[Athen] Student requesting Braille

[Dan Comden]

We have been using Duxbury braille translation software for decades.

I predict that working from PDF as source file will make for extra work,
unless the PDFs are well structured and accessible from the start. We try
to have everything sourced from Word format files (except for math, which
is LaTeX).

It's a good idea to make some sample pages from a couple of books and have
the student check them for suitability before instruction begins. Try to
get a variety of course subjects. And if any math will be included in
content, include that as well (with Nemeth, if they know it).

We've not seen great success with built-in translation software but it has
been years since we evaluated that type of translation solution -- perhaps
it's a better experience now.

-*- Dan

On Thu, Oct 1, 2020 at 4:52 AM Marshall S. Bryant <bryantm at seminolestate.edu>
wrote:


> Hello,

> We will have a possible student that will be requesting braille so I am

> trying to be proactive in their needs.  Apparently, their vision is low

> enough that they have learned braille and there is also some hearing loss.

> They are working with DBS at the moment, so I want to assume they will need

> and will request all braille.  My concern will be books and math since they

> are entering into the adult high school part of our college. Currently, we

> are using a Viewplus Max embosser with thier conversion software (word

> add-in) to convert to braille. What software do you all recommend to

> convert books from Accesstext (which is mostly pdf's) to braille?  In the

> past, I used to convert books to DAISY with a software called Dolphin

> Publisher.  I see they has Easyconverter that will convert to Braille, but

> the cost is a little high.  What other software's are out there to do the

> conversions?

> I know I can use abbyfine and turn everything into word documents.  If we

> need to outsource, who is recommended and what are the costs associated

> with it?

> For math. we do have mathtype, but I know that can be a long and tedious

> process.

> I know LearningAlly has audio books, but I haven't requested books in a

> while since they usually do not have current textbooks.

> Any thoughts or directions?

>

> Thank you,

>

>

> Marshall Bryant

> *Adaptive Technology Specialist*

> *Seminole State College of Florida*

> Please Note: *** Due to Florida's very broad public records law, most

> written communications to or from College employees regarding College

> business are public records, available to the public and media upon

> request. Therefore, this e-mail communication may be subject to public

> disclosure.***

> _______________________________________________

> athen-list mailing list

> athen-list at mailman12.u.washington.edu

> http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen-list

>



-- 
-*- Dan Comden                       danc at uw.edu <danc at washington.edu>
    Access Technology Center   www.uw.edu/itconnect/accessibility/atl/
    University of Washington      UW Information Technology
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://mailman12.u.washington.edu/pipermail/athen-list/attachments/20201002/b9300f0e/attachment.html>