[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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