[Athen] Writing math notation with VoiceOver on Mac

[Joshua Hori via athen-list]

Hey Justin!

Ugh, a Mac and Math? We’ve tested VoiceOver with math when conducting accessibility testing on Libretexts.org, and it does fairly well with math. I believe it may still have issues with SUPER SUPER scripts and SUB SUB scripts, but you may not run into that with stats. (I can’t create multiple super scripts or sub scripts in Outlook, only 1 level is availablestupid outlook).

As for writing math, you may want to look into Apple Pages as well as Word. Pages have an equation editor that allows you to type in LaTeX and it appears as math. Export as Word and the equation appears in the equation editor in Word. This is a really simple way to interact with math on Apple.

As for Word, you can access the Ribbon by hitting F6 to navigate through the elements, then use tab and arrow keys to navigate groups and buttons. The buttons are read aloud by VoiceOver. Best way to do this is to activate the equation editor, add an empty equation, then use F6 to navigate to the equation element in the ribbon, tab into the groupings and use the arrow key to navigate the buttons. There are only 3 areas the F6 works in: title toolbar, ribbon tabs, and main document. If there is a Fn key, the user must hold that down when using the F1-F12 keys.

Would EquatIO would work better for the student for online content? Maybe for Google Docs with math in it? GrackleDocs would be required for exporting Google Docs into accessible formats.

There’s also ascii math, tex math, and a few other types of typable math the user can use. I wonder if AI would be able to convert the students equation description into usable LaTeX?

Typing LaTeX into Canvas will also produce accessible math. They are using Mathjax 2.7.7 due to language and issues with 3.x.

MathType was taken over by Wiris. JAWS and VoiceOver can read it without add-ons, but NVDA requires MathCAT to read math correctly.

Best,

Joshua Hori
Accessible Technology Coordinator
Information Educational Technology
Academic Technology Services
50 Hutchison Dr.
Davis, CA 95616
530-752-2439
Schedule a meeting via Calendly<https://calendly.com/d/ytt-hsj-vbn>


From: athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> on behalf of Romack, Justin via athen-list <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Date: Saturday, September 7, 2024 at 4:54 PM
To: athen-list at u.washington.edu <athen-list at u.washington.edu>
Subject: [Athen] Writing math notation with VoiceOver on Mac
Howdy all!

I’m working with a blind student studying statistics and we’ve run into a challenge this fall.

They are taking a class with some heavy math and will need to both read and write math expressions throughout the semester.

For the reading portion, the professor produces materials in LaTeX and I feel fairly comfortable that we can take their source and convert to HTML w/ MathML. This should address the reading needs.

The composition of math using Voiceover is where I’m a little stumped… Granted, this student anticipates they will learn LaTeX in the future – they don’t know enough now for this to be an option. I’ve heard the MS Equation Editor has become much more usable with JAWS/NVDA, but I don’t know if the same is true for VoiceOver.

One solution that has been proposed by the instructor is for the student to write a literal text description of the math expression, which the student has done for an assignment. We wanted to see if there were other options available or if this was the best route to get them through this course until they are able to do more with LaTeX in the future.

If anyone has thoughts, ideas or firsthand experience, I’m all ears!

FWIW: This student has had some progressive vision loss, which is why they have had less exposure to techniques like this to this point. Also… they have had well-intended instructors who have dismissed them from doing certain aspects of the work in other classes. I mention this because we need to counter the narrative that our disabled students can’t do it… or that it’s easier to exempt them from doing it… because it puts them at a significant disadvantage as they progress through their area of study. What feels like kindness and empathy is rooted in attitudinal barriers which do more harm than good (and those with sensory disabilities tend to be most adversely impacted by these situations).

Take good care,
J




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Justin Romack, Assistant Director
Disability Resources | Division of Student Affairs
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