Category: Cram Session
Hello,
I plan to obtain an undergraduate degree in special education. Because of the fact that my SAT scores were so horrible, the level of required math courses has been increased to a total of 4 altogether. I have contacted the disability office, but they really don't know how to accommodate a blind student.
What I am looking for is some advice, from other blind individuals, who have taken math courses before at the college level. How were you accommodated? Were Braille textbooks available?
Thanks for your help,
Nathan Bullock
Hi! I had to take some math classes at the college level, I'm a business administration major so I had to take algebra, statistics as well as accounting and finance. It was quite painful at times, since math and numbers are not exactly my areas of expertise lol.
Anyway, if you think you'll need tutoring for any of your math classes, tell the disabilities office so that they can hopefully set you up with one.
Also tell them what books you'll need so that they can order them in an accessible format. Do you have a learning ally and bookshare account? Also if you kno who your professors are, you might want to send them an email before classes start so that they know that you'll need accommodations. Hopefully they'll send you the syllabus and any other handouts ahead of time so you'll have time to review them before class.
If I think of anything else I'll post, hope this helps.
Also if you have any questions feel free to send me an email or private message. I'm almost done with college life so I would love to offer any helpful tips that have worked for me.
Hope you have a good college experience, I believe that obtaining an education is one of the best things a person can do for themselves even though it can be quite stressful and challenging at times. Just give it your best effort and don't give up.
Good luck! :)
Hello,
Yes, my school has a Learning Allied account, and I have a Bookshare account. Isn't there a way to get textbooks for college through Bookshare yet?
I don't think I will be successful reading or listening to math books. What did you do for books? Math isn't exactly what I am good at, but oh well, I will just have to deal with it.
Nathan
I can arrange the tutor; i know the tutoring coordinator.
About Bookshare, yes. You can see if you can find your textbook on Bookshare, but they may or may not have it. They do have textbooks, but it doesn't look like they have very many yet. I was lucky to find my Anatomy and Physiology book there, but I couldn't find any of my other books for this semester. Also, if you know what textbook you'll be using, you can try going to the publisher's website and seeing if you can get your book in an accessible format from them. I believe Pearson has where you can get their books in an accessible format. I'm not sure of any other publishers that might have that but you or someone from your school can contact the publisher and ask anyway.
Do you think Pearson would have Braille Math books?
They wouldn't have the books in Braille, but in a format where you could make it accessible to read. For instance, last semester, I got my literature book from them in a pdf format, but was able to change it into text files to read with my notetaker or computer. Also, they might have math books, but when you fill out the form, they ask information about your purchase of that book in print. That part never made sense to me, but yeah. I should have mentioned all this before, sorry. But I just wanted to let you know that I knew of at least one publisher (if you ever happen to use a book from them), where you could get their books in accessible format.
As for getting the book in Braille, it would honestly be harder to do that. You could check if your textbook (or a similar one) is available by asking around, or checking APH's Louis database at
http://louis.aph.org/
. Or you can see if there's a place around where you live that can transcribe parts of the book for you. But with both, you'd have to consider the cost of ordering it or getting it into Braille. It can get to be expensive. If getting it in Braille or transcribed into Braille isn't possible, that's where getting or writing a bunch of notes yourself would have to be done. That's what I'm having to do with my Statistics book this semester. I do have it in audio from Learning Allies (that was the only accessible version available of that book), but for me, it's really not helping much. So I've been also both scanning parts of the book as well as copying down parts of it with my Braillewriter or notetaker. It's time-consuming and more stressful than it should be for me, but it's the quickest way I can get that material in a format that works for me.
Hello,
I just registered for classes today. The disability person thought that it would be easier to take math courses over the summer? The only catch is that I would have to apply to community college to be able to do so. The reason I cannot take my math courses here is because they are done one hundred percent on the computer. What do you think? If I actually had PDF files and could turn them into text, and had a software that supported Nemeth translation, I could actually emboss certain parts of the book in Braille myself. Do you think this would work for me? Honestly, I don't feel like listening to any audio book, Learning Allied has the worst readers I have ever known, that is why they should be called Learning Asleep. Even if I had to get my book sent away a year ahead of time to get Brailled, I would much rather prefer this over stupid audio.
thanks,
Nathan
The issue is, making sure you get the math textbook at the beginning of the semester. I have a friend who's waiting a semester to do her math course because it's going to take them a few months just to Braille the book.
hello all.
So it's time to revive this dead board in hopes of some advice.
I have to take pre-calc at the college level this semester, and I really need some advice.
The prof is this old guy who has hardly a clue at all about computers, and all of his tests are heavy on graphics.
I don't have any problem accessing the textbook, as I've been getting my own books from learning ally and book share, etc. etc. for a long time now.
The problem I have is that the tests are all graphical in nature, and the professor has already made it abundantly clear that he has no idea how to work with me. He even got shitty about sending me the course sylabus in electronic format, so i can only imagine what the rest of the semester's gonna be like. He seemed, in fact, to be really pissed off when he found out i was in his class.
I'm really worried about this, as I have to take these classes to get my degree, and I need to get at least acceptable grades in the classes.
Could i request a reader for tests? anything like that?
I've been very independant through school, and have never requested accomodations or extra time for tests in class. All I usually ask professors for is to send me stuff in electronic format, but that's about all. The disability services department doesn't have any idea how to do anything related to blindness as they haven't ever had a blind student before. It's worth saying that I'm not a bad student. I don't wine and bitch in class, and i don't demand things that aren't reasonable. All I want is to be able to pass the class under my own power and get through this math shit.
Any advice would help more than i can possibly express.
Thanks
Nothing?
yes, you can request a reader and or extra time for the class. The professor and your school, if it's public are required to offer you a reasonable accomodation. The best advice I can give you though, is to research your professors, and consider taking the class again when you can get someone better. While they are required to accomodate, some people are never going to be nice about it, and the less pain the better.