Inauguration of Laboratory for the research and experimentation of new assistive technologies for STEM S. Polin"
On November 20^th at 12 PM , the Rector of the University of Torino will inaugurate the Laboratory for the research and experimentation of new assistive technologies for STEM "S. Polin" at the Department of Mathematics "G. Peano", Via Carlo Alberto 10, Torino.

IMPORTANT NOTICE: Find here our LaTeX package for the realization of accessible PDF documents with formulae! The package is also available on MiKTeX and MacTeX!
Find here all the supporting files: preprocessing script and dictionaries JAWS and NVDA (in italian and english). For further information see the documentation, available also here.
Moreover, the digital library of accessible mathematical books is on-line It will be updated regularly to provide visually impaired students with access to an ample selection of various didactic material (currently only in italian).

Established in May 2018 the "Laboratory for the research and experimentation of new assistive technologies for STEM S. Polin", Department of Mathematics G. Peano, University of Turin.

Attendance at 16th International Conference on Computers Helping People with special Needs, Linz, Austria, July 2018. Video demo

Attendance at the Conference "European Conference on Educational Research", Bolzano, Italy, September 2018.

Participation to "Training talks for teachers of any level", in collaboration with Group of Research in Mathematics and Difficulties, Reggia of Venaria Reale, Turin, 6-7-8 September 2018.

Training course "Transcription and realization of accessible documents with formulae, graphs and tables" (In the framework of an agreement with the Municipality of Turin), Department of Mathematics of University of Turin, September 2018.

We want to signal the service Cleaning the Source code of TeX made available by Sissa Medialab of Trieste. This service, still in an experimental stage, allows the users to have TeX files easily manageable by screen readers and braille displays.

The project, developed in its technological aspects in the Department of Mathematics G.Peano, University of Turin, is in collaboration with the Office of Disabled Students and the Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences. It originates from the necessity of the deployment and use of new technologies for the access to higher scientific education by young people with disabilities (both sensorial and motor). The activities carried out and in progress include:

• For the visually impaired: the transcription of texts containing formulas, charts and graphs in a format accessible to blind and visually impaired through speech syntesis and / or braille display. We are also examining the issue of accessibility to entrance exams and to platforms like Moodle. We study and test solutions in the Windows, Apple and Linux operating systems.
  
• For motor disabilities (upper limbs) we study and optimize the access to the computer by voice commands and the automatic transcription of vocal notes.
  
• We support the video recordings of the lectures of the Bachelor's degree in Mathematics: today almost all of the lectures of the Bachelor's degree in Mathematics, many lectures of the Master’s degree in Mathematics for finance and insurance and some of the lectures of the Master’s degree in Mathematics are available on the Moodle platform for all enrolled students. We plan to extend the initiative to other degree programs (project “Scivoli” and e-learning project of the University).
  
• Support to students with autism spectrum disorders.
  
• Support to students with Specific Learning Disorders (SLD).
  
• We regularly give lectures on the use of ICT for the disabled as part of training courses for secondary school teachers.

The activities described are carried out in the framework of:

• “Research project to identify, use, disseminate and develop new technologies to promote the active participation to higher education by young people with disabilities and SLD, in view of the principles of universal access, personalized education and inclusion " (coordinators: Prof. Anna Capietto - Professor of Mathematical Analysis and disability referent in the Department of Mathematics G.Peano, Turin University - and Prof. Marisa Pavone - Professor of Special Education at the Department of Philosophy and Educational Sciences and Rector deputy for disability at Turin University).
• Agreement between Turin University of Turin and I.Ri.Fo.R.. / UICI (Institute for Research, Training and Rehabilitation/Italian Union for the Blind and Visually Impaired).
  
• Project D.A.P.A.R.I. (Disability in the company, Advanced Professionalism, Research and Integration), a collaboration between the Department of Mathematics G. Peano, Turin University (Prof. Capietto), the Department of Economic, Social, Mathematical and Statistical Sciences, Turin University (Prof. Bollani) and Reale Mutua Assicurazioni.
• Project of the Department of Mathematics G. Peano, Turin University, "Accessibility of digital texts with scientific contents by visually impaired people" (coordinator prof. Anna Capietto - Professor of Mathematical Analysis and responsible for disabled students at the Department G. Peano of Mathematics, Turin University).
• Project "From the school to the business world: an accessible journey", funded by Fondazione Specchio dei Tempi (La Stampa, Turin).

The database on this website allows a (motor or sensorial) disabled person to orient himself in the world of (hardware and software) ICT and encourages the access to higher scientific education.

For information:

accessibile.matematica@unito.it