Making Physics Courses Accessible for Blind Students: Strategies for Course Administration, Class Meetings, and Course Materials

Abstract

IntroductionThe Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) mandates that U.S. institutions of higher education provide "reasonable accommodations" to students with disabilities to ensure equal educational opportunities. However, despite the key role of physics as a gateway to Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) studies, only limited resources exist for teaching physics to students who are blind or visually impaired. Here we share lessons from our experience creating an accessible physics curriculum for a blind physics major. The authors include the student himself, a blind physics B.S. who graduated from a different institution, a PhD chemist and consultant on STEM accessibility who is himself blind, and several sighted educators and course assistants who worked regularly with the students. This article focuses on issues for which instructors are responsible: how to make class meetings, curricular materials, tutorials and demonstrations accessible (as opposed to accommodations determined at an administrative level, 2 such as additional time on tests). An online appendix provides additional resources and specifics to guide actual implementation of these ideas, including a guide to further reading.Once an institution learns that a blind student will enroll in a physics course, the course instructor and the institutional disabilities coordinator should meet to discuss course logistics well before the semester begins (ideally, over a month or two in advance to allow sufficient lead time). They should begin the process of creating an effective instructional and support team, ensuring key assistive technologies are in place, making all class meetings accessible, and preparing accessible course materials [1].The most fundamental decision is whether to use individualized instruction, in which the student and instructor meet in separate one-on-one tutorials, or mainstreaming, in which the student attends regular class meetings with other students. We primarily used mainstreaming, supplemented with one-on-one instruction. Instructors should work with the student in question to determine which approach is most suitable given their students' individual needs and the available institutional resources. Assembling the instructional teamA blind student who participates in mainstreamed class meetings should have access to one or more persons who act as an in-class assistant and a tutor outside of class. The in-class assistant ensures all class materials are accessible to the student in real-time while also playing the traditional role of a course tutor when appropriate. For example, they might clarify mathematical notation in a complex equation, describe figures drawn on a chalkboard, or explain visual 3 elements in an interactive demonstration. The tutor provides accessibility help as well as playing the traditional role of a course tutor when appropriate. Neither of these roles can be filled by students currently taking the course, since both positions require advanced familiarity with the course material. We had...

Disabling barriers experienced by students with disabilities in postsecondary introductory physics

“…We have provided some recommendations in this paper for inclusive practices and strategies, and further STEM specific recommendations can be found in Refs. [47,[102][103][104][105][106].…”

“…Recent research has begun to investigate the accessibility of physics departments [46] and curriculum [3], and multiple studies have problematized and addressed barriers experienced in physics labs for individuals with auditory or visual impairments [47][48][49]. However, little work has investigated the specific experiences of students with nonapparent disabilities in physics courses.…”

Resources for Supporting Students With and Without Disabilities in Your Physics Courses

“…For example, the following articles all discuss how to support students who are blind in physics courses. [23][24][25][26][27][28] Additionally, there is not much uptake of these articles in the literature as shown by low citation rates (i.e., the 22 articles we identified had average yearly citation rates of 0.64, with a minimum of 0 and a maximum of 1.22; total citations ranged from 0 to 47 per article, with an average of 8).…”

Teaching labs for blind students: equipment to measure the thermal expansion coefficient of a metal

“…Among the modifications were the use of tactile graphics (such as in Ref. [3]) and the use of the "Accessibility" option in Microsoft Word TM [19] that transcript the text into sounds. The student also showed excellent handling with Microsoft Excel TM [19] software.…”