[Athen] AHEAD E-Text Site Update

Ron Stewart ron.stewart at dolphinusa.com
Thu Jul 26 11:19:49 PDT 2007


I wish I was and this is actually a fairly common question from DS providers
in the Alt format trainings I am doing nationally. It clearly reflects the
lack of understanding of why Braille = Literacy and also points to why
education for student who are blind and profoundly visually impaired went to
an audio only educational modality.

Ron Stewart

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Michael O'Brien
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 1:38 PM
To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] AHEAD E-Text Site Update

"why do we need to do Braille at all, isn't audio based access superior"
You're kidding!

Mike

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Ron Stewart
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 12:01 PM
To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] AHEAD E-Text Site Update

Well said my friend!

Often we tend to get too bogged down in our firefighter lives to take a step
back and look at the big picture. The failure of the educational system at
all levels to teach folks with disabilities borders on criminal, in my
opinion. I did a training recently in which I was asked why do we need to
do Braille at all, isn't audio based access superior, and this is
unfortunately a regular question. It is not a reflection on the dedication
of the person who asked us, but more a reflection on the complexity and
challenging field we work in.

I would ask each of us to challenge our assumptions on a regular basis, and
to engage in more of this kind of conversation on a regular basis.

A parting thought on this topic. What does the unemployment and
underemployment of folks with disablites costs us as a society, not just in
dollars but in lost human potential? And how less expensive would it
actually be to provide a sounds fundamental education to all members of our
communities of learners.

Ron Stewart

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Marks, Jim
Sent: Thursday, July 26, 2007 11:44 AM
To: Access Technologists in Higher Education Network
Subject: Re: [Athen] AHEAD E-Text Site Update

I wish that people with learning disabilities would practice the same sense
of identity and collective action that blind people do, but I am not going
to hold my breath in anticipation of this progression. It's accurate to say
that most alternate format issues are driven by the blind and visually
impaired, but this is caused by the lack of action on the part of other
groups rather than the actions of the blind and visually impaired. Blind
groups often get charged with allegations that we do not cooperate, and that
this lack of cooperation hurts the things we could achieve if only everyone
would play well together. But what is really being said, at least in part,
is that blind people ought to pick up what others are failing to do for
themselves. The trouble with this is that if blind people lose their focus,
who is going to pick up our cause?

And here is another point to consider. The only group of people with
disabilities to shrink in post-secondary education enrollment over the past
two decades is the blind and visually impaired. Part of the reason for the
shrinkage is better medical treatments. The other reason is that the United
States failed to teach blind and visually impaired children how to read and
write well enough to function in college. Now consider that for every blind
or visually impaired student a DS office sees, there are 40 students with
learning disabilities standing at the door. As a consequence, DS officers
tend to know a lot about learning disabilities, and very little about
blindness. Just look at the number of posts about blindness that crop up on
disability service listservs.
DS professionals do not know enough about blindness, and it's left up to the
blind to fend for themselves. They often have to do it under extremely
difficult circumstances, such as being forced to use accommodations that are
very appropriate for students with learning disabilities and downright
harmful to blind people. One size does not fit all.

I do not think that blind and visually impaired people want to keep other
groups from getting their rights met. But neither will we let others
dictate our agenda for us. It may be sloppy, but special interests are what
drives our US system of government and economy. I and many others feel no
shame in our self-interest. But it sure would be great if others would stop
asking us to address their special interests for them.

We will have to hoist a cold one over this sort of conversation, I suppose.
While we might not convince one another of much, at least we can enjoy some
good company and some good beer.



Jim Marks
Director of Disability Services
University of Montana
jim.marks at umontana.edu
http://www.umt.edu/dss/

-----Original Message-----
From: athen-bounces at athenpro.org [mailto:athen-bounces at athenpro.org] On
Behalf Of Ron Stewart
Sent: Wednesday, July 25, 2007 2:38 PM
To: 'Access Technologists in Higher Education Network'
Subject: Re: [Athen] AHEAD E-Text Site Update

I think the lesson for me at that point is if the various communities of
print disabled folks band together to work for a common solution to their
issues of access then a more wholistic solution would in all likeliness
result. As long as it is solely the NFB and other blindness related
organizations that are pushing for change then the result will be laws that
benefit those groups to the detriment of the others.

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