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[OT] Re: Diagrams for blind people

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From: Adrian Howard
Date: Aug 10, 2002 1:15PM

On the diagram side I would take a look at <http://www.nctd.org.uk/>;.
It has lots of useful information on tactile diagrams.

Probably the simplest thing for you to use would be "swell" paper. You
can print/draw/photocopy onto it like normal paper, then run it
through a device (called a "fuser" I think) that makes the
appropriate sections "swell" so you can feel them. However, both paper
and fuser are expensive. It can involve some experimentation to get
right, and the detail is not wonderful.

I would also go and talk to the student *now* if that is at all
possible. They will have dealt with similar situations in the past and
may well have a preferred solution. More importantly they may have
tried things in the past that don't work - and it would save time and
expense to find that out now.

That said, I would probably go along with that first person on
blindprogramming who said to think outside the box (a little bit
anyway...).

Is the course's intent to teach UML diagrams, or to teach design
principles? If the latter, then just describe what the diagrams mean.
The map is not the territory and all that.

UML diagrams are documentation, they are aids that can help you make
design decisions, they are a communication medium. There are other
communication media and you can do good design without having UML
diagrams as the center of your process.

I've worked with blind and partially sighted developers in the past.
We talk through the issues. We write the issues down. We have meetings
(with whiteboards - it works, you just need to talk through what
you're doing). Yes, diagrams were sometimes produced (by a sighted
member of the team) but they were the end result of the design process
that everybody had participated in.

As for building GUI based apps.... again is the purpose of the course
to teach about GUIs or event-based coding? If the latter, how about a
non-GUI event-based application? Or a textual-UI event-based app?

[Sorry if I'm wandering off into a slight rant... it's just that I've
seen *so* many graduates in the interview room in my time who can draw
lots of very pretty, very neat diagrams - but can't design for toffee
:-) ]

Hope this helps!

Adrian

On Friday, August 9, 2002, at 03:17 am, Oliver Burmeister wrote:

[snip]
> I am teaching a java subject this semester that requires design work
> using
> UML diagrams. I have a student taking the subject who is completely
> blind.
>
> I have two related issues:
>
> 1. I need to demonstrate UML diagrams to the student in a way that is
> accessible. Can you recommend a drawing tool that will render diagrams
> in a
> format this student will be able to access?
>
> 2. The student needs to learn how to design programs, rather than just
> sit
> down and start coding. Do you have suggestions for how I might teach the
> student program design (preferably using UML notation). Ie, how does the
> student draw diagrams that will also be able to communicate the design
> to a
> tutor, or as necessary for assessment.
>
> Lastly, part of the subject is teaching GUI development using java. Yes
> there are accessibility guidelines for GUIs written in java to be
> accessible. But what about the reverse? How does a blind student design
> and
> code a GUI? Eg, some of the existing class exercises ask students to
> create
> applets with event-driven functionality (buttons, mouse clicks, etc).
[snip]


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