[nabs-l] Question for blind students

[Jewel]

A big challenge I face is the accessibility of worksheets. some
teachers put electronic versions of worksheets and hand-outs on
Blackboard, but others don't and the papers don't scan well, and
others put them on Blackboard but they are in a pdf file that is not
accessible. Convincing them to take the extra effort to make hand-outs
and worksheets accessible is a major issue for me.

Another challenge is getting around the campus. Most of the rooms are
labelled in Braille, but a few are not, and there are few landmarks to
find my way from building to building. Maybe I just need better O&M,
but I get lost going from building to building at least once a week
and have to rely on the help of others to get me where I need to go.

A further challenge is powerpoint presentations. Many professors use
powerpoints, and some are fully accessible to me, but there are others
that the text is in a picture that is pasted intot hte slide, and this
makes the entire slide inaccessible to the blind. There was also the
professor who had the text in the notes section so that I had to go
back and forth between the slide and the notes section, using three or
four extra keystrokes per slide. This may not seem like much, but
three or four key strokes times thirty slides really makes a
difference.

Then there are the simple things. The cafeteria has no Braille menus,
the soda machines don't have Braille (yet!), and some of the bathrooms
are even without Braille markings.

Those are just a few of the challenges I face as a blind student on a
college campus, but I hope that helps you!

~Jewel

On 4/19/12, Osmond Kwan <osmond81 at gmail.com> wrote:
> Dear All,
>
> I was just invited to give a ten minute presentation to an audience of
> faculty and administrators about the challenges sight impaired
> individuals face in the classroom and on campus. I am the only sight
> impaired student represented. I wanted to ask those on the list if you
> could share some challenges you face on campus and in the classroom
> that faculty and administrators should know.
>
> Thanks,
> Osmond
>
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