Quote:
Originally Posted by DawnFalcon
Daithi - So it's acceptable for there to be a course which requires the Kindle, and which thus requires frequent aid from a sighted person to the blind person to handle the reading which, in the normal course of events, they could handle themselves on a PC?
|
First, the university HAS to make accomodations for the student. That is always going to be the case. As a disabled person who has two children with minor disabilities, I can promise you that every school in the country will bend over backwards to make accomodations for each student that needs it.
Keep in mind that the school gets extra money for every disabled student that they have. The US Department of Education provides an extra 15% of the national average cost per pupil to educate all students. So if the national average to educate a student is $7,000, then the school will get an extra $1,050 for every student that has a 504 plan due to disability. On top of that, they can get extra money from the state, and various grants.
Most of the time, it costs far less than the money that they get from these sources to make the accomodations. So the school actually makes money to do this.
Second, there are more ways than just having a sighted person read to them. You might not have heard of the Victor Reader Stream. It can take any textbook that has been put into the proper format and then read it to the user. It has audio driven controls so the person doesn't have to be able to see to use their textbook or any other book. There are many other devices that are similar to this.
As I understand it, all textbooks in the US are sent by the publisher to NIMAC where they can be promptly be converted to whatever format is needed. So there are ways to accomodate every student. There is no reason to sue Amazon or even hold up the usage of the Kindles in the classroom.