[Nfb-science] Nfb-science Digest, Vol 69, Issue 4

[Nikhil Dama]

 Hi,

I have this same worry. I am worried about how to get my textbooks in
braille, when I start working. I plan on working for a private
employer and I am not sure if that company will pay for my textbooks.
I do not wait weeks, months, or a year to get the braille textbook. I
was thinking about scanning the textbook which is really easy to do
when you have a multiple page scanner. THen using the scanned version
I want to put into a software such as Mega Dots that will convert into
braille that I could read with a braille display. I could use a
braille embosser to produce the tactiles easily or a Fantom Arm which
I could use to read the diagrams. Would the Braille Blaster software
help me with what I am thinking. Do you think that this is possible or
is it to difficult to do? If anyone is looking for a software to type
math or science equations, then I would recommend Vertual Pencil by
Henter Math.

Thanks,
Nick Dama

On 4/14/12, nfb-science-request at nfbnet.org
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> Today's Topics:
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>    1. Technical Braille (John Miller)
>    2. Re: Technical Braille (Kevin Fjelsted)
>    3. Re: Technical Braille (John J. Boyer)
>
>
> ----------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> Message: 1
> Date: Sat, 14 Apr 2012 00:35:32 +0000
> From: John Miller <johnmillerphd at hotmail.com>
> To: <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: [Nfb-science] Technical Braille
> Message-ID: <COL102-W42F079F64AF4BB916E858FA3380 at phx.gbl>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset="iso-8859-1"
>
>
> Hello,I am fascinated by how many different methods blind peopleuse to
> succeed in science.Select a successful blind student or scientist and they
> likely employ a number of methods for doing their jobthat are distinct from
> others I know in the blind scientific community.Mostly we agree that it is
> helpful to read subject matterfor the first time containing graphics and
> technical material in braille.
> I want to encourage students and new professionals to do more to gain access
> to technical braille material in their field of study.I have a room in my
> home full of several complete math texts and a number more of partial texts
> all in braille.My sighted peers order a print textbook for $150 off the web
> and in a matter of daysare reading independently without the need for a
> sighted reader a book full ofreminders about the fundamentals of the field
> and some new examples tied to the work problems at hand.I buy the print
> books also, but review selected portions with a reader.Certain sections I
> may pay for braille transcription or to have an assistant typeset in latex
> with Scientific Notebook 5.5.A big part of my success comes from having
> access to the fundamentals of my field in braille.
> As a blind person, how do you get access to technical braille?I am reminded
> of the gradual release model in education.In this model, the teacher first
> does the problem in the classroom, then does it with the students,then
> advises or checks work while the student does the problem, and finally the
> teacher "releases" the student and the studentperforms the problem
> independently on standardized exams or as part of future courses.The gradual
> release model applies to gaining access to technical braille.Technical
> braille should first start showing up to a blind child in elementary
> school.Perhaps parents had to request braille as part of an I.E.P. but the
> blind student thinks little about it.I remember encountering a math problem
> involving the symbol pi on a standard exam in fourth grade.I did not know
> how to solve the problem and had never seen the pi symbol before.From that
> moment, I never forgot the pi symbol and how it was involved in the problem
> of finding the circumference of a circle.
> By the time a blind student takes algebra and geometry, there is little
> choice but to have a braille text to do well.For the most part, in high
> school the technical braille keeps showing up as part of a regular class
> requirement.Public school districts have a long-established lawful
> requirement to provide blind children a good education and this requirement
> includes braille textbooks.I recommend high school students request keeping
> several braille texts such as trigonometry and calculus or whichever textis
> the last in your progression through math courses.It seems fair to request
> keeping the braille transcription of the text for the cost of the print
> textbook or for some otherreasonable fee.Getting similar texts will be quite
> difficult later.
>
> Now comes the gradual release part of getting your hands on technical
> braille.I understand that there are instances where the public school
> district does not provide braille texts for advanced placement courses with
> their assigned texts.The school district should provide the text but finds
> it is not already in braille and gives up.The National Braille Association
> will braille a text if provided 2 copies of the text.Typical lead time is 6
> to 12 months.A friend's son is taking AP chemistry in the 10th
> grade.Supposing this child was blind and the school district was not
> prepared to make the book available,the blind child or the parents of the
> blind child would have to step up to the plate in the fall of 9th grade.Who
> is going to teach that cool class next fall?The school needs to assure the
> student that the text has been chosen 12 months in advanceand that its
> brailling is well taken care of.
> So we come to college.When enrolled as a full-time college student is one of
> the few timesthat a blind person has an opportunity to collect technical
> braille texts in a desired field.A braille textbook is a reasonable
> accomodation under the A.D.A. and universities get that.Some universities,
> however, are much better than others in supporting providing blind
> studentswith brailled texts.I recommend high school students who are juniors
> start speaking with science division members or blind college studentsto
> learn how the selection of a college can help increase their chances of a
> college education with accessable material.Universities decide late in the
> game as to which professor will teach what.The text selection seems to be
> the sole decision of the instructor.The department chair selects the
> professor often in mid spring for fall courses.It is the blind student's
> responsability to guarantee access to technical braille.Often by meeting
> with the department chair, the required text if not the professor can be
> selected 12 months in advance.One explanation I hear many times is that the
> blind student asked for the book ahead of time,was told no book can be
> selected ahead of time, and now the blind student is enrolled in the college
> course with no braille text.Another explanation I hear is that it is just
> too much trouble to get a braille text for a college course.As president of
> the science division of NFB, the most frequent question I get is from
> non-science majors wonderinghow to prepare for a course in statistics or
> calculus.The best answer is to plan ahead.  Become familiar with the Nemeth
> Braille Code before taking the course.The course is going to be a
> requirement for a number of undergraduate degrees,so select which year to
> take the course and order the text one year ahead.
> Here are some other explanations for not getting technical braille from
> blind students.I am getting a grade of a b in my technical major and am
> doing fine without the braille.My answer: try a similar course with
> technical braille. Maybe you will earn a grade of an a.Another explanation
> is: I am getting an a in my courses and am not using braille.My answer: are
> you working around the clock and sometimes having difficulty because a
> sighted reader does not show?I did one year of college courses with no
> technical braille.I felt so much more relaxed and had more weekend nights
> out the next year when I had technical braille for my courses.
> As a college student, following the gradual release model, you should at
> least obtain one braille technical text.This will give you the background of
> knowing how to work directly with braille transcribers.You should talk with
> the braille transcriber. Give input about how you like tactile graphics
> prepared.Answer the transcriber's questions about possible typos in the
> text.Work with the professor to gain an errata of textbook corrections, if
> any.What a great opportunity to impress a professor with your resolve to
> learn thematerial for an upcoming course!This is the time to also get an
> electronic copy of the text that is braille embosser readyand to verify that
> the text has been placed in a national book archive such as at bookshare.I
> used to have electronic copies of many of my course texts.I did not properly
> maintain the electronic media.The electronic media failed and now the only
> copy I have is the hard-copy braille text.So I recommend burning the
> electronic book to a CD, keeping a copy, and keeping a spare copy perhaps
> with a family member at their home.
> You are preparing for more than fourty years of professional life built on
> the knowledge from these college years.It is really impossible to assess
> which courses will become most central to future career work.After five
> years of working, I started turning to my data communications textbook and
> brailled homework solutionsmore than to my signal processing textbook.Now
> the tide has turned and I am actively researching signal processing.I am so
> fortunate I kept both braille resources.
> And above all, you should take the opportunity to manage the delivery of the
> braille and the cost for its production.I started getting a quantum
> chemestry text brailled just a few months before the course started.For my
> quantum chemestry course, I had one braille transcriber braille the odd
> chapters and another transcriber braille the even chapters.They express
> mailed the volumes as they finished them to my student housing.If the
> transcriber had mailed completed material to student services, I would have
> missed weekend study time fromvolumes that arrived on Saturday.I
> occasionally directed the transcriber as to which chapter to braille next
> during the middle of the coursebased on the teaching order of the
> professor.The contact with the transcribers helped me tremendously in my
> career later.I worked with transcribers I had come to know and trust from my
> college years to prepare a few more texts that I needed professionally.
> A hard fact is that once out of college and working, getting technical
> braille will become much tougher.Your college years are an opportunity to
> stock-pile the texts you will need for later.As a professional, you can pay
> for braille transcription out-of-pocket.I know that NASA is very good about
> providing braille transcription and thatthe federal government as an
> employer is also quite good.A private employer will be more reluctant to
> provide technical braille to the blind professional.From time to time, I
> request the transcription of an IEEE article that may run two braille
> volumes.If a manager believes in the high quality work that you are doing,
> the manager may support your access to technical braillein order for you to
> efficiently complete tasks associated with a work project.Since the company
> is for profit, the manager is looking for a project to be done sooner
> because you have access to the braille.Hopefully as a blind professional you
> are now quite good at getting technical braille on your own.You will likely
> change employers during your career and start working on something you know
> little about.The typical ways of learning: more college courses or technical
> braille on the new subject matter,and working with a reader will help.
> It is never too late to start trying out getting technical braille in a
> field you care about.Similarly, if there are things that have been too hard
> to do independently for you in the past in science,try to do these tasks
> every couple of years.Sometimes other blind professionals have the solution
> now and can share it with you.Sometimes blindness technology has made the
> task simple.And sometimes an unrelated skill you have developedhappens to
> apply to solving the old problem.If you can post the access challenge to
> this list, we can begin to work with collegestudents as a senior project to
> develop a workable solution.
>
> I look forward to working with you allto guarantee access to learning and
> technical material for the blind.
> very best,John Miller,President, Science and Engineering Divisionof the
> National Federation of the Blind
>  		 	   		
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 2
> Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 20:22:56 -0500
> From: Kevin Fjelsted <kfjelsted at gmail.com>
> To: NFB Science and Engineering Division List <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Nfb-science] Technical Braille
> Message-ID: <B20A4C17-FB70-4998-B698-1814330750F5 at gmail.com>
> Content-Type: text/plain;	charset=us-ascii
>
> John;
> Thanks for your post.
>
> What have you found to be the best source for keeping up to date and
> studying the Nemeth Braille Code?
> -Kevin
>
> On Apr 13, 2012, at 7:35 PM, John Miller wrote:
>
>> Nemeth Braille Code
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> Message: 3
> Date: Fri, 13 Apr 2012 21:57:09 -0500
> From: "John J. Boyer" <john at godtouches.org>
> To: NFB Science and Engineering Division List <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
> Subject: Re: [Nfb-science] Technical Braille
> Message-ID: <20120414025709.GA25039 at jjb-centos.workgroup>
> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii
>
> Lots of good points. This all remins me of my own struggles to get good
> material on science and technology. That struggle has motivted me to
> devote much attention to making such material available for blind people
> in braille. That is why I am developing the liblouis software libraries
> and the BrailleBlaster application. Tactile graphics are included in the
> goal. You can read more at http://www.brailleblaster.org .
>
> John
> On Sat, Apr 14, 2012 at 12:35:32AM +0000, John Miller wrote:
>>
>> Hello,I am fascinated by how many different methods blind peopleuse to
>> succeed in science.Select a successful blind student or scientist and they
>> likely employ a number of methods for doing their jobthat are distinct
>> from others I know in the blind scientific community.Mostly we agree that
>> it is helpful to read subject matterfor the first time containing graphics
>> and technical material in braille.
>> I want to encourage students and new professionals to do more to gain
>> access to technical braille material in their field of study.I have a room
>> in my home full of several complete math texts and a number more of
>> partial texts all in braille.My sighted peers order a print textbook for
>> $150 off the web and in a matter of daysare reading independently without
>> the need for a sighted reader a book full ofreminders about the
>> fundamentals of the field and some new examples tied to the work problems
>> at hand.I buy the print books also, but review selected portions with a
>> reader.Certain sections I may pay for braille transcription or to have an
>> assistant typeset in latex with Scientific Notebook 5.5.A big part of my
>> success comes from having access to the fundamentals of my field in
>> braille.
>> As a blind person, how do you get access to technical braille?I am
>> reminded of the gradual release model in education.In this model, the
>> teacher first does the problem in the classroom, then does it with the
>> students,then advises or checks work while the student does the problem,
>> and finally the teacher "releases" the student and the studentperforms the
>> problem independently on standardized exams or as part of future
>> courses.The gradual release model applies to gaining access to technical
>> braille.Technical braille should first start showing up to a blind child
>> in elementary school.Perhaps parents had to request braille as part of an
>> I.E.P. but the blind student thinks little about it.I remember
>> encountering a math problem involving the symbol pi on a standard exam in
>> fourth grade.I did not know how to solve the problem and had never seen
>> the pi symbol before.From that moment, I never forgot the pi symbol and
>> how it was involved in the problem of finding the circumference of a
>> circle.
>> By the time a blind student takes algebra and geometry, there is little
>> choice but to have a braille text to do well.For the most part, in high
>> school the technical braille keeps showing up as part of a regular class
>> requirement.Public school districts have a long-established lawful
>> requirement to provide blind children a good education and this
>> requirement includes braille textbooks.I recommend high school students
>> request keeping several braille texts such as trigonometry and calculus or
>> whichever textis the last in your progression through math courses.It
>> seems fair to request keeping the braille transcription of the text for
>> the cost of the print textbook or for some otherreasonable fee.Getting
>> similar texts will be quite difficult later.
>>
>> Now comes the gradual release part of getting your hands on technical
>> braille.I understand that there are instances where the public school
>> district does not provide braille texts for advanced placement courses
>> with their assigned texts.The school district should provide the text but
>> finds it is not already in braille and gives up.The National Braille
>> Association will braille a text if provided 2 copies of the text.Typical
>> lead time is 6 to 12 months.A friend's son is taking AP chemistry in the
>> 10th grade.Supposing this child was blind and the school district was not
>> prepared to make the book available,the blind child or the parents of the
>> blind child would have to step up to the plate in the fall of 9th
>> grade.Who is going to teach that cool class next fall?The school needs to
>> assure the student that the text has been chosen 12 months in advanceand
>> that its brailling is well taken care of.
>> So we come to college.When enrolled as a full-time college student is one
>> of the few timesthat a blind person has an opportunity to collect
>> technical braille texts in a desired field.A braille textbook is a
>> reasonable accomodation under the A.D.A. and universities get that.Some
>> universities, however, are much better than others in supporting providing
>> blind studentswith brailled texts.I recommend high school students who are
>> juniors start speaking with science division members or blind college
>> studentsto learn how the selection of a college can help increase their
>> chances of a college education with accessable material.Universities
>> decide late in the game as to which professor will teach what.The text
>> selection seems to be the sole decision of the instructor.The department
>> chair selects the professor often in mid spring for fall courses.It is the
>> blind student's responsability to guarantee access to technical
>> braille.Often by meeting with the department chair, the required text if
>> not the professor can be selected 12 months in advance.One explanation I
>> hear many times is that the blind student asked for the book ahead of
>> time,was told no book can be selected ahead of time, and now the blind
>> student is enrolled in the college course with no braille text.Another
>> explanation I hear is that it is just too much trouble to get a braille
>> text for a college course.As president of the science division of NFB, the
>> most frequent question I get is from non-science majors wonderinghow to
>> prepare for a course in statistics or calculus.The best answer is to plan
>> ahead.  Become familiar with the Nemeth Braille Code before taking the
>> course.The course is going to be a requirement for a number of
>> undergraduate degrees,so select which year to take the course and order
>> the text one year ahead.
>> Here are some other explanations for not getting technical braille from
>> blind students.I am getting a grade of a b in my technical major and am
>> doing fine without the braille.My answer: try a similar course with
>> technical braille. Maybe you will earn a grade of an a.Another explanation
>> is: I am getting an a in my courses and am not using braille.My answer:
>> are you working around the clock and sometimes having difficulty because a
>> sighted reader does not show?I did one year of college courses with no
>> technical braille.I felt so much more relaxed and had more weekend nights
>> out the next year when I had technical braille for my courses.
>> As a college student, following the gradual release model, you should at
>> least obtain one braille technical text.This will give you the background
>> of knowing how to work directly with braille transcribers.You should talk
>> with the braille transcriber. Give input about how you like tactile
>> graphics prepared.Answer the transcriber's questions about possible typos
>> in the text.Work with the professor to gain an errata of textbook
>> corrections, if any.What a great opportunity to impress a professor with
>> your resolve to learn thematerial for an upcoming course!This is the time
>> to also get an electronic copy of the text that is braille embosser
>> readyand to verify that the text has been placed in a national book
>> archive such as at bookshare.I used to have electronic copies of many of
>> my course texts.I did not properly maintain the electronic media.The
>> electronic media failed and now the only copy I have is the hard-copy
>> braille text.So I recommend burning the electronic book to a CD, keeping a
>> copy, and keeping a spare copy perhaps with a family member at their home.
>> You are preparing for more than fourty years of professional life built on
>> the knowledge from these college years.It is really impossible to assess
>> which courses will become most central to future career work.After five
>> years of working, I started turning to my data communications textbook and
>> brailled homework solutionsmore than to my signal processing textbook.Now
>> the tide has turned and I am actively researching signal processing.I am
>> so fortunate I kept both braille resources.
>> And above all, you should take the opportunity to manage the delivery of
>> the braille and the cost for its production.I started getting a quantum
>> chemestry text brailled just a few months before the course started.For my
>> quantum chemestry course, I had one braille transcriber braille the odd
>> chapters and another transcriber braille the even chapters.They express
>> mailed the volumes as they finished them to my student housing.If the
>> transcriber had mailed completed material to student services, I would
>> have missed weekend study time fromvolumes that arrived on Saturday.I
>> occasionally directed the transcriber as to which chapter to braille next
>> during the middle of the coursebased on the teaching order of the
>> professor.The contact with the transcribers helped me tremendously in my
>> career later.I worked with transcribers I had come to know and trust from
>> my college years to prepare a few more texts that I needed professionally.
>> A hard fact is that once out of college and working, getting technical
>> braille will become much tougher.Your college years are an opportunity to
>> stock-pile the texts you will need for later.As a professional, you can
>> pay for braille transcription out-of-pocket.I know that NASA is very good
>> about providing braille transcription and thatthe federal government as an
>> employer is also quite good.A private employer will be more reluctant to
>> provide technical braille to the blind professional.From time to time, I
>> request the transcription of an IEEE article that may run two braille
>> volumes.If a manager believes in the high quality work that you are doing,
>> the manager may support your access to technical braillein order for you
>> to efficiently complete tasks associated with a work project.Since the
>> company is for profit, the manager is looking for a project to be done
>> sooner because you have access to the braille.Hopefully as a blind
>> professional you are now quite good at getting technical braille on your
>> own.You will likely change employers during your career and start working
>> on something you know little about.The typical ways of learning: more
>> college courses or technical braille on the new subject matter,and working
>> with a reader will help.
>> It is never too late to start trying out getting technical braille in a
>> field you care about.Similarly, if there are things that have been too
>> hard to do independently for you in the past in science,try to do these
>> tasks every couple of years.Sometimes other blind professionals have the
>> solution now and can share it with you.Sometimes blindness technology has
>> made the task simple.And sometimes an unrelated skill you have
>> developedhappens to apply to solving the old problem.If you can post the
>> access challenge to this list, we can begin to work with collegestudents
>> as a senior project to develop a workable solution.
>>
>> I look forward to working with you allto guarantee access to learning and
>> technical material for the blind.
>> very best,John Miller,President, Science and Engineering Divisionof the
>> National Federation of the Blind
>>  		 	   		
>> _______________________________________________
>> Nfb-science mailing list
>> Nfb-science at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfb-science_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Nfb-science:
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>
> --
> John J. Boyer, Executive Director
> GodTouches Digital Ministry, Inc.
> http://www.godtouches.org
> Madison, Wisconsin, USA
> Peace, Love, Service
>
>
>
>
> ------------------------------
>
> _______________________________________________
> Nfb-science mailing list
> Nfb-science at nfbnet.org
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>
>
> End of Nfb-science Digest, Vol 69, Issue 4
> ******************************************
>