[nabs-l] nabs-l Digest, Vol 36, Issue 10

[Chelsea Cook]

  Hello,
  I am a senior in high school enrolled in advanced placement
(college-level) courses in Physics and Calculus.  The course
content is not a problem for me, however, I am having issues with
my physics class doing "virtual labs," essentially graphics-based
simulations that are not accessible with JAWS.  A major portion
of the grade calls for these.  Currently, I am having a sighted
person sit with me through the lab, but I find that method to be
inefficient for me to complete the various labs in a timely
fashion, particularly since the person is not well-versed in 
either computers or physics, and my school is reluctant to find 
someone who is.  (I'm currently looking around the community 
colleges.) I can't seem to complete the labs at home because I
have no one willing to sit and describe the interface to me.
Another main issue with this course is that it is a
distance-learning course: My school system is reluctant (at best)
to provide transportation to and from the other high school, so I
can't network with my peers as much as I would like to.  Any
thoughts?
  Also, concerning the AP.  exam in May: Has anyone ever taken an
AP.  test in a science or math course before on this list? My
teachers (vision and academic) and I are concerned about the free
response questions, where graphs or drawings are often always
required to complete the question.  We are not sure how the
College Board will accept my answers, given that it is a
standardized test.  I am a heavy Braille and JAWS user.  On the
matter of scribes used for copying answers, I am concerned about
the margin of error present.
Any help would be appreciated,
Chelsea Cook, in Newport News, VA

PS.  Know any good physics or astronomy programs at a university 
you attend or have seen? Let me know; I'm still looking!
"I ask you to look both ways.  For the road to a knowledge of the 
stars leads through the atom; and important knowledge of the atom 
has been reached through the stars."
Sir Arthur Eddington, British astrophysicist (1882-1944), Stars 
and Atoms (1928), Lecture 1