Project Math Access DVD 04 - Facilitating Inclusion - Part 04
Transcript Start

Audio Description: Part four; Expert opinion; Dr. Gaylen Kapperman.

KAPPERMAN: One of the major advantages that I see in using the Braille Lite to print braille ink print math symbols is that students who are blind who are studying mathematics in mainstream regular classrooms, who have sighted teachers, can print their math assignments out, and tests, and hand the assignments to the regular sighted teachers who don‘t... the math teachers who don't read any braille, of course. They don't have to give the assignments to their special education teacher, the vision teachers, to ink in the math symbols if that‘s a necessary kind of thing. They can... lt helps the vision teacher, it's one less thing for her or him to do, and the blind student has another step toward independence, being able to do his mathematics, communicate with sighted people in mathematics without having to go through another person. I like that a lot. 

An additional advantage is the individual can do his math assignment on the Braille Lite, and has all of the editing capabilities of the Braille Lite so he can make changes, he can add, he can delete, he can insert before he or she prints out the print copy. In addition, if the student wants to have a braille copy of that assignment, he can very easily print the... emboss the same assignment in braille. 

Now there‘s one disadvantage in that you do not have absolutely genuine accurate Nemeth code. But, and the... you‘re using computer code, so that for example the punctuation is different. It's a simple matter, there are only seven different punctuation marks that the student has to learn. For example, the period in computer code is dots 4-6. So that if the individual numbered his or her items, number one, two, three, four, five, six, number one would be the dot 2 followed by the dots 4-6. Then that would show up on the print copy as 1. (number one period) and so forth and so on. 

Other than that, I believe that it is a very viable way for a blind student to be able to print most math symbols, not all, but the vast majority of math symbols for sighted people and do it independently. There... at this moment, currently... there is no direct translation, that is a student cannot braille in accurate Nemeth code, hit the print command, and have accurate mathematics printed out in ink print. 

We hope that someday that will be a possibility, but at this very moment that is not possible. There is no equipment; there is no software, which will enable a student to do that. So this is the next best thing; as a matter of fact, this is the only way that a blind student can accurately print mathematic symbols in ink print. That is why we recommend this as a part of the instruction program for blind students who are doing mathematics in the mainstream.