Amanda Lacy came to ACC four years ago to pursue a degree in computer science. Like many degree plans, hers required that she take a science class. That wasn’t a problem —  she found physics interesting and wanted to learn more about it.

The problem came when Lacy, who is blind, tried to use the class textbook. The equations, graphs, and diagrams so integral to the material did not translate into a format she could use.

Amanda Lacy and ACC professor Richard Baldwin

“I couldn’t understand the lectures. I couldn’t read the equations,” she says. “My book was a mess.” She mentioned the issue to one of her computer programming professors, Richard Baldwin, who decided he could help.

“I was really surprised when he did this, but he said he would tutor me,” she says. At weekly sessions he would try to help her understand visuals by scratching shapes into paper for her to feel, a process that was somewhat limited.

Baldwin, who came to ACC 18 years ago after a long career in digital computing, began creating an online tutorial that translates physics material into a format that can be read with an audio screen reader and an electronic braille display tool. “Accessible Physics Concepts for Blind Students” is one of the only offerings of its kind.

“Blind students should not be excluded from physics courses because of inaccessible textbooks,” Baldwin says. While laws require that textbooks be accessible for students with disabilities through grade 12, there is no such mandate for college textbooks. “When a blind person goes to college and tries to take anything that involves anything other than words, they have a problem,” he says.

The physics coursework is one of more than 600 online tutorials Baldwin has authored over the course of his career, all available at no cost. While an e-book version of the material has been offered on Amazon.com, Baldwin is not affiliated with the person selling it, and receives no proceeds. Instead, his payment comes in the form of dozens of emails from people around the world who have used his materials.

“I’ve gotten emails from people that are hardly readable because they don’t speak English,” he says, with some coming from more obscure locales, such as the Seychelles, and countries where people don’t have much money.

Working with Lacy also has prompted Baldwin to create a program that enables the blind to do virtually any kind of technical drawing using a device with a touchscreen and certain accessibility tools. The program allows students like Lacy to create and print shapes and graphs required for physics and math classes.

Dr. John Gardner, a former physics professor and researcher at Oregon State University, encountered Baldwin’s work when the latter contacted him with some questions. Gardner, who became blind at age 48 after complications from surgery, went on to launch ViewPlus Technologies, a leading provider of braille embossers and other equipment for the blind. Gardner is fully aware of the challenges blind students face when trying to comprehend visually-oriented material, and like Baldwin, recognizes the enormous potential of the drawing program.

“Potentially every blind college student has to be concerned with graphical information,” he says, adding that traffic on LISTSERV sites points to the popularity of Baldwin’s user-friendly programs.

“To the blind on the math list, mostly students and many non-Americans, I’d say he’s a hero,” he says.

Meanwhile, Lacy also knows Baldwin’s help has been invaluable.

“If it had not been for his intervention, I wouldn’t have been able to take the (Physics) course,” Lacy says.

Not only was she able to take the class, she received an “A.”