<html><head><meta http-equiv="content-type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8"></head><body dir="auto">Hi, everyone, <div><br></div><div>It definitely was an interesting read. Thanks for sharing. </div><div><br></div><div>I was frankly shocked, though not entirely surprised, by some of the comments on the LMS thread. Some of the comments nodding towards questions of can blind people even be accommodated at all in score reading or what the point of having a blind person analyze a score because people like Stevie Wonder learn by ear show just how little knowledge is out there amongst professors on this topic. I do know there are faculty out there who understand the benefits and drawbacks to any method of learning and memorizing music for a blind musician and like most if not all of us here advocate for using all the available tools in the box each for their beneficial purposes, but holy cow seeing that thread was sobering. </div><div><br></div><div>I guess I also just don't understand where the issue really is. It sounds like people higher up have good intentions but are reading way too far into accessibility issues because they don't understand the role of disability services providing accommodated materials. I was taking theory courses about 10 years ago, but even then all my classmates were accessing scores for analysis online and I was provided embossed braille and" Lime files instead. As long as the blind student gets an accessible version of the assignment so they can complete it, that's what matters. Why must you have absolutely everything for everyone delivered through the LMS, and wouldn't insisting on doing so even if it's a student's reasonable accommodation to receive the assignment in a different format be also problematic? You can't put embossed braille on Canvas or Blackboard, and if a theory student had a university giving them accessible notation files or hard copy braille I don't think they'd care it wasn't on Canvas. I know I wouldn't. I'd be curious to see if any current faculty have more insight into this: </div><div><br></div><div>But boy, do we need more blind musicians speaking and presenting at music ed conferences, evidently. I have a lot to ponder as I take my stack of braille scores off with me to choir rehearsal... <br id="lineBreakAtBeginningOfSignature"><div dir="ltr"><div><br></div><div>All the best,</div><div>Kaiti Shelton, MS, MT-BC </div><div>Music Therapist-Board Certified</div><div><a href="https://www.credly.com/badges/ac95f05b-e4be-41fe-9e82-7300318d6685/public_url">https://www.credly.com/badges/ac95f05b-e4be-41fe-9e82-7300318d6685/public_url</a></div></div><div dir="ltr"><br><blockquote type="cite">On Oct 21, 2024, at 4:45 PM, Ella Yu via Menvi-discuss <menvi-discuss@menvi.org> wrote:<br><br></blockquote></div><blockquote type="cite"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr"><div dir="ltr">Hi everyone,<div><br></div><div>I just wanted to share a thread I found on reddit, as I feel the subject is very important to the blind music community at large. Specifically, it is about accessibility issues for blind/visually impaired students in university music classes, especially music theory courses. I know not many of you guys hang out on reddit on a regular basis, but since everything can be viewed without a reddit account and the discussion is interesting, I just thought I'd share it. The post is in a subreddit called r/professors, which is a reddit community intended for those who teach in higher education, such as college and university professors. There are reddit communities for nearly every topic out there, called subreddits.<br><br>This reddit thread is actually a spinoff from a different reddit thread called <a href="https://www.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/1g71b68/title_ii_update_of_ada_requirements/">"Title II Update of ADA REQUIREMENTS"</a> (ADA likely meaning Americans with Disabilities Act). The main post reads:</div><div>"Today during a faculty meeting, I learned that the DOJ updated Title II requirements of the ADA making it mandatory that web and digital content be fully accessible by April, 2026. I then was given a list of content that must be made accessible including all Power Points (pictures need Alt-Text, font requirements for screen readers and order considerations for screen readers), emails (“Every time someone sends an inaccessible email we are unintentionally discriminating against people with disabilities”), word documents and video/multimedia. What are all of you doing about this? Any tips/tricks or insights you can share? This feels so daunting to me and my team b/c we teach A&P with an image heavy lab."</div><div><br></div><div>One of the comments on the thread, which got 37 upvotes, says:</div><div>"It’s an issue if you are a music professor. Music notation is not accessible so any handouts or assignments I post on canvas come back with a low accessibility warning. We currently have a student who is blind and have had other students in the past. You can’t post Braille music notation on canvas. Screen readers can’t read it. We’ve always made it work with students, by playing examples on the piano and having them talk through their analyses."<br></div><div><br></div><div>Another thread, which is the one that is of most interest to this community, was started (likely) as a response to this comment. It is called <a href="https://new.reddit.com/r/Professors/comments/1g7f2gx/ada_compliance_for_lms_for_music_professors/">"ADA compliance for LMS for music professors"</a> (LMS likely meaning learning management system e.g Canvas, Moodle, Blackboard, etc). The main post reads:<br>"This is in response to the recent post about complete ADA accessibility for all teaching materials. If your university is mandating this, do you know how music theorists have complied with the law?</div>In the last week, I have taught from these two scores. Obviously, they cannot be captioned. Listening to the music is of course incredibly important, but students have to see the score for analysis and performance. We have had blind and visually impaired students and we have worked with them individually and/or sent music out to be Brailled if they even read Braille music notation. Many cannot read it and it is time consuming and very expensive to send music out to be Brailled.<br>I think accessibility is incredibly important. I just have no idea how it would work in my field."<br>There appears to be a musical score attached to this post, which is shown as an image.</div><div dir="ltr"><br></div><div>The comments on this reddit post discuss the issue in depth, and I think it is a worthwhile read, especially for those who advocate for accessibility in university music courses for blind students, either as a student yourself, a teacher, or a related individual. The commenters all appear to be sighted college/university professors who share their perspectives, so it gives a pretty good glimpse into what is going on in the trenches so to speak. I think examining those perspectives is important for the blind/visually impaired music community at large because there tends to be a bit of a disconnect between what students need/feel is best for them and the teachers and other professionals working with them, and I think there is quite a bit that can be done to better bridge this gap.<br>What do you guys all think? Feel free to share your thoughts on the reddit thread.</div>
</div>
</div>
<span>---------</span><br><span></span><br><span>Thank you for subscribing to MENVI. Should you wish to unsubscribe, change your delivery, or set any other options available to you, please view the list information page below. Should you have any questions, please contact the owner of the list.</span><br><span>_______________________________________________</span><br><span>Menvi-discuss mailing list</span><br><span>Menvi-discuss@menvi.org</span><br><span>http://menvi.org/mailman/listinfo/menvi-discuss_menvi.org</span><br></div></blockquote></div></body></html>