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On-Line Site Aids Blind Studies
By REX W. HUPPKE
Associated Press Writer

WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. (AP) _ By running his hands across a
scientific graph, Cary Supalo is able to take in by touch what
others take for granted _ the full-color diagrams and charts that
illustrate science textbooks.
In the past, as the blind Purdue University student read the
Braille on his textbooks, the text was accompanied with a simple
tag: illustration omitted.
But for the last two years, Purdue has provided more than text.
A program called Tactile Access to Education for Visually Impaired
Students has generated thousands of scientific diagrams with puffy,
raised lines and Braille labels to aid blind students.
``As they say, a picture's worth a thousand words,'' said
Supalo, who is pursuing double major in chemistry and
communications. ``From an access standpoint, it's made my life a
lot easier.''
Now blind students at other colleges can also ``view'' the
diagrams, thanks to an Internet program that allows other schools
to replicate the drawings.
``It's exciting, it's breaking frontiers,'' said TAEVIS
director
Sue Wilder. ``It's really challenging the system that currently
exists.''
Until the early 1980s, blind students were strongly discouraged
from pursuing science careers, Wilder said.
``They were simply told it's too visual, it's too
expensive, go take a liberal arts course,'' she said.
Eventually, a special Braille code was developed that eased the
translation of mathematical and scientific information. Textbooks
could be translated, but not the illustrations.
``That information was not being transmitted to the blind
student,'' Wilder said.
Until two years ago, when a special type of paper hit the
market, backed with plastic and coated with a heat-sensitive
chemical. A drawing is printed onto the paper in black ink, then
the paper is run through a heater, what people in the TAEVIS office
call ``the toaster.''
The heat causes the black ink lines, Braille letters and
markings to bubble up, leaving a raised image.
``It really gives the blind student, the Braille readers, equal
access to the material,'' Wilder said. ``This way, the students get
to absorb the data, analyze it and draw their own conclusions,
which is a more complete learning experience.''
However, providing such a service is time consuming and costly.
Purdue's TAEVIS office is bustling with nine full-time employees
and five part-time students working with 20 computers and a $40,000
Braille embosser.
Purdue pays $500,000 a year for the service, which assists its
three blind students and one student in Illinois.
``It is a huge expense for schools like Purdue,'' Wilder said.
``For small schools, it's an expense that's quite substantial.''
That's where TAEVIS Online comes in. The Web site costs less
than $100 to subscribe to and allows schools anywhere to download
the more than 2,500 images TAEVIS has in its library. Each download
costs about $2.
The special paper is about 70 cents a sheet and the ``toaster''
costs less than $1,500. Wilder believes that schools that don't
have the time or resources to redraw scientific diagrams can access
this site and save time and money.
``Why should anyone else have to draw it once we've drawn it?''
she said.
Once Supalo graduates this spring, he plans to pursue a
doctorate in inorganic chemistry. Wherever he winds up pursuing his
advanced degree, he believes the TAEVIS program will continue to
help out.