throwback Thursday, American foundation for the blind,

Throw Back Thursday: The Portable Plus

Our object this week is the last Talking Book phonograph from APH, the Portable Plus. The machine was designed and entirely assembled at the American Printing House for the Blind under an agreement with the Variable Speed Corporation. It was introduced in 1990, but APH had already stopped making rigid vinyl records for the National Library Service, and flexible records used for magazines would be phased out a few years later.

It is a lesson about how long it takes to bring a product from the drawing board to production. Sometimes it is obsolete even before you start making it. The Portable Plus only lasted a few years before it was discontinued. But while available it was a marvel. The tone arm was spring loaded and would play a record even when the machine was tipped on its side! And it had an internal rechargeable battery, so you could take it anywhere.

Micheal Hudson

APH Museum Director

Photo Caption: The Portable Plus was about 13 inches square, with a gray plastic case and a speaker in the lid.

CCB Tech Articles: Donna’s Low Tech Tips, April 30, 2018

April 30 2018

Jewellery

 

Hi there!  It’s Donna and thank you for allowing me to come into your inbox.

Today, I’d like to touch on the subject of jewellery.

 

Small boxes are useful to keep items separated.  In addition, everything from socks to jewellery to cassette tapes may be stored this way.

 

Picking through many pieces of jewellery in order to find a particular set which matches can be                                                    frustrating.  Use jewellery boxes divided into a large number of sections and/or earring trees in order to keep jewellery separated.

 

To avoid tangled chains and necklaces, you can screw cup hooks to the inside of your closet door  in order to create tangle-free hanging.

 

A variety of plastic trays, (for example an ice cube tray) and adjustable drawer dividers can also help when storing jewellery.

 

So there you go and I hope that these tips are helpful

 

If you would like to become a member of  my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you

will receive unlimited access to either of the following libraries.

Recipes –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-recipes.html

Audio mysteries for all ages –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-audio-mysteries.html

Or you can subscribe to both for the price of $20 annually.

If you would like to become a member of  my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you

will receive unlimited access to either of the following libraries.

Recipes –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-recipes.html

Audio mysteries for all ages –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-audio-mysteries.html

Or you can subscribe to both for the price of $20 annually.

 

Have a super day and see you next week.

GTT National Conference Call Summary Notes, Auto-Mower, Google ChromeCast and the Roku Stick, April 11, 2018

GTT National Conference Call.

 

An Initiative of the Canadian Council of the Blind

 

Summary Notes

 

April 11, 2018.

 

Programmable Auto-Mower:

Michel gave us a presentation on an electric lawn mower, Robo mower or auto mower he uses to keep the grass looking good on his half-acre property.

  • They have been available in Canada for about 2 or 3 years, and in europe longer.
  • Some are made by Honda and John Deer, and the Huscavarna 450 is what Michel chose. He indicated there are three or four models sold by that manufacturer.
  • They are quiet and can be operated any time of day or night.  Some people use them at night only. They can cut grass whether it is raining or if the sun is shining.
  • They are safe for kids and pets because they stop or change direction as soon as they touch anything, and they slow down as soon as they detect an approaching opbsticle.
  • The more bells and whistles they have the more they cost. The one Michel purchased has a built-in anti-theft alarm system. If someone picked it up to steel it an alarm will sound that won’t stop until you key in a pin-code number.
  • It has a built in GPs so you can track it’s location in the yard it at all times.
  • It is rather techy looking but about the size of an electric lawn mower.
  • It even has LED headlights.
  • The blades are small and sharp so they don’t stress the grass, and because it can be scheduled to mow the grass several times each week it never has to cut long grass.
  • Michel says he has not had to change a blade and has used it one whole season.
  • It is a little like the Roomba vacuum system.
  • It has an outside charging station to which it returns automatically once the batteries start to run down, or when it’s finished mowing the scheduled area.
  • To set it up you will install buried perimeter wire in parts of the yard where there aren’t already fences or raised beds that will turn the unit away. The wire is buried like invisible fences for dogs.
  • Another item to bury in the yard is a guidance wire that will guide the mower back to the charging station. It docks itself to re-charge and returns to work once scheduled or if not finished the current schedule.
  • It can be used without perimeter wire as long as fences or raised beds border the area being mowed.
  • It has GpS assisted guidance.
  • It learns the yard and becomes more efficient as it learns where all of the obstacles are.
  • The two upper models sense obstacles and objects, like people and animals.
  • It has two speeds, fast like a fast walk and it will slow down to a crawl when it senses opsticles.
  • It learns what areas of the yard grow faster and it cuts them first and more often.
  • Michel indicated he can do 90 percent of the unit’s functions from the app on his iPhone. Start, stop, control the height, and he can see where it is in the picture. This feature is not likely accessible to blind users.
  • There is an emergency stop button on it which is a big red button, after which you can’t restart it unless you enter the pin-code.
  • The user can adjust it for height, time and schedule as well as monitor right from the app.
  • It will mow for about 4 5 hours and then charge for about an hour before going out again.
  • The less expensive models cut about 1,000 square meters, and his cuts about 5,000 square meters.
  • It can be set up for multiple zones if you let it cut one zone and then take it to the other zone.
  • It could be shared with other people in the neighbourhood, or friends and family.
  • It is capable of mowing on ground that is up to 45 degree angle.
  • Huskavarna is trying to make the features on the upper model more affordable, as these lawn mowers start at $1,900 and go to $3,900.
  • The kits to create a perimeter are about 200 dollars.
  • It doesn’t need to be cleaned as much as a traditional gass or electric mower at the end of the season. Changing blades is easy, and rarely needed.
  • These devices do have firmware upgrades on occasion.
  • Michel has low vision and uses it easily, however didn’t know whether or not the app is accessible with voiceover.
  • The display is LCD, but the start and stop buttons are tactile.
  • One could put locator dots on the buttons if they’re too difficult to feel.
  • The keypad is about the size of a typical phone keypad.
  • Some wondered whether it will work from a Google Home.
  • The app is available for both iOs and Android
  • It rides over things and does not damage them.
  • If it bumps against you it does not hurt you as it slows down upon detection of obsticles.
  • If you have raised beds it will leave a one inch strip similar to conventional mowers, and you can set it to cut past a perimeter wire by determined distances up to about 4 inches.
  • They have been using them at airports and other large areas that have to be cut regularly. Some are larger for such industrial applications.
  • It can cost less than having someone come in and cut the grass, and some companies will install the wires and rent you the lawn mower for a monthly fee. Apparently that is happening in Toronto.
  • It goes right back to the charger when it needs to or when you tell it to go home through the app.
  • It is about two feet long. Probably weighs less than 10 pounds, and it does not collect a lot of things in the tires.
  • You can set up sounds for it.
  • The phone app indicates how much charge remains.

 

Section Two of the Meeting:

Emergency Alert System:

Question how do we get rid of the sound on phones when they test the emergency system. It is assumed that once the alarms are sounded they quiet down and the cell phone is left with a text message indicating where to go or what to do.

Apparently the level of accessibility for these messages is dependent on who sends out the message.

Weather alerts could be from Environment Canada, and other alerts could be for tidal waves and forest fires from provincial and federal government.

Provided you have location tracking turned on you will get the alert for where you currently are.

If you do not have a data plan will you get the message? Answer from the website, http://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/5-things-you-need-to-know-about-wireless-emergency-alerts-starting-this-spring-1.4502011

  • Unlike SMS, LTE messaging uses a phone’s data connection rather than its much slower and more crowded telephone connection.

 

Thunder Bay has an emergency radio station, and there’s one in Muscoca. There aren’t as many as before. Check with http://www.Informationradio.ca to see/hear what it is like.

If I’ve put my phone on mute will I get the sound? Yes, the sound will carry through mute and do not disturb.

How will we get the sound to stop? Sound will be audible once or twice and then go to your text message on Android phones and the Notifications Window on iOS devices.

It will also use unique vibration patterns.

More info about this system on www.Canada.ca

iOS 11 or better will receive alerts, which are the iPhone 5C or newer.

Many Android smart phones are also compatible.

 

Q.: What is Chromecast?

  • : Chromecast is a device that you plug into your TV’s HDMI port, powered by a USB cable (included). Using your smartphone or computer as a remote control, you can use Chromecast to access video content from Netflix, YouTube, Hulu, the Google Play Store and other services. You can also use it to stream almost any kind of content from the Chrome browser on a computer.
  • Albert bought google home and can only use youtube with it through ChromeCast Video. It will only play movies and Youtube video and music through the television and not the GH speakers.
  • You can ask it to pause, resume, rewind, fast forward by any amount of time, 3 minutes 5 minutes.
  • You can say Hey Google, quit or stop.
  • You can use it with netflix.
  • Google ChromeCast sells for about $35.
  • Use the Google Home app to associate ChromeCast with same Wi-Fi network as the GH speakerand then they work well together.
  • It ships with a short HDMI cable for connecting to the TV and a power cord. It is a very small round disc.
  • There is Google Chrome Audio also, to which you can plug in an external speaker or headphones.
  • Google Chrome Video cannot detach HDMI cable from round disc.
  • Can you get traditional television stations with chrome cast? No, only what you can cast from your smart phone, tablet, computer or GH speaker. One could download CBC, CTV or other TV app and see if it has the capacity to cast to Google ChromeCast.
  • Some tv’s are google chrome ready, and could be connected to the Google home speakers without the need for a ChromeCast device.
  • If you don’t have enough HDMI ports on your TV you can buy an HDMI hub. Albert got a 4-port HDMI hub at best buy.

 

Roku streaming stick.

  • Someone indicated that for the Canadian market it doesn’t have a screen reader built-in.
  • There are many channels you can watch. It can be purchased from amazon. Looked everywhere but no screen reader, and even updated the software and it’s still not there.
  • Apparently the screen reader is only available in the USA version.

 

Does anyone have a Nest thermostat who uses voiceover?

No one seemed to be able to answer this question. How does one reboot the memory this device stores so that a new schedule can be established?

 

GTT National Conference Call Overview

  • GTT National Conference Call is a monthly discussion group of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT National Conference Calls promote a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to present and discuss new and emerging assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, along with questions and answers about assistive technology.
  • Participants are encouraged to attend each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as an email distribution list where assistive technology questions are provided by participants. You may also subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

 

National GTT Email Support List

CCB sponsors a GTT email support list to provide help and support with technology for blind and low vision Canadians.  To subscribe to the email list, send an empty email to:

GTTsupport+subscribe@groups.io

 

[End of Document]

 

 

GTT Victoria Summary Notes, O6 Remote Switch and WayAround Tags, April 4, 2018

Get together with Technology (GTT) Victoria

 

A Chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind

In Partnership with

Greater Victoria Public Library

 

Summary Notes

Wednesday, April 4, 2018

GVPL Main branch, Community Meeting Room

 

The meeting was called to order at 1:00 pm by Albert Ruel

 

Attendance, There were 17 individuals in Attendance.

 

Albert welcomed everyone to the meeting including 3 “first timers”. Welcome Ken, Bevan and Suzanne to your first CCB GTT Victoria meeting.  Albert reviewed the agenda, that being 2 presentations during the first half, and open discussion following a break during the second half.

 

Albert welcomed Tom Decker, our presenter, who will demo and explain two relatively new products to the group, the O6 Remote Switch and the WayAround Tagging system.

 

The O6 Switch website is here:

And for more specific information about the accessibility features of the product go here:

 

This is a small, round device, approx 2 inches in diameter, that is battery powered (USB chargeable) that was designed primarily for mainstream hands free use of any iOS device. It would be very useful for folks that struggle with the on screen finger gestures. The entire screen can be navigated via a small wheel that clicks when turned, moving from app to app on the screen. By pressing the center button, it will open the desired application or app and again permit access via some additional movement to the device.

 

The product was developed in India. Approximate price is $100, (USD). It has an advanced mode that kicks in automatically when you are using the device with Voice Over, however it is also usable by sighted iOS users without VoiceOver.

 

For more information you can watch Tom Dekker do a demo here:

Or listen to David Woodbridge’s demo of the same device here:

 

The second product is called WayAround Tagging System:

 

It is a system, somewhat similar to the Pen Friend, however using NFC rather then RFID tags. Tom demoed the product by putting the info on a tag and highlighting the fact that the amount of info you can put on is endless. There are product categories and if what you want is not there, you can add it. For the demo, for example Tom tagged his coat, including color, washing instructions, etc.

 

The tags come in all sorts of shapes and sizes including magnets, pins etc. The tags are a bit pricey at $1 each, but can be reloaded. The system is waterproof and unlike the Pen Friend, your tag info is stored in the cloud, and will not disappear if the base unit goes down.

 

The unit will work with iPhone 7 and better, but you can buy a scanner for older phones. The scanner is approx $100 (USD) and a starter pack of labels is $60 (USD)

 

For a great video demo of the product watch Tom Dekker here:

 

A special thanks to Tom Decker for his top notch demonstrations. Tom, the Ihabilitation man, can be heard weekly on AMI Audio’s Kelly and Company.

 

After the break the group went to open discussion. The first topic was Fusion. A few members of the group were struggling a bit and there seams to be some confusion on compatibility with windows 10. Albert said he would deal with the issues on a one on one basis and forward a listing of the more common keystroke shortcuts to those who are interested.

 

Aira, a relatively new service was discussed at length. Detailed information on this product can be found by reading the Summary Notes for the March 14, 2018 CCB-GTT National Conference Call meeting.

 

Also, an excellent review of the product by Jonathan Mosen is available here.  Albert highly recommended it saying it was extremely detailed.

 

Where to buy low tech items like watches was discussed, options include several places on the net, CNIB and the Braille Superstore.

 

Topics for next meeting, Affordable Adaptive Technology was suggested.

 

Next meeting, Wednesday May 2, 2018 from 1:00 to 3:00 PM, same location.

 

Meeting notes submitted by Corry Stuive

 

GTT Victoria Overview

  • GTT Victoria is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT Victoria promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

There is a Follow link at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

 

National GTTSupport Email distribution List

CCB sponsors a GTT email support list to provide help and support with technology for blind and low vision Canadians.  To subscribe to the email list, send an empty email to:

GTTsupport+subscribe@groups.io

 

[End of Document]

 

 

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, Google Home and General Tech, April 9, 2018

            Summary Notes

GTT Edmonton Meeting April 9, 2018

 

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Edmonton Chapter was held April 9 at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.

28 people attended.

Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

 

April Topics –Google Home and General Tech Discussion

 

Google Home

Wanda demonstrated her Google Home speaker/voice assistant. The Google Home speaker is about the size of a large soup can. IT costs $179. It is a hands-free way to ask questions and get answers simply by saying, “OK Google” followed by your question. Here is some sample dialog with the speaker.

Ok Google, how do I say “good morning” in French?

Bonjour

Ok Google, when is the next Raptors game?

They’ll be back in action against Chicago tomorrow night at 7:30 PM

Ok Google, how much time is left on my pizza timer?

You have 14 minutes and 35 seconds remaining

Ok Google, play my Friday Starts Now playlist

Ok, playing your Spotify playlist called Friday Starts Now

 

Wanda showed how you can ask questions with longer answers such as “Ok Google. Do you have a recipe for chocolate chip cookies?” Google Home will then provide the recipe one step at a time allowing you to simply say “Next”, to have it announce each step.

 

You can ask almost anything since the Google search engine is powering the speaker. You can also make hands-free telephone calls. You can get the daily weather, news, sports scores, stock quotes, play radio stations. Listen to audio books, ask it to remember your appointments, remember your grocery list and more.

 

If you buy additional home control modules then the Google Home can turn lights on or off, set your thermostat and so on.

 

Wanda also showed the smaller Google Mini speaker which is the size and shape of a doughnut. IT has the same functionality but is smaller and costs only $79.

 

Both devices take only minutes to setup. You do need an Internet connection in your home. To link the speakers to the Internet simply use the free app that is provided.

 

Activate the above links to read more about both products including tech specs and other Google Home accessories.

 

General Tech Discussion – Finding iPhone Apps

After the demo we had general discussion on various topics including how to find accessible iPhone apps. The best way to research for an app that works well with Voice Over is to visit the AppleVIS web site. This site is managed by blind people for blind people. They have reviewed hundreds of apps for both iOS devices and for MAC computers. You can search for apps by name or by category. When you find an app of interest you can read a description of the app that includes a rating on its accessibility. In some cases, there are also podcast reviews of the app by AppleVIS contributors. Indeed, you can subscribe to the AppleVIS podcast feed using your favorite podcast app or the Victor Reader Stream to keep up to date on all the AppleVIS podcast reviews and tutorials as they are released.

Next Meeting (Monday May 14 at 7pm)

  • No demonstration topic has been suggested yet.
  • As always, for help with technology bring your devices and/or questions to the meeting.

 

Meeting Location and Logistics

  • Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
  • We meet in the basement hall. There is elevator access.
  • Enter the church from the back door. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
  • Meetings are every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
  • If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

 

GTT Edmonton Overview

  • GTT Edmonton is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

To subscribe, use the form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

 

National GTT Email Support List

CCB sponsors a GTT email support list to provide help and support with technology for blind and low vision Canadians.  To subscribe to the email list, send an empty email to:

GTTsupport+subscribe@groups.io

 

[End of Document]

 

 

GTT Toronto Summary Notes, What Was New At CSUN, April 19, 2018

Summary Notes

 

GTT Toronto Adaptive Technology User Group

April 19, 2018

 

An Initiative of the Canadian Council of the Blind

In Partnership with the CNIB

 

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Toronto Group was held on Thursday, April 19 at the CNIB Community Hub.

 

*Note: Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

 

April 2015 Topic – What Was New At CSUN:

 

GTT Toronto April 19, 2018 Meeting Summary can be found at this link:

 

Jason opened the meeting by greeting participants who joined via the Zoom conferencing system. Tonight’s guest speaker is Stephen Ricci. He will be speaking about his experiences at CSUN, which is the largest assistive technology workshop in the world. It’s held annually in San Diego.

Jason interjected with a couple of comments and ideas. One thing that isn’t happening as much in this group as we might like, is to have formal time to exchange questions or curiosity about specific technologies. Our meetings have generally consisted of a speaker, then social time, but the idea of GTT is to share information between members of different levels of knowledge and experience. This is what we’d like to encourage, so at the end of the meeting tonight, we’ll have a go-around to ask if anyone has questions they’d like to ask.

Stephen then took over. The conference offers a pre-conference portion, which is a good idea if you’re attending for the first time; it helps orient you to what’s available and how to get the most out of the experience. It’s often true that you learn more after-hours socializing, than you do in the formal workshops. Next year it’s moving to Anaheim. Over 4800 people attended in 2016. It’s not primarily a consumer show. Consumers do attend, but it costs over $500 U.S. to go, and it’s really directed at businesses, high-end users, researchers, professionals and policy-makers. The conference has several aspects, and it’s common for attendees to go with a specific agenda in mind.

The conference is launched on the first night by a keynote speaker. It’s a good way to get into the groove. The speakers range widely, and are usually entertaining. The exhibit hall is a collection of display tables where venders can show their latest products. The exhibit hall runs for around 3 days.

Networking is a huge part of the experience. You meet people, learn about new products, and find out about trends. There are a lot of parties and receptions sponsored by venders. There’s collaboration so that the largest organizations don’t overlap, so you can attend as many as possible. Smaller ones might be hosted by manufacturers, larger ones might be hosted by someone like Microsoft. Awareness, inclusivity and accessibility are the principles of the conference.

Another aspect of the conference is announcements and unveiling. Often announcements end up not being surprises, as the community is a bit small.

Presentations, panels and workshops go on, with a wide range of topics covered. They are categorized by disability streams. The conference covers multiple disabilities, so it’s necessary to focus on the area that’s relevant to you. Stephen said that the presentations and workshops have become less important to him than the networking and exhibit hall.

What’s new at CSUN this year? There are fewer venders, because there have been mergers. VFO was created by Freedom Scientific, Optelec, and AI Squared.

Notable products Steven saw included APH’s new product called Graffiti, a tactile graphics display. It’s a tactile device that will render an image on a page-sized surface. It’s not ready for release yet. It’s not arranged in cells, so it can be more flexible in what it shows. Stephen asked around at CSUN about the braille Orbit, and the answer he got is that the problem at this point is inventory. The Orbit is a 20 cell display that’s going to cost hundreds rather than thousands. It’s an international project that has had setbacks, but intends to bring an affordable braille display to blind users, especially in developing countries.

Hims is a company Stephen likes. He finds them to be leaders in innovation, and likes their staff. They’ve released the Polaris Mini, a 20 cell note-taker. It’s on an Android platform, and is being sold mainly to students. It’s braille in, braille out, has a hard drive, and has an introductory price of $4000 U.S. The Polaris, a 32 cell with the same functionality, is $6000 U.S. The Braille Sense U2 and the Braille Sense Mini are covered by ADP in Ontario, the Polarises aren’t covered yet.

Hims has a near and distance camera with a monitor, and they’ve introduced one with optical character recognition. They’re also reselling Handitech products. This is a European company that makes nice braille displays. Those aren’t covered by ADP. While the ADP program has some limitations, we’re lucky in Ontario compared to other provinces. Also, school-age students have access to quite a bit of funding for assistive tech through the schoolboard, and post-secondary institutions often offer bursaries for that purpose.

Every year seems to have themes at CSUN. This year, themes were head-worn tech gear like eSight. There was also OrCam, New Eyes, Patriot Point, Iris Vision, and Jordy. These range in complexity, but all essentially offer magnification in real-time. There was lots of talk of AIRA as well, glasses with a camera that connect you to a trained live agent to answer questions. The advantage of these types of tech is that they’re hands-free.

Other new things in prototype included insideONE Tactile braille Tablet by Insidevision. It runs Windows10, and is a note-taker by a new company trying to break into the market. It’s a tablet with a braille display, and raised braille keys. It’s about $5500 or $6000 U.S. These expensive products are mostly geared for the education sector. Another prototype product is the Braille Me, a 20 cell refreshable braille display from a company called Innovision from India. It has limited note-taking ability, and it’s being sold for under $500 U.S. It’s a direct competitor to the Orbit. The Braille Me is available now, but no one was sure how. The company’s online. They’re looking for distributers in North America, and their device uses magnetics. As a representative of Frontier Computing, Stephen is always on the lookout for new products to expand their line. He likes to stay aware however, that even if prices are cheaper for products from Asia, you need to consider what happens when the products need repair. There is usually no one in North America who can repair them. You need to consider how long will you be without the product while it’s being sent away for repair. Zoomax is a Pacific Rim company who make good products at good prices. They’ve opened a North American office recently, so we may see them coming up as a competitor for companies like Hims. The net effect may be to bring down prices overall.

VFO is shifting so that all of their products will update in the Autumn of each year, and be named for the year following its release. These include products like Jaws, Zoomtext, and Zoomtext Fusion. There is still a wide range of portable magnifiers. Table-top magnifiers are becoming more sleek and foldable.

Jason contributed that at CSUN, he got to check out the Canute, a 9 line 40 cell display. You can get about a half a printed page on it. Its best use is for things like math, braille music, or a calendar. Its cost is around $2000. Jason said he will be getting a unit for testing within a month or 2, and will be looking for testers.

A member asked about portable recording devices. Answers included the Victor Stream, the Olympus line, and the Plextalk. CSUN didn’t offer anything new this year. With an Android phone, you can go to the Google Play store, and look for aps with the highest rating. A member described an ap which records speech and converts up to 3 minutes of speech into text.

 

A member raised the question of good laptops. People generally agreed that there’s not a huge difference between mid-range and high-end models, but that cheaper models can be sluggish, particularly if you’re running multiple functions at the same time. SSD or solid state drives are becoming more and more common.

A member asked whether it’s possible to run a desktop computer without a monitor, and the answer was yes. Macs might freak out without a monitor, but you’re fine with Windows.

Jason asked for ideas for future meetings. A member suggested a go-around in which each member describes an ap they like, and how to get it.

Another member suggested an evening about audio devices in general and book players in particular.

A member raised the question of whether a 3D printer could be used to create music as an alternative to using braille music. He asked for some brainstorming on the idea. Another member described an online process where 3D printing can be crowd-sourced for a fee. The issue is that you need to have the program or blueprint to start with.

 

Upcoming Meetings:

  • Next Meeting: Thursday, May 17 at 6pm
  • Location: CNIB Community Hub space at 1525 Yonge Street, just 1 block north of St Clair on the east side of Yonge, just south of Heath.
  • Meetings are held on the third Thursday of the month at 6pm.

 

GTT Toronto Adaptive Technology User Group Overview:

  • GTT Toronto is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT Toronto promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

There is a form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

 

Guest Post: Latest Report from NNELS on Library Services Project

In late July 2017, NNELS was among a number of organizations invited to apply for a grant from the Government of Canada through the Social Development Partnerships Program – Disability Component (SDPP-D) to develop partnerships and produce alternate formats for Canadians with print disabilities. In mid-December we were notified that the BC Libraries Co-op would receive $1 million to carry out the activities in a revised NNELS proposal. Work began in January and a public announcement about the project was made on February 15th. The deadline for the completion of the work was originally set to March 31st but was revised on March 19th to May 31st, 2018.

 

Most of the projects are nearing completion and final reports on each of them will be distributed before the end of May. This interim update is for members of our partner organizations.

 

 

  1. E-text Production

 

We hired six people with vision impairments to learn how to produce ebooks and help improve both book quality and the NNELS workflow. This work was complete as of March 31. During the project, weekly activities related to book analysis and production were led by our team of Production Assistants in Alberta. Through email and discussion forums (discuss.nnels.ca), the new production assistants analyzed EPUB files, explored the functionality of reading and editing tools, and learned by working on books of their own choosing, some of which are complete and available in NNELS. Some projects are continuing, thanks to momentum: in particular, a team from the Ontario College of Art and Design is working with one of our now-former production assistants to explore how a university-level physics textbook could be accessible through audio, tactile, and visual modalities.

 

We loved this experiment. We have ideas for next steps for involving readers of accessible formats in book production and hope to work again with the outstanding people who helped us so much. Our thanks to Karoline Bourdeau, Daniella Levy-Pinto, Ka Li, Richard Marion, Steve Murgaski, and Ryan Ollis. Thanks also to the production assistants in Alberta: Leah Brochu, Jenn Lortie, and Rachel Osolen.

 

 

  1. Accessible Publishing

 

We organized seven workshops with EPUB accessibility expert Laura Brady of Brady Typesetting. These workshops took place in Victoria, Vancouver, Calgary, Winnipeg, Montreal, Halifax, and Toronto. A total of 73 publishers, editors, and alternate format producers attended, with about ten more requesting access to a video recording. Special thanks to provincial publishers’ associations who helped with promotion, and to Alternative Education Resources for Ontario (AERO), and Bob Minnery there, for organizing and sponsoring local arrangements for the Toronto workshop.

 

Laura Brady also analyzed EPUB files for 21 Canadian publishers, creating comprehensive three to five-page reports for each publisher, full of accessibility and coding suggestions.

 

The workshops and audits both contained a lot of information and were overwhelming for many people. We learned that most publishers are still producing EPUB 2 files, probably out of habit, and very few publishers know much about accessibility. Also, many publishers outsource their ebook production to overseas companies. Many ebooks, whether outsourced or produced in-house, are missing basic accessibility functionality such as headings for navigation and descriptive text for images.

 

Our collective goal is for books to be published accessibly so that they do not require further intervention to be read with assistive technology. We are a long way from reaching that goal. There is a lot of pressure on publishers to learn and implement accessibility changes, and they are nervous about the cost and time required to implement everything being recommended to them. Many publishers do not know a lot about HTML and CSS, let alone standards such as ARIA. We need to chunk lessons into short, prioritized, and digestible lists, and find ways to support publishers in making changes. We have some ideas for what to do next.

 

Coincidentally, this project was supported by our purchasing work: while we were prescribing a standard for accessible publishing, we were offering to pay publishers for any EPUB 2 or 3 files that they had already published. This was a good approach and we suspect it encouraged publishers to work with and sell files to us.

 

These projects also gave us some recognition in advance of our presentation to publishers and editors at the ebookcraft conference in Toronto in late March, organized by BookNet Canada. Laura Brady opened many doors for us: she was a conference co-organizer, she presented alongside us, and she initiated a number of conversations which we expect will be fruitful for years to come.

 

 

  1. Print-Braille Children’s Books

 

This project benefited from the extended deadline: these 15 print-braille children’s books are still in production and we’re looking forward to seeing the results. We’ve chosen great books, and the team at the Vision Impaired Resource Network in Winnipeg is using an innovative approach to create a fully accessible reading experience: stay tuned.

 

 

  1. National Braille Study

 

Mary Ellen Gabias, President of the Canadian Federation of the Blind, has been volunteer-leading a team of five writers: Michelle Creedy, Danny Faris, Holly Hoffmann, Kerry Kijewski, and Marcia Yale, and one research assistant, Lilith Lee, to propose a sustainable long-term strategy for making braille accessible to all Canadians in print and digital forms. The report will discuss how to manage decisions about storing and mailing braille material, and the comparative costs and benefits of building library collections, supporting digital collections, and printing on demand. The extended deadline has allowed for extra writing and editing. When complete, the report will be available in both French and English.

 

 

  1. Recording Kits for Libraries

 

Thanks to support from the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB), we’ve had a really great team for the past few months: two people with audio recording experience and two librarians have created a plan and instructions for volunteers to record audiobooks in Canadian public libraries. We have ten recording kits complete with good quality headset-microphones, USB keys, quick instructions, and a bright red shipping case. These kits are in the final stages of assembly and are about to be sent to the first libraries that have expressed interest so far. They can be sent to any library in Canada that wants to record an audio version of a children’s picture book. Working with this team, and with CCB, has been an immense pleasure.

 

 

 

  1. Purchasing EPUB & Audiobooks

 

Thank you to members of the Alliance for Equality for Blind Canadians (AEBC) and the Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB) for their help with making purchasing suggestions, and encouraging members to request books.

 

To date, we have purchased 17,767 EPUB files (we committed to 14,000) and 3,435 audiobooks (we committed to 3,000) and we are currently adding these files to the NNELS repository. With the weight of the Co-op behind us, we were able to get favourable pricing from vendors, and work with eBOUND and Demarque to purchase a large amount of Canadian ebooks in both English and French. We’ve also been able to work directly with a number of Canadian publishers, many of whom were probably able to sell files to us because the accessible publishing work that was happening alongside this project.

 

We also commissioned 30 narrated audiobooks, some of which were requested by AEBC and CFB members. We have notified some of the requestors that their books are now available, and there are more to come.

 

Finally, the extended deadline gives us more time to work with the Camp Bowen Society for the Visually Impaired. Their team is using machine learning tools to help us improve our production workflow, and we are supporting them to develop that technology. They are also producing 50 books in accessible formats, contributing a number of narrated titles, and making much-needed improvements to the NNELS website, particularly our catalogue searching.

 

If you have comments or questions about any of these projects, please get in touch with us: info@nnels.ca <mailto:info@nnels.ca>, or 1-888-848-9250, option 5. Thank you so much for your time.

 

CCB Tech Articles: Donna’s Low Tech Tips, Loc Dots, April 23, 2018

April 23, 2018

 

Meet loc dots

 

Hi there!  It’s Donna and thank you for allowing me to come into your inbox once more.  Today I’d like you to meet loc dots.

 

Talk about the lower levels of technology and you can easily say that loc dots is not even classified as technology.  I would say that it is  more like someone’s creative thinking, ingenuity, and a way to bridge the gap.

 

The good thing about loc dots is that it can be used by so many people.  From the one who has no vision to the one who has high partial vision and those in between.

 

So what exactly is loc dots?  They come in packages and they come in various shapes, sizes, and colors.

 

You can use loc dots to mark almost anything.  From screens and panels to file folders, CD cases, and so on.  I would recommend however that you use them to mark spots on your screens.  You can use something more appropriate to mark your CD cases and I’ll talk about this in another blog.

 

Loc dots really do make great indicators.  You peal off the back of the dot and then place it on the spot that you wish to mark.

 

For those with enough vision to see colors, you can definitely use the colored dots to further help you distinguish spots.  However, if you are unable to use various colors then there are the various shapes or even the sizes.

 

I bought my packages of loc dots a few years ago and I have been having a great time using them.

 

So why not go out there and purchase a package of loc dots just to try them out?  They are economically priced.

 

Here are a few places for you to contact if you are interested to learn more.

CNIB – toll free = 1800 563 2642

Frontier Computing – toll free = 1-888-480-0000

Or visit http://www.futureaids.ca

You can also call them at 1-800-987-1231

 

If you would like to become a member of  my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you

will receive unlimited access to either of the following libraries.

Recipes –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-recipes.html

Audio mysteries for all ages –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-audio-mysteries.html

Or you can subscribe to both for the price of $20 annually.

If you would like to become a member of  my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you

will receive unlimited access to either of the following libraries.

Recipes –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-recipes.html

Audio mysteries for all ages –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-audio-mysteries.html

Or you can subscribe to both for the price of $20 annually.

 

Have a super day and see you next week.

 

 

CCB Technology Buy, Sell and Trade Email List is up and running

Hi all.  For those of you who have previously enjoyed assistive tech to donate or sell, or if there are things you seek please subscribe to this new group and hopefully you will find the perfect device, or a new home for those items no longer needed.

To register please send an email message to:

CCB-Tech-BuySellTrade+subscribe@groups.io

Tell all your friends about it as well so we can capture a large number of donors, sellers, buyers and traders.  Not that we want the political type of traders, but we’ll welcome the assistive tech traders and users.

Companies may only advertise special sales and donations of used equipment, not their new offerings.

A full set of rules will be released soon, so stay tuned.  Of course it stands to reason that the CCB will not assume any responsibility for the quality or value of the equipment/software exchanged on this list, and anyone offering or requesting illegal items will be removed.

Now, let’ss start trading!

Thx, Albert

***

Albert A. Ruel, GTT Coordinator

Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB)

Get Together with Technology Program (GTT)

Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968 Ext. 550

iPhone: 250-240-2343

Email: albert.GTT@CCBNational.net

GTT Blog: https://gttprogram.wordpress.com/

URL: http://ccbnational.net/fresco/

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/ccbnational

Facebook Group: https://m.facebook.com/groups/414313508657159?refid=27

Twitter: @GTTWest @GTTProgram @CCBNational

From an Island in the Pacific

Parksville BC Canada

“If you think you can or if you think you can’t, you’re right”.

Henry Ford

CCB Tech Articles: Donna’s Low Tech Tips, Clothing, April 16, 2018

April 16 2018

Clothing

 

Hi there!  It’s Donna and thank you for allowing me to come into your inbox.

Today, I’d like to touch on the subject of clothing.

 

Clothing in a closet is easier to find when it is organized. For example, garments may be separated by color, or casual                          clothes may be placed at one end of your closet and formal clothing placed at the opposite end.

Place matching outfits (for example a suit jacket, shirt, tie and slacks) on one hanger or several hangers tied together.

A variety of closet organizers and shelf units are available in hardware or department stores.

To identify clothing color, cut a geometric shape (from cardboard or plastic) to place over the hanger.

Put a large print and/or braille label on the geometric shape.

 

In order to distinguish one clothing item from another, look for differences in texture, style, type of buttons, collars, hems, etc.

 

If you have two pieces of clothing which are identical except for color, attach a small safety pin to the tag or label of one garment; sew one button or several buttons on the inside of a hem or a seam to identify colors.  (Small, flat buttons work best.)  Similarly, small braille clothing tags or an embroidery stitch can be placed on the underside of a garment to indicate color on similar designs of clothing.

 

That’s it from me for today and I hope that my tips are helpful.

 

If you would like to become a member of  my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you will receive unlimited access to either of the following libraries.

Recipes –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-recipes.html

Audio mysteries for all ages –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-audio-mysteries.html

Or you can subscribe to both for the price of $20 annually.

 

Have a super day and see you next week.

 

Alexa Is a Revelation for the Blind – The Atlantic

Legally blind since age 18, my father missed out on the first digital revolution.
— Read on www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/what-alexa-taught-my-father/556874/

GTT National Conference Call: Emergency Alert System Website Follow-up From April 11, 2018 Discussions

Fellow GTT Participants, here is the text of a Federal Government website related to the Emergency Alert System discussed during the April 11, 2018 GTT Nat Con Call.

 

Emergency Alert Messages and the National Public Alerting System (NPAS)

crtc.gc.ca

https://crtc.gc.ca/eng/television/services/alert.htm

 

Emergency Alert Messages and the National Public Alerting System (NPAS)

 

In 2014, the CRTC required that FM radio, AM radio and over-the-air (OTA) television stations, as well as

subscription-based broadcasting service providers

Footnote 1,

to participate in the National Public Alerting System (NPAS).

 

Since April 6, 2018, the CRTC requires that all wireless service providers participate in the NPAS and begin distribution of wireless public emergency

alerts on their long-term evolution (LTE) networks.

 

Emergency alert messages are issued by public officials

Footnote 2

who are designated by the federal government or your province or territory to warn the public of imminent or unfolding hazards to life and property (e.g.,

fire, natural disasters, biological threats, hazardous materials, environmental disasters, civil emergencies). These officials are also responsible for

issuing scheduled test messages.

 

Each year, during Emergency Preparedness Week in May, wireless service providers and broadcasters will distribute a test alert. Read more about alert types

and testing at

Alert Ready.

 

For more information about the NPAS:

National Public Alerting System.

 

The list of subscription-based broadcasting service providers currently participating in the NPAS

 

The following list indicates the subscription-based broadcasting service providers that distribute emergency alerts. If you subscribe to one or more of

the subscription based broadcasting service providers below, you should be receiving emergency alert messages. If you require more details, please contact

your broadcasting service provider.

 

Subscription-based broadcasting service providers that distribute emergency alert messages:

list of 24 items

  • 2251723 Ontario
  • Access
  • AEBC Internet
  • Bell
  • Bell ExpressVu
  • Bragg Communications Incorporated
  • Câblevision du Nord de Québec
  • Cogeco Connexion Inc.
  • IAAK Technologies
  • K-Right Communications
  • Nexicom Communications
  • Northwestel
  • Persona Communications
  • Rogers
  • SaskTel
  • Shaw
  • Shaw Direct
  • Sogetel
  • TBayTel
  • TELUS
  • Vianet
  • Vidéotron
  • Wightman Telecom
  • Zazeen

list end

The map of FM radio, AM radio and over-the-air (OTA) television stations broadcasting emergency alert messages  figure

If you want to find out whether you can receive emergency alert messages where you live, consult the map below:

 

TV and Radio Stations that Broadcast Emergency Alert Messages

The map of FM radio, AM radio and over-the-air (OTA) television stations broadcasting emergency alert messages  figure end

 

Wireless Public Alerting

 

To be able to receive wireless alerts, your mobile device must be an LTE device like a smartphone, compatible with wireless public alerting, and connected

to an LTE cellular network at the time the emergency alert is issued.

 

Emergency alerts are issued to a defined geographic area, such that only people in the defined area will receive the emergency alerts. If you are travelling

in another province when an alert is issued, your compatible wireless device will receive the alert, provided your phone is powered on and connected to

the LTE cellular network. There is no need to enable the location services on your wireless device to receive alerts.

 

When an alert is issued, you will hear the same alert tone on your mobile devices as you currently do while listening to the radio or watching television.

The alert will also trigger a unique vibration cadence.

 

To know more about the compatible wireless devices offered by your wireless service provider, visit

Alert Ready.

 

Important Notes

 

There might be radio or TV stations or subscription service providers broadcasting or distributing emergency alert messages that aren’t on our map or that

do not appear in the list. Why?

 

There are two possible reasons.

 

First, the map and list are created by using data collected from CRTC annual surveys that are issued to FM radio, AM radio and over-the-air (OTA) television

stations, as well as

subscription-based broadcasting service providers.

Recipients are required to submit the surveys to the CRTC no later than November 30 of each year. The data contained in the list and map were collected

as part of the November 30, 2016 annual surveys. Any station or service provider that started broadcasting or distributing emergency alerts after November

30, 2016 may not appear on the map and in the list.

 

Second, the surveys were only sent to FM radio, AM radio and over-the-air (OTA) television stations and

subscription-based broadcasting service providers

holding a broadcasting licence from the CRTC. Some stations or service providers, under very specific conditions, are not required to have a licence and

therefore do not appear in the map or list.

 

Guest Post: Gateway Navigation C3 Newsletter – Accessible Audio Indoor Navigation, April 2018

GNC3 Newsletter – Accessible Audio Indoor Navigation

Published April 2018 by Gateway Navigation CCC Limited

Website: www.gnc3.com

Email: partners@gnc3.com

Contents – Newsletter

Straight Talk – Indoor Navigation

Upcoming Event – AEBC Workshop

Standard of Excellence – Wayfindr Open Standard

Action – BC / RHF Accessibility Grant

Next Step

Straight Talk – Indoor Navigation

Listen to Mike May – Founder Sendero Group, David LePage – Co-Founder Buy Social Canada, Albert Ruel – Canadian Council of the Blind: Get Together with Technology and Steve Barclay – President Canadian Assistive Technology discussion on accessible audio indoor navigation with David Brun – Founder Gateway Navigation. To listen, click here

Upcoming Event – AEBC Workshop

Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC) is holding their National Conference at the Burnaby Metrotown Hilton Hotel – April 27th to 29th, 2018.

AEBC Workshop – Augmented Reality: 1:30 PM Friday, April 27th, 2018.

Join Albert Ruel, Canadian Council of the Blind, David Brun and Jim Taggart, Gateway Navigation CCC Limited at the Burnaby Metrotown Hilton Hotel. Presentation exploring the potential and opportunities possible through BLE (Bluetooth low energy) beacons, smartphones and apps. Focusing on the importance of standardization and best practices to create consistent and repeatable experiences for users. With hands on experience using the Right-Hear Accessible Zone Management Platform and App. Experience how this technology can augment our reality of indoor environments.

Standard for Excellence – Wayfindr Open Standard

Wayfindr was founded through collaboration and partnership between the Royal Society for Blind Children, ustwo design studio and Transport for London. Supported by an Impact Challenge Grant from Google.Org. All coming together to problem solve a need identified by blind youth. The desire and importance to be able to independently navigate the London Underground”. Starting their journey in 2015. They quickly realized the potential of what they were undertaking went far beyond the scope of their initial purpose. Last month Wayfindr published version 2.0 of their Open Standard.  Here is the update and the vision we share.

Wayfindr’ s Open Standard is an approved international standard by the International Telecommunications Union as ITU-T F.921.

Why an Open Standard?

When individuals and organizations get behind a purposeful vision, solutions to what previously seemed like big challenges become attainable.

The aim is that this Open Standard will help lower the barrier for built-environment owners and digital navigation services to make their environments, products and services inclusive from the outset as we continue to weave technology into our cities

Once the Open Standard is adopted across the built-environment and digital navigation services alike, vision impaired people will benefit from a consistent, reliable and seamless navigation experience.

Emerging indoor navigation technologies such as Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) Beacons and 5G hold the key to opening the world for vision impaired people. However, to achieve the greatest impact globally, there is a pressing need to develop a consistent standard to be implemented across wayfinding systems. This will truly open up a world where vision impaired people are no longer held back by their sight loss, removing barriers to employment, to seeing friends and family and engaging in their community.

The Wayfindr Open Standard aims to do just that. As the Open Standard develops it will give venue owners and digital navigation services the tools to implement high quality, consistent, audio wayfinding solutions. It includes an open-source demo app that enables people who download it to use BLE beacons to understand and implement the open standard with real users, in real contexts, in real time.

The Directors of Gateway Navigation and our Canadian Council of the Blind advisors support the work and open standard concept being undertaken by Wayfindr. We encourage all stakeholders to support the standards and best practices published in version 2.0…Through collaboration, partnership and advocacy stakeholders all play a vital role in developing accessible audio indoor navigation solutions that are consistent and repeatable regionally, nationally and globally.

Click on the link for more information on Wayfindr version 2.0:www.wayfindr.net

Action – BC / RHF Accessibility Grant

Read how you can help initiate accessibility, inclusion and independence in your local community. By supporting and advocating for the installation and deployment of accessible audio indoor navigation projects.

“Creating livable communities begins with integrating accessibility into everything we do, our workplaces, buildings, neighbourhoods and businesses. This is the province I believe in and want to help build – a place where everyone can contribute and help make our communities inclusive, welcoming, and vibrant.” BC Premier Horgan

In the spirit of the Premier’s vision of building accessible, inclusive communities for all people. The Government of British Columbia is funding two programs designed to improve universal access in communities across the Province.

Through $9 million in provincial funding, the Rick Hansen Foundation (RHF) has launched two new programs to improve accessibility for British Columbians.

“When we remove the physical barriers, we create communities where everyone feels welcome. We are pleased to support the Rick Hansen Foundation with this initiative where together we can build a better B.C. for people of all abilities to be able to live, work and play,” said Shane Simpson, Minister of Social Development and Poverty Reduction.

With the provincial funding, the Rick Hansen Foundation has developed the Rick Hansen Foundation Accessibility Certification (RHFAC) and the BC Accessibility Grants Program. RHFAC is a LEED-style system to rate accessibility for retail, commercial, institutional and multi-family residential buildings. Provincial funding is enabling approximately 1,100 free accessibility ratings within British Columbia, until March 2019.

Once rated, organizations will be eligible to apply for B.C. accessibility grants of up to $20,000 to use toward accessibility improvements. All projects will provide people with disabilities increased access and opportunities related to workspaces, health and fitness, arts and culture, and education. The upcoming round of B.C. accessibility grant applications must be submitted by May 31, 2018.

Gateway Navigation CCC Limited is a Community Contribution Company in partnership with the Canadian Council of the Blind. Our objective of being involved in accessible audio indoor navigation projects are to:

  • Uphold and contribute to the UN Telecommunications recognized (Wayfindr) open standard in the design, installation and maintenance of pilots and projects.
  • Share venue data so all app developers can include the venue in their app database. Allowing users to select the app that provides them with the best experience for their individual needs.
  • Facilitate engagement with stakeholders inside and outside of the local communities in raising awareness on the benefits and value the technology offers.
  • Identify and implement training and employment opportunities for disabled persons in projects we undertake.

Gateway is dedicated to improving the accessibility of interior spaces for members of the blind and visually impaired community in Canada. Just as smart phone-based GPS has made exterior navigation easier for everyone, so Gateway supports wireless network solutions that will make all buildings more accessible to all those who cannot read signage or interpret other visual wayfinding cues.

Unlike GPS, interior navigation systems of a similar kind must be established one building at a time. Through the Accessibility Grant Program, we have a path to accelerate the deployment and recognition on the value this technology brings to our communities.

The current BC / RHF funding provides the opportunity to raise awareness and accelerate acceptance of this empowering technology. Through engaging venue partners to be accessibility champions.

However, it is vital for those who share our vision. To advocate our message to stakeholders and venue owners and operators in their local communities. Stressing the importance of building accessible audio indoor navigation environments. Benefiting seniors, new immigrant’s, people with vision loss and many others. Building – a place where everyone can contribute and help make our communities inclusive, welcoming, and vibrant

Next Step

For more information, provide feedback or venues we can contact to participate in the Accessibility Grant Program for the installation of accessible audio indoor navigation click here..

Or contact: David Brun

Gateway Navigation CCC Limited

Email: david@gnc3.com

Mobile: 604.499.4818

To unsubscribe GNC3 Newsletter: Accessible Audio Indoor Navigation click here

End of Newsletter

 

 

 

 

 

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, Google Home and General Tech Discussion, April 9, 2018

            Summary Notes

GTT Edmonton Meeting April 9, 2018

 

The most recent meeting of the Get Together with Technology (GTT) Edmonton Chapter was held April 9 at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.

28 people attended.

Reading Tip: These summary notes apply HTML headings to help navigate the document. With screen readers, you may press the H key to jump forward or Shift H to jump backward from heading to heading.

 

April Topics –Google Home and General Tech Discussion

 

Google Home

Wanda demonstrated her Google Home speaker/voice assistant. The Google Home speaker is about the size of a large soup can. IT costs $179. It is a hands-free way to ask questions and get answers simply by saying, “OK Google” followed by your question. Here is some sample dialog with the speaker.

Ok Google, how do I say “good morning” in French?

Bonjour

Ok Google, when is the next Raptors game?

They’ll be back in action against Chicago tomorrow night at 7:30 PM

Ok Google, how much time is left on my pizza timer?

You have 14 minutes and 35 seconds remaining

Ok Google, play my Friday Starts Now playlist

Ok, playing your Spotify playlist called Friday Starts Now

 

Wanda showed how you can ask questions with longer answers such as “Ok Google. Do you have a recipe for chocolate chip cookies?” Google Home will then provide the recipe one step at a time allowing you to simply say “Next”, to have it announce each step.

 

You can ask almost anything since the Google search engine is powering the speaker. You can also make hands-free telephone calls. You can get the daily weather, news, sports scores, stock quotes, play radio stations. Listen to audio books, ask it to remember your appointments, remember your grocery list and more.

 

If you buy additional home control modules then the Google Home can turn lights on or off, set your thermostat and so on.

 

Wanda also showed the smaller Google Mini speaker which is the size and shape of a doughnut. IT has the same functionality but is smaller and costs only $79.

 

Both devices take only minutes to setup. You do need an Internet connection in your home. To link the speakers to the Internet simply use the free app that is provided.

 

Activate the above links to read more about both products including tech specs and other Google Home accessories.

 

General Tech Discussion – Finding iPhone Apps

After the demo we had general discussion on various topics including how to find accessible iPhone apps. The best way to research for an app that works well with Voice Over is to visit the AppleVIS web site. This site is managed by blind people for blind people. They have reviewed hundreds of apps for both iOS devices and for MAC computers. You can search for apps by name or by category. When you find an app of interest you can read a description of the app that includes a rating on its accessibility. In some cases, there are also podcast reviews of the app by AppleVIS contributors. Indeed, you can subscribe to the AppleVIS podcast feed using your favorite podcast app or the Victor Reader Stream to keep up to date on all the AppleVIS podcast reviews and tutorials as they are released.

Next Meeting (Monday May 7at 7pm)

  • No demonstration topic has been suggested yet.
  • As always, for help with technology bring your devices and/or questions to the meeting.

 

Meeting Location and Logistics

  • Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
  • We meet in the basement hall. There is elevator access.
  • Enter the church from the back door. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
  • Meetings are every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
  • If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

 

GTT Edmonton Overview

  • GTT Edmonton is a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
  • GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
  • Each meeting consists of a feature technology topic, questions and answers about technology, and one-on-one training where possible.
  • Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because questions on any technology are welcome. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
  • There are GTT groups across Canada as well as a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference. You may subscribe to the National GTT blog to get email notices of teleconferences and notes from other GTT chapters. Visit:

http://www.gttprogram.wordpress.com/

To subscribe, use the form at the bottom of that web page to enter your email.

 

National GTT Email Support List

CCB sponsors a GTT email support list to provide help and support with technology for blind and low vision Canadians.  To subscribe to the email list, send an empty email to:

GTTsupport+subscribe@groups.io

 

[End of Document]

 

 

CCB Tech Articles, Donna’s Low Tech Tips, Talking Timer, April 9, 2018

April 09 2018

Meet the talking timer

 

Hi there!  It’s Donna and thank you for allowing me to come into your inbox.  As mentioned previously, I would like to concentrate on the lower levels of technology and today I’d like you to meet the talking timer.

 

Ah yes!  The talking timer and over the years this precious commodity has both shrunk in size and cost.  There was a time when the talking timer was not very portable and it was also extremely clumsy and clunky in shape.  Today however, the talking timer has shrunk in both size and cost and it is even now possible for you to stuff one in your pocket or purse.

 

The cost of a talking timer has also dropped dramatically and you can now buy one for less than $20.  The nice thing about the talking timer is that there is a variety of styles and sizes for you to choose from.  Some talking timers come with a talking clock add on while others do not.  I have both.

 

You can get a talking timer for your kitchen or have one that clips on to your belt.  I have a talking timer/clock that gives me the option of choosing different sounds for when the timer goes off and I also have one that does not give me the option.  They are both very portable and I can clip them onto my belt.

 

You’ll have to find the one that best suits you.  Just make sure that the one you want is the one you end up with.  The talking timer is a very nifty little gadget to have.  Use it to time your cooking and baking.  Use it when you wish to time yourself while you are pedaling away  on your exercising equipment or use it for anything else.  The ones that I have work with triple A batteries.

 

Of course, the talking timer is now competing with other types of talking timers that can be found on your i device and on your appliances.

 

Here are a few places for you to contact if you are interested to learn more.

CNIB – toll free = 1800 563 2642

Frontier Computing – toll free = 1-888-480-0000

Or visit http://www.futureaids.ca

You can also call them at 1-800-987-1231

 

So have fun now with your talking timer and see you next week.

If you would like to become a member of  my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you will receive unlimited access to either of the following libraries.

Recipes –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-recipes.html

Audio mysteries for all ages –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-audio-mysteries.html

Or you can subscribe to both for the price of $20 annually.

 

CCB National Newsletter: Visions, April 2018

 

 

 

 

 

VISIONS

Canadian Council of the Blind Newsletter

 

 

 

 

 

 

April 2018

 

 

“A lack of sight is not a lack of vision”

Photo by June Admiraal on Unsplash

Announcements

 

 

President’s Message++

1 Louise Gillis –

National President

Welcome Spring! As we “spring” forward in time let us spring into action in several ways. It is time to become more active physically now that we have sidewalks that are clear and easier access to travel we can participate in CCB Health & Fitness activities with Ryan as our guide. Ryan can provide individual fitness plans to help improve our physical and mental health so please read the article in this newsletter to find out how to get involved.

 

Another way to spring forward is through “advocacy”. Advocacy does not stand alone, but rather, it needs people to take action to get things done in a non-aggressive way. That is to say that we work with organizations, industry, government, etc. to help find appropriate solutions to issues at hand. Some concerns that we have been active in working to find solutions for are VIA Rail – to make the train stations and new cars better suited to needs of those traveling with disabilities. We continue to support the need for accessible library materials for persons with print disabilities. We are working on Point of Sale (POS) devices with two other organizations, banks, industry, and businesses. There are a number of drug and therapeutic items that we continue to be active with as well. CCB has been working with WBU to find what the barriers are that prevent individuals from becoming leaders in a global sense as well as in Canada then look for ways to change or reduce the barriers.

 

There are other initiatives that CCB continues to work on both nationally and at our individual chapter level. If you have items that you need assistance with finding a solution for, you may notify our National Office and they will pass it on to our committee.

 

By springing into action we can build a stronger and healthier body to help us meet the everyday challenges we face individually as well as an organization. Positive thoughts support and understanding will help us along the way.

 

Louise Gillis, National President.

 

CCB Health & Fitness Monthly Update++:

 

 

Good day all newsletter readers!  In our attempt to keep you better informed on the CCB Health & Fitness program and all that is happening, we will look to post a monthly update.  Certainly we encourage you to reach out to Ryan Van Praet, the Program Manager, if you have any questions, suggestions for video or podcast topics, or if you want to offer up your abilities as a “local champion” (see below).  So with that, here is a brief update on all things health, fitness and fun!

 

1) Local Champions

We are still and always looking for local champions to contact Ryan and be added to the list.  Local Champs are essentially ambassadors

to the Health & Fitness programs within their community.  You need no special training or knowledge, just a desire to promote health and fitness and physical activity within your community.  You will convert information about our program and then will pass along any questions or comments from your group, back up to Ryan.  This allows great flow of questions, information, inspiration and networking!  Get on the list today!

 

2) #eyeammore

The EYE AM MORE campaign is designed to get everyone thinking about who they are as individuals.  Our commonalities are our visual impairments, however we are all unique and capable of great things.  Submit a few words or a short video on who you are MORE than just someone with vision loss.  We can share your story to everyone through our videos or podcasts, inspiring other by how cool you are and getting them to think about what makes them awesome too!  Self-esteem is key to being motivated to be active and aim big!   Email your story or video to Ryan today!

 

 

3) Virtual Run

June 1st – Our second ever virtual 5k run/walk is going to be held on Friday June 1st.  Ryan will host his event at about 6pm EST and encourages you to run or walk 5k, with friends, family, your community, at roughly the same time.  Cost is $30 and you get a cool CCB Health & Fitness trucker hat.

Log onto the blog or contact Ryan to get Registration link.  Deadline to ensure a hat is May 6th, but you can register right up until June 1.   WIN a Wahoo Tickr heart rate monitor that interacts with your smart device, or a gift card, if you are the lucky name drawn.

 

4) “Peercast” to launch

In an attempt to further engage our members and drive discussions on how to live a kick butt lifestyle while dealing with vision loss, we are starting a new show on the Podcast channel.  Currently on “The Canadian Council of the Blind” podcast Ryan hosts the Health & Fitness show but will be starting the Peercast Show very shortly.  An interview style discussion on various topics on living with blindness, how to thrive, how to support each other and more.  It’s all about engagement and this show will be designed to present a topic then wait for your comments and considerations.  Subscribe to the podcast, listen to all the content we have up already, it won’t put you to sleep, we promise!

 

5) Coaching calls

Ryan is always accepting coaching calls if you need some personalized coaching towards your fitness goal, just shoot him an email or give him a call to set up a time to chat…all FREE to you!

 

Tons of ways to follow us and contact us.  Please like, follow, subscribe, share and comment on all our social media content.  We want you to engage with us!

 

Facebook – search “CCB Health & Fitness”

Youtube – search “CCB Health & Fitness”

Podcast – search “The Canadian Council of the Blind”

Twitter – @ccb_healthfit

Email list – email ccbhealthandfitness+subscribe@groups.io

Blog: https://ccbhealthandfitness.wordpress.com

Newsletter – email Ryan to be added at: ccb.healthandfitness@gmail.com

Call: 226-627-2179

 

Introducing Canadian Assistive Technology Ltd.++:

Canadian Assistive Technology was founded by Steve Barclay and now, after a year of operation employs Ryan Fleury for Technical Support and Rob Mineault for Sales and Marketing Support.  All three were former employees of Aroga Technologies and have many years of experience with assistive technology.  Rob, Ryan, and Steve are also the hosts of the AT Banter Podcast, which offers news and insights about all manners of assistive technology, as well as human interest stories from the community of people who use it.

 

2Left to right – Ryan Fleury, Rob Mineault, Steve Barclay Picture from canasstech.com

 

 

The company focuses primarily on cutting edge technologies for people who are blind or visually impaired, but also carries products for people with physical and communication limitations.

 

Included in our product lineup are some of the leading manufacturers in the world including:

Ablenet, AI Squared, ALVA, Duxbury Systems, Dolphin, Enhanced Vision Systems, Eschenbach, Freedom Scientific, Handitech, Hartgen Consultancy, HIMS, Humanware, Iris Vision, Innovation Rehabilitation, KNFB, Low Vision International, Optelec, Orcam and Right-Hear.

 

Our mission is to provide the highest level of service and support for our clients.  We maintain a demo pool of equipment which people can arrange to borrow and try before making a purchasing decision. We offer a 30 day no-questions asked money back guarantee on all of our hardware based low vision aids and we cover all of our products with lifetime toll-free technical support.  We try to ensure that hardware warranty and non-warranty repairs can be conducted in Canada and work with our servicing partner, Chaos Technical Services, owned by Rick Chant another past Aroga veteran.  As part of our standard terms we will also cover all shipping costs for any product we have sold that needs to go in for warranty repair.

 

We are passionate supporters of Braille and all efforts to promote Braille literacy.  Our free Unified English Braille chart, developed in conjunction with Cay Holbrook and the vision teacher training program at the University of British Columbia, is used as a resource by educators all over the English speaking world.

Our free Low Vision Guide, developed in conjunction with Enhanced Vision Systems is used as an education piece by Optometrists and Ophthalmologists all across the country.  This guide and the Braille chart are also available by download from our website.

 

If you or a loved one are investigating assistive technology options, please call us and explore our website.  We have many years of experience in helping people find the right solutions for their needs.

Visit http://www.canasstech.com or email steve@canasstech.com and phone 1-844-795-8324

 

Librarians Seek Reading Recommendations++:

 

Hello, my name is Sabina and I work as a librarian with the National Network for Equitable Library Service, commonly known as NNELS. We produce books in accessible formats for Canadian readers with print disabilities. I am writing to you because we are looking for book recommendations.

 

Specifically, we are looking for readers’ favourite children’s picture books: either those people read as children, or those they enjoyed in adulthood.

 

We are looking for these book recommendations because librarians and volunteers have been asking for an easy way to record books for us, and we finally have a way to invite them to do just that. Volunteer-recorded audiobooks are available for free download from our website for any Canadian with a print disability. And who knows where they will go from there: they might be enjoyed by a reader on the other side of the country or on the other side of the world.

 

In March, we completed a project with support from the Government of Canada’s Social Development Partnerships Program – Disability Component, the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB), and others to create twelve recording kits. Each kit contains a headset microphone, a USB key for saving files, and links to online instructions. With a kit, and a deal with a local public library, volunteers can record a book. Kits can be loaned and sent to any library in Canada for the cost of shipping.

 

These recording kits are not a magic wand that will suddenly turn all the stories into audiobooks. Rather, they are a small piece of a large puzzle. We hope the kits will remind librarians in communities of all sizes about the importance of accessibility, literacy, and reading. And we hope they bring people the joy that comes from learning and making something new.

 

In a fragile and sometimes fractured world, one of the very best things we can do is make the time to share stories. And as a librarian who loves children’s books, I would argue that what makes us human, and what reminds us of who we might become, can be found in the stories we share with children. We hope these kits are the beginning of something good. Maybe someone in your own community will surprise you with a wonderful recording. Maybe you will read a book that your great-great- grandchild will hear.

 

We are looking for books that tell the story through the words rather than the illustrations, do not have any chapters, and that are well-written, as these work best for audio recordings. If you have something to recommend, please call 1-888-848-9250, option 5, or email books@nnels.ca. For more information about the project, please visit https://nnels.ca/volunteer/record

 

We appreciate the significant contribution of the CCB and their support throughout the project.

 

 

 

Script Ability will be coming to a Sobeys location near you soon++:

Please advise our CCB National office of a Sobeys location near you which you would like to carry the equipment to provide this service. This way they can preorder supplies so that when the program is launched the equipment will be available right away. There is no additional cost on your prescription for this service. This is an initiative that CCB has been working with Sobeys to provide to their pharmacy customers (both old& new). For more information, please contact 1-877-304-0908.

 

 

GTT Edmonton Meeting Invitation, Google Home Voice Assistant, April 9, 2018++:

 

You are invited!  Blind and low vision GTT participants meet monthly to learn about and share their experiences using assistive technologies in their daily lives at home, school, or at work.

Agenda for the Next Edmonton GTT Meeting:

Date: Monday April 9, 7pm to 9pm.

Location: Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton. You must enter from the back door. If you arrive late the door may be locked. Please ring the bell to the right of the door.

Theme: Google Home Voice Assistant

During the first half hour Wanda will demonstrate how she and Dave use their Google Home voice assistant speaker to get answers to everyday questions, play songs, make phone calls, and more by simply using their voice.

The remainder of the meeting will be devoted to you. Bring your questions, and any tech you need help with – for example, iPhones, laptops or DAISY players.

 

Who Should Attend?

Any blind or low vision person who is interested in learning how assistive technologies can help them lead more independent lives.

 

For More Information contact:

GTT.Edmonton@gmail.com or 780.990.8448


 

Visually impaired singer takes on world++:

There was a great article that was in the Chronicle Herald on CCB Blind Sports Nova Scotia member Tarah Sawler.

 

3 Tarah Sawler Playing Piano at home from the Chronicle Herald

To read the article, please visit:http://thechronicleherald.ca/thenovascotian/1555874-visually-impaired-singer-takes-on-world

 

The article talks about Tarah’s passion for music and some of her experiences as a straight A first year university student with a visual impairment.

 

On another note, Tarah will be leading the Nova Scotia Junior girls at the Canadian Junior Goalball Championships in Halifax on April 7 & 8 at the Halifax Independent School.

 

Advocacy

 

Support the Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities Act++:

 

Groups like the CCB work hard to maximize opportunities for people with disabilities. Yet sometimes, government seems to stand in the way. As you know, when people with disabilities start earning income, they not only pay taxes, but also face sharp clawbacks of their income, medication, housing, and other supports — meaning they can lose more than they gain from getting a job, earning a raise, or working more hours.

 

It is a story Linda Chamberlain knows all too well: “After three decades of battling schizophrenia and homelessness and poverty, Chamberlain finally got a job,” wrote former Toronto Star reporter Catherine Porter. As a reward, the government boosted Linda’s rent almost 500% and cut her disability payment, making her $260 per month poorer because she got a job.

So she had to quit her job and remain poor.

She is not alone. “According to Statistics Canada’s 2012 Canadian Survey on Disability, there were over 650,000 disabled individuals aged 15 to 64 who were not in the labour force at the time of the survey and either used to work or indicated they were capable of working. Of these, roughly 94,000 reported that if they were employed, they felt that they would lose additional support. About 82,300 individuals reported that they expected their income to drop if they worked,” according to Statistics Canada.

 

The Bill

The Opportunity for Workers with Disabilities Act would allow workers with disabilities to gain more in wages than they lose in clawbacks and taxation. It does this through three steps:

 

  1. Measurement

The bill would require that Finance Canada calculate how much people with disabilities in each province lose in taxes and benefit clawbacks as a result of each additional $1,000 of income earned up to $30,000.

Calculations of the clawbacks would include lost benefits like income assistance, housing, medications, and so forth, and would use publicly available tax and benefit rules, not any person’s private tax and benefit information.

 

  1. Action if the calculation finds that people with disabilities are losing more than they gain due to clawbacks, the Finance Minister would have to consider changes to the Working Income Tax Benefit Disability Supplement, the Canada Pension Plan Disability Pension, or any federal tax measure that would ensure people with disabilities always benefit from their work.

If the Minister deemed that provincial taxes and clawbacks were the cause of the problem, he would consult with the province to remedy it.

 

  1. Enforcement The Opportunity Act would attach another condition to the Federal-Provincial Fiscal Arrangements Act requiring provinces to arrange their taxes and transfers so that people with disabilities never lose more than they gain from working.

 

Conclusion

This bill will only pass with the help of respected organizations like the CCB. So, if you agree that governments should reward rather than punish the work of people with disabilities, please add your voice to the Opportunity Act.

 

Here are three things you can do to help pass the bill:

Please encourage your local Members of Parliament to vote for the Opportunity Act. And ask your friends, family, and supporters to do the same.

Use #OpportunityAct on social media when endorsing and discussing the bill.

 

Please email my office a few sentences endorsing the bill that we can use for social media and other communications that will build momentum towards its passage. You can email Pierre.Poilievre.A2@parl.gc.ca.

 

Thank you for your help. Together, we can empower Canadians with disabilities to get ahead through their talents and work — because, as Dr. Martin Luther King put it, “all labour has dignity.”

 

Sincerely,

Hon. Pierre Poilievre, P.C., M.P.

 

 

World Blind Union Survey++:

The WBU Low Vision Working Group is working on initiatives to encourage more engagement of persons with low vision or partial sight in the work of the WBU and our members.  In order to do that we want to know more about the present situation both for organizations and for individuals who have low vision.

 

Please visit the below link to complete a survey for individuals who are partially sighted or have low vision. We ask you to encourage as many low vision or partially sighted persons as you can to complete the survey.

 

The deadline for completing the survey and returning them to us at penny.hartin@wbu.ngo  is April 30th.

 

The survey can be found at:

http://ccbnational.net/fresco/surveys-from-the-world-blind-union/

 

Many thanks for your assistance.

Penny Hartin

Chief Executive Officer and

Chair WBU Low Vision Working Group

 

 

In the News

 

Usability Tester Showcase: Bruce Turner’s Story — Knowbility++:

 

Fellow CCB GTT Members and Participants–Here’s a story about one of our own, Bruce Turner of the GTT Victoria Chapter.


Bruce Turner’s Story — Knowbility

For several years now, Knowbility has recruited people with disabilities to participate in usability studies. During that time, we’ve added hundreds of people from across the United States and beyond to our AccessWorks user testing panel, which partners testers with disabilities with companies interested in improving the accessibility and usability of their products.

 

So, when a popular Canadian media company reached out to our AccessWorks team with a request for Canadian testers with different disabilities, we were prepared. Bruce Turner was one of these testers, and we’re proud to share his experience.

 

Born with retinitis pigmentosa and profoundly deaf, Bruce uses a variety of assistive technologies to get things done. He uses ZoomText, a screen magnification program to change the color scheme on his computer. Bruce prefers his text to be white on a black background.

 

To be more productive on the phone, Bruce uses a relay service. An operator types what is heard on the line, Bruce reads it, and then he responds. It was with this suite of technology and the marvels of off-the-shelf video conferencing software that Bruce successfully completed the usability study. The retired civil servant credits today’s tech in playing a role in promoting social and economic integration.

 

“If I didn’t have this technology in front of me I don’t think I would be doing as well as I am,” Bruce said. “This technology I wish the heck I had when I was younger. I like the fact that I can do email, I can go online, I can do my banking, I can talk to people, I can communicate.”

 

Bruce says he enjoys learning how to accomplish tasks online, for example, the steps that are needed to arrive at a website’s homepage.

 

“It’s like playing a brand-new game for the first time, not knowing what to do, but simply getting there and getting my feet wet and see what I can do,” Bruce said.

 

Bruce first heard about AccessWorks via a post on the website of Get Together with Technology (GTT), a program run by the Canadian Council of the Blind. Though at first leery about the program’s claims—that people with disabilities could earn extra money working as usability testers—GTT’s Albert Ruel reassured him that Knowbility could be trusted.

 

“Bruce did a great job! He provided us with a different perspective. He actually helped us to consider other ways of communicating….and we actually did it….we were so thrilled. We learned so much and as a result, we feel very confident going into it!” Marine Menier, AccessWorks Project Manager, said.

 

Bruce was born and raised in Kamloops, British Columbia. He graduated from the University of Victoria in 1973 and worked for the Canadian federal government for 35 years. As a child, he attended school alongside people of many different ethnicities and varying abilities. He feels that this has influenced his attitudes towards inclusiveness.

 

“The way I look at the word inclusiveness is getting along with people who have all kinds of disability,” he said. “People who are blind, people who are low vision, people who are deaf, we all share a little bit of everything.”

 

He considers Knowbility’s usability tester program a force for good, both for companies that need knowledge about the accessibility of their products and for people with disabilities who want to help make websites more accessible.

 

“The AccessWorks program also increases the self-esteem of those who participate, and that is an important benefit,” he added.

 

Now retired, Bruce lives with his wife in Victoria, British Columbia.

In addition to reading online articles from ZDNet and GTT to learn about the latest tech, he enjoys photography, gardening, and taking walks along the Gorge Waterway, a scenic inlet near his home.

By Marine Menier

 

 

 

Deaf-Blind Runner Showcased in the Media:++

Gaston Bedard, marathon runner, was on television on March 27.

 

The interview took place at the CTV studio, in Ottawa. Gaston chatted about guiding in the Ottawa Race Weekend coming up May 26 and 27, 2018; in which Gaston is registered in the Scotiabank Ottawa Half marathon.

 

The idea is that everyone can participate, it’s easy to walk, jog and guide. Full participation is everything.

 

The CTV interview clip is called, Race Weekend for Everyone.

We were third in the CTV interview along with our host Annette.

From left to right, in the interview video:

Michel, Annette, Gaston and Christopher.

 

Please visit the CTV video clip at:

https://ottawa.ctvnews.ca/video?clipId=1356965

 

Gyms must do more to accommodate people with disabilities++:

 

Advances in modern medicine have led doctors to a better understanding of the benefits of exercise in managing a broad range of chronic conditions, from multiple sclerosis and cerebral palsy to post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) and epilepsy. Unfortunately, traditional gyms aren’t designed with this end use in mind. Sure, there’s bound to be an automatic door opener for people with mobility issues, maybe even a wheelchair lift or a ramp, but that tends to be the extent of the services provided to make fitness accessible to all.

 

Irony of ironies: Where most gyms fail is in serving people with physical disabilities or chronic medical conditions – in other words, people who, in many cases, literally need to work out to save their lives.

 

I work for a not-for-profit facility that prides itself on inclusiveness and diversity. Forgive me if I sound a little too Hands Across America, but I love the fact that my gym – our gym – can serve as a home away from home for everyone, regardless of their race, gender, sexuality or income.

 

But of course, even idealistic wonderlands have their blind spots.

 

A couple of months ago, I had a conversation with a member of our gym that left me feeling like an ignorant fool. This young woman told me about her medical condition, explained how basic movement is painful and how she often has to rely on mobility assistance devices. Her doctor recommended yoga as a gentle means of managing this condition, but our yoga studio is on the second floor of the building, and the elevator doesn’t allow for direct access. She would have to take the stairs in order to participate, which, given her condition, is not an option.

 

Many physical disabilities are easily identifiable for fitness professionals, as are the solutions to the challenges they pose. Some, however, are harder to identify. Take, for example, the guest that dropped by our gym with an unmarked service dog trained to detect seizures. In Ontario, it’s not required for these sorts of service animals to wear identifying harnesses or vests; if a person has a doctor’s note recommending the use of the animal, and that animal is well-behaved, it’s a violation of their rights to deny them access to services and facilities. Of course, when our members saw someone jogging on our indoor track, furry friend in tow, they assumed this dog was simply a pet. Our staff was equally confused.

 

Granted, this sort of thing isn’t a common occurrence, but it does illustrate how ill-informed – and ill-prepared – businesses are when it comes to addressing non-physical disabilities.

 

Thankfully, we have people like Dr. Darren Ezer, co-owner, along with his wife, Lianne, of the Live Well Exercise Clinic in Toronto. Live Well is a medicinal fitness franchise that specializes in small group fitness classes for people with chronic diseases, physical disabilities and mental illnesses.

 

With 14 locations across British Columbia and Ontario, Live Well is

striving to meet the needs of those who may not feel welcome at commercial gyms by delivering evidence-based exercise programs specific to each individual’s condition in a fun and positive environment.

 

“We’re very different from places like GoodLife,” Ezer said. “Our members find gyms filled with young, fit people intimidating. We offer a huge service by providing group-based exercise with a peer group that looks familiar and specialized equipment that’s truly accessible.”

 

A new Live Well location is scheduled to open in Oakville, Ont., this year. It’s my hope that more fitness pros and gym owners will take after this example and begin offering a broad range of programs and services for everyone, not just the young, jacked and tanned.

 

Otherwise, unifying ideals such as diversity and social inclusion lose their power and become nothing more than buzz words for virtue-signaling poseurs.

 

As for my gym, I’m happy to report that steps are being taken to ensure the next noble service animal that pays us a visit will be welcomed with open and understanding arms.

 

Paul Landini is a personal trainer and health educator at the Toronto West End College Street YMCA.

 

You can follow him on Twitter @mrpaullandini.

By PAUL LANDINI, Globe and Mail

 

 

 

Assistive Technology

Donna’s Low Tech Tips, Identifying Money:++

 

Hello there, I’m Donna Jodhan and I’d like to talk about IDENTIFYING MONEY and I have some great tips for you re how you can go about dealing with your money.  Dollar bills, coins, and cheques.

 

PAPER CURRENCY

There are many different ways to identify bills and it really doesn’t matter how you do it as long as your method works for you.

 

 

 

Here are some tips.

Some individuals prefer to separate bills by denomination, placing them in different sections of their purse or wallet. You can purchase a special                          billfold which has different sections for different bills. You can fold your bills in a special way for easy identification. For example:

-Leave five dollar bills completely unfolded.

– Fold ten dollar bills in half lengthwise.

-Fold twenty dollar bills in half, end to end.

-Fold fifty dollar bills end to end, then lengthwise.

-Fold hundred dollar bills in half and in half again.

-When you receive money from others, ask what each bill is and fold it right away or put it in a special section of your wallet so you will be able to recognize it later.  Take your time, don’t be hurried.

 

An electronic bank note reader is available (through the CNIB) to identify paper currency. The device is easy to use.

Insert a Canadian bank note, push the button at the front of the device, and the reader will announce by voice (in either English or French) the denomination of the bill.

 

COINS

Coins can be identified by touch.

Select one coin at a time and use a fingernail or your fingertips to feel the different sizes and edges of each coin:

-A dime has a serrated edge.

-A nickel has a smooth edge.

-A quarter has a rough grooved edge and is larger and thicker than a nickel.

-A dollar coin (loonie) has an eleven-sided smooth edge and is larger and thicker than a quarter.

-A two dollar coin (toonie) is larger than a loonie. The edge of the coin alternates from rough to smooth.  The centre of the toonie is gold in color and the outer edge is silver.

A special purse or coin organizer with separate slots for nickels, dimes, and quarters may be a useful item.

CHEQUES

Large print/tactile cheques are available from your bank. You may find it helpful to make your own cheque template with sections cut out for date, cheque amount, and so on.

 

So have fun now with your money!

 

 

 

www.ccbnational.net                1-877-304-0968

ccb@ccbnational.net

A review of Aira. What it is, how it works, and the ways it has changed my life, by Jonathan Mosen

Here is a great article written by Jonathan Mosen about Aira:

 

http://mosen.org/aira/

 

A review of Aira. What it is, how it works, and the ways it has changed my life

mosen.org

 

A review of Aira. What it is, how it works, and the ways it has changed my life

Introduction

 

Recently, I was pleased to attend the CSUN assistive technology conference. I’ve had the privilege of going to 10 of these before, but it has been a few

years since I was there last.

 

When you’re involved with an industry, you tend to watch developments so closely that changes usually seem incremental. But occasionally, something new

comes along that is so game changing, it stops you in your tracks. For me, San Diego-based Aira is one such technology. I am late to this party. Aira has

been rolling out for some time in the United States. And indeed, we covered Aira in an edition of

The Blind Side Podcast

last year. But since mentioning my Aira experience to people via outlet such as my Internet radio show,

The Mosen Explosion,

I’ve learned that not everyone yet fully understands what the service is or how it works. For those not familiar with Aira, or who would like to read

someone else’s impressions of it, read on.

 

What is Aira

 

According to

the company’s website,

 

Aira is today’s fastest growing assistive community. One tap of a button instantly connects you with a sighted professional agent who delivers visual assistance

anytime and anywhere.

 

Here’s what that means in practice. At present, Aira is a smart phone app, available for iOS and Android. Since Aira is a service for blind people, it’s

no surprise that the app is exemplary in terms of its accessibility. And in iOS, it even sports Siri integration.

 

Using the app, you can connect via video, much like a FaceTime call, with agents who can provide you with visual information. Audio quality is excellent,

far clearer than a standard cell phone connection. Essentially, an Aira agent can tell you anything at all that a pair of functioning eyes can see, plus

perform a range of tasks pertaining to that information.

 

You can acquire the visual information using your smart phone’s camera, or, when you become a subscriber to the Aira service (Aira calls its customers

“explorers”) you receive a pair of smart glasses. These are included as part of your subscription, so there’s no hardware cost upfront.

 

The service is available officially in the United States at present, where Aira has an arrangement with ATT. Aira explorers receive an ATT MiFi device,

allowing them to use the service on the go without the data consumed by the video connection eating up a customer’s own cellular plan. If you have a cellular

plan equipped with the personal hotspot feature, you are free to pair your Aira glasses with your phone using that method. For those with large data plans,

this may be attractive because there is one less device to keep track of, carry, and charge. The downside, other than the data consumption, is that a video

connection to Aira for a long time may cause significant battery drain on your smart phone.

 

When you’re at home, work, or anywhere that Wi-Fi is available that doesn’t require web-based authentication, you can pair your Aira glasses to that network.

As far as I have been able to ascertain, 5 GHZ Wi-Fi isn’t supported at present.

 

Because of the need for high quality video, the glasses pair via Wi-Fi, and not Bluetooth. The glasses are associated with your Aira account. This is useful

if, like in Bonnie’s and my house, you’re sharing your minutes as a couple. More on that later.

 

The upshot of all of this is that for 18 hours of every day, professional, well-trained sighted assistance is just a few taps or a Siri command away.

 

Describing it like this makes it sound kind of cool. But I want to explain the impact that Aira has had on our lives in the brief time we have had it,

to illustrate that, at least for some of us, this technology is more than just pretty cool, it’s life-changing.

 

My first Aira experience

 

If you’ve been reading this blog or listening to The Blind Side Podcast over the years, you will know that in recent times I have come out as having a

hearing impairment. I love going to these big conferences because I get to catch up with old friends and make new ones, as well as see the latest and greatest

technology. I hate going to these big conferences because often, I find myself in difficult audio environments. It can be very noisy. Hotel lobbies and

restaurants are often exceedingly crowded, with high ceilings causing noise to bounce everywhere. The environment is difficult and tiring, but I keep going

and doing the best I can, because the alternative is to sit at home and rust away, and I’m certainly not going to do that.

 

One smart thing that Aira has done is to start rolling out a concept called “site access”. With appropriate sponsorship, or perhaps at times where there

will be many potential customers in one place, Aira can enable free access to a location or even the entire city through their smart city project. There

are two benefits to the strategy. First, it’s helpful for existing Aira explorers because they can use the service as much as they want without it counting

against their monthly plans.

 

Second, anyone, even those not signed up with an Aira monthly plan, can go to the iOS App Store or the Google Play Store, download the app, create a guest

account, and use the service for free. As I found out, it’s convenient to have access to Aira in such situations, and it offers the opportunity for Aira

to convert those guests into full-time explorers. Smart stuff.

 

It was thanks to this program that I gave Aira a shot. Had I been required to go to the booth to give it a go, I probably would have run out of time and

wouldn’t be writing this post. But it was a cinch to download the app and set up my guest account.

 

I first decided to put Aira through a simple test. Having arrived in San Diego after a long journey, I wasn’t taking much notice of the hotel layout when

the porter showed me to my room. So, the next morning, I made my first call to Aira, and asked the friendly agent to guide me to the elevator. Not only

did I get to the elevator effortlessly, I was also guided right to the button for the elevator.

 

But the call I will never forget is the one I made to ask for assistance getting to the exhibit hall while exhibits were being set up. If you’ve visited

the Grand Hyatt in San Diego, you’ll know how cavernous the lobby can sound. When the lobby is full of people, I find it impossible to navigate, because

there’s just so much sound bouncing everywhere. To be honest, I wasn’t expecting much from Aira, but I was keen to see what would happen.

 

This is the moment when I transitioned from the intellectual understanding that “this is quite a good concept”, to the emotional connection that made me

say “holy guacamole, this thing is changing my life!”

 

I’m not a guide dog handler at the moment, but I have been in the past. One of the advantages of working with a dog over using a cane is that you avoid

many obstacles without ever coming into contact with them. The exception is if you are a cane user with good echolocation. I think that even with full

hearing, I would have found echolocation difficult in that very noisy lobby, but it’s certainly not viable for me now. Therefore, in that type of environment,

I often find myself hitting people’s legs with my cane, as I try to find a way forward. With the Aira agent talking in my hearing aids which were also

delivering environmental sounds, I was getting information about where the crowds were, and when I needed to veer to avoid running into people. I was told

when it was necessary to turn to reach my destination and given confirmation that I was indeed heading in the correct direction.

 

Because of my hearing, and the fact that I know navigating these environments can be difficult, I had allowed myself plenty of time to reach the exhibit

hall. But I reached it much more quickly than I had anticipated, and with much less stress than usual.

 

When we eventually reached the exhibit hall, which was some considerable distance away, the agent informed me that the door was closed. I expected this,

since I was heading to the exhibit hall before it was officially open to the public. The icing on the cake was when she said that she could see a counter

to the left of the door with a sign labelled “Exhibit Services”. She then informed me that there was a man behind that counter and offered to lead me to

him. She did so, and he let me in. Astounded, I thanked the agent, and ended the call.

 

Full disclosure, at this point, it gets a bit embarrassing. No technology has made me cry for joy before. But a stressful experience I have to psych myself

up for had just been made effortless and enjoyable. I was utterly overwhelmed. This was all achieved with no more than the free app and the camera on my

iPhone X.

 

Piloting Aira outside the US

 

I’ve no doubt that I would have been wowed by Aira even if I had been blind without a hearing impairment. But, having had a taste of the independence it

was giving me, even better than the independence I had when I was a traveller without a hearing impairment, I really wanted to see if there was any way

I could take this home to New Zealand. I knew it would be unlikely, because Aira is very clear that they are only available now in the United States and

I think parts of Canada. But I genuinely felt that having had a taste of Aira, I would feel a sense of disability if I lost it again.

 

I met with Aira’s CEO, Suman Kanuganti, who kindly agreed to let me pilot the service here. Since this is a fairly glowing review of the service, I want

to be clear that I am paying the same as everyone else. This is not a paid advertisement. And I’m aware of the limitations of using the service here when

it’s not officially supported. For example, Aira is currently unavailable between 1 AM and 7 AM Eastern time. At this time of year, that equates to 5 PM

to 11 PM New Zealand time. That’s a time when we have had a need for the service, but I signed up knowing what I was getting into, so that’s an observation

rather than a complaint. Even for Aira’s existing customer base, I’m sure many hope that this downtime will soon be a thing of the past. I’m one of those

totally blind people without light perception who has non-24 sleep/wake disorder. I’m fortunate that because most of my deliverables can be delivered at

any time, I just let my circadian rhythm do its thing. That means I’m sometimes very productive at 2, 3 or 4 AM. I’m sure there are many Aira users in

the United States in a similar position, who’d value having access to Aira at that time.

 

I’ll also be providing feedback on any technical or cultural issues relating to the use of the service here, should they arise. The most obvious cultural

issue is that many of our place names are in the Maori language, the indigenous language of New Zealand. Understandably, Aira agents don’t have experience

pronouncing them correctly, but that’s no different from listening to the same place names spoken by most text-to-speech engines.

 

When mobile, Bonnie and I are using Aira with our mobile data plans. We share a cellular plan that has 25 GB of mobile data per month, and our LTE networks

are very robust here, particularly in urban environments.

 

Signing up as an explorer

 

Typically, when you sign up as an explorer, you can start using the service right away with your smart phone, and the hardware is shipped to you. Since

I was at the CSUN conference, I was able to sign up online, and collect my hardware from the Aira booth.

 

The ability to use the service as a guest is fairly new, and one of the problems I had was that I couldn’t sign up with the email address I had associated

with my guest account, because the system flagged it as already in use. It would be nice to have a feature within the app that allowed you to upgrade to

a paid account while signed in as a guest. Hopefully that will come in time. The only way around it for now is either to sign up with a different email

address or complete the process over the phone.

 

When you make your first call as a fully-fledged explorer, an Aira agent assists you to create your profile. It’s here that you really start to appreciate

how carefully the services been devised. Suman Kanuganti and his team have worked closely with Blind people, sought their advice, and taken it to heart.

It would have been easy for a service like this to have become patronising. Instead, the culture feels like it is truly a partnership between the explorer

and the agent.

 

As part of the induction process, you are advised that Aira will never tell you that it’s safe to cross the street, and agents will remain silent while

you are crossing. If you are mobile, and the agent detects that you’re not travelling with a cane or a dog, they will disconnect the call. They make it

clear that they are not a substitute for your blindness skills, or for your mobility tool of choice. And they advise that they keep personal opinions out

of all descriptions and interactions.

 

You’re asked if there are any additional disabilities that it would be helpful for them to be aware of. I was able to tell them about my hearing impairment.

 

Rather like when using JAWS, you are offered three levels of verbosity. The three levels are explained to you clearly. Your default level is recorded in

your profile. You can change the default at any time, or for a particular call. The most verbose option will even describe people’s facial expressions

as you’re walking down the street.

 

You’re asked whether you prefer directions to be given as a clock face, or in terms of “left” and “right”. In a noisy environment, it’s easier for me to

differentiate between 9 o’clock and 3 o’clock, than between left and right.

 

Once the process is done, all your preferences are recorded and immediately made available to the agent when you call in.

 

Ride sharing Integration

 

Using the APIs of the ride sharing services Uber and Lyft, Aira can connect to your accounts to both call and monitor your rides. You may ask the agent

to initiate the entire process for you, or you could use the app of your ride sharing service of choice to call a vehicle, then get the agent online who

can see the car you’ve been allocated, and help you watch for its arrival.

 

Some people have safety concerns about using ride sharing services, since you might walk up to a car that you think is the one you’ve called, only to find

its some random person. Having an Aira agent assist you to the vehicle will avoid that.

 

It’s also a brilliant way to catch drivers who speed away because of your dog. An Aira agent can take pictures remotely using the camera you’re connecting

with, be it the camera on your smart phone or the one built into the glasses. This gives you photographic evidence of the driver speeding away.

 

Sharing minutes

 

Recently, Aira introduced the ability to share minutes with up to two additional people. The feature is great for blind couples like Bonnie and me. Inviting

Bonnie to share my minutes was easily done from the app, and she was signed up in minutes, although there was a technical issue which prevented her from

logging in. This was resolved in a few hours after contacting Aira.

 

How we’ve used Aira

 

There is a wonderful section on the Aira website and in its app, with extensive lists of the way that people are using the service. As the father of two

daughters, one use case that both resonated with me and amused me was the explorer who asked an agent to describe their daughter’s new boyfriend.

 

But here are just a few of the ways that we’ve used Aira since we’ve had it.

 

What does this button do?

 

It was wonderful to be able to ask an agent, trained to explain things clearly, how to operate the air-conditioning in my hotel room in San Diego. I was

also curious about a little panel to the right of the air-conditioning unit. After getting me to look at the unit, the agent took a photo, blew it up,

and told me that it was a control panel for the windows in my hotel room. I probably wouldn’t have bothered investigating it had it not been for Aira.

 

Journalism

 

Bonnie has now embarked on a journalism course. Today’s journalists must operate in a multimedia environment. This includes taking their own photos. Thanks

to the technology VoiceOver offers, it’s possible for a blind person to take good photos. When action is moving fast though, it may not be possible to

capture that action quickly enough. And VoiceOver’s camera functions are limited to recognising people. Seeing AI will recognise scenes, but only after

you’ve taken the picture. Aira to the rescue.

 

Just a couple of days after Bonnie began sharing my Aira minutes, she needed to cover a popular Wellington street festival. Bonnie tells me she couldn’t

have done it without Aira. Giving instructions to the agent ahead of time about the kind of material she wanted to capture, the Aira agent was able to

take pictures at exactly the right time and give Bonnie advice about how to angle the camera. Her photography lecturer praised the photos.

 

The agent gave vivid, detailed descriptions of the festival and the people participating in it, which made it easy for Bonnie to write a descriptive, colourful

newspaper story that wasn’t devoid of visual imagery even though she is blind.

 

When Bonnie got the munchies after a hard day’s journalism, the agent helped her locate the food truck she wanted from a number that were at the festival,

and then read her the menu on the side of the truck.

 

Preserving the moment

 

Since Aira can take pictures using the glasses or camera remotely, we recently used it at a birthday party we attended to get the perfect picture for our

own records, and for posting to social media.

 

Compiling reports

 

When you travel and collect receipts, you end up with little bits of paper, business cards from cab drivers with receipt information scrawled on the back,

and big pieces of paper.

 

I’ve become adept over the years at performing optical character recognition on all of it for the compilation of expense reports, but it’s time-consuming.

I took the stress out of the situation and handed it to Aira. My agent advised using the camera on the iPhone X for this task rather than the glasses.

She gave instructions regarding the positioning of the camera, took pictures of all the documents, and I had no doubt that each receipt was fully in the

picture.

 

She put them all in a single document which she then emailed to me. This process took probably a third to a quarter of the time it would have usually taken

me.

 

Transcription

 

As someone who’s been totally blind since birth, I’ve enjoyed becoming more familiar with effective use of the camera and understanding the relationship

between distance and getting the subject of a photograph fully in the picture. When in hotels, I sometimes find getting a good-quality capture of hotel

compendia and in-room dining menus a challenge. The print may have become faded over time, or there’s a wide variation of print types. It can also take

time to work out whether there is print on both sides of the page or not, and sometimes that can vary even within the same document.

 

At a recent hotel stay, Aira took all the stress out of rendering the in-room dining menu accessible to Bonnie and me. The agent very quickly snapped pictures

of all the pages and could see at a glance when the pages were single or double-sided. Then, the agent transcribed the text into a fully accessible Word

document. I was given the choice as to whether I wanted a full transcription, which of course took a little longer, or just a summary of the items on the

menu and their prices.

 

The mysteries of the minibar

 

Many hotel minibars now have sophisticated sensors that charge you for an item when you lift it out of the fridge. Rather than hunt around for a barcode

on each bottle, can, and food item, an Aira agent was able to recite the cans in the fridge in left-to-right order.

 

Real-time audio description

 

Bonnie and I recently took a gondola ride in one of the most picturesque parts of New Zealand. One of our party was sighted, nevertheless, I decided to

call Aira, to ask an agent if she could give me real-time audio description as we rode the gondola, then as we stood on the viewing platform. It was a

moving experience to get such detailed descriptions of the water, the tree line and the city below. Our sighted companion was impressed, saying that Aira

had told us things she wouldn’t have thought about describing.

 

Does Aira harm the accessibility cause?

 

When I’ve discussed Aira with some blind people, a few have expressed the concern that the service may discourage those of us who have it from continuing

to advocate for a truly accessible world. They fear that as providers of information and services become aware of Aira, they may feel under less of an

obligation to do the right thing when it comes to accessibility.

 

For example, if you read this blog regularly, you will know I’ve been campaigning about the code to complete the New Zealand census not being accessible.

If I had been an Aira explorer at the time, an Aira agent would have read the access code to me, and the process would have taken about a minute maximum.

Would I have begun my campaign for the codes to be inherently accessible if Aira had been in our home to do that for me? I would like to think so.

 

A similar concern was expressed when JAWS introduced the ability to perform OCR on inaccessible PDF files.

 

I believe Aira is a pragmatic solution that delivers access to us today. That in no way means that those of us with the skills and inclination to advocate

for a more accessible world shouldn’t continue to do so. If we’ve been able to use Aira to work around the problem, it’s just that, a work-around. Most

of the world’s written information today is born accessible. Someone must take a deliberate step to convert it into something inaccessible, and we must

always object to that occurring. So, we must still advocate for all aspects of life to be as accessible as possible.

 

In this highly visual world, there’ll always be plenty of tasks for Aira to perform, even as accessibility improves.

 

Does Aira erode blindness skills?

 

The arrival of the pocket calculator, the cell phone with a built-in contact directory, and many other technologies have been the cause of people expressing

concern about the “dumbing down” of the human race. A few people I’ve spoken with about Aira have wondered if it will cause an erosion of blindness skills

among its users. I don’t believe so. I contend the impact will be positive.

 

For me personally, other circumstances, specifically my hearing impairment, have made travel time-consuming and exhausting. Freedom of movement should

not be the privilege of the blind elite who happen to find travel intuitive and easy. Freedom of movement is, in my view, a fundamental human right.

 

With the ability to travel under less stress, I believe my travel skills, which may have eroded a little over the years as I’ve begun avoiding tricky situations,

will in fact improve due to increased use.

 

Remember, Aira does not replace your cane or dog. You must still know how to use your cane in a way that helps you locate obstacles and provides you with

clues about your environment.

 

What it costs, and is it value for money?

 

Assuming you have a smartphone, there is no other hardware you must purchase to use Aira. It’s all included as part of the package.

 

The current pricing structure looks like this:

 

list of 4 items

  • Basic Plan. 100 regular minutes a month for $89.
  • Plus Plan. 200 regular minutes a month for $129.
  • Pro Plan. 400 regular minutes a month for $199.
  • Premium Plan. Unlimited regular minutes a month for $329.

list end

 

I believe it is possible to get further discounts on the Pro plan if you pay a year, or even several years, in advance.

 

If you run out of minutes, you can purchase additional ones.

 

You can cancel or upgrade your plan at any time.

 

Whenever a company provides a service directly to the blind community, there are always people who will express concern about cost. Unfortunately, the

economic reality is that the cost of research and development, as well as the overheads involved in running a business, must be spread across a smaller

group of people when providing a service to our community. This equation is made more difficult because so many people in our community are unemployed

and living hand to mouth. Sure, for some people, Aira will be worth sacrificing a few daily cups of premium coffee for, but it’s not that easy for everyone.

 

Some people question whether the service is worth the cost given that there is a free service, Be My Eyes, which connects you with sighted volunteers.

Be My Eyes is a useful service, and I don’t seek to denigrate it at all. I am signed up with it, have supported it since before it went live, and I use

it from time to time. But Be My Eyes relies on volunteers. Some people are so keen to assist a blind person that they answer a call when they may have

been better letting it go. Others simply don’t explain things clearly enough. And yes, there are some who are outstanding. But I equate using Be My Eyes

with asking a stranger for directions in the street. Sometimes you will get somebody who couldn’t be more helpful. At other times you will get somebody

who doesn’t know their right from their left, or just isn’t observant about the world around them.

 

With Aira, the agents have been trained extensively, plus they have tools that help pinpoint your location and provide other data. There’s also a guarantee

of privacy with Aira.

 

I know of people who’ve used Aira to help them sign employment contracts, complete tax returns and more.

 

So, in my view, there is no question that Aira will revolutionise the lives of many blind people if they can afford to access it. This raises important

public policy questions. Many agencies serving blind people will provide funding for sighted assistance to be available on-location at specific times.

Perhaps such agencies fund several hours of assistance each week in the workplace. Other agencies may fund a human reader to visit a blind person’s home.

Aira gives you access to sighted assistance on demand, at your convenience, not at the convenience of the sighted person. This is important because some

tasks may only take a couple of minutes, but they can be show stoppers on the job until we can get that assistance. In a work environment, sighted assistance

on-demand through Aira has the potential to improve a blind person’s productivity.

 

There’s also the social investment argument. If a much wider range of blind people can feel comfortable about travelling in unfamiliar areas, government

investment in Aira could pay dividends by improving employability.

 

Looking to the future

 

Most blind people become blind later in life. And most of those people don’t have smart phones. This group is often forgotten, so it’s encouraging to see

that Aira has been giving them considerable thought. The coming generation of seniors will be more assertive and tech savvy. They will have had experience

of technology in the workplace, and they are willing to spend money to ameliorate the consequences of their age-related disability. However, they may decide

that coming to terms with the blindness specific touchscreen paradigm is just too difficult. Certainly, that’s the case now. Yet I think many seniors would

love to have access to Aira. If they can have an agent assist them to read the newspaper in the morning, describe pictures of the grandchildren or go through

their mail, that’s something many would gladly pay for.

 

The market for Aira’s services is going to increase significantly with the introduction of their new Horizon technology. Currently, to use Aira, you need

at least two things – a smart phone, and the glasses, both of which need to be charged. If you want to use it without eating into your data plan, you’ll

need to carry the ATT MiFi device around with you. That also needs to be charged separately. That’s three things in total that need to be charged.

 

Within the next few months, Aira is promising to simplify their offering significantly. They’ve taken a Samsung Android device, which includes a physical

home button, and developed their own firmware for it. This device is not designed to be used as a cell phone. Rather than requiring a MiFi, the data SIM

will be in this device. The new Horizon glasses, which are much more fashionable and elegant looking, are tethered to this device with an unobtrusive-looking

cable. The field of view is much improved, as is the video quality. That means less need to keep turning one’s head at the instruction of the Aira agent.

With the glasses getting their power from the Horizon device, battery life is massively improved.

 

This all means that someone who doesn’t have a smart phone will fire up the Horizon device, double tap the button, and talk to an agent. Smart phone users

will retain the option to control their Aira experience via the app they’re used to.

 

This configuration also reduces latency and any potential for video degradation. There will no longer be a wireless hop that the video needs to take between

the glasses and the device transmitting the video to an Aira agent.

 

Clearly, considerable thought and capital investment has gone into the next generation of the service. This demonstrates that Aira is continuing to innovate

and thinking about broadening its base.

 

Over time, artificial intelligence will become smarter, and will be able to do more of the things that human agents are doing for Aira explorers now. It’s

therefore sensible forward planning that Aira has begun work on their own artificial intelligence engine they are calling Chloe. Initially, Chloe will

offer optical character recognition, and perform functions relating to the operation and configuration of the Horizon device. I imagine that over time,

Chloe will become more capable. That will increase efficiency for the explorer and reduce overheads for the company.

 

Concluding thoughts

 

Aira’s evolution is an exemplary case study of how to tap into a niche market and create a new, innovative product. Of course, it’s not perfect, but what

is? Sometimes, you can lose cellular coverage when you really need it, causing the connection with the agent to drop. There’s nothing Aira can do about

that other than ensuring they’re using hardware that maximises the cellular signal, and to have a robust protocol in place for seeking to re-establish

the connection. But all in all, the service is fantastic.

 

There’ve been a few phases of Aira adoption for me. The first was hearing about it and understanding intellectually that it was a clever idea. The second

was the strong, powerful, emotional realisation that this could really change my life. The third is the dawning realisation that I’m not imposing on anybody

anymore. Many of us can relate to having sighted family members or friends who we turn to when we need a pair of working eyes, and we hope we are not overdoing

  1. When I first started using Aira, I had a twinge of reluctance about making calls, wondering if someone might need the help of the agent more than me.

Then, one day, it really dawned on me. The people at Aira want me to make the call. After all, if I use up all my minutes, I might buy more. So, when I

make a call to Aira, I’m not inconveniencing anybody, I’m strengthening their bottom line. How wonderful it is to call on sighted help without feeling

like I might be a burden.

 

If you’d like to try Aira

 

Due to the exchange rate between the United States and New Zealand, unfortunately Aira is a little more expensive here than it is in the United States.

Bonnie and I are presently using the Plus plan, at $129 USD a month, which equates to $179 NZD. When the novelty wears off a little, it will be interesting

to see if we need the 200 minutes.

 

So, if you would like to give Aira a try, I’d appreciate it if you’d sign up using our referral link. The referral program means that the person being

referred, and the person who did the referring, each gets a free month. Pretty good marketing. To take Aira for a spin,

activate my referral link.

I hope it makes as much of a difference to you as it has to Bonnie and me.

 

Are you an Aira explorer? What do you think of the service, and what are some of the ways you’re using it? Leave your thoughts in the comments.

 

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CCB Tech Articles, Donna’s Low Tech Tips, Writing Your Signature, April 2, 2018

April 02 2018

Writing your signature

 

Hi there!  It’s Donna and thank you for allowing me to come into your inbox.

Today, I’d like to touch on the subject of writing your signature.

 

When signing your name, place a signature guide over the line requiring your signature. Then write your name in the space provided.

 

Another way to locate the proper                   place to sign is to ask someone                       to make a fold which you can feel along the line requiring your                    signature.  (Make sure the ridge                      of the fold is upward.)

Or have someone place your index finger at the beginning of the signature line and sign your                    name to the right of your finger.

 

People with low vision may find lines easier to locate if traced with a dark pen or marker.

many people who are visually impaired find it helpful to use dark-lined paper when writing.

If the edges of the paper seem to disappear, place the paper on a                 contrasting surface.  For example, if you are writing on white paper, place the paper on a dark place mat, or dark table top, or another dark surface.  The contrasting surface will make it                         easier to see the edges of the              paper.

 

Many people find it difficult to read materials written in pen.  Writing with a wide-tipped black marker on white paper is generally easier to see.

 

I hope that these tips are helpful to you.

 

If you would like to become a member of  my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you will receive unlimited access to either of the following libraries.

Recipes –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-recipes.html

Audio mysteries for all ages –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-audio-mysteries.html

Or you can subscribe to both for the price of $20 annually.

 

To contact me, send me an email at info@sterlingcreations.ca and I’d be happy to respond.

Have a super day and see you next week.

Donna

 

Guest Post: Braille Literacy Canada Newsletter, March 2018

 

Newsletter ● March 2018

 

Message from the President

 

In response to feedback from our recent membership survey we have decided to add a regular update from the BLC president to each newsletter. So I’ll start this message by thanking all of you who completed the survey and provided helpful suggestions for ways to better serve our membership.

 

Many of you said that you enjoy the teleconferences on braille technology, so we are planning more of them for the future. We are also looking at ways to provide more code-related information (such as tips for transcribers working with UEB technical material, as well as UEB Code Maintenance Committee decisions). Another popular suggestion was to feature stories in the newsletter about braille use in everyday life. Our Communications Committee met last month to discuss how we can modify the newsletter to meet the needs of all of our stakeholders.

 

One final note on the membership survey: congratulations to Charlene Young, who won the draw for the gift certificate to the Braille superstore!

 

AGM

I’d like to take this opportunity to remind members of our upcoming AGM in Ottawa on May 26th. Note that you must have a valid membership for 2018 in order to be eligible to vote. Members can vote electronically or by proxy, and we are planning to stream the meeting as well. More information regarding the AGM is sent to members directly by email.

 

Many people asked why we did not choose to hold the AGM in conjunction with the Canadian Vision Teachers’ Conference. There are a number of factors to consider when choosing the date and location of this meeting. We are required to hold our AGM within a given timeframe based on our fiscal year and based on the length of time since the last annual meeting. Another issue is the cost of flying the BLC Board to Edmonton, which is where the conference is being held this year. When it is feasible to schedule our AGM in conjunction with another event or conference we are happy to do so.

 

International Council on English Braille (ICEB)

The midterm meeting of the ICEB Executive will take place in Dublin from April 17th to the 21st. The Irish National Braille and Alternate Format Association (INBAF) will be hosting the meetings. Phyllis Landon and I both serve on the ICEB Executive. I am the Treasurer and the Canadian representative. Phyllis chairs the UEB Code Maintenance Committee. At the midterm we will discuss a number of code-related issues, including the ongoing apostrophe/single quotes question. I will provide a report to BLC members at the upcoming AGM.

 

For more information on ICEB please visit http://www.iceb.org.

 

Directory of Transcribers and Proofreaders

BLC would like to establish a directory of certified braille transcribers and proofreaders. Whether you are a freelance transcriber or a producer looking to hire individuals with transcription or proofreading certification, we hope this directory will be a valuable resource. If you are a certified braille transcriber or proofreader and would like to be added to this directory please email info@blc-lbc.ca.

 

NAME THE NEWSLETTER – We Want to Hear from You!

 

Your BLC Communications committee is in the process of revamping the newsletter. We received some fabulous feedback from members who recently completed the membership survey and have some great new ideas to spruce up the newsletter for future issues! Among the coming changes, we plan to give the newsletter a catchy new name to go along with more braille related news features and updates from across the country. Future issues will continue to have something for everyone – braille readers, transcribers, educators, parents, and anyone else who loves all things braille dots.

 

We know there is a creative hive of readers out there – so we want to hear from you! DO you have an idea for a catchy name for the newsletter? Send in your ideas before May 1st, 2018: The BLC Communications committee will review all entries for consideration – and will announce the new name in a future issue. If the name you submit is selected, we’ll also reach out to you to learn more about your connection to braille and write up a short feature for an upcoming issue. Send all ideas to:

info@blc-lbc.ca

 

Membership in BLC

 

BLC membership coincides with the calendar year (January 1st until December 31st). If you are not yet a member or haven’t renewed for 2018, we invite you to visit

http://www.brailleliteracycanada.ca/en/about-us/get-involved/become-a-member.

 

If you are a member you can:

 

  • Have your say: attend the Annual General Meeting
  • Get involved in the work of BLC: join one of our committees
  • Help to promote the use of braille in Canada
  • Participate in teleconferences on braille-related issues (free for members)
  • Receive our bi-monthly newsletter, as well as other communications, directly from BLC
  • Get answers to all your UEB questions: join our UEB listserv by sending an email to UEB-request@lists.blc-lbc.ca.

 

In addition to individual personal membership, corporate membership is available for organizations who wish to support the work of BLC. Corporate member organizations can appoint up to two representatives who can vote during BLC meetings on behalf of their organizations and are free to join any of the BLC committees. BLC corporate members receive the bimonthly newsletter, can have their name and logo listed as a supporting member on the BLC website and other correspondences, and  all members of a corporate member organization  can attend our braille-related teleconferences free of charge. Have any other questions about becoming a member or about different membership benefits? Write to us at info@blc-lbc.ca

 

Teleconference On Emerging Braille Technology

 

On Saturday, March 3rd, BLC held a teleconference highlighting three very different braille devices that will soon be coming on the market.

 

The Read Read

Alex Tavares presented the Read Read, the first device that allows visually impaired and blind children to practise phonics and braille. The Read Read consists of moveable tiles with large print and braille letters. The device also includes recordings of each letter, and audio feedback is provided whenever a tile is pressed. For more information or to pre-order, visit the following link: https://www.thereadread.com/.

 

Canute braille reader:

Ed Rogers presented the Canute Braille Reader, a multi-line braille display that is being developed by Bristol Braille Technology. This 40-cell, 9-line display is expected to sell for a price comparable to that of an iPhone.

 

To learn more, go to the following link: http://www.bristolbraille.co.uk/.

 

Orbit Braille Reader:

Diane Bergeron provided an overview on the Orbit, a 20-cell display that costs approximately $500 Canadian. The Orbit can be paired with an iDevice, connected via USB or Bluetooth to a Mac or PC and can be used as a standalone notetaker. Diane noted that the device is undergoing some additional testing before it will be made widely available. For more details or to pre-order please visit the CNIB store at the following link: https://shop.cnib.ca/ProductDetail/tec9999999999_deposit-for-orbit-braille-reader-20.

 

BLC would like to thank Diane, Ed and Alex for taking the time to present these devices and answer our questions. Other displays and notetakers will be covered in future teleconferences, so stay tuned for more details!

 

The Timelessness of the Slate and Stylus

By Natalie Martiniello

 

I began learning braille in the first grade, and over the past 27 years, I have experienced first-hand the wonders of constantly evolving braille technologies. I could emboss hardcopy braille using my braille embosser. I could create electronic braille files using translation software. I could instantly read and write braille by hooking up a braille display or notetaker to my computer or smartphone. I still regularly use that handy Perkins brailler to jot down notes, phone numbers and make lists. But, regardless of how things evolve, there’s one tool I continue to carry around with me everywhere I go: that trusty slate and stylus!

 

The slate and stylus, much like the pen or pencil for the sighted person, will never become obsolete. It’s a handy tool that’s portable, small and doesn’t rely on batteries to work. It’s a quick and easy way to jot down a phone number or other quick notes on the go, and still an invaluable skill for a braille user to have.

 

What is the Slate and Stylus?

Braille dots within a cell need to be precisely spaced so that the person reading is able to accurately identify symbols. The stylus is about 2 inches long and has a handle that can be gripped with the index finger and thumb, and a metal point on the other end that can be used to punch raised dots onto a paper. The slate is a guide (usually made of metal or plastic) that ensures the dots are punched into the proper positions within each braille cell. It has hinges on one end and opens on the other end so that a piece of paper can be inserted inside. The top piece of the slate typically has four to six lines of small, evenly spaced openings that are the exact shape and size of the braille cell. The bottom piece of the slate is solid but contains indentations for each braille dot so that when the stylus is punched into the paper, precise braille symbols can be formed. Slate and styli come in many shapes and sizes. You can purchase pocket-sized slates and those big enough to jot down notes on an index card, or standard sized slates with four to six lines of braille, or full-page slates with up to 25 lines of braille. Slates and styli can be purchased from many blindness specialty stores, and are very reasonably priced (you can find most for sale for about $10). Check out this link from the Braille Superstore:

http://www.braillebookstore.com/Writing-Braille

 

It’s Not Backwards!

Backwards sounds wrong. Backwards makes something simple seem unnecessarily difficult. Traditionally, people tend to incorrectly think that the slate and stylus requires the user to write “backwards”. IN fact, sometimes it’s introduced this way to learners which I fear leads the slate and stylus to seem overly difficult and complicated, especially for the new braille learner. You do write with a slate from right to left (because as you punch the braille dots into the paper, they appear on the opposite side of the sheet), but you do not write the braille symbols backwards. Dots 1, 2 and 3 are always on the first side of the cell, and dots 4, 5 and 6 are always on the second. I strongly recommend teachers (and users) to think of writing with the slate and stylus this way. This is a great short article that explains how to teach and use the slate and stylus, without thinking of it as writing “backwards”:

https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr28/fr280118.htm

 

And this is a great guide for parents on using the Slate and Stylus:

https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/fr/fr25/fr07spr18.htm

 

Here’s a short YouTube video all about how to use the Slate and Stylus:

 

I love my Slate and Stylus! Over the years, I’ve collected many different kinds. It’s still so satisfying to hear the “punch” as braille letters are formed. In the past, before technologies were introduced, many braille users could write with a slate and stylus so quickly that they’d use it for note-taking in classes and during meetings – Pretty impressive! Are you one of those Slate and Stylus power users? Practice makes perfect, so nothing is stopping you from becoming one even today! But even if you won’t be joining the Slate and Stylus speedy Olympics, like me, you may still find it to be a very handy tool to add to your braille writing toolbox – and unlike some other devices – this one won’t talk back at you!

 

Do you use a Slate and Stylus? Write to us at info@blc-lbc.ca to tell us how the Slate and Stylus helps you, who introduced it to you, and what kind you love to use the most. Here’s to the Slate and Stylus, the most portable braille writing tool available, invented by Louis Braille himself!

 

Travel and see things differently: Following the History of Louis Braille

By Mélissa Brière et Tommy Théberge, travelling companions

 

Editor’s Note: Tommy and Mélissa provided us with English and French versions of this article. The French follows the English.

 

Last August, we had the opportunity to travel to Paris with ten teenagers with visual impairments and five travelling companions from the Quebec Foundation for the Blind. The main purpose of this trip was to learn more about the history of Louis Braille. Wherever possible, activities were structured so that participants could make use of  all five senses.

 

Once in Paris, we visited the Panthéon, where the tomb of Louis Braille is located. Each participant had the opportunity to touch the tombs and learn more about how the braille code was created. The following day we went to Coupvray, a town near Paris where the Louis Braille museum is found. This museum is in fact the house where Louis Braille grew up in the 19th century. It was in this house that Louis Braille lost his vision at the age of three. In the museum, we had the opportunity to learn more about other tactile codes used by blind people before braille was invented. We also tried the decapoint or raphigraphy, the ancestor of the brailler.

 

We visited the Institut national des jeunes aveugles, a school dedicated to kids with visual impairment. Approximately 170 students from different academic levels study every year in this special school. It was summer vacation while we were there so the school was closed. They opened the school for us one day during our trip so we had the chance to visit and attend a private organ concert given by Dominic Levac, a blind organist. All participants really appreciated the private concert and the school’s 3D model of the solar system.

 

We also went to Père Lachaise Cemetery where we had an excellent guided tour. Many of you will probably think that visiting a cemetery when you are blind must be boring, but it isn’t. Our guide described the epitaphs and we had the opportunity to touch many of them. We heard soundtracks of the singers our guide talked about as well.

 

Finally, we visited the Musée des égouts de Paris. We learned about the water filtration system in Paris and smelled some odours … which were not as bad as we had expected. Throughout the week, we ate a lot of French bread, cheese and petits pains au chocolat.

 

For us, this trip was a unique opportunity to spend a wonderful week in Paris with a group of blind teenagers. The whole group learned more about the history of braille and its inventor, and had the opportunity to experience many popular attractions with all five senses.

 

Voyager et voir autrement : Sur la route de Louis-Braille

 

Mélissa Brière et Tommy Théberge, accompagnateurs

 

En août dernier, nous avons eu la chance d’accompagner un groupe de dix jeunes ayant un handicap visuel et cinq moniteurs de la Fondation des Aveugles du Québec dans le cadre de leur périple en France sur la route de Louis Braille. Ayant comme objectif de leur faire découvrir les origines du célèbre homme aveugle et de son fameux code d’écriture, les jeunes voyageurs en ont eu plein la vue.

 

Bien que plusieurs activités avaient un lien avec la déficience visuelle ou l’inventeur du braille, elles ont toutes mis nos sens à l’épreuve. Ainsi, participants et accompagnateurs ont pu bien profiter de chaque moment.

 

Une fois arrivés à Paris, nous avons eu la chance de visiter le Panthéon où se trouve le tombeau de Louis-Braille. Tous ont pu le toucher et en apprendre un peu plus sur l’invention du braille. Le lendemain, nous nous sommes rendus à Coupvray, ville en banlieue de Paris où a grandi Louis Braille. Sa maison a été transformée en musée. Nos guides nous ont expliqué comment Louis Braille a perdu la vue et comment il en est venu à créer un code d’écriture en relief. Nous avons eu la chance de voir et de toucher divers codes créés avant le braille en plus d’essayer le raphigraphe, l’ancêtre de la machine à écrire braille. Cela fut une occasion unique de toucher ces pièces historiques habituellement exposées derrière les vitrines.

 

Nous avons aussi visité l’institut national des jeunes aveugles, une école spécialisée. Près de 170 étudiants des différents niveaux académiques y étudient dont 120 sont pensionnaires. Lors de notre passage en août, c’était période de vacances estivales. Nous avons eu la chance qu’un membre du personnel de l’école de même que Dominic Levac, organiste aveugle nous fassent une visite guidée personnalisée. Parmi les coups de cœur de cette visite, notons la maquette reproduisant le système solaire en 3D de même que le magnifique concert d’orgue offert spécialement pour nous.

 

Nous avons aussi eu droit à une visite guidée du cimetière du père Lachaise. Plusieurs diront qu’une visite de cimetière lorsqu’on ne voit pas peut être plate, mais non. Notre guide a su nous décrire les différentes épitaphes, nous a permis de toucher et avait même des extraits sonores pour nous faire connaitre certains des personnages exposés.

 

Après avoir mis à contribution l’ouïe et le toucher, il était temps de faire appel à nos autres sens. Nous avons visité les égouts de Paris. Cette visite nous a permis d’en apprendre davantage sur le système de filtration des eaux parisiennes en plus de sentir les odeurs, qui étonnamment n’étaient pas si nauséabondes. Mais que serait un voyage à Paris sans baguette française, fromage et petits pains au chocolat ou sans diner dans un bistro du coin. Tous se sont régalés tout au long de la semaine.

 

Ce fut pour nous une occasion unique de passer ces six jours à Paris et d’accompagner le groupe. Nous avons pu en apprendre plus sur l’histoire du braille et de son célèbre inventeur en plus de nous faire découvrir les différents attraits touristiques de la ville sous une autre perspective en mettant tous nos sens à contribution. À quand une autre expérience sensorielle de la sorte?

 

Customizable Braille in IOS 11

By Kim Kilpatrick

 

With the arrival of IOS 11, there were definitely some good and bad things about braille. Some of these have been fixed while braille still remains buggy in some instances.

 

Braille translation while typing and braille losing its focus can still be problematic, although I have been assured that Apple is working on this issue.

 

However, one lovely feature was implemented with IOS 11. You can greatly customize braille commands and do everything from a braille display, including talking to Siri, opening Voiceover settings, and more.

 

In upcoming articles, I will go through in detail all of the possible types of keyboard commands you can configure. For now, I am just going to tell you how to get into this feature. Feel free to play and explore these settings.

 

You must have an electronic braille display paired with your device. To do this, turn on your braille display, (do not go to Bluetooth settings on your iDevice) go to Settings, General, Accessibility, Voiceover, Braille. Look for your display in the list of devices and pair it. Now, below your display a button shows up labeled “more info”. Double tap that. In the past, the only option there was “forget this device”. Now there is also a button that says “Braille commands”. Tap that and you are ready to explore all of the wonderful new features!

 

Braille is Everywhere!

By Karen Brophey

 

 

 

Braille is on our minds, and we make sure it’s under everyone’s fingertips, at the CNIB’s new GTA Community Hub in midtown Toronto.

 

  • Sewn-on buttons spell out words of welcome in jumbo braille (on the couch’s two pillows)
  • Our Book Nook is a cozy spot used by grownups and kids, to explore both DIY and commercially produced tactile and braille books
  • Push-on lights (4″ diameter) in sets of six make learning about braille fun, especially for sighted siblings! These lights boards are also frequently used to display ‘braille’ messages to passers-by via our storefront windows. At our first DAISY audio Book Launch we spelled out: ‘Book Love’ and during a recent tour to Apple Staff we spelled out ‘Hi Apple!’
  • Braille is integrated into all events. At our Tactile Haunted House of Fun, the ingredients for the Magic Potion table were labelled only in braille. At the Anti-Valentine’s Day Youth Slam we interviewed guests and sent them home with a personalized Haiku in braille.
  • A giant simulated braille alphabet poster is positioned right inside our front doors, a visual reminder to guests to appreciate the importance of braille
  • A fledgling Braille Club at the Hub is brainstorming ways to raise the profile of braille through partnerships with public libraries and other community organizations
  • Little Free Library – unlike most free book exchanges, we feature braille and audio books – visitors to the Hub are invited to take a book, leave a book

 

To celebrate the 100th anniversary of CNIB and highlight its role, since its founding, in literacy and the right of people living with vision loss to enjoy equal access to information, check out http://thatallmayread.ca/. This online, fully accessible, multimedia exhibit has been created from CNIB’s rich collection of archives, artefacts and photographs, along with audio recordings and personal stories and testimonials contributed by Canadians who are blind.

 

We also invite you to join staff, volunteers, donors and community partners as we celebrate CNIB’s 100 years, at events across Canada, between March and June 2018!

 

Facebook Links

 

We at BLC post braille related events and news on our facebook and twitter pages! If you have a braille event or story you’d like us to advertise, let us know! Here’s a sample of what we’ve posted over the past month:

 

National Braille Press awarded the 2018 Touch of Genius prize to a company in India for their production of Braille Me, an affordable braille display.

Congratulations to the team! Read the announcement here:

http://nbp-2416598.hs-sites.com/february-2018-enews?ecid=ACsprvuZQiN2DFIQvNnSZtmXdTpUoMlPeeFbqwewBAyuRwuGnWON-w90v2l_cLgeRnlr4C0RI8PI&utm_campaign=newsletter%20subscriptions%20&utm_source=hs_email&utm_medium=email&utm_content=60990073&_hsenc=p2ANqtz-9NWP44L7yBvMLLJ4S7gJlOjCzMD-5VB_gYPMJE9OaR6rgoNqK0TP2fOgWmQTcOvZHVmMK6xeTPl3Ey9bbzLRUk4HrK5g&_hsmi=60990073

 

Don’t miss this opportunity to learn different strategies and tools that can be used to create and modify accessible literacy materials. Register by April

2 to save! From the Perkins School for the Blind:

http://www.perkinselearning.org/earn-credits/online-class/accessible-literacy-early-readers

 

local teacher develops Navajo #braille code:

http://www.daily-times.com/story/news/education/2017/12/30/farmington-municipal-school-teacher-develops-navajo-braille-code/991168001/

 

Did you know? The Great Expectations program at NBP offers FREE activities that bring picture books to life! Check it out:

http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/programs/gep/ge_index.html

 

Reading Adventure Time! is a free, teacher-centric, student-friendly app that includes activities and assessment to help students build reading skills. This app is available for free for anyone to use. However, its focused users are students in grades 1st -12th who are visually impaired and read #braille:

http://www.pathstoliteracy.org/news/reading-adventure-time-free-app-improve-literacy

 

BrailleBlox is an electronic emerging braille game!

http://www.perkinselearning.org/technology/blog/brailleblox-electronic-emerging-braille-game

 

how cool is this? National Braille Press is now the home for The Princeton Braillists Collection. Read the story here!

http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/publications/princetonbraillists.html?id=bQQzauKJ

 

Find out what’s in your Perkins brailler and how it’s constructed – thanks to the Australian Braille Authority for sharing this great video!

 

Building #braille blocks with the National Federation of the Blind:

http://www.kswo.com/story/37587524/blind-people-empowered-in-lawton-building-class

 

Do your #braille students have trouble with spelling?

http://www.pathstoliteracy.org/spelling

 

#braille signage should be in easy reach for people to find:

https://easterneronline.com/41968/news/student-finds-campus-disability-support-only-goes-so-far/

 

The January “Access World” issue from the American Foundation for the Blind features an article all about the low-cost Orbit

#Braille Reader!

http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pubnew.asp?DocID=aw190103

 

@brllitcan

Braille Literacy Canada

LinkedIn

 

CCB Tech Articles, Donna’s Low Tech Tips, Meet the Talking Bathroom Scale, March 26, 2018

March 26 2018

Meet the talking bathroom scale

 

Hi there!  It’s Donna and thank you for allowing me to come into your inbox.  As mentioned in my previous blog, I would like to concentrate on the lower levels of technology and today I’d like you to meet the talking bathroom scale.

 

Now, I’ll state up front that I bought this nifty piece of technology many years ago and I am not sure who sells it today but I can give you some contact info to check out.

 

When I bought my first talking bathroom scale, I was lucky enough to have my friend Maria bring it to me from the United States as she had purchased it for me at a convention.  However, I am hopeful that someone in Canada would be selling it today and I’ll share my contact info with you at the end of my blog.

 

The talking bathroom scale is really a very simple device.  It is larger than the regular scale and when I bought it the cost was quite a bit more than the regular scale.  It works through the use of a square battery and you can insert the battery into a small compartment at the bottom of the scale.  So you’ll have to flip it over in order to locate it.

 

My present talking bathroom scale can announce my weight in either pounds or kilos and I can choose my preference of announcement by tapping the bottom right hand corner of the surface of the scale with my foot.  Each time I tap with my foot the scale announces what I have chosen.  The voice is in a clear male tone with a somewhat British like accent.

 

To use the talking bathroom scale; I first place it on a level floor surface.

Next I stand on the scale and I  place each foot on either side of a large round button which is located towards the top left hand corner of the scale.

Within seconds you’ll hear a voice that says “please step off.”

When you step off the voice will then tell you your weight in whichever format you have chosen.

At this point you could tap the bottom right hand corner to change the format of your weight and the scale will announce it to you.

 

So for example:  I stand on the scale placing my feet in the position indicated above.

The scale asks me to please step off.

It announces my weight to me in pounds.

I tap the bottom right hand corner of the scale with my foot and it then announces my weight in kilos.

 

The next time I stand on my scale it will announce my weight in the format that I previously chose.

Note:  When you first stand on the scale, it beeps before it asks you to please step off.

 

Simple and easy and here is the contact info that I can share with you.

Frontier Computing – Toronto – 416 489 6690

The CNIB store – I would phone the main number and ask for the store – 416 486 2500.

I am not sure who else in Canada sells it.

 

So have fun now with the Talking Bathroom Scale and see you next week.

 

If you would like to become a member of  my CCB Mysteries chapter you can do so for the price of $10 annually and in return you will receive unlimited access to either of the following libraries.

Recipes –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-recipes.html

Audio mysteries for all ages –

http://www.donnajodhan.com/library-audio-mysteries.html

Or you can subscribe to both for the price of $20 annually.

 

Have a super day and see you next week.

Donna