[nabs-l] scanning books in Kurzweil was re: school is notaccomodating

Sun Jan 22 03:09:25 UTC 2012

OK, 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: Arielle Silverman <arielle71 at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sat, 21 Jan 2012 19:46:49 -0700
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] scanning books in Kurzweil was re: school 
is notaccomodating

You can scan books with it, one page at a time.
Arielle

On 1/21/12, Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com> wrote:
 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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