Classroom Accommodations – for Blind Students (cont.)

• Web pages used in your classes can be designed to be accessible to those using Braille or speech output software.  (The Center for Students with Disabilities can advise you on this!)

• Allow student to bring a guide dog to class. Service (guide) animals are "working" when they are with a low-vision or blind student and should not be distracted or pet.

• Speak to the class upon entering and leaving the room or site.

• Have other students state their names prior to speaking in discussions.

• Call the student by name if you want his/her attention.

• Use descriptive words such as straight, forward, left, etc. in relation to the student's body orientation. Be specific in directions and avoid the use of vague terms with unusable information, such as "over there", "here", "this", etc.

• It is not necessary to speak loudly to people with visual impairments.

• Identify yourself by name. Don't assume that the student who is visually impaired will recognize you by your voice even though you have met before.

• Describe, in detail, pertinent visual occurrences of the learning activities.

• When there is a blind student in the classroom, the instructor should remember that "this and that" phrases are basically meaningless to the student.  

• Instead of saying,  "the sum of this plus that equals eleven" , the instructor or student can just as easily say, "the sum of 4 plus 7 equals 11."  The student who is blind will be getting the same information as the sighted student.