[nabs-l] nabs-l Digest, Vol 52, Issue 29

[Bridgit Pollpeter]

Ashley,

I would not recommend using a reader, either, for your test.  If the
point is to find and correct errors in the test, a straight reader will
not do.

If you are comfortable with Braille, I would suggest you find a way to
ensure the test will be in Braille.  To review the material and have an
efficient method in which to find the errors, Braille is the best
option.  You can then use a scribe who will make the actual mark or
correction, but they only follow your directions.

If your school can not, or refuses, to provide material in Braille, I
would find some way.  Perhaps your local agency for the blind can help,
or maybe there is some independent organization that can emboss the test
for you.  I agree that embossing it on your own may not be the best
option just because other students will not have access to the test
ahead of time.

Communicate all this to your professor and they may be willing to assist
in any way.

My school does have the ability to provide Braille material, but they
outsource for it-- they do not have their own embosser.  This is one
piece of technology I have yet to purchase since it is expensive.

Good luck.

Bridgit

Message: 28
Date: Sun, 13 Feb 2011 23:22:09 -0500
From: <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
	<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Subject: [nabs-l] braille tests and accomodations
Message-ID: <E369B8BDD56848FAB25063A45F735ED2 at OwnerPC>
Content-Type: text/plain;	charset="utf-8"

Hi All,

AS you may know from reading my last question, I have a test for the
technical editing class and the test requires us to edit it for errors
like spelling and punctuation.
When I asked my professor about what we?re tested on she said this:
?Exam 1 will also involve applying proof reading symbols to edit a
document provided at the Testing Center. (A copy of the usual synbols
will be provided.)?

So I need to read it; a reader is Not a reasonable accomodation for this
because they cannot convey the errors.
Next I have grammar tests, probably three of them,  for applied grammar.
I said probably because it?s the first time the professor is teaching
the class and she is not sure how far we will get.

These writing classes are part of a writing certificate; I already
finished my degree.

Anyway, for language study, where you have to really analyze sentences
and think through every word, braille would be so much better.
Do your colleges provide braille for technical subjects like math,
science or foreign languages?
Maybe even english if you have to really study it?


I feel at a disadvantage without braille. I feel it tests my ability to
listen rather than the matterial. The directions for quizzes are complex
and probably the same with grammar tests.
I?d still need a reader with the braille but I could read it and then
dictate my answers; so the ?reader? would really be more of a scribe
then.

Students have to mark certain things to note the grammar in each
centence.
For instance bracketing prepositional phrases, underlining adverbial
phrases, and marking with an arrow the complete subject.


Having only a reader may hinder my ability to perform well.
I want the test to test my knowledge of the subject, not other abilities
like communicating to a reader. I have to listen to the sentence several
times. Then repeat the clause I want underlined or bracketed off or
whatever the directions say.
Its real tetious and I can?t imagine what a test will feel like.

Sean said in another message
?It seems to me that, given your completely reasonable request to have a
Braille version of the articles you are to edit, the onus is on the
school
to find a way to provide them to you.?

I totally agree. I just wrote the dss counselor asking if they could get
braille through GMU.
I explained that a reader was not an adequate accomodation, given the
fact I need to read to observe errors!

We?ll see what happens.  
I also wonder if the ADA requires them to provide our prefered
accomodation for tests, so our abilities are tested, not another
factor.\

Okay, just venting a little.
I just am a conscientious student and do not feel that readers are a
decent  accomodation in this case, particularly when they are new and
have not read often out loud.

Ashley