[nobe-l] Biology, Chemistry-The Sciences for the Blind

[Kelly Thornbury]

On "the sciences..." 

I'm enrolled in a colleage Anatomy and Physiology course, and I am having an issue with what might be considered a "standard" or acceptable accomodation for microscope labs. I'm hoping someone can either offer other suitable accomodations or provide any references to what might be considered "acceptable." 

The accommodations offered to the science department are to use a "reader" or scribe to describe microscope slides, then I can answer exam questions, but the department considers this to be an unfair advantage that fundamentally changes the content of the course material. The department has suggested plastic models (remember those plastic skin layer models???), but almost four weeks into the semester and they haven't even found the models they deem acceptable. 

Because of nerve damage in the hands, tactile representations are also not a option. This is my fourth A&P college course, and this is the first time the instructor (who is also the department head) has had a problem with the scribe technique. 

All suggestions or references for further information welcome. 

Kelly

On Jan 26, 2012, at 11:18 AM, Dr. Denise M Robinson wrote:

> Starting in the education field of the blind over 20 years ago, I depended
> on wikki sticks, beans, marshmallows, and any other type of object to put
> together to represent a cell or chemical bond for a blind student to touch
> and try and understand what was going on in the microscope that the sighted
> student stared into and went "Ah ha".
> 
> How do we give our blind students that "AH HA" moment? We can now.
> 
> A Japanese plastics company has created all types of plastic shapes, so all
> the student has to do is put them together to make the model that is
> requested by the teacher, to understand what is going on. Or if they are
> really young, a para educator or teacher can do the same for them, hand it
> to the child and explain all the parts as the child feels the model. Just
> so many more options now.
> 
> *HGS HINOMOTO PLASTICS CO., LTD.<http://www.hgs-model.com/manual/index.html>
> * has all types of models and shapes to aide in the creation and design of
> simple to very extensive models for blind children to see. Actually,
> sighted children find these models very helpful also. What helps one child,
> always seems to help the other too.
> 
> 
> -- 
> Denise
> 
> Denise M. Robinson, TVI, Ph.D.
> CEO, TechVision, LLC
> Virtual Instructor for blind/low vision
> 509-674-1853
> 
> Website with hundreds of informational articles & lessons all done with
> keystrokes: www.yourtechvision.com
> 
> "The person who says it cannot be done, shouldn't interrupt the one who is
> doing it." --Chinese Proverb
> 
> Computers are incredibly fast, accurate, and stupid: humans are incredibly
> slow, inaccurate and brilliant; together they are powerful beyond
> imagination.
> --Albert Einstein
> 
> It's kind of fun to do the impossible.
> --Walt Disney
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