Alternative Format Books

Decide ahead of time what alternative format you need for your textbooks. Are you going to have someone read them for you? Are there services in your state that will put them online or on disk for you? Are you going to scan them into your own computer? Are you going to find a way to get them Brailled? Are you going to borrow them from RFB&D? Are you going to get the book on CD directly from the publisher? These are things you need to decide long before the semester starts, because each of them, no matter which method you choose, takes time. The disabilities office at the university I attend has prisoners upload them onto a server for students. So all my books are online.

Usually, rehab services for the blind will pay for most of your books and supplies. You should obtain your books from the book store in print, as a back up to whatever alternative format you choose. Sometimes you will need a human reader to look up a chart, graph, photo or some other visual element in the print copy to clear up your understanding of the material. Charts, graphs and pictures do not always end up in the alternative format copy.

Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic, RFB&D, has a large inventory of textbooks on cassette tape and in daisy format on CD. The CD’s require special software for your computer or a specialized player. They will also record a book for you that they do not currently have in their inventory. This takes time, plan ahead.

The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, NLS, has the most comprehensive collection of books available. Unfortunately these are not textbooks or reference materials. Although NLS can be a useful resource. I took a class in literature where we had no textbook, but had to read several novels over the semester. I was able to get all these novels through NLS. Other classes I took required reading additional books on various cultural or historical events. I got the biography of Fredrick Douglas, a book on women’s civil rights and others too boring to mention here!

Recently book publishers have begun to make available electronic text of their print books. You have to contact the publisher of the book directly to see if this option is available. Sometimes they will want verification of a print disability before releasing the e-text. They will also probably require that you purchase the print before they give you the electronic version for free. They have to make their money somehow!

Handouts

How will you handle handouts the professor gives out at the last minute? The ideal thing to do is ask the professor if he can give them to you in advance so you can scan them. Or even better is to ask if he/she can email them to you. Sometimes that doesn’t work. Sometimes professors will type up the handout the day before or day of class, or find it shortly before class starts. In these cases, you must find a way immediately after class of reading it. I would usually try and scan the handouts on my scanner, but if the writing wasn’t good enough to be scanned, I would have a reader read the handout to me.

It’s important to be somewhat familiar with your readers’ schedules. This way you know, for example, if you get a handout on Monday evening, and one of your readers does not have class that evening, you can call that person and there is a good possibility of them reading it for you.

Library Research Papers

I usually go with a reader to the library, tell the reader my topic and we begin from there.

Typically somewhere in the beginning of your college experience you will have an opportunity to learn about the library. This may be part of your orientation, part of a class, or sometimes a class of its own. It is very important that you, yourself, become acquainted with the layout of the library, how to access materials, what sorts of resources are available and what materials can leave the library. The library staff is there to assist you in utilizing the library to its fullest. Don’t be afraid to ask for assistance. As you become familiar with the library, you will be able to better direct your reader as to what materials you need and where to go to obtain them.

When I was a communications major, I wrote a paper for a media course on Elvis. My instructor said writing about Elvis is too broad of a topic; I must pick one thing about Elvis and stick to that topic. I said I would write about how the media covered his death. So my reader and I spent many nights at the library researching what resources we could find on Elvis’ death. When we were done, I had many resources: books, Internet resources, microfilms of back issues of newspapers around that time, magazines, etc. I was glad to have such a variety of resources, as my paper had to be twenty pages, and I had to also give a twenty minute presentation about Elvis in front of the class. I thought that would be impossible, but I have always been interested in learning about Elvis, and before I knew it, my twenty minutes were up, and I hadn’t even covered everything I wanted to cover.

You also want to find out how the professor wants the paper written: What style do they want, MLA or APA style or something else? There are books available that will give you all the exact requirements on a particular writing style.

Then there are professors who will have their own preferences. Find out: What font size? Double spaced or single spaced? Cover page or no cover page? Pages numbered on the right side or not numbered at all? Do they want a works cited page and a bibliography or just a works cited page? You must learn how to format your papers properly. I always have a reader double check my formatting when I am finished, so I know the computer did not do something I did not want it to do.

Tests

How will you handle exams? Will the professor give them to you orally? Will you ask the professor to put them on disk so you can take them on a computer in the disabilities office that is equipped with a screen reader? Will you have a reader come and read the exam? Will you bring your own reader or will you be using a reader the professor has offered? Will you take the test in Braille? Will you have the test put on cassette tape and use a writing guide to write out your answers? The choice is yours.

When I have exams, the professor usually puts them on disk and I take them on a computer. If there are visual parts to the exam that will require some sighted assistance, I might have a reader read the whole exam for me, or I might use a combination of JAWS screen reader and a human reader. I might use jaws to complete the majority of the exam and just use the reader for the visual parts. You have to learn what works best for you.

I, for example, cannot use a reader for an essay type test where I have to write essay type answers to test questions. So I must use a screen reader for that so I can easily go back and read what I wrote and edit where necessary. When you have someone reading it aloud to you, you may find it is much more difficult to do that.

There’s a lot to think about, but the time you invest ahead of time will save you much stress later.

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