Welcome to Print Disability Week, where I will be posting once a day about ways to receive services for a print disability, with a webinar on Thursday in collaboration with AIM-VA, an accessible educational materials provider for students with print disabilities in grades K-12 in Virginia. Today, I will be talking about how I requested print materials in my high school classrooms.
As a student with low vision who attended public school, I have learned a lot about how to make print and digital materials accessible for me. Here is how I requested print materials for different classes that I took in the classroom. I will have more in depth posts for each subject, as well as my virtual classes, on the blog at some point.
English
22 point bold Arial font, on 8.5 x 11 paper in either light blue or light yellow. Graphics were never much of an issue here, normally I would request high resolution digital files if they were necessary. I received books through Bookshare and Barnes and Noble.
Geography
22 point bold Arial font, on 11 x 17 off white paper. Maps were outlined in black Sharpie and the symbols were enlarged 500%. I received high resolution graphics on my laptop as well as on the class projector. My teacher found that the larger format benefitted all students, and a handful of students even discovered they needed glasses. This class did not use textbooks.
Spanish/foreign language
22 point bold Arial font on 8.5 x 11 blue/yellow paper. Accent marks were outlined in black Sharpie. Pictures were often eliminated, and occasionally there would be alt text available. I received textbooks and workbooks through AIM-VA.
Math
22 point bold Arial font on 11 x 17 blue/yellow paper. I had a specific accommodation to use Sharpie pens instead of pencils. Graphs were either presented as high resolution images or outlined in black Sharpie. I received textbooks from AIM-VA.
Science
22 point bold Arial font on 11 x 17 blue paper. Graphs and images were presented digitally. I also was always partnered with a friend I had known for a long time when it came to labs, since they were used to me having low vision and could make sure I didn’t burn the school down or break items. I received textbooks through AIM-VA and Amazon.
Band
Music enlarged 250%-300% on 11 x 17 off white paper that was cut into segments for easier page turns. Dynamics and other markings were highlighted with black Sharpie. I also received music digitally that my director scanned in. I read it on my iPad and simply zoomed in on the images while playing.
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