[nabs-l] accomodations for english classes
Karl Martin Adam
kmaent1 at gmail.com
Wed Feb 4 01:55:06 UTC 2015
I appreciate that your very excited about promoting the KNFB
reader, but it isn't designed for scanning books--there's lots of
software that does that. Also, it will produce something with
about the same quality as the PDF that Ashley is complaining
about.
----- Original Message -----
From: Helga Schreiber via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net>,National
Association of Blind Students mailing list <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 3 Feb 2015 19:53:44 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] accomodations for english classes
Hi Ashley and all!I think I find a way in how to solve Ashley's
problem regarding her textbook! Ashley, have you considering in
purchasing the KNFB Reader app for your iPhone in order to take a
picture of the reading that you need to read and save it in a
word format, and then send it to yoru email so that you can read
it with your BrailleNote in class? I'm just wondering! I would
like to hear your opinion regarding this guys. What do you all
think about this idea? In fact, Ashley, the app only costs 50
dollars, and i think it is worth it! to buy! Hope to hear form
you soon. Thanks so much and God bless!
Helga Schreiber
Fundraiser Coordinator for Phi Theta Kappa, Alpha Delta Iota
chapter.
Member of National Federation of the Blind and Florida
Association of Blind Students.
Member of the International Networkers Team (INT).
Independent Entrepreneur of the Company 4Life Research.
Phone: (561) 706-5950
Email: helga.schreiber26 at gmail.com
Skype: helga.schreiber26
4Life Website: http://helgaschreiber.my4life.com/1/default.aspx
INT Website: http://int4life.com/
"For God so loved the world that he gave his one and only Son,
that whoever believes in him shall not perish but have eternal
life." John 3:16
Sent from my iPhone
On Feb 3, 2015, at 7:20 PM, Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
Hi,
Well, Alleha and many of you state they are required to provide
accessible texts.
Which laws is that under? If ADA, which part, like which title?
And their excuse is they cannot convert files due to security.
I’m wondering what arguments I can make to combat such
nonsense.
Meanwhile, I’ll just listen closely in class and participate
in discussions best I can.
Most of it is our opinions and open ended questions without
seeing the text anyway.
I enjoy discussions and hearing others’ opinions.
In the absence of a book like everyone else has, I will have to
ask someone to read me the quotes.
I will also ask my professor to read sample student work with
punctuation.
He puts that up on the overhead or board for us to critique it.
Although he read it aloud last time, he did not read punctuation,
so I felt left out.
Everyone else commented on punctuation, and I could not do that.
Glad for all the suggestions.
Ashley
From: Aleeha Dudley
Sent: Tuesday, February 03, 2015 9:19 AM
To: Karl Martin Adam ; National Association of Blind Students
mailing list
Cc: Ashley Bramlett
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] accomodations for english classes
They need to provide this as a service. It is part of their
obligation under the ADA to provide you with useable, remediated
text.
Aleeha Dudley and Seeing Eye Dog Dallas
Vice President, Ohio Association of Guide Dog Users
Vice President, Ohio Association of Blind Students
Both proud divisions of the National Federation of the Blind of
Ohio
Email: blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is not
the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day we
raise the expectations of blind people, because low expectations
create obstacles between blind people and our dreams. You can
live the life you want; blindness is not what holds you back.
“The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse’s
ears.†- Arabian proverb
On Feb 2, 2015, at 9:31 PM, Karl Martin Adam via nabs-l
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
You're right of course that they should convert the file for
you, but the thing is, even if they do, that won't solve your
problem.
The OCR software Adobe or Kursweil or whatever uses to convert
a PDF to text has the same problems trying to figure out what
letters are in the picture (which is what a PDF is) as the OCR
jaws uses, so you'll have the same problems with words stuck
together or letters being incorrect even if they convert it for
you. Occasionally one OCR will be better than another for a
specific text, but there isn't really one that works particularly
well over all. The only way to get something that's nice and
polished is to have someone sit and proofread after converting,
which is extremely time consuming and tedious to do. Schools
should probably provide that as a service, but almost none of
them do unfortunately.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 2 Feb 2015 21:19:34 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] accomodations for english classes
Aleeha!
you get it.
The school, Nova, simply pushes me and others around.
They have the conversion software to honor my request to
convert the publisher file to a text format like RTF.
They simply will not do it on basis of security.
You are right they have to provide an accessible format. But
who determines what is accessible?
Who determines what is a suitable accomodation?
Well, they have one way, and I like another.
The lady coordinating alternate texts told me that it was pdf
files period; pdf files were readable with jaws, acording to her,
so there was no need to convert anyway.
I wrote back explaining that jaws cannot read many publisher
pdf files well; that words are often smashed together as it
speaks.
Who is this woman to tell me that jaws reads all pdf files fine
when she does not use
jaws herself? Has she tested it yet to find out? No!
If the file fails to read, I’ll call a meeting and show them.
Oh, yes, I tried Bard. They do not carry any norton
anthologies.
I have learning ally, but as I said before, I need a text file;
I need to find quotes for journals. I need to have a file to
follow along in class like everyone else.
If I have to do an audio book, it will be. but it’s a
struggle. I have to pause it to copy down quotes and its easy to
miss stuff. Also, I’m finding I cannot spell names and places
right not seeing the text. if I had a text file, I could spell
them with jaws.
Anyway, thanks for your ideas. As I said, I will try the pdf
file once they give it to me and hook my notetaker to the pc to
try to read it with jaws and the braille display.
Ashley
From: Aleeha Dudley
Sent: Monday, February 02, 2015 7:46 PM
To: Karl Martin Adam ; National Association of Blind Students
mailing list
Cc: Ashley Bramlett
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] accomodations for english classes
Here’s the thing. The college has to provide you with an
accessible version of the file that will work for you, as long as
doing so is not an undue burden on the university. There are
plenty of ways they could make this file useable for you.
Granted, some of the styles the author uses may not come out well
with JAWS, but have you tried BARD or Learning Ally? Sorry for
jumping in late on this thing and sorry if these things have been
asked before, but it annoys me to no end when universities and
colleges push students around and claim that something can’t be
done when it could very easily.
Aleeha Dudley and Seeing Eye Dog Dallas
Vice President, Ohio Association of Guide Dog Users
Vice President, Ohio Association of Blind Students
Both proud divisions of the National Federation of the Blind of
Ohio
Email: blindcowgirl1993 at gmail.com
The National Federation of the Blind knows that blindness is
not the characteristic that defines you or your future. Every day
we raise the expectations of blind people, because low
expectations create obstacles between blind people and our
dreams. You can live the life you want; blindness is not what
holds you back.
“The wind of heaven is that which blows between a horse’s
ears.†- Arabian proverb
On Feb 2, 2015, at 6:17 PM, Karl Martin Adam via nabs-l
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
If you have a Braille display you can connect it to your
computer, and it should display anything your computer can read.
It doesn't have to be a BRF file. Similarly, you can connect
your notetaker to the computer and use it as a braille display or
read files on it directly. Many schools don't have conversion
software to make the PDF into something else, and anyway,
converting it won't make the words unsmoosh. If it's really a
big deal for you, try using robobraille or one of the other
conversion services out there.
----- Original Message -----
From: Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 2 Feb 2015 17:41:12 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] accomodations for english classes
This is a copy for the list.
Hi Lucy and all,
thanks for the responses.
Unfortunately, I was informed that I will get a pdf file only.
I requested it from the school and am waiting. They denied my
request to
convert it to a text based format even though other colleges do
that.
This community college is just difficult, IMO. Its an elective
thankfully so
if I have to miss copying quotes because I cannot go find them,
its not such
a big deal.
Lucy,
I wish I could use my braille display, but I do not have a brf
file and
never will.
I checked bookshare.
They do not have this book.
The text is Norton Anthology of short fiction. The seventh
edition.
If you can assist me, I'll write off list.
Just let me know, and which email you want me to use.
Thanks.
Ashley
-----Original Message-----
From: Lucy Sirianni
Sent: Tuesday, January 27, 2015 3:17 AM
To: Ashley Bramlett ; National Association of Blind Students
mailing list
Subject: re: [nabs-l] accomodations for english classes
Hi Ashley,
As a doctoral candidate in English and a college-level English
instructor, let me take a stab at answering just a few of your
questions.
First, I would encourage you to obtain the text in a format you
can access via Braille display. This will not only allow you
to
access them in class but will also make it much easier to
integrate quotes into your writing, as you can simply paste
them
into your analysis. Many of the Norton anthologies are
available
via Bookshare. If the one you're using isn't, feel free to
contact me directly, as I frequently teach from various Norton
anthologies and may be able to point you toward an accessible
version of the one assigned for your class.
Second, I would ask for both comments and handouts to be sent
to
you electronically. These are very reasonable accommodations
to
request and ones I routinely offer students with no
inconvenience
to myself. Assuming you do indeed have a note-taker, you
shouldn't need the handouts too far in advance of class, so the
professor shouldn't need to alter his or her schedule of lesson
planning substantially.
I haven't worked with Blackboard or with texts in audio format,
so I can't offer any input on your other questions, but please
don't hesitate to be in touch if I can help with anything else.
Enjoy the course!
Lucy
----- Original Message -----
From: Ashley Bramlett via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 26 Jan 2015 23:24:54 -0500
Subject: [nabs-l] accomodations for english classes
Hi all,
I?è” taking a literature elective. A year or so back, I tried
taking one and wrote to you all about a professor not
interested
in accomodating me.
He showed videos of the literature he used and I would not be
able to access that outside class with a reader among other
issues.
Fortunately, my new professor for short story seems nice and
willing to help. No videos are used and his class is very
auditory with lots of discussion; sometimes in small groups and
sometimes as a whole class.
Here are my questions and concerns though.
Note that I have the book in audio form now, but am looking for
it in text form and may ask my dss office to get it from the
publisher. I generally have found publisher files unfriendly
though as its pdf. the words are often smashed together and
words are broken up with hyphens as jaws reads them
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