[nabs-l] College Math

Sun Jan 31 02:57:15 UTC 2016

I graduated from LCB last June and in my freshman year, studying
business with a marketing concentration at Messiah College in PA. I am
also new to taking math in college, but I have some suggestions. I
don't know what college you plan to attend, but you may want to
consider taking a class or two as a directed study with the professor.
This is what I'm doing for my applied math for management class. It
may not be an option for you or for most blind student, but it was
offered to me by disability services, and it's something that they've
done for other students before. Definitely try to meet with the
professor or teacher's assistant a couple times before the class
starts. Show and explain all of the materials that you use, such as
raised line graph paper on a cork board, the tactile drawing board,
and your Braille notetaker, so he has an understanding of the tools
you use to learn the material. I don't know much about LaTex, but I've
heard that it requires a program called Scientific Notebook that
translates text into the LaTex language. You can always just do your
work on the perkins and either dictate it to a reader or retype it
into your notetaker using Nemeth code and send it to the professor,
which is what I will be doing. Every netetaker is a little different
when it comes to Nemeth, but the BrailleSense U2 will actually
translate it into graphics with everything looking like it normally
would in print. As for readers, try to find one who has taken the
class before and done well or is familiar with the material, so that
they know the terminology and can help explain the content. As for
getting books in Braille, it's a little tricky, but it typically needs
to start months before the class starts. The National Braille Press
can Braille books, but it takes about two weeks per volume, so you'd
need to inquire months in advance. As for me, I got in contact with
someone in my home state who contracts with vocational rehab to
Braille textbooks. She typically Brailles them in order of the
syllabus. I wish I would have been able to get in contact with her
much earlier than I did, but I didn't know that she was available
until just a couple weeks ago. However, she is working as fast as she
can to Braille the first sections. I'm sure every blind college
student handles math classes somewhat differently, depending on the
level of math, major, and career goals, but it can definitely be done.
Dr. Nemeth and Dr. Newel Perry did it back in the 1940's, way before
the existence of the ADA and personal computers, so you can definitely
do it too.

On 1/30/16, Arielle Silverman via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Syed,
> I might suggest joining the BlindMath list on NFBNet to get more
> answers about LATX and Nemeth resources, since those folks will be
> more knowledgeable about higher math content.
> I haven't taken a lot of math but have taken a lot of statistics which
> is similar (but not the same) as math. For me personally, if a Braille
> textbook wasn't available, my next favorite solution was to listen to
> a text in human-recorded audio through Learning Ally (or hire a human
> reader) and then take copious notes in Braille while I was listening
> to the problems and equations being read aloud. I used the same method
> to handle lectures and problems read orally in-class. If you decide to
> do this, you can take notes using any form of Braille you are
> comfortable with-slate, Perkins or refreshable Braille device (or a
> combination). Also, since they're your notes, Nemeth code doesn't
> matter. You can write your notes in contracted Braille, computer
> Braille, or any combination of symbols that make sense to you when you
> read them back. You can then type your problems out in a Word document
> on the computer or on a Braille device.
> Sometimes if something wasn't clear, I would ask my prof or TA to
> email me a formula that was typed out in words in case JAWS couldn't
> read the equations and symbols. For example "2 plus 2 equals 4X". They
> were generally happy to do this and it didn't take much of their time.
> I hope this is a start and the Blind Math folks should be able to give
> you more details about how to read and write equations in LATX.
>
> Best, Arielle
>
> On 1/30/16, Christina Moore via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> I did too.
>> I got to the point by the end of high school where I liked math. I did
>> the best in Geometry (never had time to get to trigonometry).
>> That is not an option in college sadly because there is not one to
>> transcribe the work into print.
>> If I could have done the entire Stats course in braille I would have
>> probably done a whole lot better.
>>
>> On 1/29/16, Roanna Bacchus via nabs-l <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> Thank you for your message.  When I was in elementary school I
>>> used the Perkins brailler to write my math problems.  I also used
>>> a talking calculator and the abacus to count the numbers.
>>>
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