan 3 14:34:53 UTC 2019

There could be a number of reasons, but the word that is always in play is
'reasonable".  Depending upon the type of lab, there are serious concerns
related to electronics.  There may also just be blanket rules designed to
restrict access to information access during a lab procedure.  What it
sounds like is that the people responsible for conducting the labs, should
be indirect consult with the people responsible for accommodations and also
legal compliance at the school.
Good luck,  as this is always a daunting task.

-----Original Message-----
From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Sabra Ewing via
BlindMath
Sent: Thursday, January 3, 2019 12:32 AM
To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
Cc: Sabra Ewing <sabra1023 at gmail.com>
Subject: [BlindMath] Question about electronics safety in the lab

I am trying to help a blind person on Facebook who has a question about
using her iPad and a science lab. She has a science major and will be doing
a lot of lab related work, but the college is saying that she can't use her
iPad in the lab because of safety issues. A lot of people on the thread got
very mad, miss quoted laws, and was all saying that the college is trying to
deny any education. The people on the thread got mad at me for saying that
even if the college did have a bad track record in the past, they might not
actually be making this one up. There really could be a safety risk with
having electronics devices in a laboratory. On the other hand, they can't
just say that you can't have access to the information, so what do you do? I
know that electricity is used in the labs all the time, but I can see how
having something like an iPad with you on the lab table could get kind of
risky. I thought about maybe that she could keep the device in another room
and just switch between that one in the lab, but then that can be kind of
hard if you needed to take notes or access information while working with
chemicals at the same time. It says very clearly on many of these electrical
devices that you are not supposed to use them near flaming liquids or
chemicals, and some labs could meet that requirement. Even when I was in
high school, they said that I could not have electronics with me in the lab
area, but high school is nothing like a college environment. I was doing
some research and apparently, there are specially certified electronics that
are certified to be around flame and not produce a small electrical sparks
that could start a fire, but I don't know if the iPad is one of those
devices and if not, is there a computer or a tablet or a keyboard or
something else that is one of those certified devices that you could use
instead. Or would that not matter at all because maybe they are saying they
don't want you bringing your own electronics into the lab because they are
worried about chemical or bacterial contamination from the same device
switching between the lab and the rest of the school like if you are growing
a virus or something, you get the virus on your device, and then you spread
it. Or maybe tiny chemical particles get into the device without you
realizing it, and then you plug it in or something and there is a reaction.
I would like to think that maybe they aren't using such dangerous chemicals
in a college setting, but maybe they are. I know for sure that the most
dangerous part is definitely the battery because even if it's not plugged
in, chemicals could still get in there and it could react with the battery.
So are there actually legitimate concerns here, or is the college just
implementing a very inflexible policy that they are refusing to adjust for a
person with a disability?

Sabra Ewing
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