[nabs-l] Questions About Connect Math and Math Reader

[Vejas Vasiliauskas]

Hi Elizabeth,
I'm going to be starting my math course today.
I can't assist you with Math-Connect, as I have never had 
experience it.
As for your reader question: in my disability services office, 
although I have not yet had experience with my reader, they pick 
by department.  So for example if it ever came down to me needing 
a reader in Spanish, they would go to the Spanish d"partment, 
meaning that they would get someone who is familiar with the 
language.  If I for some reason will not work well with a 
particular reader, then I would try another one.  Have your 
disability services told you if their system works similarly?
Your Disability Services sounds unsupportive, and finding a 
reader off them may not be the best course of action.  You could 
also try asking around.  You could write up some flyers and put 
them all over the school, and then you could interview them.
As an aside, if you do decide to try to get a reader with DSS, be 
prepared for them to ask you on the spot before meeting the 
reader what time you will want to work with the reader (which I 
can appreciate that, given all other classes and activities, can 
be difficult to know initially)
Vejas


 ----- Original Message -----
From: Elizabeth Mohnke via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Thu, 12 Jan 2017 13:19:36 +0000
Subject: [nabs-l] Questions About Connect Math and Math Reader

Hello All,

I currently do not have the time to go into too much detail 
regarding my situation.  However, I have a few questions about 
being able to gain access to the course materials used for my 
math class.

First, does anyone know if there is any way to be able to gain 
access to the Connect Math online platform using either JAWS or 
NVDA? I have tried using JAWS on an older desktop computer I have 
at home, and the website was pretty much useless to me.  However, 
I know my computer is a bit old, and so this may be part of my 
problem.  I have not had the chance to try Connect Math on the 
few computers on campus that have JAWS installed on them to see 
if it works on the computers on campus.  I have not had a chance 
to test the Connect Math website with NVDA, but this would be an 
option for me as well.

However, I have been told that the Connect Math online platform 
is not accessible using a screen reader.  So I am not quite sure 
how effective it is for me to find a screen reader to use with 
this platform.  The last time I took a math class, I used a 
reader for my class.  Since this worked well for me before, I 
thought it would work well for me  again.  However, when I used a 
reader in the past, the reader had a lot of experience working as 
a reader, and was fluent and  efficient in being able to read and 
write the math material for me.

However, that was quite some time ago, and things have changed a 
bit since then.  The current reader I have been given for my math 
class by the disabilities office is a new reader.  In addition, 
she has not taken the math class I am currently trying to take, 
and stated that she is not good at math when I was trying to work 
with her during my first class period the other day.

When I tried explaining to the disabilities office the importance 
of having a math reader who is knowledgeable and fluent in math, 
they made the assumption that I was expecting my reader to be 
able to explain things to me as a tutor.  However, this is not 
what I am expecting from my reader.  I simply want someone who 
can read and write the course material in a smooth efficient 
manner as my time working with this person is limited to a 
certain amount of time.  However, the people in the disabilities 
office could not and did not appear to want to understand why 
this would be important to me.

My meeting with the disabilities office turned into a rather rude 
and hostile meeting where I was told that I had absolutely no say 
in whether or not the reader that was assigned to work with me 
was efficient and effective in providing me with equal access to 
the course material.  It felt as though they were simply 
dictating what accommodations I could use and that would work 
best for me while personally attacking me and accusing me of 
making accusations that had absolutely nothing to do with my 
accommodations.  It felt as though they were not interested in 
listening to me or help me find a solution that would work best 
for me.

So now that I have rambled, I am wondering if anyone knows how I 
could use a screen reader with the Connect Math online platform 
as well as help me find a way to explain to the disabilities 
office the importance of having a math reader who is 
knowledgeable and fluent in math.  I am currently not on any of 
the math or science email lists.  So if anyone on any of these 
lists would want to forward this email to those email lists, I 
would greatly appreciate it.  It is only the beginning of the 
semester, but with all this stress of trying to figure out how to 
work with the disabilities office, it feels more like the last 
week of classes rather than the first week of classes.

Anyway, any positive support or suggestions would be greatly 
appreciated.

Thanks,
Elizabeth
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