[Athen] Organic Chemistry/CHEM Draw for Student with Visual Impairment

[David Andrews]

I have three suggestions -- one of which you 
probably can't do. First, if he is like most of 
us, these periods of impaired vision are likely 
to increase in frequency and/or duration as he 
gets older.  Others have found this to be the 
case. So while you are not a counselor, he should 
be increased to avail himself of alternate 
techniques for those times when he can't count on 
his vision. While colleges and universities may 
be able to be somewhat flexible, employers can 
not do so easily, you can't pause things for a day or a week.

Other ways to get the information include 3D 
printing, and using a human reader/describer.

Dave

At 07:30 AM 11/6/2017, you wrote:

>Content-Language: en-US

>Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

> 

>boundary="_000_BL2PR04MB19715E27D775FED75DA121D4E6500BL2PR04MB1971namp_"

>

>Dear Colleagues,

>

>A student who has a come-and-go convergence 

>issue with his eyes is taking Organic Chemistry 

>during the Spring 2017 term. At times, his 

>vision is good. At other times, his vision is 

>blurry. College has exacerbated the issue and 

>sometimes the blurriness last for days (instead 

>of hours as it did previously). The student has 

>not learned many of the skills others who are 

>blind/low vision have. At this point, he cannot 

>read tactile graphics in a way that is helpful 

>to him. I read 

><http://pubs.acs.org/doi/full/10.1021/ed4005936?src=recsys>this 

>article in Chemistry Education on making organic 

>chemistry representations tactile and more 

>accessible to students who are blind or low 

>vision. For most of his life until college, he 

>was able to manage the symptoms without a lot of assistance.

>

>The article also mentions “using text to speech 

>output with Chem Draw.” – Has anyone done this 

>successfully? Would you be willing to share more 

>about the process? The article is unclear about 

>how this actually happens and I have not been 

>able to find instructions for doing this online.

>

>Any other advice you have for making Organic 

>Chemistry materials more accessible to students 

>with vision impairments would also be appreciated.

>

>Thank you,

>–Channing

>

>Channing Francis | Disability & Accessibility Services (DAS)

>Berea College Office of Academic Services

>Lincoln Hall 112 | CPO 2205 | (859) 985-3835 | 

><mailto:channing.francis at berea.edu>channing.francis at berea.edu

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