[Athen] Looking to add/update our tech for blind/visually impaired students

[Stager, Catherine]

Ha ha – we had a Romeo embosser at CU that was kind of like that (the Juliet Susan speaks of was the replacement purchased pre-2008). Interestingly enough, we ended up donating the Romeo to the National Library of Azerbaijan – it was very gratefully received!

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> On Behalf Of Normajean.Brand
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2021 4:25 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Looking to add/update our tech for blind/visually impaired students


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Thank you Susan!

After talking to someone who has been in our ADA office only a year or two longer than I have (mutter…20yrs), he seems to remember some type of embosser that no one knew how to use, and it ended up being a closet and then just, I guess, dissolving into dust in the closet because no one knows what happened to it!

NJ

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Susan Kelmer
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2021 2:50 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Looking to add/update our tech for blind/visually impaired students

We are using an ancient (well, in technological terms -15 years old or so) Juliet duplexing/interpoint embosser.  We’ve had to have her fixed a few times, but it has been worth it.  She no longer talks to the network so I have to print from a local machine, but I still don’t care.  Her replacement, the Trident, broke down after 14 months of very limited use.  It was sent off for repair, and when it came back, it went into storage.

Even after sitting off/idle/in a coma throughout the pandemic, when I fired her up to print some Braille for a student a couple weeks ago, she worked completely flawlessly.  I do believe they now make a new version of Juliet, and Trident has been retired.  I hope the new ones are as good as the old ones.

We use Duxbury Braille Translator to take Word files to whatever format Braille is needed (including pre-UEB text and pre-UEB Nemeth).


Susan Kelmer
Alternate Format Production Program Manager
Disability Services
Division of Student Affairs
T 303 735 4836
www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices<http://www.colorado.edu/disabilityservices>


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From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Normajean.Brand
Sent: Tuesday, September 28, 2021 12:29 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Looking to add/update our tech for blind/visually impaired students

Thank you, Cath! This was my next question – what embosser does everyone find best/easiest to use for someone (me!) who doesn’t know Braille and get started with, and what you are using to produce tactile graphics. I was looking at PIAF but feeling a bit overwhelmed and definitely out of my league on this one. Thank you for the suggestions.
Best,
NJ

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Stager, Catherine
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 3:24 PM
To: 'Access Technology Higher Education Network' <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Looking to add/update our tech for blind/visually impaired students

Hi NJ,
Independence science is a great resource, as Wink mentioned. I echo the need for the would be engineer to learn LaTex – it can be a valuable tool for anyone wishing to do any publishing in the field and it makes interacting with math much easier.
Even if you do not produce Braille it may be worth investigating the Phoenix embosser for the tactile graphics support.  I would probably go this direction rather than a PIAF: the Phoenix has tactile graphics software included in its software package and can easily make use of images the APH Tactile Images library, or even just emboss a PDF.  There is about $1000 difference in price, but the cost of the paper the PIAF uses is high and small errors make an entire drawing unusable. Since a Phoenix uses Braille paper it is more cost effective in that sense.
I loved working with the Tactile Talking Pen and the STEM binder<http://touchgraphics.com/portfolio/ttpen-stem-binder/> from TouchGraphics – their Periodic Table of the Elements was a favorite of students I have worked with.
Best,
Cath

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of Normajean.Brand
Sent: Monday, September 27, 2021 9:08 AM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Looking to add/update our tech for blind/visually impaired students


CAUTION: This email originated from outside of the Colorado Community College System. Do not click links or open attachments unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe. Please contact your college IT Help Desk if you have any questions.
Hi Wink,
No, unfortunately, I’m not able to attend this year either in person or virtually. Budgets have been slashed tremendously.

NJ

From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu>> On Behalf Of foreigntype at gmail.com<mailto:foreigntype at gmail.com>
Sent: Friday, September 24, 2021 7:04 PM
To: Access Technology Higher Education Network <athen-list at u.washington.edu<mailto:athen-list at u.washington.edu>>
Subject: Re: [Athen] Looking to add/update our tech for blind/visually impaired students

NJ,
Are you going to sign up for the Accessing Higher Conference? There is a specific presentation by Volker Sorge on Wednesday afternoon 11/17 on Easy Accessibility for Chemistry. It's available on the virtual conference so if you can go in person, it's available online. Volker is also doing a presentation on Thursday at the conference entitled "Automated Generation of Tactile Math." I know this is not an immediate fix, but either one of those or both of those presentations might be helpful to you in the future. Joe Polizotto is also giving a presentation on math conversion into HTML & Nemeth code.

My two cents on student responsibilities for preparing for upper division science & math? Either one or both of the students need to learn Nemeth code for their math courses and/or LaTeX coding. Learning Braille would benefit them in college work in general.

Here is an organization you need to hook up with. It's an organization of blind scientists which, I assume, would include aerospace engineers. It is called Independence Science: https://independencescience.com/resources/

You might pass this information onto your student for their future contact.

You'll need some kind of process to create raised tactile drawings, illustrations, graphs, etc. You won't be able to send it all out so having some in-house mechanism would be helpful. The raised line picture in a flash (PIAF) device from Freedom Scientific would be helpful. https://store.humanware.com/hus/piaf-picture-in-a-flash-tactile-graphic-maker.html#:~:text=Piaf%20is%20a%20machine%20that,called%20capsule%20or%20swell%20paper.&text=The%20heat%20of%20the%20Piaf,are%20blind%20and%20vision%20impaired.

Hope this helps. At least it's a start. I'm sure others will Japan with some more useful information & contacts.

Wink Harner
Accessibility Consultant/Alternative Text Production
The Foreign Type
Portland OR
foreigntype at gmail.com<mailto:foreigntype at gmail.com>
480-984-0034
This email was dictated using Dragon NaturallySpeaking. Please forgive quirks, misrecognitions, or errata .


On Fri, Sep 24, 2021 at 3:40 PM Normajean.Brand <normajean.brand at hccs.edu<mailto:normajean.brand at hccs.edu>> wrote:
Hello all,
We’ve been given a little money to “add new or update” our technologies for our blind or visually impaired student’s use on campus. We already offer Fusion/JAWS/ZoomText, and Dragon on campus. We have the Kurzweil web license and Glean, which students can download to their personal computers, a partnership with Freedom Scientific for Fusion/JAWS/ZoomText for the Sponsored Software license for our students, and Microsoft 365.
My thought is to add items from the APH store like the Tactile Drawing Board but not sure what else to add to my wish list. We don’t have any one who knows how to Braille, or own an embosser or software for creating; so, I’m open to suggestions on these items. What else should I be looking for?
Note: It is rare that I have any students who know any level of Braille or who own an embosser or any Braille reading technology, however, this semester I have two and as luck would have it, both are in level 1 chemistry classes and algebra. One is dead set on becoming a aerospace engineer, the other is general/liberal arts – neither have had sight since birth. Most of my blind students have come to us totally relying on JAWS for their technology because that is what they were taught.
Thank you for your insights and suggestions,
NJ

NJ Brand,  ATAC
ADA Tech/Assistive Technology Technician, Center for Learning Innovation
● Spring Branch Campus ● Suite RC12/13 – Note: Working remotely, off-campus, due to COVID-19 until further notice
● T: 713.718.5604 ● F:713.718.5430 ● HCCS<http://hccs.edu/> <http://hccs.edu/>

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