[nabs-l] Chemistry for the Blind

[Arielle Silverman]

Hi Rebecca, and welcome to the list. I am totally blind, and I took
chemistry in high school and college. It was very simple and safe. My
lab partner mixed the chemicals and described what was happening, and
I took notes and wrote lab reports. Chemistry class is mostly about
doing the math to balance equations and testing hypotheses. Only a
tiny portion of the class is actually about mixing the chemicals. I've
known several totally blind people who did chemistry, including people
who have Ph.D.'s in chemistry. You absolutely can do it using the
methods you mentioned. Now there are technologies you can use to
perform some measurements independently, which didn't exist when I was
in high school 15 years ago.
Please check out
www.independencescience.com
and
www.ncbys.org
to learn more about how blind people participate in chemistry. Print
out pages from these websites and show them to your teacher and TVI.
Do your parents support your desire to take chemistry? If they do, see
if your mom or dad would be willing to contact the principal of your
school and request a meeting to explain how you can, and should, take
chemistry with everyone else. By not allowing you to take chemistry,
your teachers are limiting what you can study in college and what
careers you can perform. As you say, we need to raise expectations.
Best, Arielle

On 3/19/15, Mikayla Gephart via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>
>
> Sent from my iPad
>
>> On Mar 19, 2015, at 5:53 PM, Rebecca Weber via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
>> wrote:
>>
>>
>>
>> Sent from my iPhone
>>
>>> On Mar 19, 2015, at 5:42 PM, Rebecca Weber <weberrebecca232 at gmail.com>
>>> wrote:
>>>
>>> Hello NABS.
>>> This is my first email on this list. Let me say that it’s awesome to find
>>> a list that is designed for blind students. We are raising expetations
>>> everyday.
>>> My name is Becca Weber and I attend Archbishop John Carroll High School
>>> in Pennsylvania. I have had a lot of frustrations here, particularly with
>>> my team. I feel that they focus too much on vision. So, that’s why I’m
>>> reaching out to you. I am wanting to take chemistry next year, but this
>>> has been shut down because of safety reasons. I would like to point out
>>> that I have, I believe, 20-500 vision. I think, so this may be different.
>>> I have cooked by myself with no help at all sometimes. I am wondering how
>>> a blind student could take chemistry?
>>> I have some iddeas
>>> -bottles of chemicals could be labeled in braille
>>> -measuring chemicals with a caring
>>> -Having a partner to describe the chemicals to me, but I can see color
>>> -using a device called a math quest I think.
>>> Anything else please email me.
>>> Thank you so much for your help.
>>> Have a nice day.
>>> Becca
>>
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