[nfbcs] FW: your advice would be appreciatedFW: [List] Handling

[Gary Wunder]

Folks, can you help me in helping a student who wants to know if it is
realistic for him to take a class in computer design?

Thank you.

Gary

-----Original Message-----
From: Mary ellen [mailto:gabias at telus.net]
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 2:25 PM
To: Wunder, Gary
Subject: your advice would be appreciatedFW: [List] Handling

Hi Gary,

I just received the following correspondence from and about a student who is
part of CFB.  I don't know enough about the specific issues to answer him.
This strikes me as one more example of us playing catch up with software
that isn't accessible in any meaningful way.  Is he right to drop the
course, or is the teacher being a grump?  Are there alternative ways to
demonstrate proficiency with the concepts but using different software as
Eric suggests?  The teacher says "My main concern is that this is a design
course, and as such it is a highly visual course. Some of the concerns I
have are documented in my earlier e-mail - in addition to that, there is a
module on creating Flash Video in the course and I am pretty sure that this
will be problematic, and I am not sure how Karl-Erik will be able to perform
tasks such as using an eyedropper tool to sample colours from an image when
developing a colour scheme for a website.."  Is that correct, or is it an
example of a sighted person believing lots of things are too visual for us
to grasp.  Would working with a reader help?  So many blind people don't
even consider that option these days.

Sorry to hit you with these questions so close to convention.  I'd say leave
it until afterw Orlando, but then you have the Convention Roundup to write.


I thought you did a masterful job with the sad Oklahoma story.  Mike's a
very bright guy who cares a lot!  It's a shame that he self-destructed.  The
entire June issue was good, as is true with the Monitor generally.

Mary Ellen


-----Original Message-----
From: karl-erik at Sonvisen.com [mailto:karl-erik at Sonvisen.com]
Sent: Monday, June 24, 2013 11:16 AM
To: list at cfb.ca
Subject: [List] Handling


As of May,  I'm enrolled this fall for a full course load, and while sorting
out textbooks, a teacher whom I've had before, emails the school's
disability resource center concerning their course's accessibility. To
summarize, this was one of the last lines in the email:

Quote
: "I don't want to be faced with the highly time-consuming task of
recreating course materials and exams for a single use."
Unquote

This is perhaps the most insulting thing I've ever heard, to me as a
disabled person, to all students, and to the school itself.

The crux of the matter is that the course is a web design and maintenance
course using specific and very expensive software to achieve results that
I've known how to do since middle school using notepad. However, because of
the specific programs used, I'm not able to challenge the course without the
unfair disadvantage of not knowing those programs, even though I know how to
achieve the desired results perhaps/probably better than the other students.

I understand this is a highly visual course, however, I'm not the one who
decided to make it mandatory for their bachelor program, and I'm not the one
who put it together using ninaccessible software. regardless, I will likely
end up seeking an alternative course simply to avoid this teacher.

Anyways, I'd like to know if anyone has any other suggestions on handling
this? I've attached the teacher's previous emails for your perusal.

Thanks in advance,
Karl-Erik

Most recent email:

No I have no objection to you copying my e-mail and sending it to Karl-Erik.

He took another course from me earlier (BUS 141), but this was a much less
visual course and this still seemed to present some problems for him.
Also, we had to rewrite all of our exams in BUS 140 as the screen reader was
unable to work with the Flash based simulations in MyITLab, which was very
time consuming for us as they were only used the one-time.

My main concern is that this is a design course, and as such it is a highly
visual course. Some of the concerns I have are documented in my earlier
e-mail - in addition to that, there is a module on creating Flash Video in
the course and I am pretty sure that this will be problematic, and I am not
sure how Karl-Erik will be able to perform tasks such as using an eyedropper
tool to sample colours from an image when developing a colour scheme for a
website..

In addition to my concerns about the highly visual nature of a design
course, there is also the issue of the Adobe Creative Suite software. We
have a limited set of licenses which are all in use in our dedicated lab as
the licenses are very expensive. The issue will be with exams for which we
cannot supply a license for DRC, or for Karl-Eric's personal use. We use
Adobe CS6 - I am not sure if this is available anymore as Adobe has replaced
it with a cloud based version (CS7) for which you have to pay a monthly fee.
We are staying with CS6 as we already have the licenses for it, but I am
unsure as to Adobe's policy about selling CS 6 - I know that you cannot buy
earlier versions of software from Microsoft for example. We also use a very
old version of ExamView for course quizzes and for part of the final exam
and I don't know if the screen reader software is capable of reading the
question and answer choices from this tool.

While I fully support the work that DRC does to help students, and fully
support DRC students in my courses, I am very anxious about having a blind
student in a design course that relies so heavily on the visual aspects of
design, and I don't want to be faced with the highly time-consuming task of
recreating course materials and exams for a single use.

It is for these reasons that I am wondering if another course would be a
more suitable choice for someone with Karl-Eric's specific disability.
End most recent email.

Start first email, (sent to a DRC Counsellor):

I wanted to check in with you before I answer Karl regarding the textbook
and software as I am wondering if a website design course is an appropriate
course for a blind student to take. The issue is that much of this course is
visual - we use graphic design software (Photoshop) to process photographs
(cropping, colour contrast, contrast and brightness, levels, and sharpening
for example), and we use Fireworks to develop website banners, buttons, and
filler graphics. These are all highly visual tasks. In addition, we use CSS
for page layout (Dreamweaver), and students must be able to see if they have
"column-drops" and other broken layout issues. I am not sure that screen
reader software is capable of supporting these tasks in the web design
environment.

End first email.



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