Scenario
Although Jonathan had only minimal residual vision in one eye, he was required to access a variety of print materials, both electronic and hard copy, in his program of study.
While in high-school, Jonathan used large print formats, which worked very well. However, when Jonathan started college, he found it difficult to use this same strategy. In his college program, there were a far larger number of textbooks, handouts, and other materials he needed to access on a daily basis, and it became apparent that it was not feasible to access large-print versions for all of these materials.
Instead, Jonathan started using a portable electronic magnifier for reading short-passages and notes while in class and his instructors made sure to provide him with printed copies of class presentations. However, he could not use this method for long readings, as it gave him incredible headaches due to the eye strain.
In order to access longer passages and his textbooks, Jonathan began using text-to-speech software that read aloud electronic documents. He worked with the Disability Services Office at his campus to access digital versions of his textbooks. Although this took some getting used to, eventually Jonathan found he rather enjoyed reading his textbooks this way and was able to get more out of his readings.
