Blind and Visually Impaired Community
↑
24
↓
Note taking for blind students (self.Blind)
submitted by derrekjthompson
Hi. I am a totally blind student who is returning to higher education as an adult. Basically, my question is this. For other blind college students here, how do you take notes? It seems to me that all of the notetaking systems and templates we are given depend on being able to look at the document as a whole to see the connections between the bits of information. Which, there is pretty much no way to do if you’re blind. The information has to make sense line by line. Even the outline method, which I thought would be less visual, seems pretty random when reading it with a screen reader. Also, I have a braille display if that helps.
Laser_Lens_4 7 points 3y ago
I like to use headings to help navigate a document with a screen reader and keep topics organized and separate. Then I use numbered lists with nesting to write down notes and ideas. It makes it relatively easy to keep track of where I am. I try not to have more than one nested point within the lists to reduce confusion. Both headings and numbered lists are super easy to set up in Pages for Mac and MS Word for Windows. I tried using Onenote but it's more-or-less a fancy Word document that supports pen input and has a lot of visual features that aren't useful to me.
RJHand 2 points 3y ago
How do you do these in pages?
oncenightvaler 3 points 3y ago
in pages you could either make and experiment with a note making template or you could put a heading and then a blank line or two under it, the latter is how I would do it.
RJHand 2 points 3y ago
Yeah I usually just use a blank templet. I was asking how you create headings though as I've never figured it out myself.
Laser_Lens_4 2 points 3y ago
I use a blank template. You can find the setting to create a heading by voice over jumping to the formatter and selecting the body button. There you can find beheading option In the paragraph styles table that pops up. This is also accessible through the touch bar if you have one of those.
Numbered lists are really easy. Just type the number and then whatever you want to add to that point. Usually Pages will realize what you're trying to do after you type two or three points. So it should be something like this.
1. First item.
2. Second item.
Etc etc. Once it figures out you want to make a list you should simply be able to hit the return key to automatically add the next number in the sequence.
Numbered lists are really easy. Just type the number and then whatever you want to add to that point. Usually Pages will realize what you're trying to do after you type two or three points. So it should be something like this.
1. First item.
2. Second item.
Etc etc. Once it figures out you want to make a list you should simply be able to hit the return key to automatically add the next number in the sequence.
RJHand 1 points 3y ago
I take it for headings the text you want to be a heading should be selected before choosing it from the formater?
Odysseuss87 2 points 3y ago
I don’t know if this helps, but a lot of universities have a system where other students take notes on their laptop and send them on to anyone in their class with a disability, usually blindness. You’d have to investigate it a bit wherever you are, but Oregon State had that as a way to help folks have their notes taken for them, and provide other students with a little money.
Pixelated_Penguin 1 points 3y ago
At UCLA, many classes had a Lecture Notes service, which anyone could subscribe to but was free to students with relevant accessibility needs.
oncenightvaler 2 points 3y ago
I as a totally blind student would usually write on a laptop keyboard with a screen reader and an ear bud in one ear listening to the professor.
I would try to get as close to full phrases and sentences as I could get, and then later suppllemented my spelling mistakes by double checking the textbooks.
I found I needed to review my notes, but most of that I did either by embossing them and reading them aloud or by rereading relevant passages in the textbook.
Although I love Braille I find I learn the best through recitation and auditory learning.
. I found I got quite fast and accurate with my typing I used short forms when necessary.
I would try to get as close to full phrases and sentences as I could get, and then later suppllemented my spelling mistakes by double checking the textbooks.
I found I needed to review my notes, but most of that I did either by embossing them and reading them aloud or by rereading relevant passages in the textbook.
Although I love Braille I find I learn the best through recitation and auditory learning.
. I found I got quite fast and accurate with my typing I used short forms when necessary.
codeplaysleep 2 points 3y ago
Not a student, but I take copious notes for work. My life is basically a git repository of small markdown files with ridiculously descriptive file names. I can open them in the browser if I need to zoom in, or I can grep them if I need to find something specific, view previous versions with git from the command line, etc.
galexj9 2 points 3y ago
(Not VI, but curious)
How would you go about taking notes for a class like physics or chemistry, where diagrams or models are super important?
Do most people who are blind learn to live without, or is there a Braille keyboard equivalent for line drawings maybe?
How would you go about taking notes for a class like physics or chemistry, where diagrams or models are super important?
Do most people who are blind learn to live without, or is there a Braille keyboard equivalent for line drawings maybe?
galexj9 1 points 3y ago
To answer my own question $1 states that "To succeed in [chemistry]" he needed to get "Tactile Drawings" of the chemical reactions ahead of time.
Very neat!
Very neat!
devinprater 1 points 3y ago
Wouldn't Latex work?
galexj9 2 points 3y ago
I only know Latex with math. I'm meaning more like molecular structures and free-body diagrams.
Envrin 2 points 3y ago
​
Not a college students, but have notes and documentation all over the place. I just save everything in markdown / .md files, then have a local http server rnning on my computer and just view the rendered .md files in Firefox.
​
This makes it easy to navigate documents by heading, list, paragraph, etc with the shortcut keys in Firefox.
​
Hey, actually never tried, does markdown work in Reddit posts?
​
\### Does this work?
​
And back to normal...
Not a college students, but have notes and documentation all over the place. I just save everything in markdown / .md files, then have a local http server rnning on my computer and just view the rendered .md files in Firefox.
​
This makes it easy to navigate documents by heading, list, paragraph, etc with the shortcut keys in Firefox.
​
Hey, actually never tried, does markdown work in Reddit posts?
​
\### Does this work?
​
And back to normal...
codeofdusk 1 points 3y ago
It does work, but you’ve got a non-breaking space before your heading.
AmAsabat 2 points 3y ago
Read the information multiple time first and mark up the sections that of are of interest. Then go back and re read it with emphasis on those markups for each topic or sub group, rinse and repeat. It’s possible to do this for whole academic papers or texts if you practice and a good student (VI or not) is taught in my classes to read read and read again before starting any for of opinion forming
CloudyBeep 2 points 3y ago
I just have text documents with one or two sentences per paragraph.
devinprater 1 points 3y ago
I use Org-mode, in Emacs. Not in college, but I do a lot of writing, documentation, & all that. Although, I'm slowly transitioning to Markdown for Github purprses.
TheBlindBookLover 1 points 3y ago
Hi. I take notes by typing into Microsoft Word on a laptop running JAWS. I just write out my notes by writing out any key terms or concepts followed by any sub points beneath it. I also take audio recordings of the lectures. I will then fill in any details that I didn’t catch. Many professors also use power points. They often upload the PowerPoints to their class websites ahead of time. I would take notes on those slides in Microsoft Word ahead of time if possible. You could then add any additional details or examples during class lectures when provided vy your professor. I hope that this helps.
Dragonfly337 1 points 3y ago
Removed
ElfjeTinkerBell 1 points 3y ago
Not really answering your question, but do have a look at Anki. It's spaced repetition software that helps remembering stuff by putting it in bite sized parts. It's kinda hard to learn at first but once you get the hang of it it's really useful. I'm assuming it works with screen readers / Braille as well, but I'm not sure. There's also r/Anki to help you out.
Why I'm suggesting this is that you'll have to convert your notes/books/materials to bite sized chunks just once and after that you'll only work with those small pieces of info.
Why I'm suggesting this is that you'll have to convert your notes/books/materials to bite sized chunks just once and after that you'll only work with those small pieces of info.
WhatWouldVaderDo 3 points 3y ago
Just FYI, the desktop app was not very usable for screen reader users, at least when I looked at it about a year ago.
ElfjeTinkerBell 1 points 3y ago
That's a bummer!
codeofdusk 3 points 3y ago
Flash cards Deluxe (iOS/Android) is a decently accessible SRS. I like to either enable the correct/wrong buttons and use those, or generate speech for the Flashcards and use the app without a screen reader.
This nonprofit website is run by volunteers.
Please contribute if you can. Thank you!
Our mission is to provide everyone with access to large-
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
scale community websites for the good of humanity.
Without ads, without tracking, without greed.
©2023 HumbleCat Inc • HumbleCat is a 501(c)3 nonprofit based in Michigan, USA.