[nabs-l] accomodations for english classes

[Karl Martin Adam]

Hi Ashley,

You definitely need the book in text format.  If you have a 
notetaker I would definitely suggest just doing your reading on 
there--it means you can read with whatever combination of speech 
and braille works best for you.  For instance, I generally read 
mostly in speech and occasionally look at the Braille when I care 
about spelling or formatting or where the way the speech says 
something is unclear.  Publisher files are a mess, you might try 
getting the DS office to proofread them.  You also might try 
requesting the book from bookshare, which may get you something 
relatively well edited.  Having the book on your notetaker also 
means you can look at things silently in class like everyone 
else.  You might actually be at an advantage because you can use 
the search feature while they're flipping through pages.

As for comments, if they're electronic, they should already be 
accessible to you.  I have occasionally asked for comments 
digitally, but usually, like you, I have just had someone read 
them to me if they were on a paper copy.  Especially in an 
English class you'll want to have the digital copy with the 
comments in context though.

I don't know about Blackboard these days.  Years ago it wasn't 
very accessible, but that has hopefully changed.

As for quotes, this is indeed another reason that you really need 
the books in text.  That way you can just copy and paste.  I 
can't think of anything better than trying to take dictation from 
the recording if that's what you're stuck with though.  I can't 
think of a reason that you would start a paragraph with a 
quotation.  Normally you don't use quotes unless:
1) what the author is saying is unclear and you're giving an 
interpretation,
2) you're disagreeing with what the author says and you want to 
make sure you're being fair to their position and not 
misrepresenting them, or
3) something about the turn of phrase is particularly compelling.  
In any case, the quote should be embedded in your argument, and 
you should have a reason for having it there.  As someone who's 
graded papers, there's nothing worse than a bunch of quotes that 
are not well integrated into the paper, and most people who grade 
can recognize that sort of fluff very easily.

I don't really know word, but if you have a braillenote the 
command for word count is control read i for the file information 
menu, and then scrole to the word count and press enter