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

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.

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

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]

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.

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

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

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