Hi, All,

I promised to let you know what happened with the course.

I was given an abridged copy of the course material a few weeks ahead of 
time in rich text format.  I converted the files into Word using a program 
called Jarte.  I imported the files into Duxbury, made them more braille 
friendly, translated the files and embossed them.  I was told that text in 
italics would be on the test, so I "marked" those places so I could find 
them again quickly and easily.  The material took 159 interpoint pages.  It 
would have taken less than that, but I wanted each learning unit to start on 
an odd-numbered page and I put "LU" followed by the unit number as a running 
header on each page so I could find them quickly.

The rest of the class had PowerPoint slides and printed handouts to look at. 
The teachers read some of the text from the slides aloud and I was able to 
follow along with my braille material.  There were questions at the end of 
each learning unit, which were read aloud and answered verbally.  My copy 
didn't have all of the questions, so I requested the entire correct answer 
be read aloud.  I took notes using my BrailleSense Plus.

They had planned to give me a .txt version of the test on a usb drive, but 
they copied the wrong one to the drive, so I ended up taking it orally. 
Thankfully, I passed, and I give all the credit to God!

I'm not an arrl member, but it would be nice if the ARRL offered its 
material in accessible formats for the blind.  Everyone doesn't have the 
equipment and software to braille their own material and I know some of you 
don't read braille and prefer a different format.

I learned that ARRL is redesigning the Level 2 and Level 3 courses and 
eventually they will be one course instead of two.  That's why these courses 
aren't offered now.

Do you think ARRL should offer their materials in alternate formats for us?

Terri Amateur Radio call sign KF6CA.