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<TITLE>RE: [athen] Access to E-Text Dilemma</TITLE>
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<DIV dir=ltr><FONT face=Tahoma size=2><B>From:</B> Teresa Wells
[mailto:tlwells@uark.edu]<BR><B>Sent:</B> Wed 2/23/2005 6:15 AM<BR><B>To:</B>
Stewart, Ron<BR><B>Subject:</B> RE: [athen] Access to E-Text
Dilemma<BR></FONT><BR></DIV></DIV>
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<P><FONT size=2>Hi, Ron. I guess I've been "progressive" from the time I
got into this<BR>business, but I've always provided alternative format for all
students with<BR>print disabilities, and always attempted to provide the
format(s) which<BR>worked best for each individual student. This includes
not only Braille<BR>(hardcopy and electronic, including tactile graphics) but
also many<BR>different versions of e-text (Word, RTF, txt, and DAISY files) and
audio<BR>(tape [2- and 4-track], MP3, CDA, and DAISY, including both human
and<BR>synthesized speech). I've even provided debind and spiral bind
service for<BR>students with mobility disabilities who only needed to be able to
more<BR>easily hold and turn pages on books. My universities have, on
rare<BR>occasions, considered cutting my budgets and each time I or my
superiors<BR>have simply said "No. We have a commitment and a
responsibility as an<BR>institution to provide effective access, and we are
going to do so." And<BR>although we may have to scrimp someplace else in
the budget, like travel, we<BR>always get enough funding to provide text
access. Last year my Vice<BR>Chancellor funded my one professional
development trip out of her own office<BR>budget so that my budget could
continue to serve students. Bottom line: for<BR>me it's been a matter of
standing up to the administrations and refusing to<BR>take "no" for an
answer. It never hurts to show them the results of other<BR>schools' OCR
cases and how much cheaper/easier it is to do a job right in<BR>the first
place... <grin> I also campaign on the Universal Design
platform<BR>all the time, both with the administration and with individual
faculty;<BR>progress is slow, but perceptible. More of my students each
year are making<BR>it through some of their classes with absolutely no
conversion necessary on<BR>my end because their faculty have planned ahead and
made their courses and<BR>materials accessible from the start. There's
still work to be done, but<BR>we're making progress...<BR><BR>Hope this
helps,<BR>Teresa<BR><BR>-----Original Message-----<BR>From:
athen-bounces@lists.oregonstate.edu<BR>[<A
href="mailto:athen-bounces@lists.oregonstate.edu">mailto:athen-bounces@lists.oregonstate.edu</A>]On
Behalf Of Stewart, Ron<BR>Sent: Tuesday, February 22, 2005 8:24 PM<BR>To:
adtech-ps@lists.oregonstate.edu; athen@lists.oregonstate.edu<BR>Subject: [athen]
Access to E-Text Dilemma<BR><BR><BR>I would like your feedback, comments and
direction to any relevant<BR>research that address this question:<BR><BR>Why is
it so difficult to move disability services offices from a<BR>blindness centric
model of e-text and alt format provision, to a more<BR>holistic model that is
really willing to consider all individuals with<BR>print disabilities?<BR><BR>In
our heart of hearts, or at least mine, I think we all know that<BR>access to
good quality electronic resources helps to level the playing<BR>field but why
are our peers in the DS offices so unwilling to embrace<BR>this progressive
strategy. Money is the obvious answer, and the one<BR>that I keep hearing
from campuses, but I do not find that to be a viable<BR>response given what I
see is the increasing student effectiveness that<BR>is provided by e-text and
e-book access.<BR><BR>Can you point me to any research that support my
conclusion, and any<BR>that argues against it. Have any of you had to
formulate a similar<BR>argument for an e-text production program, what do you
think?<BR><BR>Given that there are over 300 people subscribed to these two lists
I<BR>hope to hear from more than the usual active
participants.<BR><BR>Ron<BR><BR>~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~<BR>Ron Stewart,
Director<BR>Technology Access Program<BR>Information Services<BR>Oregon State
University<BR>109 Kidder Hall<BR>Corvallis, Oregon 97331<BR>Phone:
1.541.737.7307<BR>Fax: 1.541.737.2159<BR>E-mail:
Ron.Stewart@oregonstate.edu<BR>WWW: <A
href="http://tap.oregonstate.edu">http://tap.oregonstate.edu</A><BR><BR>_______________________________________________<BR>athen
mailing list<BR>athen@lists.oregonstate.edu<BR><A
href="http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen">http://lists.oregonstate.edu/mailman/listinfo/athen</A><BR><BR>To
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the word "unsubscribe" in the body.<BR><BR></FONT></P></DIV>
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