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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Could anyone from institutions/systems who are enforcing the
equivalent of Section 508 standards on textbook adoptions please share your experiences
on the issue of foreign language textbooks? I’m trying to deal with
McGraw-Hill, whose foreign language college texts (Spanish, French, German,
etc.) are being rendered as “e-books” which are inaccessible to
access technology. The main textbooks are still also available as regular
hardcopy print (at a higher price, at least at our school), but the
accompanying (generally required) materials such as workbooks are now purely
online and electronic – and inaccessible. When I’ve attempted
to request copies through Permissions, I’m told there is nothing they can
give me. I’m therefore stuck in the position of having to tell
students and professors that the required materials for the course cannot be
made accessible. I’ve complained to McGraw-Hill (who is only the
worst offender out of the three major publishers), and been told “the
product couldn’t be made accessible when it was being developed back in
2004-2005, and we can’t afford to retrofit it now”. I’ve
looked at the code behind a number of their pages and although the Permissions
department may swallow that story because they don’t know any better, I know
it isn’t accurate. Is anyone refusing to purchase from McGraw-Hill
(or any other publisher) on the grounds that they are selling an inaccessible
electronic technology? On the flip side, has anyone figured out how to get
access to those inaccessible online materials and make anything accessible out
of them, beyond visually copying and re-typing everything from scratch?<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>I appreciate any info you can share; I don’t want to
make Bonnie Beacher so mad that she’ll stop cooperating with me,
especially since it’s not her fault that another area of the company
produced a stack of inaccessible products, but given the number of foreign
language students I’m sure we all work with this seems like a growing
problem that needs to be addressed with the publishers. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Thanks, and thanks for letting me vent,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Teresa<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Teresa LW Haven, Ph.D.</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;
font-family:Arial'>Alternate Format Supervisor</span></font><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Disability</span></font></st1:PlaceName><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <st1:PlaceName
w:st="on">Resource</st1:PlaceName> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">Center</st1:PlaceType></span></font></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><st1:place w:st="on"><st1:PlaceName w:st="on"><font size=2
face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'>Arizona</span></font></st1:PlaceName><font
size=2 face=Arial><span style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial'> <st1:PlaceType
w:st="on">State</st1:PlaceType> <st1:PlaceType w:st="on">University</st1:PlaceType></span></font></st1:place><o:p></o:p></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
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