very true!
I was being heavily sarcastic, or ironic or whatever - my meaning being that no matter how good a PDF is for a screen reader - it wouldn't suit a dyslexic - but I note another posting about using texthelp which I haven't yet tried out.
 
however, I still think that anticipatory and inclusionary practice would mean not subjecting a student to having to translate the file, but supplying in a usable form I the first place?  After all, dyslexics have enough to contend with without this additional step before they can start on the tortuous task of reading it? 
 
John
 
 
Dr John S Conway BSc PhD FGS FRGS FHEA MNADP
Director, MSc International Rural Development
Director, BSc Countryside Management
Chair, Research Committee
Principal Lecturer : Soil Science
Disability Officer
Royal Agricultural college, Cirencester, Glos GL7 6JS 
01285 652531 fax 01285 650219  

________________________________

From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. on behalf of M.E.Taylor
Sent: Tue 04/11/2008 17:24
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Jaws



I don't think that there is such a thing as a universally accessible PDF
file yet (or ever will be?).

Regards
Mary

-----Original Message-----
From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of John Conway
Sent: 04 November 2008 15:34
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Jaws

Well said.

even truly accessible PDF are inaccessible to dyslexics who cannot
change font face or colour schemes!  One such student has just had to
have a reader in an exam solely because the document supplied for use
during the exam was only available as a PDF image and so she could not
read it.

surely it should be obligatory to supply the Word or RTF version????


Dr John S Conway BSc PhD FGS FRGS FHEA MNADP
Director, MSc International Rural Development
Director, BSc Countryside Management
Chair, Research Committee
Principal Lecturer : Soil Science
Disability Officer
Royal Agricultural college, Cirencester, Glos GL7 6JS
01285 652531 fax 01285 650219 

________________________________

From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff. on
behalf of Silver, Liz
Sent: Tue 04/11/2008 14:07
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Re: Jaws


Hi,

Following the replies you have already received, there are a couple of
major factors being overlooked. First of all, even if the alternative
technology such as Thunder can be loaded onto a memory stick, not all
Jaws users will want to be having to use technology which is not as
useful or flexible as Jaws, and will not want to have to learn how to
use this new software. Secondly, even with a PDF file which is readable
using Jaws, they are still a pain in all sorts of places  as it is
really difficult to actually search say for a specific word in the
document and even if you can get over that hurdle, there is then no way
of actually marking what you have found or adding any notes for future
reference. Speaking as a Jaws user, as might be obvious, I think When
told that something is only available in PDF the response should always
be that it is required in Word or RTF etc and this is a reasonable
adjustment and just having to cope with a PDF version is not acceptable.
Rant over!

Cheers,

Liz

Liz Silver
Disability Officer
Student Support Services
Nottingham Trent University
Working Monday to Thursday
Phone: 0115 848 4495
Minicom: 18001 0115 848 4495
E-mail: [log in to unmask]


________________________________

From: Discussion list for disabled students and their support staff.
[mailto:[log in to unmask]] On Behalf Of Callaghan, Brigid
Sent: 03 November 2008 13:57
To: [log in to unmask]
Subject: Jaws



Hello,



Does anyone know of any developments in the assistive technology world
for blind students?  Is there any better package available than Jaws,
which has fewer problems or none at all in fact with 'reading' PDF.
Please remember in your reply that I not an experienced techie ; - ).



Reply off list [log in to unmask]





Many thanks



***********************************************************
Brigid Callaghan
Disability Adviser
Student Services
University of Bolton
Deane Rd
Bolton
BL3 5AB
[log in to unmask]
To make an appointment: 01204  903733.
Direct line: 01204 903803
Minicom: 01204 903490

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