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Additional Material - Case Study |
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Hugo is blind. He is undertaking a law degree at the University of Melbourne. Before he began, he consulted the Education Consultant at the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind to learn about the resources and support that would be available to him. From there he learned the importance of planning and of communicating his needs clearly to academic staff. He also undertook a computer course so that he has good keyboard skills and can use a computer as an important assistive tool in his studies.
At uni, he has been able to arrange having his lectures taped so that he can go over them at night and make his own notes. Hugo has a laptop computer on which he has a voice card. This enables the computer to "read" the contents of its screen to him using a synthesised voice. He has talked to his lecturers and is able to get directly from them any course materials which originate in the faculty which have been produced on disk. Hugo is given the material on disk and he can then access this material on his computer. Hugo has attended a special orientation session at his university library, where he was introduced to the layout of the library and shown where key resources of relevance to his course are. He was also shown quiet study rooms where he can go to listen to his tapes and his laptop without disturbing other users. The library also has key library information recorded on tape and can give Hugo his own copy. The library has installed a voice card on one of its publicly accessible catalogue terminals so students who are unable to read print can have access to the catalogues. The contents of the screen are read out by synthesised voice. This terminal also has access to the many networked CD-ROM products available in the library. Hugo is able to search the catalogue himself, and read the screen with the use of the voice. Additionally, he is able to use research tools which are on CD-ROM, hear the results of his searches and download to disks the references he has chosen. He can then refer to them at his leisure. Some of Hugo's textbooks are available to him on disk - one law publisher in particular has a very good record of providing access to electronic versions of their textbooks. Other texts are available on cassette through specialist libraries for people with print disabilities who have large stocks of academic texts and can access many more via local and international inter-library loan links. However, not all of Hugo's recommended texts are readily available to him in a format he is able to access. He therefore makes arrangements with his campus Disability Liaison Officer (DLO) to have material not available in accessible formats read onto tape by the Royal Victorian Institute for the Blind. This service utilises specialist narrators to read students' materials onto tape. (It is also able to produce materials in Braille, large print and electronic formats.) Copies of texts need to be available in sufficient time for transcriptions to be ready for the start of semesters, but Hugo and the DLO understand the need to plan production needs well in advance. With careful planning and appropriate assertiveness in explaining his needs to academic and other support staff, Hugo is able to complete his studies successfully using the range of resources available to him.
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Print Disability