Presented at 9:00am in Cotton Creek II on Tuesday, November 14, 2017.
#9040Speaker(s)
- Christa Miller, Associate Director of Services for Students with Disabilities, Virginia Tech
Session Details
- Length of Session: 5-6-hr
- Format: Lab
- Expertise Level: Beginner
- Type of session: Pre-conference
Summary
If you have always wanted to learn Braille or want to better support Braille readers at your institution, this is for you. Even though Braille wasn't meant to be used visually, there are many tips and tricks to learning Braille visually. This pre-conference workshop will teach participants the foundation of Literary Braille and Nemeth Braille.
Abstract
Braille readers in college--especially in science, technology, engineering, math, health majors--are a relatively small group but with recent improvements in Braille technologies has come a small increase in enrollments by Braille readers.
This pre-conference workshop is for those who would like to be better prepared to support a Braille reader and those who are just curious. Participants will learn how to: read and write grade one (uncontracted) Braille, write grade two (contracted) Braille with software assistance, write elementary Nemeth code Braille (for math and science), and identify significant differences between the UEB code and previous EBAE code.
Using a small group, cooperative approach by the end of the day participants will be able to: explain the creation of the Braille code, read and write the braille alphabet, recognize grade two braille signs, use a grade two braille cheat sheet, write simple Nemeth Braille expressions, and use a Nemeth cheat sheet.
Keypoints
- Explain the fundamental differences between contracted Braille and Unified English Braille
- Use uncontracted Braille to transcribe short written passages
- Learn the structure that Nemeth Braille relies on to communicate math and science
Disability Areas
Vision
Topic Areas
Alternate Format, Assistive Technology, Uncategorized
Speaker Bio(s)
Christa Miller
Christa Miller is currently the Associate Director for Services for Students with Disabilities at Virginia Tech (VT). She has a BS Electrical Engineering (2008) and MS Industrial Systems Engineering (2012) both from VT. She started working in VT's Assistive Technologies group in 2006 as a student employee teaching students how to use assistive and accessible technologies. From 2010 to 2015, she transcribed STEM materials into Braille, and then transitioned into teaching instructors to create accessible educational materials by design.
For the last several years, she's helped VT grow their digital accessibility footprint by helping to establish the centralized captioning fund, building up the campus' Accessibility Network, creating training on PDF accessibility, and leading cohorts of individuals preparing for the IAAP CPACC Certification.
Christa is an active member of regional and national disability and accessibility organizations (AHEAD in VA, AHEAD, ATHEN, and Accessing Higher Ground). When she has the opportunity, her research interests include accessibility in STEM courses and Universal Design for Learning.
Handout(s)
- Braille Bootcamp Participant Manual
Participant manual for the Visual Braille Bootcamp
- Braille Bootcamp Traine rManual
The trainers manual for the Visual Braille Bootcamp