#BlackHistoryMonth spotlight, #STEM edition:

"Annie Easley developed and implemented code used in researching energy-conversion systems, analyzing alternative power technology—including the battery technology that was used for early hybrid vehicles."

nasa.gov/history/annie-easley-…

Annie Easley, Computer Scientist - NASA

Annie Easley had never heard of the National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) when she read an article about twin sisters who were “human computers”

^NASA

#BlackHistoryMonth spotlight, #STEM edition:

"Euphemia Lofton Haynes became the first African-American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1943."

biography.com/scientists/euphe…

Euphemia Lofton Haynes

Euphemia Lofton Haynes became the first African American woman to earn a Ph.D. in mathematics in 1943.

^Biography

#BlackHistoryMonth spotlight, #STEM edition:

"Dr. Marc Hannah co-founded Silicon Graphics, Inc. (SGI) with Jim Clark and five others, a company that went on to be well-known for its computer graphics technology." via The History Makers

thehistorymakers.org/biography…

For every day in February, I will be posting to celebrate #BlackHistoryMonth by spotlighting Black Americans who have contributed to the fields of #STEM and #LibraryScience, in addition to shout outs to Black-owned businesses and #InfoSec groups.

Thread 🧵 begins here:

So questions for #Blind #Edgucaters, #teachers, #school staff and anyone in the #education field as a whole.

I am a university student who originally planned to double major in computer science and elementary education, but I’ve recently faced some concerns that I’d like to address.

I’ve been told that pursuing a teaching certification might not be advisable because schools may be reluctant to hire a teacher with low vision, who is mostly blind, to manage a classroom of thirty or more students. This has been quite upsetting.

My dream was to work with elementary students, focusing on #STEM subjects and teaching technology-related topics like understanding tech, its role in the world, and the basics of programming. Now, I find myself uncertain about what path to take.

Working with kids, especially those in elementary school, is my biggest passion, even more than tech or music. It’s something that would truly fulfill me. Since I can’t have kids myself, guiding and teaching young learners is the next best thing. It’s a career I’m committed to and want to excel in.

Being advised not to pursue a teaching certification and to focus solely on computer science has been quite discouraging. I’ve been told to study elementary education as a secondary focus and combine it with my computer science studies. This might involve developing educational systems for kids, but it would likely mean limited direct interaction, possibly just during product testing, which isn’t enough for me.

So, I have a few questions:

1. Are there any educators with #Blindness or #LowVision challenges working with elementary students? If so, in what capacity do you work with them?
2. How has your disability affected your effectiveness in the field?
3. What challenges did you face in getting certified and qualified, and how did you overcome them?
4. What obstacles have you encountered in the classroom and with colleagues, and how have you addressed them?

If these questions don’t apply, what advice can you offer me in pursuing my goal of working with children? While tech is a focus, I’m open to being flexible, as long as it’s an area I’m confident in.

Finally, if teaching isn’t possible for me, what other career paths would you suggest that align with my goals?

I’d really appreciate any support
and engagement in this discussion.

Boosts welcomed and appreciated.

#BlindEducators #Teachers #Education #AskMastodon #VocationalAdvice #University #TeacherLife #OvercomingAbleism

At a meeting in Germany that attracts dozens of Nobel prize winners, one of them objected to its focus on diversity, saying “as a male scientist, I have a feeling of discrimination when I am here, in the climate that this meeting is being held.” Science magazine reports that a visibly nervous early-career researcher stood up to respond….

science.org/content/article/no…

Link to video, her response is at 46:39
mediatheque.lindau-nobel.org/r…

#stem #science #Nobels #womeninstem #womeninscience #lindaunobel

Tossing a #STEM #accessibility grumble out into the wild:

So apparently, even as #MathML support is improving at the browser level, in order to get #NVDA to _read_ math, you need to install #MathPlayer -- which is fine in and of itself, but it really bothers me that the MathPlayer webpage (info.wiris.com/mathplayer-info) says both "Accessibility for web environments using MathPlayer is limited to obsolete browsers such as Internet Explorer 8" and (in bold) "We are not actively developing MathPlayer."

It seems really odd for such a necessary tool to have such prominent warnings (but then, of course, there's an #XKCD for everything: xkcd.com/2347/). And nearly every instructional page I found while looking for information on MathPlayer references using it in Internet Explorer, which is now officially dead (and is actually being remotely disabled on people's machines, which seems rather draconian).

On the bright side, once MathPlayer is installed, NVDA seems to be able to read (properly MathML coded) math just fine, even in Chrome, which the MathJax documentation says doesn't work; probably due to recent MathML support improvements in Chrome.

Accessibility in general I'm really enjoying learning more about. STEM accessibility is giving me headaches.

Dependency

^xkcd

OK, when does #nvdasr get rid of that ol' MathPlayer already?
---
RT @zorkow
A New Year, an all new Speech Rule Engine speechruleengine.org
V4 release in #TypeScript with
* Support for Norwegian, Swedish, Catalan
* 2D Braille output
* New rules in YAML format
* and more

Supported by @texthelp @NumFOCUS @AAF_1919 @MathJax @idescat

#a11y #STEM
twitter.com/zorkow/status/1480…