[nabs-l] StatisticalPackage for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software

[Ryan Silveira]

Hi Minh and Emily,

While I'm definitely not one who would take stats unless I absolutely had to, I've done some research on the accessibility of SPSS for some friends.  As far as I know, SPSS has yet to become even remotely accessible with JAWS or any other screen reader.  I know that it presents a lot of difficulties to a lot of blind and visually impaired people who either use it on the job or in school.  There are some other alternatives which are not nearly as good or as reputable as SPSS (because let's face it, sometimes these programs are used more for their reputation than for their actual productivity and feasibility), but they might be better alternatives for you if your professor is looking for something more "involved" than Excell.  It is important that your professor understands that you really cannot use SPSS and that he or she be willing to allow you to use an alternative software which would allow you to do the same work and with the same level of expectations as all of the other students.  If you like, I can do some further research on software that would work for you and we can talk further off-list.  In the mean time, I think Emily's Excell solution is probably your best bet.  If you're having difficulties with your professor, see if you can't persuade your school's disability services people to help you.  I hope this is helpful.

Take Care,
Ryan 


On Nov 21, 2013, at 8:32 PM, "Emily Pennington" <emilypennington at fuse.net> wrote:

> Hi, Minh.
> I'm in my second semester of Stats, and I really like it. Fortunately for
> me, our class is business-based, and we only use Excel, which works 99.9237%
> of the time. I know your professor has already designated software package,
> but if you're having real trouble, Excel is a great avenue to perform most
> statistical functions, and most Stats professors know their way around
> Excel.
> If you come across any formula questions with Excel, I'd be happy to talk
> some more with you off-list. I'm definitely not an expert by any means, but
> I've got a nice system down after nearly two semesters, and it's a
> fascinating subject.
> 
> Take care,
> Emily
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of minh ha
> Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2013 9:23 PM
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Subject: [nabs-l] StatisticalPackage for the Social Sciences (SPSS) software
> 
> Hello all,
> 
> I am taking statistics next semester which is a required course for my
> sociology major. I spoke with the professor and he said that the main
> component of the course involves doing work with the StatisticalPackage for
> the Social Sciences (SPSS) software. I was wondering if any of you have had
> experience with this software and know whether it is accessible or not? I'm
> just nervous that it's not accessible and I won't be able to perform any of
> the assignments.
> Thanks for any help you can give.
> 
> Cheers,
> Minh
> 
> --
> "All men dream, but not equally. Those who dream by night in the dusty
> recesses of their minds, wake in the day to find that it was vanity:
> but the dreamers of the day are dangerous men, for they may act on their
> dreams with open eyes, to make them possible." T. E. Lawrence
> 
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