Visually impaired students push for more accessibility in STEM programs

Visually impaired students push for more accessibility in STEM programs

BUILDERS━ HAS HUNDREDS OFTEAMS IN MARYLAND.

IT'S CALLEDTHE "FIRST LEGO LEAGUE" AND ITGIVES STUDENTS HANDS ONEXPERIENCE WITH ROBOTS ANDCODIN━ AND FOSTERS A LOVE OFSCIENCE, TECHNOLOGY AND MATH.BUT SOME STUDENTS ARE HAVING AHARD TIME COMPETING WITH THIPEERS.

WMA━2 NEWS ABBY ISAACSIS WORKING FOR THE FUTURE TOSHOW YOU HOW THEY ARE ASKINGFOR A LEVEL PLAYING FIELD FORTHEM━ AND THEIR COOL ROBOTS.59:1━ 22 NATS 3 2 lego ITALL ABOUT PRECISION, NATSGOPRO 15:44:3━ 36 HANDS ONEXPERIENCE 53:5━ 59 NAT lebutton*driving soun* AND ALITTLE FUN..

NAT go pro1:53:3━41 AS PART OF FIRSTLEGO LEAGUE, THESE MIDDLESCHOOLERS GET TO BUILD ROBOTSCODE THEM AND COMPETE AGAINSTOTHER TEAMS. 1:01:1━ 25STUDENTS you get to hang outwith your friends more.

Plusyou get to learn.

Isiah didyou just say plus you get tolearn?

BUT FOR THIS GROUP,I━ 59TEACHE━ these kids have itlot harder THEYA FIELD DEPENDENT ON SIGHT...WITHOUT IT.

56:4━ 43 arethese red?

Yes.

What arethese?

Red.

OUT OF THUNDREDS OF TEAMS STATEWIDE,ONLY 2 ARE BLIND AND VISUALLYIMPAIRED & BOTH RUN BY THEMARYLAND SCHOOL FOR THE BLIND.10:4━ 50 ━ with anythingelse, accessibility is alwagoing to be a problem.

QUALIKFORD IS A JUNIOR COACH.

HESAYS THERE ARE BARRIERS THATIMPACT THEIR ABILTY TO COMPETEAT THE SAME LEVEL AS THEIRPEERS... 18:0━ 10 ━ thereare a lot blind students,there are a lot of blindpeople who are interested inthese things but shy away fromthem because they areconstantly told that they arenot accessible.

LEGO REPS HAVCOME TO THE SCHOOL TO SEE WHATTHEY NEED.

BUT THERE ARE STILLSOME CHANGES THESE STUDENTSWANT TO SEE SO THE EQUIPMENTIS MORE ACCESSIBLE.

STARTINGWITH HOW TO BUILD THE ROBOTS..RIGHT NOW, THEIR ENGINEERINGAND DESIGN TEACHER GINA FUGAHAS TO GO THROUGH THEINSTUCTIONS FOR THEM.

14:3━39 ━ because they're all justpictures, there's no other wafor us to put them togetherTHEY WOULD LIKE THEM AVAILABLEIN BRAILLE.

AND THEN, THERTHE DEVICE THEY USE TO DIRECTTHE ROBOT.

CALLEDINTELLIGENT BRICK.

39:1━ 15STUDENT i cannot see anythingon this screen THEY WANT THEBRICK TO SPEAK, SO THEY DONHAVE TO RELY ON OTHERS TO REAIT FOR THEM.

3:2━ 28 STUDENTBRANDON Because we want to beindependent.

EVEN THE MATPRESENTS CHALLENGES.

ITS A MAPMADE UP OF LINES AND COLOREDCIRCLES..

AND KNOWING THEIRLOCATIONS IS NECSSARY TOCOMPLETE EACH MISSION.

11:2━32 ━ of course if you cansee, you can see that on themap, but if you can't see thenyou have a lack of informationand thus you can't completeone of the missions.

1:12:3━45 ABB━ Lego did send themthis graphic which has raisedlines to help the studentsunderstand the lay out of themats but they still canthem at competitions.

17:4━18:02 ━ if we were access tthe materials and equipment ata younger age, and experiencesat a younger age toparticipate in things likefirst lego league, we wouldultimately have maybe morepeople in stem fields.

EVWITH ALL OF THESE CHALLENGES,THESE STUDENTS ARE DETERMINEDTO MAKE THE BEST OF THSITUATION BECAUSE IT'S WHATTHEY LOVE.

48:3━ 40 STUDENTit's fun learning how to code.it can really get yousomewhere.

BUILDING BLOCKS FORA STRONG FOUNDATION FOR ABRIGHT FUTURE.

IN NOTTINGHAMABBY ISAACS WMAR 2 NEWSTHE LEGO COMPANY HAS LAUNCHESEVERAL INCLUSION PROGRAMSTHE PAST YEAR, INCLUDING NEWLEGO BRICKS THAT HELP KIDSLEARN THE BRAILLE ALPHABET,DOWNLOADABLE AUDIO AND BRAILLEBUILDING INSTRUCTIONS FOR 15DIFFERENT LEGO KITS.A CAMPAIGN KICKING OFF