[nabs-l] Finding accessible and relevant research articles to complete assignments

Tue Nov 7 06:33:53 UTC 2017

Hi Amanda,

I recommend having a few strategies at hand for doing research.  When
I was in grad school, I worked with a librarian.  One of her jobs was
helping people with disabilities access printed materials or any
information that might otherwise be inaccessible to us.  She taught me
how to go through the school's databases.  She also sent inaccessible
documents over to the access tech center to be converted for me.  When
I did my graduate thesis project, I had to use a certain number of
books too.  My school's access tech center scanned those for me and
sent them to me in whatever file type I requested.

A reader is definitely a reasonable accommodation, so even if you
can't get a librarian to help you out, you can find yourself a reader
who can at least help you locate articles and books.  using Jaws OCR
is a good option in a pinch too.

I know doing research can be super frustrating.  Once you find a
strategy that works for you, I hope you enjoy reading through
everything you find.
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On 11/6/17, Greg Aikens via NABS-L <nabs-l at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> You definitely need a strategy for accessing inaccessible PDFs. What
> version
> of JAWS are you using? For several years now JAWS has had built-in
> "Convenient OCR." This lets you run OCR on a PDF rather quickly and puts
> the
> results in a virtual viewer which you can read and/or copy and paste. There
> is a detailed JAWS help file on the subject. It is quick and fairly
> accurate
> to use. It does have a tendency to put info in nested tables, which can be
> annoying when you copy and paste into a word document, but for accessing
> info, it is great.
>
> Another free option I recommend is robobraille:
> https://www.robobraille.org/.
>
> You can upload lots of different inaccessible file types, including pdfs,
> and you will be emailed an accessible version in the format of your choice.
>
>
> These two solutions should cover you for the most part, but you could also
> look into getting OCR software and converting the document yourself. There
> are lots of options in this category, including KNFB Reader, Openbook, Text
> Cloner Pro, Abbyy Fine Reader, etc. all with their pros and cons.
>
> In my opinion, having access to a quick OCR solution is a requirement for
> completing research at the college level. With the exception of charts and
> graphs, these solutions should allow you to access the text of most
> articles
> you come across.
>
> Please let me know if you have any questions. I would be happy to
> elaborate.
>
> Best,
> Greg
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Amanda Cape
> via
> NABS-L
> Sent: Monday, November 6, 2017 12:09 PM
> To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Cc: Amanda Cape <cape.amanda at gmail.com>
> Subject: [nabs-l] Finding accessible and relevant research articles to
> complete assignments
>
> Hi fellow students,
> I have been finding myself getting increasingly frustrated as I try to
> progress through school and am required to find research articles that are
> accessible with Jaws and that are relevant to my assignment topics. How
> does
> everyone deal with this? For example, when I am able to find an article
> that
> could be helpful with support from a sighted individual who can sskim the
> articles, they are not always readable.
> One opened and all it says is blank. This makes doing work even more
> anxiety
> provoking and time-consuming than it would be without all of these hurdles.
> I am feeling frustrated and wondering how everyone finds useful articles.
> Thanks,
> Amanda
> Amanda
>
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-- 
Julie A. McGinnity
President, National Federation of the Blind Performing Arts Division,
Second Vice President, National Federation of the Blind of Missouri
"For we walk by faith, not by sight"
2 Cor. 7