Document Conversion Options

Meeting the individual needs of our students who require information presented in accessible formats (those other than regular print) need not be a major hurdle. There are several options available.

Alternative print formats (audiotape, Braille, electronic, and large print) allow our students with vision impairments and learning disabilities to have access to standard print materials. The Disabilities Services Office in Warner Center 226 can help your departments provide students with access. The following are ways of presenting materials in alternate format.

Audiotape:

Many textbooks, novels, and periodicals are available on audiotape and can be obtained from public libraries, the Library of Congress, and Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D). If determined appropriate, students requesting taped materials should first investigate these resources. Cost for these services must by law be borne by the University. Students certified eligible through the Disability Services Office will be instructed on how to access these resources.

However, documents that are not available on prerecorded audiotape may be submitted to the Disability Services Office for recording. Students should contact the Disability Services Office with their requests. Faculty, staff and departments can also make requests of Disability Services. Disability Services’ textbook recording service is primarily used by students who are trying taped textbooks for the first time or when RFB&D does not have the appropriate textbook. Requests should be made at least three weeks in advance of when the material is needed.

Braille:

To have original documents converted to Braille, OSU and COTC faculty may submit print or computer disk to the Office for Disability Services for Braille transcription. Items will be sent to the Alternative Media Coordinator in Columbus for transcription. A document conversion request form will need to be completed and submitted with the material to be transcribed. Documents in electronic format can be transcribed quickly; print materials require more time because they must be scanned first or entered by hand into a computer before being Brailled. For OSU faculty, staff and departments a Braille printer is available in the computer lab in room 590, Baker Systems Engineering on Columbus campus for individuals who want to convert their own materials.

Electronic:

Many students with disabilities have access to computers with synthesized voice or Braille output devices and may request an electronic version of material. Anyone can provide an electronic version of a document by copying the document onto a computer disk for the student making the request. Documents can also be made available by placing them on Internet, via OSU's Gopher OASIS, thereby benefiting all students who have access to a computer.

Large Print:

If you have access to a computer or copy machine you can create large print documents. Be sure to ask the student making the request how much enlargement is needed.

With a Computer: If a document has been created using a standard word processing program, it can be enlarged before printing. It is best to use a font that is sans serif. Geneva or Helvetica fonts are the clearest. A fourteen, sixteen, or eighteen point type works best. When type is larger than eighteen points, few words appear on each page, making it difficult for a person to make sense of the document. Bold face also makes it easier to read.

With a Copy Machine: Documents can be enlarged by duplicating them in the Services Center on a copier that can print on eleven by seventeen inch paper. Course packets or articles in periodicals and books can be enlarged in this manner. Usually 141% enlargement of the original will give you a large print copy on eleven by seventeen inch paper. Maximum enlargement on the Services Center copy machine is 155%. Copies are six cents per page.

With CCTV: For reading single pages of print material, a CCTV, which projects an enlarged image of the text onto a monitor, is available in The Office for Disability Services, Warner Center 226.

Please contact the Disabilities Services Office by phone (ext. 441) for information on how best to make your materials accessible to students with disabilities. We appreciate your efforts to make materials available in accessible format to students with disabilities, and we will assist you as needed.