[nabs-l] scanning books in Kurzweil was re: school is not accomodating

Sun Jan 22 02:00:41 UTC 2012

Hi Bridgit and everyone,

Is there a way to scan books with Kurzweil? I thought you have to 
scan page-by-page with Kurzweil, but I have heard people on this 
list saying that they can scan books with it.  How do you do 
that?
Thanks,

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Bridgit Pollpeter <bpollpeter at hotmail.com
To: <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:56:57 -0600
Subject: [nabs-l] School is not accomodating

I have been very fortunate with my university experience because 
I
didn't not have to deal with the issues I have read many others 
have had
to face.  I'm no expert, but I believe universities and colleges 
must
supply reasonable accommodations for students with disabilities 
which
would include accessible formats for textbooks in a reasonable 
amount of
time.  My campus DSO required all registered DSO students to 
contact
instructors before each term with book info so the DSO staff 
could work
on finding accessible formats and scanning material if necessary.  
Along
with grad and honor students, students with disabilities on my 
campus
qualified for early registration too which helped with the entire
process.  And I also have Kurzweil at home so I have the ability 
to scan
things at my own leisure.  My DSO also outsourced for Braille, 
but it was
an option and it was done in a timely fashion.  I agree with 
others that
you, Ashley, need to speak with your local agency for the blind 
along
with your DSO, and it may be helpful to request advocacy help 
from any
local Federation presence available.  I'm not sure of all your 
rights
involved here, but I believe your DSO may not be working with you 
the
way in which it should.

The JAWS problem is a tough one as well.  Nowadays, laptops are 
quite
light so "lugging" one around isn't all that bad.  I started 
using a
Netbook for my last two years of university and loved it.  It 
weighs less
than two pounds and works for what I need.  I can access the 
internet and
use MS Office.  And of course JAWS was installed on it.  The 
keyboard is
condensed and some of the keys are placed differently than a 
regular
keyboard, but any laptop is laid out like this, and you adjust 
pretty
quickly to the smaller keys if you use the Netbook enough, which 
if a
student, I imagine you would.  A Netbook is just one option 
though.  I've
not had problems with my Netbook.  If your DSO is not able to 
provide
JAWS in a way that works for you, I suggest you have your own 
laptop.

As for Braille signs, yes, Braille signs should be placed around
buildings for blind people just as ramps and accessible bathroom 
stalls
are suppose to exist for those in wheelchairs.  However, as long 
as room
numbers and what office a door is, such as DSO or Registrar, 
that's all
that's necessary.  Including instructors name on doors isn't 
practical
for rooms at large as multiple instructors will use the same 
rooms, and
for instructor offices, their office number should be made 
available to
students on syllabi and by asking an instructor for it, or 
calling
campus for it.  So I don't find it necessary to also place a name 
on a
door if you have the number, and instructors don't always end up 
in the
same office areas all the time, though typically they remain in a 
given
office during their term as an instructor.  At my university, 
most
instructor offices were large areas containing multiple rooms 
within one
are for particular instructors such as all history profs.  In the 
same
area.  So say room 140  will then hold multiple rooms within it 
so say my
profs.  Room is 140 E.  These areas would have a receptionist 
working in
the outer area.  Anyway, as long as you know where their office 
is
located, you shouldn't also require a name along with the room 
number.

Finally, the world is not set up for easy navigation- blind or 
sighted.
Infrastructures, buildings, homes, neighborhoods, they're not 
always
constructed for easy navigation.  As blind people, we need to 
understand
and realize this.  We will encounter situations like this through 
life so
we can't expect anyone to follow a certain way of designing space 
just
for one purpose.  Fair or not, this is life.  I do not believe 
there are
any ADA guidelines requiring buildings to have "easy" navigation 
for
blind people, and I don't believe this is necessary.  If you are
uncomfortable navigating a space, request help from an O & M 
instructor
or perhaps a friend who is also blind who has good travel skills 
to
help.  This is a touchy subject, I know, but the interior design 
of a
building is not something a DSO or anyone needs to consider in 
terms of
accessibility.  Again, fair or not, this is how it is.  I do not 
claim to
be the best traveler, nor did I when sighted, but I do know that 
we
can't complain about how buildings are structured just because we 
are
blind.  We must take the initiative to learn areas we frequent, 
and seek
the best travel instruction possible.  It can be an adjustment, 
and like
anything, some will take to it quicker than others, but when we 
have no
true mobility issue, meaning we have full use of our legs, there 
really
is no reason we can't learn to navigate space independently and
efficiently even in areas not designed with blind people in mind.  
No DSO
is required to find a space "easy" to navigate when it comes to 
the
services it offers.  This is something you and perhaps your rehab 
agency
need to discuss.

Sincerely,
Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter
Read my blog at:
http://blogs.livewellnebraska.com/author/bpollpeter/

"History is not what happened; history is what was written down."
The Expected One- Kathleen McGowan

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