[nabs-l] Math courses

[Cricket Bidleman]

Taylor and Aaron,

Apologies, this is very very long. Taylor, I don't know what other
alternatives are. Maybe a really good reader or some audio.
Screenreaders are not that great at supporting math at present. I'm
not an expert on anything that isn't Braille, and I'm really not even
an expert on Braille. Sorry that I can't help you as well as I would
like to.

Aaron, since you don't know what math courses you'll be taking, what
concepts would you be covering? Graphing? Algebra? Trig? Geometry? I
can't answer you until you can tell me. You could augment with
computer code, but that's not very realistic. You can't always do
stuff you're "good at" in life, and it would be really good for you to
step out of your comfort zone. I know that sounds awful. I'm sorry.

Please give math a shot. Let me tell you a story. In fourth grade, I
couldn't multiply or divide fractions, and I could not do long
division. And guess what? I just let it go. I didn't ask for help, I
didn't go for tutoring. I just let it go because there were no letter
grades in fourth grade and I passed easily in everything else. So what
if I wasn't good at math? I could excel at everything else.

In fifth grade, I was screwed. We started with multiplying fractions,
eventually moving on to dividing them. I couldn't do it. And there
were letter grades. And then we reviewed long division. Like I said, I
was screwed. After struggling for a year or three to fill in all the
gaps while keeping up with coursework, I finally started figuring
things out. But there were a lot of nights where I cried because I
%dn't do my math and I'd been struggling for years with it. Worst
part? Lots of people told me I would never be good at math. Ever. Even
people very close to me would say that, and I started believing them.
After all, I couldn't prove them otherwise, so ... I did sort things
out though, eventually.

The summer before ninth grade, my TVI who mentored me when I was four
came to visit. I told her I was going into advanced geometry. She said
she knew someone who tried that, and it did not turn out well,
resulting in said person dropping the class. After all the loveliness
I had been through, I couldn't let that happen to me. Well, I studied
my butt off, spending extra hours on geometry that I should have
devoted to other things. I didn't have weekends because I had to make
sure I passed geometry and all my other classes. And I did pass
Advanced Geometry. With a 95 percent first semester and a 99 the
second.

What the heck is my point with all this? Math is not something that
comes extremely easily to most people, especially not to most blind
people. That doesn't mean that you can't do it. You can. If I can
manage it after completely missing two years of math (I was
homeschooled by Dad in third grade and read books for eight hours a
day), you'll be just fine. Just give it the time and patience it
deserves. At least at first. I spent almost ten years thinking that I
would never be good at math, and now I'm an aspiring physics major.
And let me tell you, physics is very math intensive. I took AP
Chemistry and AP Physics, both of which relied heavily on math. I got
through those with mostly A's and one B in second semester AP Chem.
The thing was, for AP Chem I didn't have a book for about half of the
year. You have an inaccessible site, I didn't even have that. If I can
make it through, so can you. You just have to give it a shot. Get back
to me with the content you're covering and I'll help you innovate some
good solutions.

Best,
Cricket Bidleman

On 7/19/16, Aaron via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> I am also not good at math. Never have been and I believe I never will be.
>
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