Why does this project exist?

The first question on your mind is “Why?”

The answer is really simple, I needed a device that would allow me to learn in my “native way”, by seeing the information first-hand and recording it in a way that made sense to me..  Little did I know, I was creating an environment of “inclusion” for myself.   This is apparently how a lot of people with various disabilities learn at their fullest potential .  Further down this page, I will explain different forms of learning of students with disabilities.

Why spend all of the time and effort making it remotely operable? 

The University has a vast array of classroom designs.  Some of these are easier to deal with accessibility than others.  buy making it able to be placed virtually anywhere, I have allowed the student who requires its use to place it in a better location, that may or may not be within their arm’s reach.  For example, when testing this in Folleinger Auditorium, I ran two USB cables to The Micron and took a seat in the first row.  Had I placed The Micron on my chair’s lecture desk, it would be sitting too low and would be little help in reading the board.

You own a device that appears to do the same thing as The Micron, right?  Why continue this project?

I may have one of the most technologically advanced accessibility devices currently in existence  but…

1.  Not everyone has one who needs one.  All of my life, I have been extremely lucky with accommodations and accommodating people in my life, many people are far less fortunate on both accounts.

2.  Not everyone can foot the bill for a device that currently exists.  I was one of them when this project started, and only obtained this device after an Assistive Technology evaluation.  That evaluation was in the fall of 2012, my Sophomore year!  Also, there is a global recession currently in our midst, which services do you believe will be short-funded first?  Just because I get services and support today, does not mean that someone will be able to receive the same support in ten years (especially with the extremely poor financial status of Illinois).

3.  Constructing my own device allows it to do exactly what I want.  I am willing to take advice from other people, and integrate almost any idea into this project.  This is so it cna be used to maximize one’s education and remove as many barriers as possible.

4.  It’s fun!  This does not constitute the idea of “fun” for most people, but this allows me to improve my skillset doing a different activity that I enjoy.

Got any more questions?

I am writing a FAQ list!  (link?)

Have you had any good experiences with any professors here at UIUC (when concerned with accommodations)?

Yes!  They are listed at the bottom of this page!

Where is this idea of “inclusion” that you stated earlier?

It is literally right below this line of text!

“Exclusion” through “Inclusion”:  Visual examples of learning for students with disabilities.

There images were adapted from those from in the SPED 117 Week 4 PowerPoint as “Terminology” [for education of students with disabilities].

To begin, I will explain how each image is set up:

The green dots are all of the topical students

The red, blue, and yellow dots are students with various disabilities (they specific colors do not specify significant disabilities or groups of disabilities).

The teal dot is me.

The giant purple arrow is pointing to where I fit in each category (because all of teh following examples are from my past experiences).

Our first term is Exclusion, which is the most blatant and unwanted situation possible.

exclusion

 

In this example  all students with disabilities are excluded from whatever activity is currently happening.  This is rare, but still does happen.  In my personal experience, I have been in this situation once.  This one class was the driving portion of Driver’s Education (I was still forced to take the classroom portion as a graduation requirement).

 

The next example is more common, but less degrading.  This term is segregation.

segregation

 

The whole idea of “separate but equal” is still alive and well in the world today, and is sometimes the only option for some cases.  This is prevalent her at UIUC, as the vast majority of exams are taken off-site (from the regularly scheduled exam’s perspective) to allow for more flexible testing accommodations.  Most students who arrive early to a lecture will notice that students from the previous lecture are still leaving class, the incoming class likely does not want to cancel their session because a student needs extended time to complete their exam.  Hence the reasoning for students to take their exams in a different location to allow for more adjustments to make the exams more fair.     The only downside to this exam arrangement is what if a student has a question about the exam?  DRES has exam proctors, but none of them likely know the correct answer to the student’s question.

 

The next example is widely seen in classroom settings, Integration.

integration

 

Students with disabilities attend the same lectures and discussion sections as their peers, at the same times, in the same buildings.  They may be having someone next to them take their notes (personally, I found that to be completely useless), or maybe they have an advanced copy of the lecture PowerPoint A(also has disadvantages as a lot of my professors like to interact with their lecture notes and add information I do not have).   Everything is pretty accommodating and fair here, but, ther is still some things that could be better.

 

Finally, there is the ideal goal which is Inclusion.

inclusion

 

This is one goal that I am trying to help convey using The Micron.  I plan to listen to feedback from other student and fix problem that are existent in other ideas to help make this a reality for as many people as possible.  I hope to further assist in the independence of students with disabilities by reducing the reliance on other students (who may not show up) and professors (who may forget to email the notes  drastically change them, etc).  I hope to promote being self-accountable and also being able to provide information in a way that makes sense to each individual, given their prior knowledge and experiences.

Real-Life Examples:  UIUC Faculty who have made a difference in my experiences here.

I promise, this will be up very soon!  I want to get permission to write about the professors first because I do not want to go against anyone’s wishes or possible be in a legal situation.

Recent Posts

Week Four – The First Full Week With The Zoom-Twix

Last Monday I was finally given my own Zoom-Twix distance magnification camera by AbiSee.  The Zoom-Twix is regarded as one of the most advanced and portable accessibility devices currently in existence, this is because of its dual cameras.  The first of which allows for the use of reading text (through the use of bundled OCR software) the second allows for distance viewing and saving images (the one I will primarily use).  The Zoom-Twix is a Windows-only device, AbiSee has not even mentioned support for OS X or Linux yet.

 

I apologize for not showing off the un-boxing, I was between classes and just wanted to get it in its portable setup and into my backpack.

 

The Zoom-Twix in its most portable form.
The Zoom-Twix in its most portable form. It is recommended to carry it in its bag when not in use because of all of the small parts.

 

The image above is what it looks like whenever I pull it outside of my backpack.  The bag does not look very impressive, but let’s take a look inside…

The contents of the bag.
This is everything that is required to use the Zoom-Twix system (assuming that the software has already been installed),.

If you didn’t understand the need for the bag before, you should now.  This camera is made of several small pieces and one part could easily get lost if they were all just loose inside my backpack!  (Trust me on that one, my backpack isn’t a nice place to be alone at).

Also, notice the computer in the image above.  I said the Zoom-Twix is “Windows-only” earlier, but that is a MacBook?!  The solution here is BootCamp.

 

Let’s assemble everything and see what it looks like…

Fully assembled! (same angle as previous shots).
Fully assembled! (same angle as previous shots).
Fully assembled! (Sitting at the table I am using).
Fully assembled! (same angle as previous shots).

Both of these images are showing it from two different views.  I will begin showing how it works in the “read world” (read:  lectures) tomorrow, mostly because today is Sunday.

Finally, expect a lot more frequent updates as the Engineering Open House draws nearer and nearer.