[BlindMath] Ew: Current strategies regarding accessible mathematics

[John G. Heim]

There can't be a single answer to the question of how a blind student 
can best access mathematical curriculum with their
 > assistive technology of choice. It would depend on the student's 
choice of assistive technology.  At best, we  can tell you only which 
technologies work best for most students. And even that is difficult 
because there isn't a lot of data and the choices depend on the 
student's academic goals. Also, there would be different answers 
depending on whether the student is partially blind, totally blind, or 
deaf blind. But even if there was one single best solution for 
everybody,  it wouldn't matter because, as your question implies, it has 
to be the student's choice. Without exception, the blind students I have 
mentored have felt that they had a right to use the technology of their 
choice even if, in some cases, it was impractical.

I wonder if there is a way to find out which STEM textbooks have the 
best accessible formats. Publishers probably vary greatly in how good 
the accessible versions of their textbooks are. Maybe we could start 
encouraging high schools, colleges, and universities to use textbooks 
that have a better accessible format.

On 3/14/22 13:45, blindmath at nfbnet.org wrote:
> I can see how a mathematics professor would have a difficult time providing
> hardcopy Braille to students since Braille printers are a specialized type
> of hardware.
> 
> Providing fully accessible electronic Braille is  a bit of a different
> story, in my opinion:
> * if the document is authored correctly by the professors then everyone,
> blind or not, theoretically should be able to access the material with
> equity.
> * Sure some students prefer hardcopy so send that on to your DSS department
> * If a student, or blind professor, uses electronic Braille and/or primarily
> text to speech then it is, in my opinion, important to author the document
> so it works "out of the box" with their screen reader of choice.
> 
>   At my university we are trying to determine the most stable and up-to-date
> method of providing accessible mathematical output, through thoughtful
> mathematical authoring, so that everyone has equal access to the curriculum
> we provide.
> 
> I enjoy the work DO-IT does. I've good friends who work there. I think that
> they would agree that all of our "DSS" offices at every university in the US
> are overloaded with work to do and part of their job is to educate
> professors as to how to create curriculum that is accessible at the start of
> a quarter/semester. No professor wants their students to be waiting for
> accessible materials to be provided by a DSS department. The waiting student
> will have to catch up when the DSS department does and, as a former student,
> I was not a fan of being behind from the start of the quarter/semester. Big
> stress.
> 
> So, back to the original intent of my inquiry:
> * How does a professor best author mathematical equations for equitable
> access?
> * How does a blind student best access mathematical curriculum with their
> assistive technology of choice?
> 
> Thanks!
> David
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Susan Jolly via
> BlindMath
> Sent: Monday, March 14, 2022 10:59 AM
> To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Susan Jolly <easjolly at ix.netcom.com>
> Subject: [BlindMath] Ew: Current strategies regarding accessible mathematics
> 
> I don't have anything to add to Dr. Godfrey's comprehensive answer  as far
> as the current situation in accessible mathematics. However I do want to
> point out some general facts about accessibility in higher education here in
> the United States.
> 
> First, it is my understanding that it is primarily the responsibility of the
> DSS (Disability Services) office at a college or university, not of the
> professors, to supply materials in a special format such as braille. This
> issue is addressed in this article:
> https://www.washington.edu/doit/postsecondary-setting-who-responsible-provid
> ing-braille-translation
> 
> Second, educators very likely do  have other professional and legal
> obligations to  support accessibility.  The DO-IT program at the University
> of Washington is an outstanding example of a program that supplies both
> background information and training. Their main page provides links to their
> guidance designed for Educators as well as their guidance designed for
> several other groups including Students:
> https://www.washington.edu/doit/
> 
> Susan Jolly
> 
> 
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-- 
###
John G. Heim, 608-263-4189, jheim at math.wisc.edu