This keynote address was delivered by Dr. Cary A. Supalo at the 2015 Training Workforce and Development and diversity conference which is one of the divisions that is part of NIH's general medical sciences. This conference was attended by over 500 program directors from all of the T32 sponsored projects in 2015. This presentation discussed the…

Organic chemistry courses can present major obstacles to access for students with blindness or low vision (BLV). In recent years, efforts have been made to represent organic chemistry concepts in tactile forms for blind students. These methodologies are described in this manuscript. Further work being done at Illinois State University is also…

The hands-on laboratory experiments are frequently what spark students' interest in science. Students who are blind or have low vision (BLV) typically do not get the same experience while participating in hands-on activities due to accessibility. Over the course of approximately nine months, common chemistry laboratory experiments were adapted and…

To determine whether a suite of audible adaptive technologies would increase the hands-on participation of high school students with blindness or low vision in chemistry and physics courses, data were examined from a multi-year field study conducted with students in mainstream classrooms at secondary schools across the United States. The students…

The article is an invited presentation given by Dr. Cary A. Supalo to the National Federation of the Blind of Illinois annual state convention that was held in Chicago, Illinois on Saturday, October 28, 2011. The remarks were slightly modified for the "Journal of Science Education for Students with Disabilities."

Entry into science education for students with blindness or low vision can present economic and technological barriers to access. This manuscript discusses funding hands-on student experiences in middle school, high school, and post-secondary education. Further, the use of access technologies recently developed for science education is also…

Hands-on science enrichment experiences can be limited for students with blindness or low vision (BLV). This manuscript describes recent hands-on summer enrichment programs held for BLV students. Also presented are innovative technologies that were developed to provide spoken quantitative feedback for BLV students engaged in hands-on science…

Students with blindness or low vision are often discouraged from full participation in laboratory science classes due to the inadequacy of current methodological approaches and the lack of sophisticated adaptive technologies. Consequently, these students rarely go on to pursue advanced studies and employment in the sciences. In response to his own…

The Independent Laboratory Access for the Blind (ILAB) project has developed a suite of speech accessible tools for students who are blind or low vision to use in secondary and postsecondary science laboratory classes. The following are illustrations of experiments designed to be used by educators to introduce them to the ILAB tools, and to…

A brief overview of the 2007 National Federation of the Blind-Jernigan Institute Youth Slam Chemistry Track, a course of study within a science camp that provided firsthand experimental experience to 200 students who are blind and low-vision, is given. For many of these students, this was their first hands-on experience with laboratory chemistry.…

In order to enable students who are blind and visually impaired to observe chemical changes in solutions, a hand-held device was designed to output light intensity as an audible tone. The submersible audible light sensor (SALS) creates an audio signal by which one can observe reactions in a solution in real time, using standard laboratory…

A number of tools and techniques have been developed to assist students with blindness and visual impairment who are studying in secondary and post-secondary science laboratories. Commercial electronic probes and their associated software packages allow real-time viewing and collection of data using a personal computer; however, until now, these…