[duxuser] Blind Students Tackle Dreams, article text
- From: <pdonahue1@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: "Multiple recipients of NFBnet NFB-Talk Mailing List" <NFB-Talk@xxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Tue, 14 Oct 2003 12:21:50 -0500
Good afternoon everyone,
Here is the text of the article Lisa Hall referred to in her message of
earlier today. Mrs. Stulch indicates that we no longer rely on sighted
readers for doing our class work. Both of us pointed out to her that while
today's computer technology has significantly lessened the need for sighted
readers the need for them still remains and will for some time to come.
However I will admit that it's cool to fathom a future in which blind
students won't know what a sighted reader is. just thought I would clarify
that point made in the article. Enjoy.
(J. Michael Short/Special to E-N)
Peter Donahue accesses the Web site of the National Federation of the Blind
with the use of an audio converter to read computer text.
Blind students tackle dreams
Imagine how much more challenging college life would be if you lacked the
facility of sight. Even the simple act of maneuvering around a sprawling
campus
would seem to render higher education a remote dream.
Category:
Lifestyle | Features
Blind students tackle dreams
By Melissa Fletcher Stoeltje
San Antonio Express-News
Web Posted : 10/13/2003 12:00 AM
College brings its own set of rigors - note-scribbling, test-taking,
voluminous reading, nights crammed with studying.
Imagine how much more challenging college life would be if you lacked the
facility of sight. Even the simple act of maneuvering around a sprawling
campus
would seem to render higher education a remote dream.
But there's nothing tentative in the way Lisa Hall and Peter Donahue are
tackling their goal to attain certification in the Braille Textbook
Transcriber
program at Northwest Vista College, a one-of-a-kind curriculum in the
nation.
"It's just opened up a whole world of information for me," says Hall of the
specialized computer programs and other equipment she uses; cutting edge
technology
that has radically transformed life for blind people, from practical uses to
lofty pursuits.
Hall, who also is hearing impaired and wears hearing aids in both ears,
walked into Northwest Vista's Learning Resource Center on a recent rainy
afternoon,
cane and umbrella in hand and burdened with an assortment of satchels and
backpacks. (A special mobility expert spent several weeks teaching Hall how
to
mentally memorize the layout of the campus.) Donahue, her good friend,
strides in a moment later, whistling the theme song from the Olympics and
led by
his guide dog, a friendly golden retriever named Tim.
Both Hall and Donahue are confirmed techies, able to speak about computer
programs and systems at dizzying speed, one that tends to confuse and
bewilder
the techno-novice. Nonetheless, their enthusiasm is contagious, especially
when they talk about how they don't let their disabilities hinder their
lives.
"Blindness doesn't have to be the big monster people think it is," says
Donahue, a beefy, amiable man in a Spurs T-shirt and jeans whose eyes are
softly
clouded in white. "Given the right training and opportunity, blindness can
be reduced to the level of a physical nuisance, a minor inconvenience."
"We can do anything we want to do except drive a car," Hall chimes in.
School officials say that while other organizations offer Braille
transcription courses, Northwest Vista is the first college to do so.
In it, the two students are able to access the cyber world and build Web
sites by using JAWS, a software program the converts text on-screen to
synthesized
speech. Hall also has a special display board that renders computer text
into Braille.
Donahue has created a host of Web sites, even serving as webmaster for the
National Association of Blind Musicians and the National Association of
Guide
Dog Users.
Donahue and Hall also carry a variety of electronic note takers and
audiocassette devices that have replaced an onerous system - human note
takers and readers
- that once hindered blind people in past eras.
"It's not a bed of roses, there are still problems, but technology has
helped tremendously," says Donahue.
Hall, 40, a native of Louisiana, has been blind since birth, the effect of
severe prematurity. A short woman with a shock of dark hair sprinkled with
silver,
she has a warm, squinty smile that almost constantly plays on her lips. She
lives on her own, works part time in the customer service department at
Sears
and is enrolled in six classes - a daunting schedule for anyone.
Before coming to Texas, she received specialized training at the Louisiana
Center for the Blind, where she learned to do tasks such as light candles on
birthday cakes, build a barbecue and even cook a spaghetti dinner for 40.
(Yes, 40.) She took a college course in her home state but became really
excited
when she learned about the Braille transcription program at Northwest Vista.
It teaches students to convert regular text into Braille, a complex system
of raised dots that essentially comprise the alphabet for the visually
impaired.
Donahue (who, like Hall, maintains a 4.0 GPA), also plans to make
transcribing text into Braille a career, a Web-based one at that. Donahue
also has been
blind since birth, although he can see some light and colors. Like Hall, he
has spent time working in low-level jobs and sees the transcription program
as a ticket to a more challenging, lucrative life.
He scoffs at the notion that he's an inspiration to others.
"I'm just another student trying to better his life," he says.
Both Hall and Donahue, who get around town by bus and cab, see themselves as
activists, working to promote awareness of the needs of the visually
impaired,
especially on the Web, where some sites still have a way to go to become
compliant with the American Disabilities Act.
"The biggest problem isn't blindness, it's people's misconceptions about
blindness," says Hall.
Susan Escobar, assistant professor in multimedia at the college, has worked
with the two in Web-design classes and credits the college's
"student-centered"
focus for attracting those with disabilities. She says watching Hall and
Donahue succeed heartens her.
"I have two nieces, age 7 and 9, who are blind, and for me they're an
inspiration," she adds. "They taught me that everything is going to be OK
for my nieces.
It's not the end of the world."
The transcription program equips students with the skills to become a
Braille transcriber of textbooks. In addition to Braille-oriented classes,
those in
the program take courses in small business management, English composition
and computer technology. They earn a level-one certificate, enabling them to
work in public schools, regional service centers and as private contractors.
Levels of Braille literacy have gone down in recent times, a trend that in
part motivated Northwest Vista to offer the certification program, says
Escobar.
"It's very sad when people are not taught Braille, because that's what
enables them to be literate," she says.
There are about 10 million blind or visually impaired people in the United
States.
According to the American Foundation for the Blind, only about 45 percent of
those with severe visual impairment or blindness earn high school diplomas,
compared to 80 percent among the fully sighted. Visually impaired high
school graduates are as likely to have taken college courses as their
sighted peers,
but are less likely to graduate.
mstoeltje@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
Peter Donahue
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