Program aids blind students

By Kurt Esposito
Assistant Campus Editor

With five blind students on campus this semester — more than ever before — the program created to make sure these students have Braille material will be producing more Braille than in past years.

TAEVIS — Tactile Access to Education for Visually Impaired students — is run by the Office of the Dean of Students and produces Braille text sheets, tactile diagrams and E-text.

Sue Wilder, director of the program, said TAEVIS acts behind the scenes to make sure visually-impaired students have normal college lives. She said it is the program's goal to make sure the students have what they need for each class.

Last fall, the University had two blind students, which is normal. Wilder said that generally, for a University as big as Purdue, the school has one to two blind students.

Braille text consists of raised figures with one to six cells that can be configured in 63 ways. Because of the small amount of configurations, the figures mean separate things depending on what code is used. There are different codes made up for math, chemistry and foreign languages. A single dot can represent both the letter "a" and the number "1."

It takes someone who is blind up to two months to learn to read Braille. Most of that time is devoted in training the fingers to feel the text.

Each page of regular text converts into about three pages of Braille and the Bible takes up a whole bookshelf when converted into Braille. Last fall, when providing materials for two students, TAEVIS produced 5,067 pages of Braille text. By the end of this semester, the program expects to produce between 7,000 and 8,000 pages.

Wilder said a sociology book could be converted in a morning, while a math book with equations could take a few months because the equations have to be done manually. Each year TAEVIS starts in April to produce materials for the fall. This semester the program is producing materials for subjects ranging from French to chemistry.

TAEVIS works with Adaptive Programs in case conferences with the students so each person's needs can be assessed. The offices then acquire all the textbooks the students will need for the upcoming semester.

Pages containing regular text are scanned into a computer and converted into Braille symbols; however, equations and chemical symbols have to be typed manually. Wilder said 75 percent of the text TAEVIS translates is done with computer and 25 percent is done manually.

TAEVIS employs many graduate students in the areas of the subjects that are produced to help ensure that all the converted material still maintains its integrity. "It takes the input of people with a variety of specialties to provide materials for the students," said Wilder.

The information is then sent to a machine called an Embosser that uses tiny hammers to make the raised text.

Throughout the course of the semester TAEVIS will also produce syllabuses, homework, tests and quizzes.

Rebecca Hodson, a blind student and a sophomore in the School of Liberal Arts, said the case conferences are helpful because they allow the program to be coordinated in its efforts. She said TAEVIS is helpful in that it allows students to still be students. It is still the responsibility of the students to notify TAEVIS when they need tests and quizzes converted.

For tactile diagrams, the office takes a diagram from the textbooks and redraws a simpler version of it, leaving out details of pictures. The Braille words included in the diagram and the figures are then copied in black ink on special sheets of paper that contain thermally-activated cells that burst when the sheet is heated, producing the Braille.

Researchers test new diabetes pill

Change in passenger van policy invokes criticism

Program aids blind students

Study reveals increases in van rollovers

CAMPUS DESK PHONE:
(765) 743-1111 ext. 253

Campus editor: Laura Pelner

Assistant campus editors: Kurt Esposito, Dave Stephens

To send a letter to the editor, please email opinions@purdueexponent.org