[nabs-l] Question about Readers

Tue Oct 11 03:45:03 UTC 2016

Vejas,
Yes, there is software required to convert from PDF to word.
Not all schools will have this. The software is adobe professional.

I believe other professional software can convert to Word, but adobe 
professional should do it.
Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Vejas via NABS-L
Sent: Sunday, October 09, 2016 9:24 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Cc: Vejas
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Question about Readers

Thank you so much for this information.
A couple more questions for Kaiti or anyone else. My DSS seems to be very 
firm about PDF's, but I will talk to them and I know  I am only their second 
blind student, so they are just going off of what he said. I like the idea 
of Word or Plain Text, do you know if any particular  software is required 
for them to do this? Also is there a particular law  that allows me to have 
books in any format that I can use in case there is resistance?
Vejas

> On Oct 9, 2016, at 17:08, Kaiti Shelton via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> 
> wrote:
>
> Hi Vejas,
>
> Based on my university disability services experiences thus far, here
> is what I think.  You should be able to request the book in a format
> that is accessible to you.  If they only are offering you PDFs which,
> let's face it, aren't the most accessible thing out there, they should
> at least offer you the option of getting your books in word or plain
> text format.  My university allows students to choose between these
> three formats for print materials, with the recommendation being that
> PDF documents be used by students with learning disabilities since
> they preserve the format the best, and that screenreader users use
> either word or plain text.  If they give you a book in a format that
> isn't working due to accessibility problems for you, you should be
> able to ask them to change it so it is accessible.  In any case, they
> should be proofreading the materials.  I don't personally mind a typo
> here or there, but if there are tons of typos I do ask the disability
> services to review the book and make corrections.  If they are
> hurrying through it to get the book done quickly you can also ask them
> to just give you the first few chapters so they can focus on doing
> those well, then work on later chapters ahead of time as the semester
> progresses.  AS long as they have a copy of your syllabi they should
> be able to do this, and it hasn't been an issue when they've needed to
> give me my books in chunks before.
>
> For readers, one thing I'd recommend is asking to meet with the
> potential hire during the hiring process if the disability services
> office helps you find a reader.  I know at least at my university we
> have a lot of foreign students who go for the jobs in learning
> services, but that can sometimes cause issues due to language
> barriers.  I'm not advocating that you resist working with a foreign
> student, just make sure you can understand them and they have a fairly
> fluent knowledge of the English language and the words they might
> encounter in the readings.  I had some issues with a DSO-hired lab
> assistant from Saudi Arabia, and although he was really helpful and
> did his best most of the time the language differences made
> communicating about anatomy terminology difficult because he wasn't
> fully confident in English, let alone with latin terms that were also
> new to me that I needed to learn propper pronunciations for.
>
> Other than that, I'd definitely also make sure the person you
> eventually work with is okay with you recording them.  It's nice to
> have lectures on file, but you would definitely want to make sure
> they're okay and give consent as recording someone without their
> knowledge or approval isn't fair (or technically legal and some people
> are very uptight about that).  I don't see why you couldn't take notes
> as the reader reads to you like you would during a lecture with a
> professor in class, but you should always feel free to ask readers for
> spellings of unfamiliar words, for information in footnotes, etc.
> HTH.
>
>> On 10/8/16, LaKeria Taylor via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Actually, I would take the book back and make them fix it everytime it
>> has errors. It is their job. I would not use a reader just to read a
>> book unless it was completely visual, which one of the stories in my
>> literature book is.
>>
>>> On 10/8/16, David Andrews via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>> If you are going to use a human reader then use the book itself. The
>>> only reason to scan a book is to produce an electronic copy. And yes,
>>> hopefully that copy is accurate.
>>>
>>> Dave
>>>
>>> At 08:24 PM 10/6/2016, you wrote:
>>>> Hi All,
>>>> I was wondering if any of you have used readers to read a chapter
>>>> from a textbook, and how exactly you would go about this process.
>>>> Although I have the textbook I need, it has been scanned by
>>>> Disability Services and there are tons of errors, making some parts
>>>> confusing to read.
>>>> Do you just tell the reader when to stop so that you can take notes
>>>> on a particular topic?
>>>> Would it be appropriate to ask my disability services office to
>>>> check for spelling/accuracy, or is that not really their place?
>>>> Thanks,
>>>> Vejas
>>>
>>>
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>
>
> -- 
> Kaiti Shelton
>
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