Hi everyone!!
The weather has been crazy around here! As a result I got to miss a couple days of classes 🙂 . Anyway, I’ve been meaning to write a blog on how I come about my schooling with a visual impairment. This is so I can let people know it is possible to pursue an education when one is blind and that the challenges that may arise are worth conquering.
So I am now in my third semester of school. Since I had to take a year and a half off I decided to start off easy and take 3 courses. I am in a Bible College so what I have taken will appear different from the average student’s courses but I have also attempted pursuing a degree in psychology at a different university which has given me an idea of university suited as well. The rest of this blog will resume in a Q&A format.
How do I go about registration?
This may appear straight forward but I will address it anyway. The best way to go about registering for courses–or even just applying–would be to phone up the desired school one wants to go to and make an appointment with an academic advisor. An Academic Advisor is there to help you brainstorm a general idea of what you want to pursue in your studies and then start creating an academic map of what courses you should be taking over the next few years. Even if you are not certain about what you want to pursue yet, at least you can work on something in the meantime after working something out with an Advisor. What you both discuss is not something that will be set in stone, it is just a small step in some general direction.
Now that I have my classes sorted out, how do I effectively make use of my class time and information from lectures?
Another way of phrasing this is, How do I take notes from a lecture? There are many ways to come about this when one has a visual impairment. I will probably repeatedly say this throughout this blog entry but as soon as you are registered for school and you have a visual impairment–or any other form of disability or learning challenge–get in contact with the academic support or disability resource centre at the College/University. These people will be able to help you figure out how to take notes in a lecture, help you find accessible ways to go about your assignments and research, and give you any other special accommodations that might be needed. Now that you are in post-secondary now though, it is important for one to advocate for themselves all the time or else nothing will be done. Anyway, back to answering the question, “Now that I have my classes sorted out, how do I effectively make use of my class time and information from lectures?” Some suggestions that might require consideration are the following: upon permission from an instructor, one can request a tape recorder to record a lecture that can be listened to again later on. Another helpful thing might be to ask the professor if they are willing to make their notes accessible to you, if they do not mind sending you copies of them, that is. A final option, for the moment, is to ask fellow classmates for copies of their notes. As I said, you must get used to advocating for yourself in order to get anything done.
How do I access class textbooks and resources?
Again, this is another thing that should be discussed with academic support or the disability resource centre in the school before the semester begins. Since every country/province/state has their own tech companies to refer to for this type of accessibility, I will list my personal experience and resources. In my first year of College, at Columbia Bible College, I was stubborn and used my portable CCTV to read everything. When I went to UFV for only a short amount of time, I was connected with CAPER-BC. CAPER-BC provides electronic format of required textbooks at UFV using either PDF, Word, or whatever you request. Not every textbook will have the every electronic format available but they will do their best to accommodate the requested needs. Not that I am back at CBC, I have been connected with CELA and BookShare. In order to be connected with BookShare, one needs to make an account through CELA first. CELA is a Canada-wide online library that gives people who are incapable of reading print, accessible formats of books. Basically everything of which the CNIB library had provided. BookShare is basically an extension of CELA that provides the same services. The textbooks I have needed this semester were able to be found through BookShare so I got connected with CELA in order to do so. This is all to show that once you connect with your academic support team or Disability Resource Centre, you will be put in contact with online resources that will provide electronic textbooks.
How do I do research for my classes and assignments?
At my school, the library staff are more than happy to assist me in doing research. Let me list a couple options. Thanks to technology and the internet, every school is able to provide students with online library databases that they can use for research. Once you become acquainted with the library website, it becomes easier and you will learn that there are endless qualified resources for you to read for researching. At both the schools I’ve been too, within the first year, there was a required course provided that teaches students how to navigate the school’s website(s). If your speech program has any issues with navigation, don’t hesitate to announce this issue to the technology department and the Disability Resource Centre/Academic Support team. A second option is to have a librarian help you find what book you need and then scan the pages that are most useful to you, onto your computer. For either of these options, seeing an e-format of an entire book might be overwhelming, or trying to find what pages to scan might be overwhelming. Concerning electronic books/articles, there is a Table of Contents and navigation features that make it easier to help one maneuver through a book and skim read over sections. With the newer versions of JAWS–a speech program–you can now find ways to skim read texts using JAWS Command Search. I will write instructions on how to use this at the end of this blog. On figuring out what to scan onto your computer from a print book, tell the librarian what you are researching and go through the Table of contents together. If the librarian doesn’t have time for this, make an appointment with the Disability Resource Centre or Academic Support team, to help.
I really hope that this brief overview on how to get the best learning experience with a visual impairment at university has been helpful. There will be challenges and it requires self-advocacy and pro-activeness but the end result is rewarding!
JAWS Command Search:
-First, use the JAWS modifier key and space bar. The JAWS modifier key is either the Insert key or the Capslock key. Once these 2 keys are pressed, you will hear 2 clicks.
-Upon doing this command, you will have entered JAWS Layered Mode. When you have entered JAWS Layered Mode, you press the letter “J’ to enter into the JAWS Command Search.
-In this search bar type, “Skim.”
-Next hit the Tab key until you hear, “Skim Reading Dialogue.” Under this will be a description and if you continue arrowing down, you will find the option called, “Activate Skim Reading.” You can either hit enter to activate this or hit the down arrow to read its description.
Shalom!
The Gift of Gab 