[Nfb-science] The Definition of a Qualified Reader?

Wed Mar 8 14:27:38 UTC 2017

This reminds me of the case brought against Florida State University by students Toth and Principato. Of course, there were many things that contributed to the educational inaccessibility these students faced, but one of the things noted in the lawsuit was that the University relied upon human readers as one of the primary accommodations for access to math materials, but that "the reader FSU provided was a work-study student who had no mastery of the advanced math concepts needed to read or describe the course materials." Here's the original complaint if you want to read it:
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/word/Complaint_final_C.doc

Ideally, any math materials would be made available by the school in a format that a screen reader can handle. For instance, a Word document with equations entered with MathType can be read by NVDA. That provides the student with independent access to the text whenever a student wants to read. However, having a qualified reader at your disposal is an additional accommodation which is valuable as there are often graphical materials in textbooks that are difficult to decipher even with the best available technology.

Best regards,

--Steve Noble
steve.noble at louisville.edu
502-969-3088
http://louisville.academia.edu/SteveNoble

________________________________________
From: Nfb-science [nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org] on behalf of Elizabeth Mohnke via Nfb-science [nfb-science at nfbnet.org]
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2017 7:50 PM
To: NFB Science and Engineering Division List
Cc: Elizabeth Mohnke
Subject: Re: [Nfb-science] The Definition of a Qualified Reader?

Hello Suzanne,

Thank you for taking the time to respond to my message. I wish working with my disabilities office at my college could be this easy. I tried asking for someone who has simply taken and passed the class, and I was told I was being too demanding and was making assumptions about the abilities of the poor reader they assigned to me. However, it is nice to know that others have been successful in using this approach when requesting readers.

Thanks,
Elizabeth

-----Original Message-----
From: Nfb-science [mailto:nfb-science-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Suzanne Germano via Nfb-science
Sent: Tuesday, March 07, 2017 4:40 PM
To: NFB Science and Engineering Division List <nfb-science at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Suzanne Germano <sgermano at asu.edu>
Subject: Re: [Nfb-science] The Definition of a Qualified Reader?

When I wanted an assistant in chemistry lab I told them I would only take someone who not only has taken the course but achieved an A in it. They advertised in the chemistry department and found someone who worked out perfectly.

On Tuesday, March 7, 2017, Elizabeth Mohnke via Nfb-science < nfb-science at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> Hello All,
>
> This past semester I was not able to receive the accommodations I
> needed for a math class. Since I do not know Braille very well, or
> know how to make a screen reader on a computer read the various math
> symbols, graphs, and charts, I find that using a human reader is the
> best way for me to gain equal access to the course materials required for my math classes.
>
> However, it appears as though my college and I do not agree on what
> constitutes as a qualified reader. I have tried searching online to
> see if I can find a legal definition of a qualified reader, or any
> recent settlement cases involving the use of a reader to see if this
> might help provide some clarification as to what constitutes as a qualified reader.
> However, I have not been able to find anything that I believe would
> help me. It seems as though all the definitions I have found regarding
> the definition of a qualified reader are rather vague and could be
> interpreted in different ways by different people.
>
> I am currently trying to write a complaint using the complaint process
> within my college regarding the lack of accommodations I received for
> my math class this semester. I am not completely sure how to write
> this complaint, but I believe having a clear definition of what
> constitutes a qualified reader would be helpful for this complaint as
> well as advocating for myself as a blind student with an additional
> disability. If anyone has a good clear definition of what constitutes
> as a qualified reader, I would greatly appreciate hearing from you.
>
> Thanks,
> Elizabeth
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