A Graphical Calculus Course for Blind Students‪.‬

For blind students seeking education and a career in science, engineering and mathematics, the calculus has presented a formidable barrier. This is not simply due to the intrinsic difficulty of the subject, which is obstacle enough for most students. The additional hurdle for blind students is the substantial graphical component of the typical calculus course. There are two major aspects of that graphical component: primarily, there is the representation of geometrical objects, especially the graphs of functions; then, there is the presentation of mathematical formulas as a graphic display. Under a grant from the National Science Foundation, the Computer Science Department (CSD) of the College of Staten Island and the Computer Center for the Visually Impaired (CCVI) of Baruch College are developing text materials and providing an environment to offer blind and visually impaired students technologically assisted access to the graphical content of the calculus. The goal of the project is to equal or exceed the quality of courses for students with unimpaired vision. We are installing facilities for reading mathematical text and graphics directly without the help of sighted readers. It is only quite recently that any such technology has become practical and affordable for institutions. We can expect that it will become so for individuals before long.