CUDE

Some learning disabilities make it difficult for students to acquire math skills. Students may not be able to fully understand mathematics content in standard print form because of the additional mental processing required to interpret math expressions. They may react to math problems on the page as signals to do something, rather than as meaningful sentences that need to be read for understanding. In particular, they may face difficulties with self-verbalizing math equations. Using synthetic speech to verbalize digital mathematics expressions may aid students with these challenges.

Mathematics and science are disciplines that have historically communicated ideas visually. This is especially true of formulas and equations, where relationships between parts are understood by their spacial relationship to one another. Communicating these same ideas to people who are unable to see poses significant challenges. However, a variety of solutions exist.

Yes, there are funds available specifically for producing captioning. While the U.S. Department of Education is still a major source of caption funding, a good deal of captioning today is made possible by corporate support. Corporate contributions supplement or match those allotted by a program's producer and its distributor (i.e., the broadcast or cable network or syndicator).

Distance learning courses may include web-based materials, videotapes and other multimedia, printed materials, video conferences, and telephone conferences. These courses should be accessible both to the students who use them and to the instructors who create them.

The best way to begin is to consult print and web resources for making distance learning materials more accessible to people with disabilities. You can find extensive resources at AccessDL, The Center on Accessible Distance Learning.

Nemeth Code is a special type of braille used for math and science notations. It was developed in 1946 by Dr. Abraham Nemeth as part of his doctoral studies in mathematics. In 1952, the Braille Authority of North America (BANA) accepted Nemeth Code as the standard code for representing math and science expressions in braille. With Nemeth Code, one can render all mathematical and technical documents into six-dot braille, including expressions in these areas:

Lab science classes like chemistry create unique access challenges for some students with disabilities. However, resources exist to help educators maximize the participation of all students in these important learning experiences.

Several websites provide comprehensive information about making science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) accessible to students with disabilities. They include:

According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), in the 2015-2016 school year 19% of undergraduates in the United State reported having a disability.

According to the Office for Civil Rights:

Following the basic design guidelines listed below can help you create overhead visuals that are easily read by people of many different ages and abilities to read and see. Large print and well-organized visual aids are particularly helpful for some students with disabilities that affect their sight, learning, or hearing.