[blindkid] Online Accessibility in College

Sun Feb 22 19:50:52 UTC 2015

This is absolutely correct. Also, since the disability Services office does
not have experience with blind students, I think it might be problematic for
them to train readers for your daughter. There are many ways to work with a
reader, and each way does not work for every person. So, in my opinion,
training readers is something your daughter should do so she can have
control over who is reading for her, can fire a person if he or she is not
meeting her needs, and can develop a good working relationship with her
readers so she can get the most out of working with them. 
Melissa

-----Original Message-----
From: blindkid [mailto:blindkid-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Marianne
Denning via blindkid
Sent: Sunday, February 22, 2015 11:33 AM
To: Carol Castellano; Blind Kid Mailing List, (for parents of blind
children)
Subject: Re: [blindkid] Online Accessibility in College

I put up signs in the dormitories around campus asking for readers.
My state services for the blind paid for the readers I used but I hired
them.  I would recommend that your daughter complete an interview with
perspective readers and have them read from texts that are similar to those
she will be studying.  I also went to the math department to get a math
major as my reader when I took math classes.
I wanted to be sure the reader was using the correct terminology in math.
If the disability services provides a reader then your daughter has no
control over who reads for her.

Many colleges do not have many blind students so they are not always aware
of how to provide the services needed.

On 2/22/15, Carol Castellano via blindkid <blindkid at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Has your daughter had experience yet in using human readers?  That is 
> something she can practice.  I think the hardest part for kids is 
> becoming able to give directions to someone older (often high school 
> students have adult readers), but it is a very important part of 
> learning to use a reader effectively.  We'll be holding a workshop 
> session on this subject, btw, at the national convention this summer.
>
> Carol
>
> Carol Castellano
> Parents of Blind Children-NJ
> Director of Programs
> National Organization of Parents of Blind Children
> 973-377-0976
> carol_castellano at verizon.net
> www.blindchildren.org
> www.nfb.org/parents-and-teachers
>
> At 09:47 AM 2/22/2015, you wrote:
>>What I learned while going through college - working on my PhD, is 
>>that each person uses a reader to meet the individual's needs and 
>>surcumstances. I use a reader differently reading a menu at a cafe 
>>than I do with my textbooks. Each blind person also has their own idea 
>>as to HOW they want something read. There really is NO specialised 
>>training involved other than between the blind individual and that 
>>reader. Also, a blind individual may have a variety of different 
>>readers in college depending on the course.
>>Some people are great textbook readers but not super readers in 
>>algebra or chem. because they don't know the signs/symbols. I suggest 
>>reading the article by Peggy Pender, Care and Feeding of Readers. As a 
>>TVI, I teach by example. I have a driver who is also my reader. 
>>Sometimes, I will have him come in and read for me or my student. I 
>>had to train him as I did all my others. I also have my students train 
>>him to meet their needs. Of course, they can't keep him. Smile. But it 
>>does give them the experience of using live readers. Feel free to 
>>contact me individually, if you would like to talk.
>>
>>Merry-Noel Chamberlain, MA, TVI, O&M
>>
>>
>><https://overview.mail.yahoo.com?.src=iOS>Sent from Yahoo Mail for 
>>iPad
>>
>>At Feb 22, 2015, 8:20:14 AM, Shellie Kalinsky via 
>>blindkid<'blindkid at nfbnet.org'> wrote:
>>My daughter does talk with the disabilities office and has a 
>>memorandum of accommodations that includes a reader and a scribe 
>>however the reality is that they don't have the trained readers ready 
>>for her and she wants to attend college now, not wait a year while 
>>they train the 2 readers they have for tests and assessments.
>>She uses a combination of screen readers and technology but sometimes 
>>the material is not coded properly so the software can't read it 
>>correctly (for example the math problems will say "symbol"
>>instead of "equals" and other mistakes like that). We have consulted 
>>with a private technology company because we thought the problem was 
>>her computer software, but we found out that the problem is the actual 
>>coding of documents by publishing companies and that in some 
>>situations human readers will still be necessary. Which leads us back 
>>to the original question of where to find people to hire. We know that 
>>eventually her disabilities office will have the trained readers 
>>available but we are filling a gap in services right now.
>>There is only one other student with a visual disability on her campus 
>>so the disabilities office is learning how to provide appropriate 
>>accommodations from my daughter. It's good to know my daughter is 
>>helping them make positive changes for future students but we also 
>>need to make sure her needs are being met now.
>>
>>Sent from my iPad
>>
>> > On Feb 22, 2015, at 8:33 AM, EMMOL--- via blindkid wrote:
>> >
>> > Shellie,
>> > I suggest that your daughter speak with the Disabilities Office at 
>> > her school.
>> > They will be in touch with professors if materials are not accessible.
>> > She
>> > should of course speak with the professors to make them aware, but 
>> > the Disabilities Office will assist with the accessibility piece.
>> >
>> > I am wondering what screen reader she uses. My son is a senior in 
>> > college.
>> > His school uses Blackboard, as well, but he uses Jaws.
>> >
>> > My daughter works in the Disabilities Office at another University 
>> > and finds that Kurzweil has difficulty reading materials that
>> professors have photo
>> > copied, scanned and then upload. Also if they've designed a 
>> > worksheet using Word it isn't necessarily screen reader accessible. 
>> > They
>> may not realize
>> > this or understand.
>> >
>> > All materials must be accessible, so I suggest she go back to the 
>> > Disabilities Office.
>> > Eileen Molloy
>> >
>> >
>> > Date: Sat, 21 Feb 2015 20:30:22 +0000 (UTC)
>> > From: Shellie Kalinsky
>> > To: "Blind Kid Mailing List (for parents of blind children)"
>> >
>> > Subject: [blindkid] where to hire readers for college level students?
>> > Message-ID:
>> > <1264816763.1241008.1424550622508.JavaMail.yahoo at mail.yahoo.com>
>> > Content-Type: text/plain; charset=UTF-8
>> >
>> > Hi -?
>> >
>> > My daughter is a college freshman and sometimes the material she 
>> > has to read for class is online and her read aloud software doesn't
>> always read the
>> > material properly.? So we would like to hire someone to read the 
>> > material to her.? Have any of you hired a reader before?? Where did 
>> > you find your readers?? Any suggestions on where my daughter and I 
>> > should look
>> for someone?
>> >
>> > Thanks in advance for your advice on this.
>> > Shellie Kalinsky
>> >
>> >
>> >
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--
Marianne Denning, TVI, MA
Teacher of students who are blind or visually impaired
(513) 607-6053

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