Recently, I wrote a guide for parents helping their blind teens through the process of getting disability support at university. But what if you’re a young (or older) blind person who is working through the process mostly on your own. Even if you have support, perhaps you want to take the lead on this one….
Author: Connor Scott-Gardner
Helping Your Blind Child Take Ownership of Their University Support
For many blind students, going to university is the first time they’ve had to take full responsibility for their own support. It’s completely understandable that parents want to help, especially when they’ve been the main advocate for their child throughout school. But university is a very different process for all students, whether they’re blind or…
Of Mice and Men at Derby Theatre (With Creative Audio Description!)
Last week, I was kindly invited by Derby Theatre to watch and review Of Mice and Men, which is currently showing there. Before I start this review, I have a confession to make: Of Mice and Men is not my favourite book. I understand why it’s an American classic, but I don’t love it. However,…
2024 Reading Round-up
Last year was surprisingly fruitful where reading is concerned. Despite how busy I seemed to be, and how little time I had to actually write, I was able to finish a total of 48 books. This is a substantial increase on the 35 I finished in 2023, and we’d better not talk about 2022 where…
Accessibility and Discovery at Leeds City Museum
Last year, I decided to visit Leeds City Museum. After living in the city for over three years, I thought I should probably take the time to check out the museum, considering it is located right in the heart of the city. Visiting museums can sometimes be more complicated for me because I am blind….
A New Year
Condensing a whole year into a single post always feels like an impossible task. I will inevitably miss details that were important or events that had a significant impact on my life. One thing I can say is that last year felt like the most settled of all my adult years. I didn’t move house…
Creating tactile graphics on a braille embosser, first experiments
Further to my previous efforts to create tactile graphics, I’ve been messing about with creating them using my braille embosser. There are clear advantages to this over using a tactile image printer, mostly cost. A box of 1000 sheets of braille paper costs around £65, whereas a box of 100 sheets of swell paper for…
Adventures in producing Braille for university
It’s very quickly become apparent that I’m going to benefit from having access to hardcopy Braille when studying. This isn’t actually much of a surprise. I find having a copy of a text I’m studying really useful, and there’s something about being able to see it on paper that makes such a difference. Although I…
Relearning how to study
I went to my first day school today. At the Open University, tutorials take place online, and are generally held during the evening. However, rather than you needing to go to tutorials several evenings in a row, they’ll often run a Saturday day school where you can attend all the relevant tutorials in one day….
Access Picture Smart: AI image recognition in JAWS
I recently shared a post on LinkedIn and Facebook, listing some lesser-known features that are built in to my screen reader that I find very helpful when I’m working. I thought I’d take a deeper dive into the features I feel increase my productivity and help me get the most out of my technology. Whether…