Julie Balassa, Assistant Director, Disability Services, Valencia College
Disability Area: Topic Area:
Length of Session (in hours): 2-hr
Format: Lab
Expertise Level: Intermediate
Type of session: Not provided
Summary of Session
Production of foreign language materials in accessible formats is doable! You only need the time, resources, skills, tolls, and experience. This presentation is a hands-on step-by-step demonstration of how to convert foreign language materials to HTML and DAISY formats.
Abstract
Every institution is responsible for providing access to college and course materials for students with disabilities, regardless of the language of those materials. In order to satisfy individual access preferences and the requirements of the Office of Civil Rights, DSS offices must have the skills and tools to provide accurate and effective alternate formats of foreign language materials in a timely manner. In this lab session, we will convert a multi-language source file to HTML and DAISY formats.
Kepoints
Legal requirements for accessibility of institutional and course materials
Intermediate conversion from a source file to MS Word to HTML and DAISY
Final conversion to student-ready HTML and DAISY formats
Speaker Bio(s)
Julie Balassa
Julie K. Balassa earned her BA degree in Psychology from McGill University and MA degree in Education of the Deaf from Columbia University. She started her career in New York City as a teacher of the deaf and subsequently as a nationally certified interpreter for the deaf. She initiated a pilot program to teach deaf children with autism, schizophrenia, and brain injury and served as a consultant regarding the education of this population. She sat on the board of New York Metro Registry of Interpreters for the Deaf (RID). She subsequently became a staff interpreter for the Connecticut Commission on the Deaf and Hearing Impaired, after which she relocated to Florida and worked as a freelance interpreter and desktop publisher. She joined the staff of Valencia College in 2003 as a counselor for a TRIO grant program serving students with disabilities, where in addition to her responsibilities as the grant's academic advisor she was responsible for supervising the grant’s assistive technology services, data collection systems, and tutoring program. She became college-wide coordinator of Valencia's Deaf and Hard of Hearing Services, Assistive Technology Services, and Alternate Format Services in 2005 and has continued oversight of these areas since her reclassification in 2007 as college-wide Assistant Director of the college's Office for Students with Disabilities (OSD). She is the college's point of contact with publishers regarding accessibility, serves as a technical and educational resource for the OSD and for disability service providers throughout the country, and is a frequent presenter on alternate format production, assistive technologies, and on issues impacting access for students who are deaf, hard of hearing, or legally blind. She continues to hold national RID CI and CT certification and sits on the Advisory Committee of the Access Text Network.