Overview

Math and sciences are areas where there are some discipline specific resources and tips. This page will share some or those tools and bits of advice.

Math Accessibility

MathML

As you've learned, some people who have vision loss or are blind will use screen readers to read text documents. Screen readers follow the document language to determine how to read the document. If you have math equations in your document, the screen reader may try to convert them to English since it doesn't understand that it's math, not standard English. For example, 1/2 may be typed to represent one half, but might be read as "one slash two".

MathML (mathematical markup language) is used to ensure that math equations and symbols are read accurately when someone is using a screen reader.

MathType

Students that use a screen reader may not always be able to access math equations. Canvas’s equation editor is now accessible, but for Word I encourage people to use MathType.

MathType is very affordable ($57 for an educational license). MathType can convert existing equations in Word and put them into a format that is readable by screen readers. Students then use MathPlayer (a free download) to play the math equations.

The file below is an example document with mathematical equations. The following two audio files are examples of how a screen reader would read the document. The first clip is the screen reader reading the document with equations created with Word's equation editor - notice that the equations are completely skipped over. The second audio file demonstrates what is read off when a student is using MathPlayer on a document where equations were converted using MathType.

Equation Document

Audio Clip 1:

Audio Clip 2:

Graphics

For graphics, rather than struggle to find the best alt text, many folks rely on tactile graphics. Some instructors find low-tech options meet their needs: puffy paint, pipe cleaners, yarn, etc.

There also some products that can be used to make tactile graphics that your college DSS office may have, or might be able to support:

ViewPlus is known for their paper based tactile embossers. They have a wide range of options from simple to complex.

Tactile Image Enhancer uses swell touch paper to create images. I think these are really good as well because it can create highly details raised images.

And lastly, you can check to see if you school has a 3D printer, which might be useful for created raised images, maps, and other graphics.

Resources

Video: MathType Overview/Tutorial
Video Series: MathType Tutorial Playlist
Web page: Guidelines for Describing STEM Images
Web page: Effective Practices for Description of Science Content within Digital Talking Books shares examples of descriptions of bar charts, line graphs, Venn diagrams, scatter plots, tables, pie charts and flow charts.
Blog: Mathematizing4all. Rachel Lambert's collection of math and disability resources.