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Disability
According to the Copyright Amendment
Act 1998, ‘a person with a print disability’ is:
a.
A person without sight
b.
A person whose sight is
severely impaired
c.
A person unable to hold or
manipulate books or to focus or move his or her eyes; or
d.
A person with a perceptual
disability.
People with an intellectual disability
also face difficulty understanding written material and information. They
can also find it difficult to understand material presented using complex
language and jargon, or too much information presented at once.
What problems do students face?
Even with the technology available today,
most learning materials are still presented in print. Many people face
obstacles to learning – not because of their disability, but because the
learning materials available to them are not in a format that they can use.
Listed below are some of the difficulties
people with a disability might experience when presented with particular
formats.
Printed materials
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fonts that are difficult to
read
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fonts that are too small
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cluttered or crowded layouts
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text over shaded boxes
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pages that are difficult to
turn
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books that do not sit easily
on Closed Circuit Television tables
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books that are heavy to
handle
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coloured fonts or paper that
make it difficult to read
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people with specific
learning difficulties such as dyslexia can face difficulties understanding
and interpreting written information
Audio materials and presentations
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difficult or impossible to
understand due to hearing impairment
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difficult to use as
reference material as it can be hard to find the right place
Videos
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Audio can be difficult or
impossible for people with a hearing impairment
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Visual information can be
difficult or impossible for people with a vision impairment
Electronic formats
If people have access
to a computer and relevant adaptive technology, reading through information
electronically can be an accessible option.
Word files or text files can be read with
synthetic speech - but the formatting of files plays a critical factor in
how successfully the computer can read the text, and how understandable the
text is.
Getting it on time
One of the most
common complaints – both formal and informal – regarding access to learning
materials, is the time that it takes for students to actually get their
hands on the materials.
Time can be lost in identifying the exact
materials that are needed, and having quality copies to use for conversion.
There have been many incidents where
students with a print disability have had much less time to prepare for
assessment than their peers, due to the delay in converting materials.
Sometimes teachers might choose to change
materials for a course, perhaps to include more up-to-date information.
While providing more current information, this can mean it takes longer for
materials to be ready for a student with a print disability.
Conversion processes might involve:
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Identifying the materials to
be converted
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Identifying the required
format
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Finding someone to do the
conversion
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Seeking funding for the
conversion
Each of these steps can cause significant
delays in actually having the materials in the student’s hands.
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