Author: Albert Ruel

The Albert A. Ruel Road to Blindness A 21 year old man stood on the beach at the Sproat Lake Provincial Park with friends early in May of 1977, and upon gazing across the lake found the Gulf Oil sign missing from the dock-side filling station there. When this fact was shared with his companions they glanced at him with puzzled looks and said, “No Albert, the sign is still there”. That was the beginning of a road through confusion, anger, isolation, loneliness and discovery for me. It all began with a visit to a local Optometrist who could see that my vision wasn’t right, but that corrective lenses wouldn’t help. He then referred me to a General Practitioner, where I received a clean bill of health and an additional referral. This time to an Ophthalmologist. Immediately upon peering through the dilated pupils, Dr. McKerricher was able to see the problem, Retinal Vasculitis. Now, you would think that all would start to improve at this point, but that couldn’t be further from the truth. You see, CNIB, from 1918 until 1985 only served the needs of people who were “Legally Blind”, a level of vision loss I wouldn’t reach until November of 1979. The words of Dr. McKerricher still echo in my mind today, “Albert, I don’t know what has caused this and nothing we’ve tried is helping to stop it, and you’re not blind enough for me to refer you to CNIB”! In the middle of this transition from 20/20 vision to “Legally Blind” came the Motor Vehicle Branch and it’s rules of the road. On August 3, 1978 I drove a car for the last time as my vision had reached the level at which operating a motor vehicle became too dangerous, further intensifying feelings of fear, isolation and anger. Sadly, through this period the only available guidance and support was through family and friends, but not the experienced professionals I needed at the time. Although these support systems are critically important they can often be smothering and facilitating, rather than encouraging and supportive. With gratitude, and some trepidation I finally was able to access CNIB services in November of 1979, and the world opened up then. There I was able to meet other blind people and receive the daily living and mobility skills required to live independently in this sighted world. I learned elementary braille and began to discover technology as necessary tools of independence. Thankfully, in 1985 CNIB’s National Board altered the course of service to visually impaired Canadians forever. They added a third prong to their Mission Statement, “To promote sight enhancement services”. This opened the door to all Canadians who were beginning to lose sight, as well as those who had a fear of vision loss to access the full range of CNIB Support and Rehabilitation Services. So now, whether it’s someone’s Mother who is experiencing Macular Degeneration, or an Uncle experiencing the affects of Glaucoma, all have the ability to seek information, guidance and support as all involved deal with the fear and anxiety that accompanies such life altering experiences. With the help of professional Rehabilitation Workers and Employment Counselors I was able to continue traveling independently within my own community, and even more remarkably anywhere in the world I desired to go. I managed to attend College in Nanaimo and New Westminster, as well as traveling to the Mayo Clinic and to doctor’s appointments in Nanaimo and Vancouver without assistance. All of this while living with some usable vision, but not yet needing a white cane for travel. During the mid 1980’s I was a stay-at-home Dad and did all that was required of that challenging work, from changing diapers to preparing meals, and from cutting the grass to maintaining our home. I even took a woodworking course through Alberni’s Adult Education program and built and restored several pieces of furniture. Of course the 1958 Chevy Impala in the garage was my pride and joy, and I devised ways to do much of the work it required. I also joined and participated in many community activities, like the local Car Club, and a disability support group that catered to the needs of people with many different disabilities. Of course, continued participation in family life remained of critical importance through this period. In 1989 a secondary condition began to extinguish the vision that remained, which set into motion a new stream of professional rehabilitation services and supports. By the spring of 1990 Glaucoma had turned out the lights completely, and the darkness I had feared so desperately was upon me. Strangely though, I found this to be a great relief rather than the tragedy I had imagined it would be. Through several professional rehabilitation sessions, and by joining peer mentoring and advocacy groups I was able to come to terms with this strange feeling, and to learn additional skills and strategies for living with no visual cues of the world around me. This is also about the time that I decided to explore CNIB as an employer, and to see if I could provide the sort of guidance and support to others that had been my pleasure to receive. Those 14 years were a wonderful experience of ongoing discovery for me, as teaching may be the best way to solidify one’s own learning. In other words, those we assist through this transition in turn help us all as we develop best practices and improved service. Following a 14 year career with CNIB I also served the blind community as the first National Equality Director employed by the Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC), and as a Basic Computer Literacy Trainer with the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB). Most recently I have enjoyed coordinating the CCB’s newly launched Get Together with Technology Program in Western Canada, which brings to the fore my passion for assistive technology and the power of peer mentoring. Without sight I have continued to travel far and wide, with trips to Conventions of and for the Blind in Anaheim California and Melbourne Australia, as well as to many events and activities in Toronto and Vancouver. Of course my work has taken me to many communities throughout Western Canada, and most particularly nearly all regions of BC and on Vancouver Island. None of which would have been possible without the services and support of organizations like CCB, AEBC and CNIB. For most people blindness generates a fear of extended movement, both within one’s home and community, but that doesn’t have to be the case. Independence comes from personal desire and increased skill. Many community organizations can assist with both through their mentoring and skill development programs. I remember always that life has little to do with what happens to me and 100% what I do about/with it. There is a quote I like to use from the National Federation of the Blind in the USA, “With adequate skill development and opportunity blindness can be reduced to the level of a nuisance”, and nothing could be closer to the truth. Helen Keller said many years ago, “There is nothing more tragic than someone who has sight, but no vision”. She also challenged the Lions Clubs of the world to become the “Knights of the Blind, and to take up the crusade against darkness”. I too joined a Lions Club in 1992 and continue to work on the crusade that Helen Keller began in the 1920-s.

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes November 9, 2015

Summary Notes
GTT Edmonton Meeting November 9, 2015

The most recent meeting of the Get Together With Technology (GTT) Edmonton group was held November 9at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street
in Edmonton.
11 people attended.

November Feature Topic – Direct to Player Books
• Gerry demonstrated obtaining a Direct to Player book from CELA/CNIB Library on Victor Reader Stratus and Victor Reader Stream new generation players.
• Russell demonstrated listening to Direct to Player books using the iPhone popular Voice Dream Reader app.
• Lorne demonstrated the CNIB iPhone Direct to Player app which is free from the iTunes app store.
• Our guest, Mike Mcwilliams, demonstrated a new device called After Sight. It is a sensory substitution device. It consists of a web cam mounted on eye
glasses, a pocket-size computer processing unit, and headphones to listen to a generated soundscape. The camera takes pictures once per second and generates
positional sounds of varying tones in the headphones as an interpretation of the camera image. In addition to the sonification of images, the unit also
vibrates if there is an obstacle in front of you. The closer the object the more intense the vibration. It can detect obstacles up to 5 metres. Mike has
a limited number of devices available at no charge for testing or units can be purchased for $300. Testers are welcome. Mike’s contact information is in
the Resource section below. We thank Mike for his demonstration.

Direct to Player Books from CELA/CNIB
• Direct to Player compatible book players include Victor Reader Stream new generation, Victor Reader Stratus12M or Stratus4M, Plextalk PTX1, and Plextalk
Linio Pocket.
• The CNIB/CELA Direct to Player bookshelf resides on the cloud i.e., on the Internet. If you have a compatible Direct to Player device and it is connected
to the Internet then it will periodically check this cloud bookshelf and download books from it until it fills the memory of the player. When you finish
listening to the book simply press the “Return Book” key to free up memory on the player to download additional books.
• To place a book on the cloud bookshelf you can use a computer to find the book or simply have the CELA/CNIB Library computer choose books for you and
place them on the cloud bookshelf at specified times for example, 1 book per week. You can set up this automatic book selection by contacting CNIB/CELA
customer service.
• The process of converting from CDs to Direct to Player books is simple. Once you have a compatible player contact CNIB or CELA with the SSID and password
of your Wi-Fi router and your 6 digit library account number. The library will then create a setup file to configure your player and send you that file
via email attachment or SD card. Simply insert the SD card with the setup file to your player and it will be configured to receive books through the Internet.
No more CDs!

Resources
• The CELA Library web site is
http://www.celalibrary.ca/

• CELA toll free customer service number is 1-855-655-2273
• CNIB Library customer service is still available for existing CNIB Library clients. The toll free number is 1-800-268-8818
• You can learn more about Direct to Player service at:
CELA-CNIB Direct to Player

• For more information about the demonstrated sensory substitution device contact:
Mike Mcwilliams
Cell:403-488-1247
Email:
mike.mcwilliams@after-sight.com
Web:
http://www.after-sight.com

Next Meeting Agenda (Monday December 14, 7pm)
• We are pleased that
Aroga Technologies
has accepted our invitation to bring an exhibit of various assistive technologies to our December meeting. Aroga is Canada’s premiere assistive technology
retailer with 28 years of experience. In accordance with the holiday season, Aroga will also treat us with pizza! We hope to see you all in December to
learn about the latest in technology, meet the folks from Aroga, and enjoy the pizza. More information will be provided in the meeting agenda in early
December.
• In breakout groups we can discuss any other topic you wish. Please bring your technology, your questions and answers.

Meeting Location and Logistics
• Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
• We meet in the basement hall.
• Please enter the church from the back door only. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
• Meetings are typically every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
Try to arrive between 6:45pm and 7:15pm after which the door will be locked. If you arrive late there is a door bell to the right of the outside door.
• If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

GTT Edmonton Team
• Gerry Chevalier is blind. He is retired from HumanWare where he worked as the Product Manager for the Victor Reader line of talking book players.
• Heather MacDonald is the specialist for CNIB career and employment services. She has a wealth of experience helping blind and visually impaired people
with the challenges of finding employment.
• Carrie Anton is visually impaired and is the accessibility specialist for Athabasca University.
• Russell Solowoniuk is blind and works with alternative formats and assistive technology at Grant MacEwan University.
• Lorne Weber is blind and is the accessibility specialist for Norquest College.

GTT Edmonton Overview
• GTT is sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
• There are GTT groups in Ottawa, Toronto, Kingston, Sydney, Edmonton, Victoria, Nanaimo, Vancouver, , and more to come.
• There is also a national GTT monthly toll free teleconference.
• GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
• Each meeting will present a feature technology topic and general question and answer about any other technology.
• Small groups or even one on one assistance is possible at the meetings.
• 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.

Resource: 26 Actually Useful Things You Can Do with Siri

26 Actually Useful Things You Can Do with Siri

http://www.howtogeek.com/229308/26-actually-useful-things-you-can-do-with-siri/

Siri is best known as Apple’s so-called digital personal assistant available on iOS devices like iPhone and iPad.

Some might think Siri is only good for looking stuff up, but it can actually do a great deal more. The thing about Siri is that can be hard to get used to, but once you do, it is incredibly useful. You can do a fairly wide array of tasks on your iOS device beyond simply looking something up. For example, you can have Siri create reminders, take notes, and set alarms. It can even make changes to system settings. Siri will also adapt to your personal language use and as you use it more and more, will tailor results individually to you.

Siri can easily be activated by holding down the home button on your iOS device until it beeps and the Siri interface appears. On iOS 9, Siri can also now be activated by saying “Hey Siri”, which is invaluable when you’re eating or driving or your iPhone is simply out of reach.

In this article, we want to go through and highlight some of the things that Siri can do. You might be surprised at how versatile and useful it is.

Searching for Things
We’ll just get it out of the way because we don’t want to be anti-climatic. Obviously, you can use Siri to search, and in fact that’s one of the things it does very well. That said, Siri will also use a variety of web services to pull data from other sources, so results are more useful than a simple list of websites you can visit.

As you’ll see in the following examples, if you want to find movie times, or know sport scores, then what you’ll see direct results rather than being shown websites you could visit to get more information.

Create Reminders
We all need to remember things, and Siri really shines when setting reminders. Simply say “remind me to …” and Siri will instantly add it to the Reminders app on your device.

If you have other iOS devices or a Mac, your reminders will be replicated to those as well, so no matter what Apple device you’re using, you can always access your reminders. Further, you can have Siri give you more specific timely reminders, for example, “Hey Siri, remind me to go to the gym at 3 PM.”

Additionally you can ask Siri to read you your to-do list, as well as location-oriented reminders like reminding you to perform an action when you leave the house, when you return home, or arrive at a certain place. If you have specific lists, you can tell Siri to add items to it like “add apples to my grocery list” or “add change oil to my to-do list.”

Create Events
Need to add something to your calendar? Siri can do that for you. Just tell Siri to create an event titled “such and such” at this time on this day and she’ll enter all that into your calendar for you.

Once Siri has the details nailed down, she’ll ask you to confirm or cancel. Once confirmed, the event will be replicated across all your devices so you don’t to repeat the effort on your Mac or iPad.

Want to do more? You can, such as moving meetings, rescheduling appointments, adding people to your meetings, and you can also ask about events, like what the rest of your day looks like, when you’re meeting with someone, and when your next appointment occurs.

Set Alarms
Setting alarms is really useful, particularly when you can use it in conjunction with “Hey Siri”.

Simply say something like “set an alarm for 8 AM” or “Hey Siri, wake me up at 6:30 AM” and it will turn the alarm on for that appointed time. You can also change alarms such as “change my 6:30 AM alarm to 7h:00 AM,” turn off all your alarms, or have Siri set an alarm to wake you after a certain duration, i.e. “wake me up in 45 minutes.”

Call People
This one is very useful when trying to operate your device hands-free. You can use Siri to call people by simply telling it who to call.

You can even have it call a person on speaker so you don’t have to look at the phone to turn it on. That way, if you are driving, your eyes never leave the road.

You can also call specific numbers, get your call history, see if you have any missed calls, redial the last number, check your voicemail, and much more.

FaceTime with Your Friends
No need to open FaceTime if you want to chat face-to-face with friends and family, simply ask Siri to do it for you.

You can specify whether you want to make a regular FaceTime call (with video) or a FaceTime call with only audio.

Turn on a Timer
Simple but effective, and also pretty cool when you’re trying to operate hands-free. Use Siri to create a timer so that if you’re cooking something and washing your hands, you don’t need to touch the phone.

Setting timers in this way is actually a lot easier than using the Clock app in our opinion. You can also have Siri stop, pause, resume, and so forth.

Find out What Time it is
You can ask Siri what time it is, either where you live, or somewhere more distant.

Sadly, you can only ask for the time one place at a time. If you try to ask what time it is in several places at once, it will only return a result for the first place you ask about.

Tell You What Song is Playing
While it’s true there are specific apps out there that can do this, simply being able to tell Siri to listen and identify a song is a pretty neat trick.

Results are provided by SHAZAM but Siri will make it a seamless experience.

Play Songs from Your Favorite Artist
You can ask Siri to play songs from your favorite musical artist, or to play songs similar to your favorite artist, or a specific song from your favorite artist, and so on.

If you don’t have any music from them on your iPhone or iPad, then Siri will offer to queue them up on an Apple Music station.

There’s quite a few other things you can have Siri do for you when it comes to music. You can ask it to play music by genre, play specific albums, and basic controls like play, pause, and skip, among many other things.

Make Reservations
If you want to make a reservation at your favorite restaurant, Siri can connect to OpenTable and do that for you.

Once Siri finds out if there’s any available reservations, you’ll be able to tap the time you want and reserve a table. Make sure that if your party includes more than two people that you specify how large it is.

Launch Applications
Hey, we get it, apps are awesome and you probably have a bazillion on your iPhone by now, but don’t you get tired of flipping through your screens to fine that one you only use occasionally?

No problem, just tell Siri to “open Dropbox” or “launch YouTube” and you’ll never have to scroll through your home screens again (unless you really want to).

You can also have Siri go and fetch apps from the app store, such as “download Twitter” or even have it search the app store for new apps, such as if you’re looking for a cooking or some other app.

Find and Read Emails
Don’t want to hunt for a particular email? Simply have Siri find it. You can have it search for email by subject, sender, date, and so forth.

Thereafter, once Siri finds the emails, you can have it read them to you, or you can just tap the one you want to open it in the Mail application.

Beyond this, you can ask Siri to perform other email-related tasks, such as asking it to check your email, replying to an email, and of course, sending new emails.

Perform Calculations
Why use a calculator when you can just ask Siri?

Of course, you don’t have to perform as complicated calculations as pictured above, but it’s nice to know you could if needed.

Perform Quick Conversions
Want to quickly know how many cups are in a gallon or miles per hour to kilometers per hour? Siri can perform quick conversions for you so you don’t have to look it up.

Next time you’re struggling mightily to convert tablespoons to teaspoons, remember Siri can help you out with that.

Check Dates
Siri can do a lot of cool stuff with dates as well, such as telling you what day of the week something is, how many days have elapsed between two dates, what day next Friday will be, and more.

You can play around with this and get a lot of useful information, but if you don’t want a shock, it might be better not to ask Siri how many days ago
you were born!

Change Settings
This one is very useful because changing settings can sometimes be a little tedious. With Siri, you can just ask it to turn off something like Wi-Fi, or turn on Bluetooth.

It’s a great little extra perk, and we’re glad that Apple finally added this to iOS.

Access App Settings
If you have an app open on your iPhone or iPad, you can quickly access that app’s settings by opening Siri and saying “Settings”.

We like this particular trick because it’s so much faster than accessing an app’s settings the traditional way. Also, you don’t have to have the actual app open, you can ask Siri to open that app’s settings by saying “open [app] settings”.

Mapping
Mapping things is one of the most useful things a smartphone can do and luckily Siri makes it even more useful. You can ask Siri to show you how to get from point A to point B, or simply how far away a destination is.

You can do much more of course; you can ask Siri to give you directions home, ask what your ETA is, find the nearest gas station, show you landmarks, and tons of other stuff.

Because Apple Maps has gotten progressively better since it’s haphazard launch several years ago, you may not even need Google, meaning that you can have Siri route you around the country to your heart’s content.

Take Notes
Got a winning idea for the next great American novel, or something occurred to you that you really want to remember? Don’t leave it to your memory, have Siri note it for you.

It’s simple just to ask Siri to take a note, and like reminders and events, it will be synced to iCloud so it will be available across all your devices.

Send Text Messages
Siri really shows her personal assistant chops when it comes to text messages. Ask Siri to “send a text message” to so-and-so, and it will ask you what you want it to say.

Once, Siri has your message ready, you can tell it to send it to the recipient or just cancel.

If you simply want to dictate a message to send, you can just tell Siri to text someone with the message content. For example, “text Mom and tell her I’ll be home for Christmas” or “reply to Kirk that’s fantastic news.”

Read Text Messages
Texting and driving is a huge no-no, which is why you should just have Siri help you out with that. For example, in addition to being able to dictate and send text messages, you can also have it read them to you.

Of course, if someone sends you something personal, it’s probably best not to have Siri read it aloud in front of others, but if you’re in the car driving, and someone sends you a message, you won’t have to pull over to read it, instead you can have it read to you.

Once Siri has read you your new text message, you can have it reply or simply call the sender.

Follow Sports
For those of you who love and follow sports, you can have Siri keep you abreast of what is going on with your favorite (or not so favorite) teams.

You can ask when a team is playing, who they play, or what the score was. Siri can also give you other information such as standings and information about specific teams, as well as what games are on, what channel your favorite team is on, and much, much more.

See Where and When Movies are Playing
Want to go see the latest Hollywood blockbuster but don’t want to play movie roulette? Ask Siri to show you where something is playing nearby.

Being able to just ask Siri where a movie is playing will prove to be a terrific timesaver. Furthermore, the fun doesn’t end there, you can also ask Siri about who starred in a movie, find out which types of movies are playing, what’s playing at a specific theater, and so on.

Give Yourself a Nickname
If you don’t want Siri to refer to you by your name, you can tell it to call you by another.

Of course, if you don’t like the new nickname, or you want a different one, you can change it at anytime by simply asking Siri to call you something else.

Just Ask About What You Can Ask About
If you want to know more, and dig further into all of Siri’s powers, simply activate it say, “what can I ask you?”

Siri will give you a long list of categories, and when you tap on each one, it will give you further examples of all the things you can do with it.

Say Goodbye
Finally, when you’re finished using Siri, you can make it go away by saying something dismissive like “bye” or “see you later.”

Being able to do so much with Siri means that it’s far more likely to become a more routinely used feature instead of an occasional tool for looking stuff up. The ability to set reminders or read text messages gives you powers that you might never thought available to you.

Beyond this, if you want to change Siri’s gender or accent, or have it respond to your voice, then you can do that too.

GTT Victoria Summary Notes, October 7, 2015

Summary Notes
GTT Victoria October 7 meeting

The GTT Victoria CCB Chapter met on Wednesday, October 7, 1:00 to 3:30 PM in the community room of Victoria Central Public Library at 735 Broughton Street. There were about a dozen people in attendance, some arrived late, or during the break, so the exact number was not determined.

1. Technology@Work
The first presentation was given by Wendy Cox from the BC Technology@Work program, in conjunction with the Neil Squire Society and Victoria Disability Resource Centre.

Wendy explained that this program is similar to the EATI program with which many are familiar. The differences are: it is tighter in terms of eligibility; there is a cost share requested of employers as well as participants. In addition, there is no income reporting requirement for eligibility.

Basic eligibility requirements are:
• To be 16 years of age or older;
• Must have a disability;
• Must be either working, be verifiably going to work, or starting a verifiable volunteer position within the next few months; and,
• Equipment provided must remove a workplace-related barrier or barrier with work-related safe travel.

Provincial and Federal Government employees are not eligible.

Another priority of Technology@Work is to raise awareness and create opportunity around employment possibilities for people with disabilities. It also works individually with participants to help them develop a whole range of job readiness skills.

The website is http://www.neilsquire.ca/bctechatwork/
You can sign up by completing a paper form, available from the Victoria Disability Resource Centre at 817 Fort Street, or an online version available from the above website link. If you have trouble, you can request assistance by phone at 250-595-0044, or check http://www.drcvictoria.com

2. GTT Update
Albert Ruel, GTT Coordinator for Western Canada, provided an update on GTT activities being carried out around the country. He started by letting us know that the Victoria chapter now has 12 paid members, with three more added at this meeting, and that memberships for 2016 are due in December. He then explained that this GTT group has become a chapter of the Canadian Council of the Blind. GTT originally started in Ottawa, providing blind and visually impaired people with the opportunity to form peer support groups where members could inform each other about training and technology-related experiences.

GTT is trying to diversify itself around the country in ways that match the interests of its members – curling clubs, book clubs, etc. The most recent group formed on September 23, in conjunction with the Blind Beginnings group in Vancouver, as a continuation for young people who have now finished with the Blind Beginnings program. There were 15 people in attendance, and it was a very good session. See the GTT program blog https://gttprogram.wordpress.com for more details, including information about GTT startups in Edmonton, Toronto, Kingston and Sydney, Nova Scotia.

There is a monthly national GTT teleconference in which anyone may participate. Each month features a technology-related presentation and discussion.

Albert also wanted everyone to know about the next Vocal Eye presentation to take place for the 2pm matinee at the Belfry Theater on November 8, entitled “The Leonard Cohen Story”.

3. BC Transit
Trekker Breezes installed on BC Transit buses announce cross-streets and not bus stops. The BC Transit Facebook page contains a number of postings from sighted people complaining about this inadequacy.

Tom clarified that GTT should remain focused on peer support related to effective use of technology, and that the political process to improve the transit situation should be managed by an organization such as Alliance for Equality of Blind Canadians (AEBC). Anyone interested in re-establishing an AEBC chapter in Victoria may contact Tom Dekker or Susan Gallagher.

4. Technology – Podcasts
The technology feature for this meeting was a presentation and discussion about podcasts. What is a podcast, why podcasts are important, and how one accesses them. Tom explained that a podcast is essentially an audio recording that can be made available via the internet. Many blind people now produce instructional podcasts about all kinds of assistive technology and can thus be a great source of peer support.

In regard to accessing podcasts, Tom demonstrated a Windows podcast management program called Q-Cast, produced by Accessible Apps, a company owned and operated by two blind programmers. Traditionally, Windows-based podcast management apps have not been particularly screen-reader friendly, but this one is very easy to use, while still offering all features related to podcast management. If you can find the arrow keys, the alt, tab, and enter keys, you can easily learn any app produced by this company. The help documentation is also fully accessible and very clearly written.

The company also produces an excellent app for reading documents and E-books called Q-Read, a news reader called Q-Feed and a Twitter client called Chicken Nugget. Free 30-day trials are available. Find out more at http://www.q-continuum.net

Two sources of great peer support podcast producers include:
CoolBlindTech – http://www.coolblindtech.com and
AppleVis – http://www.applevis.com

Of course, there are thousands of podcasts on all kinds of topics, but Q-Cast makes it very easy to search for and subscribe to podcasts of interest. Almost any informational radio programs are now available as podcasts, especially from networks like CBC, BBC and NPR. Contact us if you wish to have more information.

The next meeting of the GTT Victoria group will be on Wednesday, November 4, 2015 at the Greater Victoria Public Library in the community room, 735 Broughton Street from 1:00 to 3:30 PM.

Submitted on October 23, 2015 by:
Tom Dekker, GTT Victoria Coordinator
T: 250-661-9799
E: Me@TomDekker.ca

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes, October 19, 2015

Summary Notes
GTT Edmonton Meeting October 19, 2015

The most recent meeting of the Get Together With Technology (GTT) Edmonton group was held October 19 at 7pm at Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.
11 people attended.

October Feature Topic – Talking Books
• Gerry summarized the various kinds of talking books available such as DAISY, EPUB, e-text and the sources where you can find them, CELA/CNIB, Bookshare, Audible.com, Amazon Kindle, and Apple iBooks being among the most popular.
• Gerry also commented on how the new national nonprofit organization called CELA started operating in April 2014. CELA is run by public libraries. There are over 600 member libraries across Canada including all Alberta public libraries.
• CELA Mission: To support public libraries in the provision of accessible collections for Canadians with print disabilities and to champion the fundamental right of Canadians with print disabilities to access media and reading materials in the format of their choice, including audio, braille, e-text and described video.
• CELA has contracted CNIB Library to provide books in the form of audio and braille.
• This means you can now access your library books from your local Alberta library just like any other Albertan and that access includes the entire CNIB collection plus any other accessible materials provided by the public library.
• The CELA library search and download pages are identical to the CNIB Library web site and your login credentials for CELA are the same as CNIB.
• Existing CNIB Library clients can continue to use CNIB Library web site if they wish.
• New users who want access to CNIB talking books or braille books will now register through their local public library.
• As a CELA or CNIB Library client you are entitled to download the e-text DAISY books from Bookshare.org. Visit the CELA/CNIB web site or ask your library customer service to sign you up for Bookshare.
• Bob Logue demonstrated the Edmonton Public Library and Overdrive iPhone apps. These apps allow access to recorded books and e-text books that are separate and apart from the CELA public library books. Bob commented and demonstrated that navigating these apps is rather complex and has accessibility challenges when compared with the fully accessible web site interface to the CELA/CNIB library service.
• Lorne circulated various talking book players including Victor Reader Stream, Plextalk Pocket, Plextalk Linio, and HIMS Booksense.

Direct to Player Books from CELA/CNIB
• The CELA Library or (CNIB library for existing clients) Direct to Player service was explained.
• If you have a talking book player capable of playing Direct to Player books then you no longer need to wait for CDs to be delivered in the mail. If you have a wireless Internet connection in your home and configure your DAISY player to connect to your home Internet then your CELA/CNIB library books will be delivered directly to your talking book player without the need to use a computer.
• The process of converting from CDs to Direct to Player books is simple. Once you have a compatible player contact CNIB or CELA with the SSID and password of your Wi-Fi router. The library will then create a setup file to configure your player and send you that file via email attachment or SD card. Simply insert the SD card with the setup file to your player and it will be configured to receive books. No more CDs!
• Direct to Player compatible devices include Victor Reader Stream new generation, Victor Reader Stratus12M or Stratus4M, Plextalk PTX1, and Plextalk Linio Pocket.

Resources
• The CELA Library web site is
http://www.celalibrary.ca/

• CELA toll free customer service number is 1-855-655-2273
• CNIB Library customer service is still available for existing CNIB Library clients. The toll free number is 1-800-268-8818
• You can learn more about registering for Bookshare at:
Get Access to Bookshare From CELA

• You can learn more about Direct to Player service at:
CELA-CNIB Direct to Player

Next Meeting Agenda (Monday November 9, 7pm)
• We will focus on talking book players including Victor Reader Stream/Stratus, Plextalk Linio Pocket, and the iPhone Direct to Player app provided by CELA.
• Bring your DAISY player to learn how to better use it.
• If time permits we will show how to search for books on the CELA/CNIB web site and send these books directly to your player.
• In breakout groups we can discuss any other topic you wish. Please bring your technology, your questions and answers.

Meeting Location and Logistics
• Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
• We meet in the basement hall.
• Please enter the church from the back door only. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
• Meetings are typically every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
Try to arrive between 6:45pm and 7:15pm after which the door will be locked. If you arrive late there is a door bell to the right of the outside door.
• If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.
GTT Edmonton Team
• Gerry Chevalier is blind. He is retired from HumanWare where he worked as the Product Manager for the Victor Reader line of talking book players.
• Heather MacDonald is the specialist for CNIB career and employment services. She has a wealth of experience helping blind and visually impaired people with the challenges of finding employment.
• Carrie Anton is visually impaired and is the accessibility specialist for Athabasca University.
• Russell Solowoniuk is blind and works with alternative formats and assistive technology at Grant MacEwan University.
• Lorne Weber is blind and is the accessibility specialist for Norquest College.

GTT Edmonton Overview
• GTT is sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
• CCB now has GTT chapters in Ottawa, Victoria, Nanaimo, Edmonton, Vancouver, Toronto, and more to come.
• There is also a national GTT monthly teleconference.
• GTT Edmonton promotes a self-help learning experience by holding monthly meetings to assist participants with assistive technology.
• Each meeting will present a feature technology topic and general question and answer about any other technology.
• Small groups or even one on one assistance is possible at the meetings.
• 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.
• Participants decide what the feature topic will be for the next meeting.

[End of Document]

GTT Vancouver Summary Notes, September 23, 2015

https://www.dropbox.com/s/c2ztm35gh7v37xt/gtt%20vancouver%20sept%2023rd%20session%20archive.mp3?dl=0GTT Vancouver Summary Notes

Sponsored by

The Canadian Council of the Blind and Blind Beginnings

September 23, 2015 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM

Hosted by Blind Beginnings at their offices, 227 6th Street in New Westminster

Present: Albert, Mary, John, Iris, Bruce, Linda, Donna, Geri, Betty, Tyler, Nita, Lovette, Shawn, Matthew and Clement. Bruce MacKenzie from Canadialog was in attendance and offered his support to the GTT Vancouver Group. They are the Canadian distributors of all things Freedom Scientific.

Clement and Mat started the introduction round, then asked all to introduce themselves with a brief description of what skills they can offer, and what they might wish to gain from involvement in GTT. From the introductions the following topics were discussed.

Here is a link to a recording of the proceedings:

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/3394499/gtt%20vancouver%20sept%2023rd%20session%20archive.MP3

Here are some of the discussions we had:

  • Why not upgrade to Windows 10: some have tried, and the consensus is that waiting until the bugs are worked out is a good idea for assistive tech users, unless one likes to play with new tools right out of the box.       Waiting until there’s a decimal after the version number before moving to it is a good idea.
  • When should I move to a new iOS version or iPhone. Apparently iOS 9 has fixed some of the slowness of earlier versions, and it seems to be working well on the iPhone 4S.
  • Triple tap the Home button to turn on and off the Voice Over App, or any other accessibility App. This has to be set up by going to the Settings App, General then Accessibility.       At the bottom of that page is an icon or button called Accessibility Shortcut that can be set to VO, Zoom or the other physical disability features. Once set-up you can turn VO on and off by merely triple tapping the Home button.
  • Two-finger double tap turns on and off audio playback, and it answers and hangs up phone calls.
  • The Audible App sometimes asks the user to connect to WI’FI. Check that the app is set to access books from the Device rather than the Cloud to ensure that no Data is being used when in transit.
  • GPS questions discussed were, Apple Maps, Google Maps, Blind Square and Sendero GPS. Different people use different ones and all of those are workable and accessible.
  • VO Calendar is an app designed to work with the native Calendar App in iOS and which renders it accessible and usable.
  • It was discussed that sometimes VO speaks a different thing than what is seen on the screen. We determined that the visual layout is different than the tab order, so one will be well served by learning the physical layout of the screen so that Back buttons, Send buttons and so on can be located very quickly.
  • When navigating the list of text and email messages the user can return to the top of the list by touching the top Heading, then swiping to the right and you’ll be back on the first message.
  • Exploring the screen while working with each App to learn where all the regular buttons are physically located is the quickest way to operate the phone/App. Swiping left or right as a means of exploring the screen is very time consuming, and it doesn’t allow us to know where the icon is actually located.
  • To read articles without the header info being spoken listen for the words “Reader is Available” as the web page is loading, then Find the word “Reader” at the top right corner of the screen. Double tap on it, then invoke the “Say All” command to begin reading the entire article. Once finished a 2-finger scrub will close the Reader.
  • There are two “Say All” commands – swipe down with two fingers will read from where your curser is positioned, and a 2-finger swipe up will send the curser to the top of the page and begin reading.
  • The Google app is a quick and easy way to search the web using SIRI to dictate the search string, or one may use the Text Edit field to type the info.
  • When Opening the Safari web browser it will be on the page you have set as your default, which can be Google if you choose.
  • The Pages icon at the Bottom right corner of the Safari browser screen shows the list of visited web pages. Double tap it, then double tap the private icon and all will be deleted after the done button is double tapped. Once done you should return to the Pages icon and double tap the Private icon again to unselect it.
  • At the bottom of the on-screen keyboard when you are typing a URL you will find the @ sign and period. Double tap and hold the period briefly and a list of .com.net or .org will show up. Double tap the one you want and it will be placed where your curser is situated.
  • One may close all Apps in the app switcher in order to save on resource usage. Press the Home button twice quickly in order to list the currently running Apps, then swipe left or right to access the ones you wish to close.       While on an App you wish to close you can swipe up or down with one finger to locate the Close button and double tap it. Repeat until all are closed and only the Home icon remains. Double tap it to return to your Home Screen.
  • If you don’t want Safari to save web pages you may set your default to private in the Pages icon at the bottom right corner of the safari screen.
  • Find my I-phone is a good App to have on iPhones, and to a lesser degree on iPads and iPods. Apps are also available for PC and Mac computers so that you can find that missing iPhone.
  • Some Apps for saving all your passwords are, LastPass, Password Keychain, Splash ID and One Password etc. Some are free, and others can be purchased if you wish to share them with family or on more than one device.
  • When in lists of messages you can one finger swipe up or down and you’ll get more options like delete. This is also the case in the Camera App when switching to video or picture modes. Note that Voice Over says the word “Adjustable” or “More Options” at the end. That’s your indication that a 1-finger swipe up or down will offer you additional options.
  • How to access your contacts list while talking on the phone.       The best way to do this is to use the ear bud headphones that come with your iPhone. That way you can keep the person on the phone while you scroll through the phone to find the desired number and still be able to deliver it to the person you’re talking with. The ear buds also have a switch that allows you to turn the volume up and down, as well as answer and hang up a call without having to take it out of your pocket/purse.
  • Podcast apps are Downcast, the native Podcast app, and Lier.       Others also exist, however these ones are accessible and are known by people in the room.
  • NVDA is a screen reader for the PC, and it has available some additional voices that Matt, Clement and Tyler can assist in setting up.
  • A demo was done showing how VO Calendar works, and a little on using SIRI to set-up appointments.

In the second hour we broke into smaller groups to talk about the following:

  • Betty worked with a group on strategies for editing text and VO Calendar.
  • Albert worked with Iris on how to use I-Phone earphones for answering and hanging up phone calls, pausing music and other audio players and how to move from video to picture mode on the iPhone Camera App.
  • Mat helped Mary regain the speech in Voice Over since having upgraded to iOS 9.
  • John led a group on how to use the built-in magnifier instead of Zoomtext.

The group was asked to email Shawn with their phone numbers and email addresses, as well as their preference for meeting topics, days of the week and time of day. Her email address is:

Shawn@BlindBeginnings.ca

Date of the next meeting was set for Wednesday, October 21, 2015 from 10:00 AM to 12:00 PM.

The topic for the next meeting’s first hour presentation is to be announced, and will have the second hour dedicated to using iTunes.

Clement offered the following resource, blindness and low vision resources for iPhone/iPad:

www.applevis.com

Great resource for iOS stuff related to the iPhone and iPad apps for the visually impaired.

GTT WordPress Blog, Facebook and Twitter Feeds:

If you wish to follow the GTT Groups now starting to gather all over Canada, you can do so by registering your email address as follows. Registering will have you receiving each announcement in your email inbox without any effort on your part.

Here’s how to register:

  1. Point your Web Browser to,

www.GTTProgram.WordPress.com

  1. Find the Edit Field near the bottom of the Web Page called “Follow GTT Program Blog and Resources” and type in your email address.
  2. Tab to the “Sign Me Up” Button and Press the Space Bar or Enter Key.
  3. Launch your Email Program and find an email message from the GTT Program Blog and open it. *Note: if it’s not in your Inbox check the Spam/Junk Folder.
  4. Scroll through the message to find the Confirm Link and Press the Enter Key.
  5. This will take you to the GTT Program Blog and should display a message confirming that you have been successfully registered to receive ongoing Blog Posts.

Congratulations! You’re part of the GTT Team.   Welcome aboard.

To stay in touch with GTT on Twitter please follow the two Twitter Feeds listed below:

@GTTVanisle and @GTTProgram

To see what GTT is up to across Canada you can become a member of the Facebook Group at:

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

For more information please contact:

Albert Ruel on the West Coast:                  or          Kim Kilpatrick in Ottawa

Cell: 250-240-2343                                                                           Toll Free: 1-877-304-0968

Email: GTTWest2015@gmail.com                                             Email: gttprogram@gmail.com

Resourses: NNELS new Canadian Titles now Available 

The Scotiabank Giller Prize Shortlist Available in Accessible Formats
 NNELS logo Scotiabank Giller Prize logo           
Congratulations to the five shortlist finalists of the Scotiabank Giller Prize! Thanks to the support of The Scotiabank Giller Prize, we are excited to announce the shortlisted titles are available in accessible formats to readers with print disabilities through the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS), on the same day that they are announced across the country.
“We are proud to support NNELS in their efforts to bring these outstanding authors to a wider audience, particularly those without access to traditional published books,” said Elana Rabinovitch, Executive Director of The Scotiabank Giller Prize. While approximately 10% of Canadians cannot read standard books due to print disabilities related to vision, mobility, or cognitive impairments, less than 5% of printed material is available in accessible formats. “We share a commitment to reading excellent Canadian writing, no matter the format,” said Ben Hyman, Executive Director of the BC Libraries Cooperative, on behalf of NNELS.
The shortlist titles appear below, and are also available through the NNELS Giller Prize 2015 collection. Can you predict which author will win this year’s prize? Find out on November 10th!
About the Scotiabank Giller Prize
The Scotiabank Giller Prize strives to highlight the very best in Canadian fiction year after year. The prize awards $100,000 annually to the author of the best Canadian novel or short story collection published in English and $10,000 to each of the finalists. The award is named in honour of the late literary journalist Doris Giller and was founded in 1994 by her husband, Toronto businessman Jack Rabinovitch. Visit us at http://www.scotiabankgillerprize.ca
About the National Network for Equitable Library Service (NNELS)
NNELS is a digital public library of downloadable titles for people in Canada with perceptual disabilities. It is also a growing network of provincial and territorial governments, readers, community and advocacy organizations, librarians, publishers, and accessible format producers from across the country, all working together to increase access to Canadian libraries’ collections of print material. NNELS is funded and supported by the provincial governments of British Columbia, Alberta, Saskatchewan, Manitoba, Nova Scotia, Northwest Territories, Nunavut, and Yukon. Please visit nnels.ca for more information.
Media Inquiries:
Michelle Kadarusman, Scotiabank Giller Prize

michelle@scotiabankgillerprize.ca

T – 647 897 6017
Ben Hyman, BC Libraries Cooperative (on behalf of NNELS)

Ben.hyman@bc.libraries.coop

T – 1 855 383 5761 Extension 1001
The Scotiabank Giller Prize Shortlist Titles, 2015
Arvida, by Samuel Archibald
Fifteen Dogs, by André Alexis 
Outline, by Rachel Cusk (Please note: this title is available commercially. Please check your local library’s collection for the audiobook or ebook. If you have any issues with getting this title in a format that is accessible to you, please contact support@nnels.ca)
Daydreams of Angels, by Heather O’Neill
Martin John: a Footnote to Malarky, by Anakana Schofield
 
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nnels.ca/ 

National Network for Equitable Library Service

Email: support@nnels.ca 

Phone: 1-888-848-9250 

c/o 605 Robson Street, Suite 850, 

Vancouver BC V6B 5J3
This email was created and delivered using Mailout

GTT Ontario Resource 

GTTWest2015@Gmail.comCNIB Ontario partners with BlindSquare and Tim Hortons
<http://blindsquare.com/&gt; BlindSquare – which is available through

<https://itunes.apple.com/app/blindsquare/id500557255&gt; Apple’s App

Store – has taken mainstream GPS navigation to a new level of

accessibility for people who are blind or partially sighted. It now

offers indoor navigation by pairing its technology with iBeacons,

devices that alert users to building features such as restrooms,

seating and counter locations for placing an order. As users move

through the building, the iBeacons work in conjunction with

BlindSquare to ensure important markers are announced. From now until

October 31st, BlindSquare and <http://www.cnib.ca/&gt; CNIB are

partnering with <http://www.timhortons.com/ca/en/index.php&gt; Tim

Hortons to launch a pilot project in the following locations across

Ontario:

* Brantford – 164 Colborne Street West

* Burlington – 434 Plains Road East

* Guelph – 304 Stone Road

* Hamilton – 65 Ottawa Street North & 30 Queenston Road

* London – 352 Wellington Road South

* Mississauga – 100 City Centre Drive (Square One)

* Toronto – 1840 Bayview Avenue & 939 Eglinton Avenue East & 85 Laird Drive

* Scarborough – 1 William Kitchen Road (Kennedy Commons Mall)

* St. Catharines – 212 Welland Avenue

* Waterloo – 94 Bridgeport Road East

As such, customers living with vision loss will be able to test the

iBeacons, sponsored by <http://kontakt.io/&gt; Kontakt.io, through

BlindSquare. Throughout the trial, individuals will have access to a

free version of the app,

<https://itunes.apple.com/ca/app/blindsq-event/id635707709?mt=8&gt;

BlindSquare Event, within 250 kilometres of Toronto. Customers who are

blind or partially sighted are encouraged to

<https://www.surveymonkey.com/r/RY3VQMD&gt; complete a survey to provide

valuable feedback. Survey respondents have an opportunity to have

their name entered into a weekly draw for one of five pairs of

<http://aftershokz.com/collections/all/products/bluez-2&gt; AfterShokz

Bluez 2 wireless bone conduction headphones.

Thanks,
Shannon
Bring your family and friends to CNIB Night Steps, a 5km fundraising

walk under the stars. Funds raised will help CNIB provide

life-changing support to community members who are blind or partially

sighted. Register at cnibnightsteps.ca!

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GTT Victoria Meeting Summary Notes, September 2, 2015

GTT Victoria Meeting September 2, 2015
Summary Notes
The September GTT meeting took place from 1:00 to 3:30 PM in the community room at the central library, 735 Broughton Street. It was great to resume our afternoon meeting time with at least fifteen attendees. Everyone agreed that this is a good space for our meetings. It is centrally located and easy to find. It also has excellent acoustics and a good audio/visual system, which can easily accommodate any equipment to be used for presentations and demos.
We very much appreciate the enthusiasm of Greater Victoria Public Library staff, who see us as a great peer support group who can work with library patrons when they have vision-related accessibility questions.
The September meeting featured an excellent presentation by Sky Mundell, in which he compared the four top screen-readers currently in use:
• JAWS for Windows from Freedom Scientific (http://www.freedomscientific.com/Products/Blindness/JAWS)
• WindowEyes from GWMicro/AISquared (http://www.gwmicro.com/Window-Eyes/)
• System Access to Go (http://www.satogo.com/en/) from Serotek, and
• NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access) (http://www.nvaccess.org), an open-source solution developed by two blind Australian programmers.
We also opened the floor for discussion around BC Transit’s decision to install a Trekker Breeze (http://store.humanware.com/hus/trekker-breeze-plus-handheld-talking-gps.html), a personal GPS device, on all of its buses. Everyone at the meeting considered this to be an inappropriate and inadequate solution, and a long list of concerns regarding the Breeze was brought forward. All agreed that principles of inclusive design, as implemented by TransLink since 1986, should have been similarly implemented on transit systems province-wide.
Two current Trekker Breeze Plus users indicated that their newly updated devices are not functioning as advertised, so they have stopped using them. Linda suggested that on one trip to the downtown area of Victoria she turned on the Breeze upon leaving the bus stop near her home and that it still hadn’t found a satellite by the time she arrived downtown on the bus. Trevor indicated that he too has had trouble getting it to provide him the service he requires so will be returning his Breeze to Humanware due to its inadequate functionality.

Therefore, we are now developing a plan of action to raise awareness around this issue. You can participate by expressing your concerns by contacting BC Transit, either via the BC Transit website (http://bctransit.com/servlet/Satellite/victoria/contact), and/or Facebook page (https://www.facebook.com/bctransit), and/or Twitter (@BCTransit).
The BC Transit Facebook page has already received several complaints, including some from sighted people, who are wondering why cross-streets, not bus stops, are called. Please note that BC Transit will remove any comments it deems to be “disrespectful” per their Rules of Engagement (https://www.facebook.com/bctransit/info?tab=page_info).

Letters and phone calls have been made to the following Victoria media outlets:

Times Colonist:
Dave Obee, Editor-in-Chief
Direct Line: 250-380-5201
Email: dobee@timescolonist.com
Twitter: @timescolonist

CFAX-1070
Ryan Price, News director
Phone: 250-381-6397
Email: cfaxnews@cfax1070.com
Twitter: @cfax1070
Main switchboard: 250-386-1070

CBC Vancouver Island
Gregor Craigie (host)
On The Island
Peter Hutchinson – producer
Phone: 250-414-4700
Email: Peter.Hutchinson@CBC.ca
Twitter: @CBCOnTheIsland

BC Transit
Phone: 250-385-2551
Manuel Achadinha, President & CEO

And finally, during the meeting Albert offered two pocket DAISY readers free to a good home. Josie H took them both in order to evaluate which one will best suit her needs, so hopefully at the next meeting one of them will be available for Sabine L to trial as she expressed interest in one as well. They were first generation VR Stream and Plextalk Pocket.

The next meeting of the GTT Victoria group will be on Wednesday, October 7, 2015 at the Greater Victoria Public Library in the community room, 735 Broughton Street from 1:00 to 3:30 PM.

Submitted on September 22, 2015 by:
Tom Dekker, GTT Victoria Coordinator

GTT Edmonton Summary Notes September 14, 2015

Summary Notes
GTT Edmonton Meeting September 14, 2015

The most recent meeting of the Get Together With Technology (GTT) Edmonton group was held September 14 at 7pm at the Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83
Street in Edmonton.
18 people attended most of whom were blind or visually impaired.

Chapter Charter
• 15 participants paid their $10 2016 membership fee towards our application to make GTT Edmonton an official chapter of CCB.
• Election of chapter coordinator and assistant coordinator: Gerry Chevalier volunteered to act as chapter coordinator and Carrie Anton as assistant coordinator
through the end of 2016. There were no other nominees from meeting participants so Gerry and Carrie were confirmed by acclamation.

Wendie Schnellert volunteered to be membership coordinator and treasurer for our new chapter. Thank you Wendie.

September 14Feature Topic –Trekker Breeze Walk
Dave, Jonathan, and Gerry each took 1 or 2 participants on a 2 block Breeze walk to demonstrate how to record a route and then follow it back to the starting
point.

Other Activities
• Wayne demonstrated the Standscan Pro which is an iPhone stand that can be useful for holding the phone stationary so that multi-page documents can be
more easily scanned using an app such as KNFB reader. More info at:
http://standscan.com/
• Member questions were answered regarding various topics including the new version JAWS 17, new iPhone models, Siri, USB 3G sticks for connecting laptops
to the Internet, and wifi hot spots.

Resources
• More information about the new JAWS version 17 can be found at:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/downloads/jaws/jawspublicbeta
• Freedom Scientific FSCAST podcast episodes 114 and 113 also discuss JAWS 17. To download them visit:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/About/FSCast
• AppleVIS has posted several new podcasts about the features and accessibility of new iOS version 9
http://www.applevis.com/#main-content
On this page use your heading navigation to move to the Most Recent Updates and Publications section.
• Apple has already created an accessibility page for its new improved Apple TV just announced:
http://www.apple.com/accessibility/tvos/

Next Meeting Agenda (Monday October 19, 7pm)
• The usual second Monday is Thanksgiving so the meeting will be the third Monday October 19. Even though this will be the federal election day it was
the best available choice.
• We will focus on reading devices including Victor Reader and iPhone.
• Finding/downloading audio and e-books including books from CNIB/CELA and Bookshare.
• Bob Logue has offered to demo the iPhone app to download audio books from the Edmonton Public Library Overdrive service
• Bring your book reading questions along with your Stream and Stratus book players.
• We can also talk about Related topics such as the differences between DAISY, e-books, EPUB, and PDF.
• In breakout groups we can discuss any other topic you wish. Please bring your technology, your questions and answers.

Meeting Location and Logistics
• Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 – 83 Street NW, Edmonton.
• We meet in the basement hall.
• Please enter the church from the back door only. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
• Meetings are typically every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
Try to arrive between 6:45pm and 7:15pm after which the door will be locked. If you arrive late there is a door bell to the right of the outside door.
• If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

GTT Edmonton Team
• Gerry Chevalier is blind. He is retired from HumanWare where he worked as the Product Manager for the Victor Reader line of talking book players.
• Heather MacDonald is the specialist for CNIB career and employment services. She has a wealth of experience helping blind and visually impaired people
with the challenges of finding employment.
• Carrie Anton is visually impaired and is the accessibility specialist for Athabasca University.
• Russell Solowoniuk is blind and works with alternative formats and assistive technology at Grant MacEwan University.
• Lorne Weber is blind and is the accessibility specialist for Norquest College.

GTT Edmonton Overview
• GTT is sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
• CCB now has GTT chapters in Ottawa, Victoria, and Nanaimo.
• There is a national GTT monthly teleconference as well.
• GTT Edmonton will foster the same learning experience as the above GTT chapters by holding monthly meetings to help participants with all manner of assistive
technology.
• Each meeting will have a feature technology discussed in the first hour and general question and answer about any other technology in the second hour.
• Small groups or even one on one assistance is possible at the meetings.
• Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because the second hour is for any and all questions.
The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
• Participants decide what the feature topic will be for the next meeting.

GTT Victoria and Vocal Eye Announces the Description of Speed-The-Plow at the Belfry Theater, October 4th at 2:00 PM

Thanks to Douglas Crow’s request of the Belfry Theater I’m pleased to share the following with GTT Victoria members, supporters and participants.

On Wednesday, September 09, 2015 Ivan Habel of the Belfry Theater said:
Subject: RE: request for assistance with the blind for matinee October 4 with description.
“In reviewing your request with staff today we have decided on this one time basis only to offer a companion discount for the Vocal Eye performance. For
persons requiring a companion to attend we will provide a 50% discount on one of the tickets.”
Ivan went on to say, “…As we do for other special discounts we offer from time to time make this
one time discount available on the honour system whereby if someone informs the box office they require a companion, a discount will be offered.”

Steph Kirkland said:
Vocal Eye supplies the receivers and a single ear piece for listening, but people can bring their own earbuds or headphones if they like.

The Belfry needs to keep track of the headset reservations, so patrons should phone the Box Office for tickets rather than order online at, 250-385-6815. When they call
to purchase tickets for the described performance, they can specify the number of headsets and request any other seating preferences at the same time.

Sincerely,

Albert A. Ruel
GTT Coordinator, Western Canada

Shared Resources: GTT Edmonton Suggested Meeting Topics for the Coming Autumn and Winter Seasons, 2015-16

Hello GTT Edmonton:
As we move into autumn and winter it is timely to think about what kinds of information we might share at our GTT meetings in the coming months. Following
is a sample to help you think about topics that interest you.

Productivity  and Employment
 Low vision electronic magnifiers both desktop and portable.
 Screen magnification for PC and MAC.
 Refreshable electronic braille devices.
 Surfing the web with a screen reader.
 Using Excel with a screen reader.
 Using MS Word with a screen reader.
 Using Outlook with a screen reader.
 Using Power Point with a screen reader.
 Navigating the ribbon in Microsoft Office programs such as Outlook, Excel, and Word.
 Comparisons of Scan and read technology like Open Book, Kurzweil, KNFB Reader on iPhone, Eye Pal, Prodigi, , and VERA.
 Talking typing tutorial programs like, Typeability, Talking Typing Tutor and Talking Typing Teacher. 

Communication and Information Access
 Assistive iPhone apps Such as KNFB Reader, TapTapSee, DigitEyes, Looktel, Be My Eyes.
 Communication iPhone apps such as email, iMessage, FaceTime, Skype.
 Using social media programs like Facebook and Twitter.
 Using Siri voice commands and dictation on the iPhone.
Recording/editing audio on PCs and MACs.
 Beginner screen reading/magnification programs like Dolphin Guide, Speak Easy and the JAWS companion called LEASEY. 

Orientation and Navigation
 GPS iPhone apps such as Blind Square, Seeing Eye, Ariadne.
 Dedicated GPS devices such as the HumanWare Trekker Breeze and Braille Note Taker software from Sendero GPS.
 Comparison of pros and cons for GPS apps vs. dedicated devices.

Reading and Entertainment
 Listening to talking books with Victor Reader Stream.
 Finding/downloading CNIB/CELA Direct to Player books.
Finding/downloading Bookshare books with Victor Reader Stream.
Audible.com audio books on Victor Reader Stream.
 Finding/listening to Internet radio and podcasts with Victor Reader Stream.
 Configuring Victor Reader Stream for WiFi Internet access.
 Listening to talking books with Victor Reader Stratus.
 Listening to talking books with Plextalk.
 What is the new CELA Library service?
 Accessible games for iDevices, MACs, and PCs.
 Apple TV
 AMI Audio broadcast reading service available on cable TV and VR Stream.
 AMI TV described television available on cable TV.

Daily Living Aids
 Daily living gadgets like color identifiers, talking weight scales for the bathroom and kitchen, talking thermometers, talking tape measures, color/money
identifiers etc. 

[End]

Technology Question: TapMemo and other like devices

Question about TapMemo:
Do any of you know of a replacement for the Tap Memo device? It is the only Address Book like device that allows the user to call up a recording saved on it with the user’s voice. For example, one would record Joe Blow’s name in the Address Book feature, then the number could be typed in or recorded so that when the user wanted to retrieve it they had only to press a button and speak the person’s name. Typing in the number would allow you to place the Tap Memo speaker near the telephone’s receiver and press a button to have the number tones delivered audibly into the phone, provided the dial tone is present that is. This doesn’t t work with cell phones though as no dial tone ever shows up.

At any rate, this device was handy on some fronts, and very limited on others. I have a local fellow who would like to find another device similar to his failed Tap Memo, and I’m not finding anything comparable. He finds that the 30 Names he can store in the Address Book is too limiting for his use.

To see where this device can be purchased Google the text string, “TapMemo” without the quotation marks and several outlets will show up, including the below YouTube link.

I found a MaxiAids YouTube video explaining what the TapMemo is and how to set it up:

Here’s what the CNIB has listed in their Web Store:
http://www.cnib.ca/en/services/products/useful-products/Pages/featured-product-1207.aspx
TapMemo Voice Activated Personal Data Assistant

Colour photo of TapMemo Voice Activated Personal Data Assistant
Product number: TEC-108-000-0200
Price: $173.50

A revolutionary, handheld, battery-powered PDA with just three simple buttons – your voice does the rest.

TapMemo’s features include memo pad, phone book, calendar, alarm clock, time and date, and a locator function that “shouts” when you whistle for this unit.
Locking command allows a user to guard against unwanted use and protect personal data. Phone dialer function lets a user dial a phone number simply by
placing the unit near a phone handset.

Works right out of the box – no “voice training” required.

Comes with stereo earphones, charger, belt clip and user manual on audio CD.
End of quoted text.

GTT Victoria Invites you to Vocal Eye at the Belfry, October 4, 2015

Vocal Eye’s new season launches at The Belfry in Victoria.

We are so pleased to be back at this beautiful theatre to describe SPEED-THE-PLOW. Big thanks to the CCB GTT Victoria Chapter and the newly founded Victoria Society for Blind Arts and Culture for helping us get there.

SPEED-THE-PLOW will be described on Sunday, October 4 at 2:00 PM at The Belfry Theatre, 1291 Gladstone Avenue, Victoria.
For tickets and to reserve your Vocal Eye receiver call the Belfry Box Office at: 250-385-6815

What is Vocal Eye?

We describe live theatre, arts and culture for those with vision Loss. Learn more at,
http://tinyurl.com/ncheuvz

Reminder: GTT Victoria Meeting Today at the Greater Victoria Public Library, 1:00 until 3:30 PM

Hello all,

Yes, you read correctly. By popular demand, and as a result of some correspondence and a couple of meetings, we now have free meeting space, generously
offered by Greater Victoria Public Library, central branch.

Meeting time: 1:00 PM to 3:30 PM
Date: Wednesday, September 2.
Location: 735 Broughton Street

This month’s meeting will feature a presentation by Sky Mundell, who will present a comparison of the top four most popular non-visual screen reading solutions.
These are: Jaws for Windows, WindowEyes, System Access and NVDA (Non-Visual Desktop Access)

There will also be an update on what is happening with automated bus announcements in Victoria, as well as information about Vocal Eye descriptive service
coming to Victoria. And of course, there will be opportunity for questions, as well as suggestions about future meeting topics. We hope to see you there.

The meeting will take place in the Community Room. It is the same room where CFB meetings were happening for a while. But please note that the door closest
to this room is no longer in use.

So, you must use the main entrance and walk all the way around. More detailed instructions are as follows:

When you enter the main doors of the library, you are facing south. Walk straight ahead until you’re almost at the service desk. Turn right (west) and
walk along a long hallway (up the ramp). Turn right again (north) and walk along another long hallway. Turn right a third time (east) and walk down the
ramp along a third hallway. Then finally, turn left (north) and walk along a very short hallway to where the door to the room will be directly in front
of you.

Tom Dekker (VRT), Proprietor,
iHabilitation Canada
T. 250-661-9799
Web:
http://www.ihabilitation.ca
Facebook:
http://www.facebook.com/ihabilitation

GTT Victoria Letter to the Editor Re Trekker Breeze on BC Transit in Victoria, Times Colonist 29Aug2015

Mr. Manuel Achadinha August 29, 2015
President & CEO, BC Transit
520 Gorge Road East
Victoria, BC V8W 2P3

Dear Mr. Achadinha,

“It is not people who are disabled, it is the environment that’s disabling.”
Kevin Shaw, President & CEO of Zagga Entertainment Ltd.

The Get Together With Technology, Victoria chapter, Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB), wishes to respond to BC Transit’s recent launch of automated voice annunciation on Victoria’s buses.

After much discussion with our membership, consultation with local community organizations, and accessibility advocates around North America, we are extremely disappointed by BC Transit’s decision to install the Trekker Breeze – a personal pocket GPS – on every bus. This “solution” is not only totally unacceptable, but also equally inappropriate. Our foremost concern is that it demonstrates absolutely zero adherence to 21st century principles of inclusive design as implemented by public transit systems in cities throughout first world countries. One need only visit Vancouver or Seattle to see what we mean, and how inclusive design helps ensure the elimination of disabling factors for everyone.

The Canadian Federation of the Blind (CFB) sees the Trekker Breeze as the only option. They’ve either forgotten or simply do not care that there are other groups who would benefit from a broader, more inclusive solution. For instance, a visual display unit working in tandem with an automated bus-stop announcement system would be of great benefit to transit users who are deaf or hard of hearing. These public information display units (PIDs), now standard on so many transit systems, would also benefit the many tourists who may read, but may not easily understand spoken English in the often-noisy environment of a bus.

Most importantly, the Trekker Breeze does not, in fact, announce bus stops at all. Rather, it announces every cross street on the route, whether there is a bus stop or not. Many blind riders may find this confusing, especially if traveling a route for the first time. The public and bus drivers alike are sure to find it annoying as well, and, as drivers will have control of the device, they may choose to either turn the Breeze down or off altogether. And who could blame them?

This unit is not the solution for Victoria’s transit system. That’s because the Trekker Breeze
is a hand-held personal navigation device strictly for use by blind individuals. It operates exclusively by touch and sound, and provides no visual readout for the sighted bus drivers.

Further, a Trekker Breeze cannot provide the external bus announcements now standard on most transit systems. This feature announces the route number, name, and final destination of the bus as it arrives at a stop. Since the speaker is beside the front door, it also provides an audio cue to help people who are blind or vision-impaired to locate the door and to board more quickly. This all helps to keep buses on schedule, and is especially critical for stops that serve multiple routes. Multi-bus stops can be problematic to navigate for anyone, so any technology that improves efficiency and safety would indeed be to the greater public good.

Why is there no real-time GPS or transit data feed, as is now standard in most systems? Does BC Transit not wish to accommodate the thousands of transit users who constantly travel the Capital Region with smart phones in their hands? Without this data feed, the information we receive on our smartphone transit apps is strictly schedule-based and thus, only theoretical. Welcome to our modern provincial capital!

A far more fundamental question is: Why is BC Transit being allowed to render Victoria an accessibility and digital-age backwater through its failure to implement a more inclusive and acceptable solution? Half a million dollars is being wasted to install what is already acknowledged as a “temporary measure”, that provides a questionable level of accessibility to a very small number of people. Why would you waste that money to satisfy the needs of one small group only to scrap it when it’s replaced by a better, more inclusive system that should have been installed in the first place? If you won’t do it now, why should we believe you’ll do it later?

BC Transit should fervently hope that the Island Deaf and Hard of Hearing
Centre does not decide to launch its own human rights complaint to achieve a more widely effective solution for its membership. We will continue to promote inclusive-design dialogue with disability advocates from other, national consumer organizations (who are monitoring this situation with interest) since none of them, other than the CFB, a very small, regional organization, appear to have been consulted in this process.

And why is that?

Yours truly,

Tom Dekker, Coordinator
Get Together with Technology, Victoria Chapter
Canadian Council of the Blind

me@tomdekker.ca
T: 250 900-9982
#211-845 Yates Street
Victoria, BC V8W 4A3

A Note of Thanks to Hulu for Their Accessibility Improvements

David Goldfield's avatarThoughts from David Goldfield

Like most people, I enjoy a good TV show now and again, with tremendous emphasis on the “again” part. However, I’ve fallen into the category of people known as non-linear viewers, which means that I don’t watch TV programs as they are being broadcast. Instead, I enjoy using apps or services, either on my iPhone or on our Roku player. Between Amazon Prime and Hulu I have access to a huge library of programs. Perhaps not every show that I want to watch is available to stream at no extra charge (will someone please carry Babylon 5) but I do have access to a large amount of content which I find to be most satisfying.
In particular, Hulu appeals to me because they don’t just offer newer programs. They have a nice catalog of older programs, such as the original Star Trek, the Incredible Hulk, Abbott and Costello and many…

View original post 1,143 more words

Opportunity for Braille users: The Onkyo Corporation is again sponsoring a braille essay contest for people of all ages

From: Braille Literacy Canada
[mailto:info@blc-lbc.ca]
The Onkyo Corporation is again sponsoring a braille essay contest for people of all ages. Contest winners receive cash prizes valued from $500 to $2,000.
Essays must be received by September 13. The link for full information and application for the contest is below, but here are the basics. Please help
us spread the word!

Onkyo Braille Essay Contest
Sponsored by Onkyo Corporation
and The Braille Mainichi

The Onkyo Braille essay contest is being administered by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) on behalf of the North America-Caribbean Region of
the World Blind Union.

Essays must be written by contest participants, in English or their native language, in Braille on paper, and must be completely original in nature.
Participants are also asked to email their essays in electronic format (such as Microsoft Word or something similar). Entries should be no fewer than
800 words and no more than 1,000 words in length. There will be two groups of competitors-one Junior group, aged 25 and under; and one Senior group, aged
26 and up, and prizes range from $500-$2,000.

Note that this year, the contest is running on a shorter timeline than previous years, so the time to begin writing is now! All essays must be received
by September 13, 2015. In the US, they should be sent to the NFB, and in Canada, they should be sent to Braille Literacy Canada; the contacts are listed
on the application at the link below.

Essay topics:
1. How do you acquire knowledge and information through Braille or audio devices? (Illustrate with some interesting personal stories/episodes.)

2. How can blind persons become independent by learning Braille or music?

3. Individual concept about world peace from the viewpoint of persons with disabilities.

Visit
http://www.nfb.org/onkyo-braille-essay-contest
for more information and an application. The application is also attached here, in PDF and BRF format. Note that the BRF is in Unified English Braille.

Please use the following contacts if you have questions:
In Canada: Jen Goulden at
info@blc-lbc.ca
In the US: Trisha Tatam at
ttatam@nfb.org

Forwarded by:
Get Together with Technology (GTT)
Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB)
National Office
100-20 James St Ottawa ON K2P 0T6, Canada
(613) 567-0311 or 1-877-304-0968
GTTProgram@CCBNational.net or GTTWest2015@Gmail.com

Edmonton GTT Seeking Trekker Breeze Demonstration Volunteers for September 14th Meeting

Hello GTT Edmonton:
At our next GTT meeting on September 14 one of the things we would like to do is demo how to follow a route stored on the Trekker Breeze GPS device. People
have asked if they can have a better one on one experience with the Breeze following a route. We have done Breeze walks before but with groups of 4 or
5 and people didn’t get the hands on experience they would like. To do this we need more people with Breeze devices to help us. If you:
1. Have a Trekker Breeze
2. Know how to enter a destination address and navigate to it
3. And, are willing to demo the route navigation with 1 or 2 blind/vision impaired people accompanying you
Then please reply to this email and I will contact you with more details. The destination will just be an arbitrary house a couple of blocks from the back
door of the church. Thus, there will be no busy traffic, only 1 residential street to cross. We will also ask for a sighted person to accompany you as
well.
Best regards,
Gerry Chevalier
GTT Coordinator
gtt.edmonton@gmail.com
Tel: 780.465.7021
CCB National Blog and Resources
http://www.GTTProgram.wordpress.com

Edmonton GTT Meeting Summary Notes, August 10, 2015

Summary Notes
GTT Edmonton Meeting August 10, 2015

The most recent meeting of the Get Together With Technology (GTT) Edmonton group was held August 10 at 7pm at the Ascension Lutheran Church 8405 83 Street in Edmonton.
18 people attended most of whom were blind or visually impaired.

August 10Feature Topic –iDevice keyboards
• Lorne demonstrated various keyboards for iDevices including how to use them to navigate screens and apps.

Other Activities
• Carrie demonstrated the iOS app called KNFB Reader for iPhone and iPad showing how it can be used to take a picture of a paper document and read it back.
• Russell showed the Cortana voice recognition feature within the new Microsoft Windows 10 Operating System now available as a free upgrade on PCs.
• Members‘ questions were answered regarding Victor Reader Stream, Facebook, and Mac computers.
• Assistance was given to several members with Victor Reader Streams to help them delete notes, delete books, and connect to WIFI.

Resources
Lorne provides the following resources to supplement his keyboard demoes. One of the keyboards he demoed was the Logitech Solar charging K760 Bluetooth Keyboard, here’s another audio review:
http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/review-logitech-solar-k760-bluetooth-keyboard
and here’s a link to many more reviews of Bluetooth keyboards submitted to AppleVis.com:
http://www.applevis.com/reviews/accessories/bluetooth-keyboards

Lorne demoed some of the keyboard shortcuts you should learn to take full advantage of using a Bluetooth keyboard, many of which are the exact same as those on a Mac. Here’s a list of all keyboard shortcuts, as well as all gestures and what they do on an iPhone or iPad:
http://axslab.com/articles/ios-voiceover-gestures-and-keyboard-commands.php

and if you don’t know what a particular button does on a paired Bluetooth keyboard, you can press ctrl option K to enter the practice area, and esc to close the practice area, the following link will describe more:
http://www.applevis.com/guides/checking-key-functions-paired-bluetooth-keyboards

Demonstration of KNFB reader reading app that Carrie showed us:
http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/demonstration-knfbreader-iphone

and here’s a demo for a free alternative to the KNFB Reader reading app called Voice:
http://www.applevis.com/podcast/episodes/take-picture-anything-has-text-it-and-have-text-read-you-within-few-seconds-voice

Russell demonstrated Cortana in Windows 10. For those who might be thinking of updating to Windows 10 there is information about doing this for JAWS users at:
http://www.freedomscientific.com/Support/TechnicalSupport/Windows10Upgrade

Funding For Trekker Breeze
With the interest shown in the Trekker Breeze GPS one of our members wanted to remind everyone that funding for this device is available to qualified Albertans through CNIB’s Step program. For more information contact Sharon Koepke at 780-488-4871

Next Meeting Agenda (Monday September 14, 7pm)
• The group wants more hands on experience with Trekker Breeze route navigation.
• In breakout groups we can discuss any topic you wish. Please bring your technology, your questions and answers.
• We will continue to collect the $10 membership fee for 2016 to secure our application as an official chapter of CCB. We will not restrict participation in GTT to members only but we hope as many of you as possible will help GTT Edmonton by becoming members. Both sighted and vision impaired people can be members.

Church Meeting Logistics
Some logistics for future meetings.
• GTT meetings will be every second Monday of the month at 7pm.
• We meet in the basement meeting hall.
• Please enter the church from the back door only. There is parking at the back and drop off space for taxis, DATS.
• Try to arrive between 6:45pm and 7:15pm after which the door will be locked. If you arrive late there is a door bell to the right of the outside door.
• If you have someone helping you your assistant is welcome to remain for the meeting.

GTT Edmonton Team
• Gerry Chevalier is blind. He is retired from HumanWare where he worked as the Product Manager for the Victor Reader line of talking book players.
• Heather MacDonald is the specialist for CNIB career and employment services. She has a wealth of experience helping blind and visually impaired people with the challenges of finding employment.
• Carrie Anton is visually impaired and is the accessibility specialist for Athabasca University.
• Russell Solowoniuk is blind and works with alternative formats and assistive technology at Grant MacEwan University.
• Lorne Weber is blind and is the accessibility specialist for Norquest College.

GTT Edmonton Overview
• GTT is sponsored by the Canadian Council of the Blind (CCB).
• CCB now has GTT chapters in Ottawa, Victoria, and Nanaimo.
• There is a national GTT monthly teleconference as well.
• GTT Edmonton will foster the same learning experience as the above GTT chapters by holding monthly meetings to help participants with all manner of assistive technology.
• Each meeting will have a feature technology discussed in the first hour and general question and answer about any other technology in the second hour.
• Small groups or even one on one assistance is possible at the meetings.
• Participants are encouraged to come to each meeting even if they are not interested in the feature topic because the second hour is for any and all questions. The more participants the better able we will be equipped with the talent and experience to help each other.
• Participants decide what the feature topic will be for the next meeting.

[End of Document]

iPhone Tip: Adding Additional Numbers in a Dialing String to Enter Extensions and Other Numbers

David Goldfield's avatarThoughts from David Goldfield

Many iPhone users often want an easy and convenient way to enter additional numbers after a call goes through. You might need to enter an extension to access a voicemail system or a user pin for a conference line.
Of course, once it’s time to enter the extra numbers you can use the touch-tone keypad on your iPhone’s touch screen to enter the additional numbers. Doing this is quite accessible using VoiceOver but it can be awkward or confusing for some users. Fortunately, if you regularly need to enter these numbers you can enter them as part of your dialing string in the Contacts app or in the Contacts tab in the Phone app.
Here’s how you do it. When you’re entering the phone number in the appropriate field, enter a comma or two after the last digit. To do this, press the shift key, which is below the number…

View original post 169 more words