Alice,
Your are right in thinking that all information made available to other
students by the University should be provided in Braille by the University.
Translating course books, assuming that Braille versions do not already
exist, can be handled by non-medical helper. It's worth looking for a book
allowance out of the general allowance: the sensible way to do this is to
cut the binding off and use an ADF scanner (the pages can then be
hole-punched and kept in a ring-binder). How long the process takes is very
dependent on the kind of course the student is following: Law produces
endless problems of page layout with footnotes, languages inevitably favour
texts with lots of illustrations and a variety of fonts. I am surprised
that the student wants everything Brailled: it's not the most convenient
format in bulk and you very quickly produce a lot of bulk. It might be
worth thinking about a Braille display, although these are prohibitively
expensive for most students. The RNIB service is great but it is not
instant and if it is to be effective, those teaching the student need to
identify and provide copies of their material several months in advance. In
my experience, this is most commonly the area where systems of external
support break down.
Bernard Doherty
Assessor
East Anglia Regional ACCESS Centre
Anglia Polytechnic University
East Road
Cambridge CB1 1PT
01223 363271 x2534
[log in to unmask]
----- Original Message -----
From: "John Gregory" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 30, 2004 12:55 PM
Subject: Re: Braille provision of course texts
> Alice,
>
> While I do not know the situation currently, when I was an undergraduate
in
> 1992-95, I sent my course texts to the RNIB to be transcribed on to tape.
> The RNIB service did not charge vision impaired students for this. I am
> almost certain that the same provision was available for Braille.
>
> The DSA, while you quite rightly say, is awarded for such things as having
> texts read on to tape etc. But if the student prefers Braille, then
surely
> the DSA would be used to transcribe the text into Braille.
>
> John.
>
> Johnn Gregory
> Access Officer
>
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Alice Pennington [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: 30 March 2004 11:33
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: Braille provision of course texts
>
>
> I am having difficulty searching the archives, so I am sorry if this is a
> topic that has already been covered.
>
> I have a prospective student whose preferred medium is Braille.
> We have an on-site Brailler and so would be able to provide course
> information, handouts and university documents etc in Braille for him. I
> think this is clearly a reasonable adjustment that we would be expected to
> make.
> however I was wondering whether we would be expected to provide all the
> course texts required in Braille too. in my previous experiences, the
> responsibility has been on the student to adapt the texts themselves. For
> example the DSA has provided them with a scanner with OCR or non-medical
> help reading onto tape.
> can anyone confirm whether this is the case, so that the student and my
> staff members can be adequately prepared for the commencement of their
> course.
>
> thanks
>
> alice
>
> Alice Pennington
> Disabilities Officer
>
> RED Centre
>
> University of Surrey Roehampton
> Froebel College
> Roehampton Lane
> London
> SW15 5PJ
>
> Tel: 020 8392 3113 ext 4088
> Fax: 020 8392 3735
> Email: <mailto:[log in to unmask]>
[log in to unmask]
>
>
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