Blind and Visually Impaired Community
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What do you wish your teachers would have known/done for you? (self.Blind)
submitted 5.211761477623456y ago by [deleted]
[deleted]
ABookishSort 14 points 5y ago
I have to say I'm impressed that you went the extra mile for your student. As a Braille Transcriber who works for a school district most of the teachers we deal with do the bare minimum or nothing at all. The vision teacher is a resource to teach braille and provide vision service but the regular classroom teachers rarely go out of their way. Some teachers won't even get the work to us ahead of time so we end up not getting it done in time. They don't keep us informed if they are skipping math lessons and such. We even had one teacher go out on stress leave because she didn't want to have to deal with a blind student in her class which I thought was absolutely asinine. It's rare we come across a teacher who puts forth extra effort. I appreciate a teacher who can learn from the experience and grow in his/her teaching.
nazthenerd 8 points 5y ago
My student definitely encountered this as well. She was often in a bad mood after coming to my class directly after an English class (which should have been more easily accessible to her than my visual-heavy science) because the teacher couldn't be bothered. It made me very mad, and more determined, frankly.
AccessibleTech 12 points 5y ago
Universal Design. That's what is needed to ensure the subject material is the same for everyone. As long as you make your course materials accessible, the disability office can usually turn around the conversion into braille pretty quickly. Tactile graphics need additional time to make accessible, but even those can be turned around quickly with something like a PIAF (Pictures in a Flash) or make them into a 3D printable file which everyone can use.
Another item to look into would be an AIRA device sync'd with cochlear headphones. AIRA is a service which provides blind or low vision users with a Google Glass device and a WiFi connection and can provide audio descriptions of your course and can help with notetaking. Less expensive than a personal assistant and more reliable.
You may also want to look into the $1 for accessible ways to provide STEM materials.
Another item to look into would be an AIRA device sync'd with cochlear headphones. AIRA is a service which provides blind or low vision users with a Google Glass device and a WiFi connection and can provide audio descriptions of your course and can help with notetaking. Less expensive than a personal assistant and more reliable.
You may also want to look into the $1 for accessible ways to provide STEM materials.
nazthenerd 5 points 5y ago
Excellent! Thank you for the concrete suggestions. I look forward to researching them.
Ramildo 2 points 5y ago
Here in Portugal there's a school dedicated to the blind, however I did not attend it despite only having 10% of sight and turned out OK. My biggest problem in school was my difficulty understanding handwriting, so I relied primarily on books to study and never took any notes since in addition to my troubles with handwriting I couldn't see to the blackboard.
Most teachers didn't put any effort into accommodating me, and I'm thankful for that since it prepared me to a world that is not designed with disabilities in mind. My opinion has always been that people should learn to fend off with what they have and expect nothing from others, because my disability is no one else's fault, however I have to admit that living blind is much harder than living with 10% of sight and it may not be possible to live without forcing the people around me to accommodate.
If I went back to school now that I'm totally blind I would probably like to have all the books and notes in a digital format that I could listen to using my screen-reader, because I have a lot of trouble with Braille.
Most teachers didn't put any effort into accommodating me, and I'm thankful for that since it prepared me to a world that is not designed with disabilities in mind. My opinion has always been that people should learn to fend off with what they have and expect nothing from others, because my disability is no one else's fault, however I have to admit that living blind is much harder than living with 10% of sight and it may not be possible to live without forcing the people around me to accommodate.
If I went back to school now that I'm totally blind I would probably like to have all the books and notes in a digital format that I could listen to using my screen-reader, because I have a lot of trouble with Braille.
nazthenerd 1 points 5y ago
Thank you for your feedback and suggestions! How did you handle visuals and what not, in class, if I might ask?
Also, is searching easier with a screen reader? My student had very strong Braille skills, but she struggled with things like scanning for information and finding the right page in the massive tome that even a simple assignment became in Braille because the text was more expansive. I am wondering if I could have used a screen reader to help with that.
Also, is searching easier with a screen reader? My student had very strong Braille skills, but she struggled with things like scanning for information and finding the right page in the massive tome that even a simple assignment became in Braille because the text was more expansive. I am wondering if I could have used a screen reader to help with that.
Ramildo 1 points 5y ago
> Thank you for your feedback and suggestions! How did you handle visuals and what not, in class, if I might ask?
Most visuals were available in manuals. I don't know how teaching is done in the US, but here in Portugal we have a national program that is defined by the ministry of education and all the manuals selected by schools have to follow that, so given enough motivation one can learn everything from manuals alone. The teachers are only necessary to help us focus into following the program and testing our knowledge.
> Also, is searching easier with a screen reader? My student had very strong Braille skills, but she struggled with things like scanning for information and finding the right page in the massive tome that even a simple assignment became in Braille because the text was more expansive. I am wondering if I could have used a screen reader to help with that.
That is not a function of screen-readers, but as you may imagine it's much easier to search through digital content because all software that displays text has a search function. The most accessible format is HTML since web browsers are the most accessible software out there and HTML is extremely semantic.
Most visuals were available in manuals. I don't know how teaching is done in the US, but here in Portugal we have a national program that is defined by the ministry of education and all the manuals selected by schools have to follow that, so given enough motivation one can learn everything from manuals alone. The teachers are only necessary to help us focus into following the program and testing our knowledge.
> Also, is searching easier with a screen reader? My student had very strong Braille skills, but she struggled with things like scanning for information and finding the right page in the massive tome that even a simple assignment became in Braille because the text was more expansive. I am wondering if I could have used a screen reader to help with that.
That is not a function of screen-readers, but as you may imagine it's much easier to search through digital content because all software that displays text has a search function. The most accessible format is HTML since web browsers are the most accessible software out there and HTML is extremely semantic.
nazthenerd 1 points 5y ago
At my school, we had a five person Biology team, and then I was responsible for adapting the lessons for my subpopulation, which was heavy on English-as-a-second-language students. There wasn't even a district-level system (although there are state-wide standards, you teach them however you want), and definitely no national curriculum, but that would make it easier.
Thank you for the information about screen readers, and the differences between the school systems. That was both helpful and interesting!
Thank you for the information about screen readers, and the differences between the school systems. That was both helpful and interesting!
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