[BlindMath] How math feels

[avery ingram]

Hello,

I'm so sorry math has become so annoying! I'm totally blind, and have been since two years old. Math was a strongpoint of mine throughout school, including college. I used to write out math in Nemeth on my BrailleNote Apex, and it worked extremely well. Ever since it stopped working, I haven't found anything that works well enough for me to risk using on a timed test. I'm a lot more hesitant to get a science job or go into medical school now. I'm really hoping something good will come out next year. I've also found this process extraordinarily frustrating. I wish people tried harder to make technology for blind people that actually works well for math, or anything else, for that matter. Best of luck with your studies.

Avery

On Nov 23, 2025, at 12:54 PM, Abdulqadir Ahmad via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:

Hi,
I want to ramble and talk and complain about how math feels for me now as a blind person.
Math used to be my thing when I was sighted. I would choose learning and solving math problems almost over any other school related tasks.
Now, I find it frustrating / annoying / tiring / not fun.
I became blind after my secondary / high school. I am in my 3rd year in in computer science degree. I took 6 math courses last year, and I can't say I enjoyed any of them.
The schools resources aren't accessible. I can't find the right resource online that matches what I am supposed to learn in a course. Everything is a bit better if I can find an accessible resource that works. I like openstax and Paul's online math notes.
I started writing my math notes and works in markdown with pandoc for compilation. I reached a point where there are things I can't express in markdown, so I switched to pure latex with make4ht.
I can write latex properly, but it never felt like the right tool for math for blind people.
I think one of the problem is the fact that I feel like my math has degraded, and it takes me way more time to learn.
I think mathcat is nice for reading math. I don't have a big problem with reading accessible math.
I think the process is too convoluted. I should be able to read the math I write immediately, without having to spend a couple of seconds waiting for lualatex to convert my tex file to html. I have my conversion process automated, so I wonder how other people cope.
I think my biggest problem is the lack of accessible resources.
I am very happy I am getting done with math this semester, and I don't think I will try it again anytime soon.
With a lifted heart,
Abdulqadir Ahmad
https://arfs6.github.io
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