Accessible STEM Textbooks

 

Overview

 

After reviewing this page, participants will be able to determine resources to acquire accessible STEM textbooks.

 Commercial (paid for)

Many textbook publishers are making their current titles available electronically on VitalSource Links to an external site.. VitalSource includes a large library of commercial textbooks in digital formats. Newer titles are provided in the accessible EPUB format, which will be usable by many students with disabilities, depending upon the type of assistive technology they need to use.

The VitalSource ePub reader Includes an embedded text-to-speech reader and other accessibility tools, which are very useful for many students with non-visual print disabilities like dyslexia. 

VitalSource math or science textbooks which include MathML will be readable with screen readers and refreshable braille displays in such a way as the math will be properly voiced according to standard math speech rules and can be displayed in braille math code to the extent that the user’s screen reader supports braille math.   

 Accessible Open Source Textbooks

There are a large number of open-source textbooks available on websites or online repositories. While many may be only available in PDF (which will not have accessible math equations), others may be found as ePub or as common HTML, both of which can support accessible mathematics content using MathML.

Since raw MathML is currently supported only in Mozilla-based browsers (e.g., Firefox) or in the Safari browser on Mac/iOS platforms, a common practice is to use MathJax Links to an external site. to serve the math expressions in the browser or ePub reader. MathJax is a javascript display engine that allows MathML, LaTeX, or AsciiMath code to be written into HTML or ePub content and then displayed.

Using MathJax allows for support in all modern browsers. It provides important accessibility linkages Links to an external site. that enable math equations to be spoken by text-to-speech software and, in some cases, accessed by a refreshable braille display.

Some examples of open source math textbooks using MathJax can be found at…

Note: Some sources provide PDF and online (HTML) versions, which must be read in a browser. The online browser-based versions almost always use MathJax, but if in doubt, hover on a math expression and press the mouse right-click key. If MathJax is being used, then a menu will appear, including “About MathJax” as an option.