[nabs-l] Is It just Me: Academic Challenges

Karl Martin Adam kmaent1 at gmail.com
Tue Jul 19 23:08:27 UTC 2016


Hi Aimee,

I know this won't solve a lot of the problems you're having, but 
if you have trouble with grade two Braille, you could just get 
your Braille documents uncontracted.  I download all my bookshare 
books in uncontracted Braille because it makes converting to 
print easier and because bookshare doesn't always follow the 
rules of Braille and does things like use a short form word as 
part of a longer word, which makes text to speech not be able to 
read the file correctly.

Best,
Karl

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Aimee Harwood via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 19 Jul 2016 16:03:03 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Is It just Me: Academic Challenges

Jameyanne,

I think one of my biggest issues time consumer or whatever you 
want to call it is that I have not been using jaws for the past 
six years. I've also been out of the educational environment for 
13 years. When I did use JAWS, I knew the basics but not a lot of 
the advanced commands. I also have not been a lifelong braille 
reader. I don't really know a lot of the symbols for things other 
than words and some punctuation. I don't know a lot of the markup 
language for links lists or whatever identifiers they use to 
indicate things within a grade 2 braille document. I am one of 
those visually impaired visual learners. That is why braille 
helps me understand it and remember it better. I wish I knew some 
practice techniques to build speed and accuracy.

Aimee

Sent from my iPhone

 On Jul 18, 2016, at 10:14 PM, Jameyanne Fuller via NABS-L 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 Amy,
 I haven't started law school, butt I volunteered for the NH 
disabilities rights center this past year, and they showed me how 
to use Westlaw and how to do footnote citations. I found 
footnotes worked pretty well with JAWS in MS Word, and I didn't 
have any trouble using the Westlaw website on my laptop. Then 
again, I wasn't doing very complicated stuff, so I might not have 
the full picture.
 Jameyanne

 -----Original Message-----
 From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
Aimee Harwood via NABS-L
 Sent: Monday, July 18, 2016 9:49 PM
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 Cc: Aimee Harwood <awildheir at gmail.com
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Is It just Me: Academic Challenges

 Hello Ashly.  I will agree with you on the extra time and fewer 
credits.  I wish those who take full credits and or double major 
would write a book on their process.  I would love to be able to 
do that.

 As far as research goes, I am in law school and I use the iPad 
version of lexis nexus and WestLaw which are pretty accessible.  
Blue book citations can be fun.  I have not been required to use 
footnotes as of yet.  Footnotes will happen in the spring. Aimee

 Sent from my iPhone

 On Jul 18, 2016, at 5:50 PM, Ashley Bramlett via NABS-L 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:

 Jameyanne,

 I agree. You said it nicely to summarize the challenges of 
research. I also found all that to be the case. I know some 
NFbers are against extended time, but   I find it necessary to do 
well. I use extended time on exams. For assignments, I sometimes 
get extentions particulary for research.

 For research, databases are a mixed bag. Yes, jstor is fairly 
usable but the pdfs are usually scanned images.
 I have had the same difficulty citing sources because I don't 
always know the page numbers since that does not scan well or if 
I use a reader, the reader forgets to announce pages.
 I also take extra time in the library finding print material 
such as books.

 Time management is a good thing to master. For me, I did my 
homework and reading late afternoon and evening. II t also 
depended on my reader's schedule. Typically, my readers were 
available at 3:30 or later. Often, I'd use a reader right before 
dinner or right after dinner at 7:30.
 Like some of you, I also threw my energy into academics and 
neglected sleep.

 Great discussion. I always took less credits than most students 
and took longer in college. I thought I was the only one though 
as many blind students here take 18 credits and double major.

 So, yes its challenging but you have to find what works for you.

 Ashley
 -----Original Message----- From: Jameyanne Fuller via NABS-L
 Sent: Monday, July 18, 2016 4:33 PM
 To: 'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'
 Cc: Jameyanne Fuller
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Is It just Me: Academic Challenges

 My answer is also yes and no. I find I can search within a 
textbook or
 article faster because I can use a search function to find 
exactly what I'm
 looking for. On the other hand, I've also found that I take in 
and remember
 information better if I read it in Braille than if I listen to 
it using
 JAWS or the speech on my BrailleNote. It's faster to listen, but 
I
 inevitably lose focus or fall asleep. Like Cricket, sleep is 
always like my
 last priority, which is a bad idea. On the other hand, I don't 
read Braille
 quite as fast as my sighted peers read print, so sometimes 
listening
 becomes the only option if I want to keep up. One solution I've 
come up
 with is to have something to do with my hands while I'm 
listening to an
 article or textbook. I make gimp lanyards, fiddle with a puzzle, 
draw with
 my tactile drawing board, knit, wander around cleaning up my 
room and
 folding laundry and such. It's not a perfect solution, but it 
helps.
 In terms of research, I think that definitely takes me more 
time,
 especially since I need assistance finding books in the library 
and then
 have to wait for the disabilities services office to scan them. 
Databases
 can be a mixed bag. I've found JSTOR to be pretty accessible.
 One problem I've had a lot is the lack of page numbers in 
scanned documents
 or even page numbers in strange places so I could never tell 
what was on
 which page and it was never consistent across the scanned 
documents from
 disabilities services. I usually figured it out for each book 
and made sure
 to make my professors aware of the problem so they wouldn't take 
points off
 if my intext citations cited the wrong page or so they would 
give me a
 phrase to find in the book rather than a page number when 
discussing things
 in class.
 Take all of this with a grain of salt, because I was last in 
school two
 years ago, and things might be different for me when I start up 
again this
 fall.

 -----Original Message-----
 From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 
Karl Martin
 Adam via NABS-L
 Sent: Monday, July 18, 2016 3:55 PM
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 Cc: Karl Martin Adam <kmaent1 at gmail.com
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Is It just Me: Academic Challenges

 Well, the answer to this is yes and no.  I find that I read 
significantly
 faster than cited people because my text to speech set to the 
top speed is
 faster than they can read, and it's significantly easier for me 
to find
 things in the book because I can search while they have to flip 
through
 their paper copy.
 Doing research on the other hand is much more time consuming for 
me because
 of the difficulty of using databases and because of the 
inaccessibility of
 print books in the library that sighted students can use.  I 
also have
 usually needed a sighted person's help getting my papers 
correctly
 formatted so everything looks right on the page.

 HTH,
 Karl

 ----- Original Message -----
 From: Christina Moore via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 Date sent: Mon, 18 Jul 2016 15:21:59 -0400
 Subject: [nabs-l] Is It just Me: Academic Challenges

 Hello Everyone,

 I am wondering if it is just me or do other blind people have 
challenges
 academically that are due to their blindness.
 Does anyone else find it challenging to search for information 
in a
 textbook? Do you feel it takes longer for you to complete 
assignments
 because it takes you longer to read information that is given to 
you
 utilizing text-to-speech software? Does anyone else find it 
challenging to
 take online tests/exams in the allotted time?
 I know that is quite a few questions but I?ì…« wondering if it 
is just me or
 if other people have these experiences.
 What do you do to manage your assignments, papers and research
 articles/information?
 Thanks for any and all responses.
 Christina
 P.S. If I am set to no mail will I receive the responses to this 
question
 since I posted it?
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