which enhances the understanding of the graph for a user who is blind or who benefits
from auditory feedback.
While making graphs is certainly the muscle behind the Orion TI-84 Plus, it is only one
component. It also has functions for basic math, finance, statistics, matrices,
trigonometry, geometry, calculus, and a programming language that is easy to learn.
The greatest obstacle for most students who are blind is there is not a way to check
answers as easily or quickly as other students who are working the problems on paper.
With the Orion TI-84 Plus, that is no longer the case. A student can enter a matrix into
the TI-84 Plus, press the inverse key, and quickly obtain the answer, allowing the work
to be checked immediately. Listen to this example of how to input and take the inverse
of a matrix .
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While the Orion TI-84 Plus is a programmable calculator (allowing users to test several
answers while writing only one function), the first version of the screen reader written
for the Orion TI-84 Plus does not currently fully support the programming feature. It
will be better supported in future releases, because the goal is to make everything
accessible. It is possible, however, to write and change programs to make currently
available programs accessible. An example of how to program your TI-84 Plus to solve
quadratic equations can be found at the Quadratic Equations on TI-83/84 webpage.
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The program can be altered to use a different output function and to print the text,
allowing for review with the accessibility review functions. The modifications can be
downloaded and accessed from this Quadrat2 zip file.
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The Orion TI-84 Plus has over 400 internal functions, so it is hard to give a
comprehensive overview of the device. The intention of this author is to give some
insight into the power of this innovative and accessible version of an old, faithful tool in
STEM education. The Orion TI-84 Plus stands as proof to technology companies that
with a bit of effort and ingenuity, even complicated STEM tools can be made accessible
and can help level the playing field in education for people with disabilities.
