[Brl-monitor] The Braille Monitor, February 2015
Brian Buhrow
buhrow at lothlorien.nfbcal.org
Wed Feb 4 00:17:18 PST 2015
BRAILLE MONITOR
Vol. 58, No. 2 February 2015
Gary Wunder, Editor
Distributed by email, in inkprint, in Braille, and on USB flash drive
(see reverse side) by the
NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
Mark Riccobono, President
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THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND KNOWS THAT BLINDNESS IS NOT THE
CHARACTERISTIC THAT DEFINES YOU OR YOUR FUTURE. EVERY DAY WE RAISE THE
EXPECTATIONS OF BLIND PEOPLE, BECAUSE LOW EXPECTATIONS CREATE OBSTACLES
BETWEEN BLIND PEOPLE AND OUR DREAMS. YOU CAN LIVE THE LIFE YOU WANT;
BLINDNESS IS NOT WHAT HOLDS YOU BACK. THE NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
IS NOT AN ORGANIZATION SPEAKING FOR THE BLIND-IT IS THE BLIND SPEAKING FOR
OURSELVES.
ISSN 0006-8829
© 2015 by the National Federation of the Blind
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[PHOTO CAPTION: Palm-lined drive leading to front entrance to Rosen Centre
Hotel]
Orlando Site of 2015 NFB Convention
The 2015 convention of the National Federation of the Blind will take
place in Orlando, Florida, July 5-10, at the Rosen Centre Hotel at 9840
International Drive, Orlando, Florida 32819. Make your room reservation as
soon as possible with the Rosen Centre staff only. Call (800) 204-7234.
The 2015 room rates are singles, doubles, and twins, $82; and triples
and quads, $89. In addition to the room rates there will be a tax, which at
present is 13.5 percent. No charge will be made for children under
seventeen in the room with parents as long as no extra bed is requested.
The hotel is accepting reservations now. A $95-per-room deposit is required
to make a reservation. Fifty percent of the deposit will be refunded if
notice is given to the hotel of a reservation cancellation before June 1,
2015. The other 50 percent is not refundable.
Rooms will be available on a first-come, first-served basis.
Reservations may be made before June 1, 2015, assuming that rooms are still
available. After that time the hotel will not hold our room block for the
convention. In other words, you should get your reservation in soon.
Guest-room amenities include cable television; in-room safe;
coffeemaker; hairdryer; and, for a fee, high-speed Internet access. Guests
can also enjoy a swimming pool, fitness center, and on-site spa. The Rosen
Centre Hotel offers fine dining at Executive Chef Michael Rumplik's award-
winning Everglades Restaurant. In addition, there is an array of dining
options from sushi to tapas to a 24-hour deli. The hotel has first-rate
amenities and shuttle service to the Orlando airport.
The schedule for the 2015 convention is:
Sunday, July 5 Seminar Day
Monday, July 6 Registration Day
Tuesday, July 7 Board Meeting and Division Day
Wednesday, July 8 Opening Session
Thursday, July 9 Business Session
Friday, July 10 Banquet Day and Adjournment
Vol. 58, No. 2
February 2015
Contents
Illustration: Training the Trainers Who Bring Braille to the Blind
Calibrate
by Jennifer Dunnam
Responses to "What Is the Cost of a Free Product?"
by Gary Wunder
A Fine State President Steps Back: Michael Barber, the End of an Era
by Jim Omvig
Digital Braille Versus Paper Braille
by Christian Coudert
Mentioning Ol' Reliable
by Grace Warn
Blind Voters in New Mexico Forced to Take a Step Backward
by Curtis Chong
Seeing Is Believing, or Is It?
By David Cohen
Ebook Legal Restrictions Are Screwing Over Blind People
by Kyle Wiens
The Battle for ATM Accessibility Continues
The San Fernando Valley Chapter Reviews a Year of Progress
by Racquel Decipeda
The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund
by Allen Harris
Recipes
Monitor Miniatures
[PHOTO CAPTION: Tamala Young (OK), Tammy Robar (HI), and Lisa Craig (HI)
create boards for a game called "mini Braille Twister."]
[PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Tamala Young, Tammy Robar, and Lisa Craig participate
in a make-and-take activity. They are creating a file folder game called
"mini Braille Twister" by affixing chair leg cushions to file folders to
create a large tactile Braille cell.]
[PHOTO CAPTION: Martha Harris (MN), Lisa Craig (HI), Daphne Mitchell (NM)
making candy necklaces/bracelets using Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel, Froot
Loops, and Life Savers.]
[PHOTO DESCRIPTION: In another make-and-take session Martha Harris, Lisa
Craig, and Daphne Mitchell (you can only see the back of her head) are
making candy necklaces/bracelets using Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel, Froot
Loops, and Life Savers.]
[PHOTO CAPTION: Ellen Bedford (CT), Kathryn Webster (CT), and Joy Scott
(NC) use their feet to make the letter "b" in a round of Braille Twister.]
[PHOTO DESCRIPTION: Ellen Bedford, Kathryn Webster, and Joy Scott
participate in one of the "Taste of NFB BELL" sessions, playing Braille
Twister. People-sized tactile Braille cells were created on the floor using
Poly Spots (that's the official term for these little rubber discs that PE
teachers usually use to mark bases or spots on the floor for various
games). In this game, participants use parts of their body, like in
Twister, to mark dots to create Braille letters, contractions, or other
symbols. In this picture they are using their feet to make the letter "b."]
Training the Trainers Who Bring Braille to the Blind
On December 11 fifty members of the National Federation of the Blind
traveled to Baltimore to plan, brainstorm, and dream about the NFB BELL
program in the summer of 2015, which will be held in twenty-four states
around the country. Six states-Connecticut, Rhode Island, Nebraska,
Minnesota, Hawaii, and Kentucky-will host the NFB BELL program for the
first time in the summer of 2015. At the seminar participants shared their
knowledge about how to manage the various logistics of the program so that
it runs smoothly for the students. Participants also spent time
familiarizing themselves with the robust curriculum and trading ideas about
how to implement different aspects of the lessons for students of varying
abilities. Brainstorming sessions focused on how to incorporate the
transition to UEB into the program as well as how to bolster the content
related to nonvisual graphic literacy. And, of course, participants had to
try out some of the new games and activities incorporated into the newest
version of the curriculum; our NFB BELL coordinators are all kids at heart!
Everyone had a great time and left energized and ready to plan another
summer of Braille fun.
[PHOTO CAPTION: Jennifer Dunnam]
Calibrate
by Jennifer Dunnam
From the Editor: Jennifer Dunnam is the president of the National
Federation of the Blind of Minnesota, and this article is taken from the
Minnesota Bulletin, the newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind
of Minnesota. I find many observations to be close to home, and I believe
this article is likely to become one of our classic pieces of literature.
Here's what she says:
Many benefits flow from being a member of the National Federation of
the Blind. Some of these are the mutual support and encouragement we give
each other, the ability to make things happen together that we could not do
alone, the sense of community we possess, and the useful information and
resources we are able to share. The collective experience we can call upon
is deeper with more of us in the mix, and the more of us there are, ready
and willing to participate, the more we can do. There is one aspect,
however, that is a bit more complicated to describe, but it can apply to
all of us individually-whether we grew up as a blind person or lost sight
later in life. Participating in the National Federation of the Blind can
help us "calibrate."
The word "calibrate" has numerous definitions, but here is the one
that I (nerd though I may be) find relevant: "To check, adjust, or
determine the graduations of a quantitative measuring instrument by
comparison with a standard." Certainly this is not a precisely relevant
definition, since we're talking about humans, but perhaps I can illustrate
with a bit of personal history, which is no doubt similar in some ways to
the experiences of many others.
My parents are the best anyone could ask for. They worked hard to
ensure that I, their daughter who has always been blind, would live a
normal life, able to take care of myself and to get along and do my fair
share in the world. They knew that sometimes toughness was necessary from
them in order to achieve these goals. However, they were not with me
everywhere I went, could not always influence the way others treated me,
and, with a few rarely-encountered exceptions, did not have exposure to
other blind people who could show by example how to live a successful life
as a blind person.
There were many other people in my early life, also with the best of
intentions, who had little exposure to the truth about blindness and also
did not have the same incentive to consider my future as my parents did.
Many felt sorry for me or constantly told me what an inspiration I was.
Most wanted to do all they could to make life easier for me. Therefore,
although I was fortunate to receive a good education at public school, I
also received many strong messages that I was not like other people and
that the rules were not the same for me as for others.
For most of my school years I always sat in the very front of the
class (or sometimes at the very back), in a different type of desk from
everyone else. I was often allowed to leave class just a little before the
end so that the fellow student who helped me get to my next class would
have time to get me there and then to get herself to her own class (no
independent cane travel training for me until I was twelve, and even then
it was very limited).
It isn't that no one ever insisted that I come up to the mark and
meet standards like everyone else. I remember how grouchy I was when
suddenly I was expected to start doing more chores. I was offended when a
teacher said, "You're responsible for cleaning out that desk just like
everyone else." These were important lessons, but they were harder to take
because the messages were not consistent, and I was so often treated
differently from others.
One time there was an article in the town's newspaper about me-all
about my good grades in school, my climbing on the playground equipment, my
school friends, and on and on. Certainly it can be argued that there is
merit in such an article showing a positive image of blindness, but none of
this would have been newsworthy at all if I were not blind. However, as a
young child I was not mature enough to keep it in the correct perspective,
so I fear I took it all to heart a bit overmuch, thinking that maybe it
meant I really was as amazing as everyone said I was.
The other side of the coin of being "different" started to rear its
ugly head more as I became a teenager. People my age often did not want to
hang around with me much. My younger sisters got driver's licenses and
could drive off wherever they wanted, but I could not have even told you
the name of the next street over from where we lived, much less navigated
around the city. My sisters and friends spent as much time as they could
walking around the mall, but it was a struggle for me just to walk around
my own school building independently. And, if I did go to the mall with
them, I spent a lot of time waiting because, unless I could talk them into
going somewhere, they set the course. The feeling of powerlessness is hard
to convey to one who may not have experienced it, but I imagine many
readers here know what I am talking about. I and everyone else assumed this
was how it had to be and would likely be so for my whole life. To survive,
I simply began to adjust to this way of being-the waiting, the loneliness-
and began to stop hoping for better. Because of the mixed messages and
relative powerlessness, I did not have a good grasp of how to view myself
as just a regular person, not more and not less-even though at the time I
might even have been able to say the right words about it. It was all very
confusing-to be "special" but also somehow inferior-amazing but also to be
pitied and shunned.
During high school one summer I attended the school for the blind. In
some ways the experience was helpful in that in this setting I was not so
special, weird, or different from the rest of the crowd. However, most of
the crowd was made up of kids with similar struggles-not being judged by
normal expectations and not knowing how to deal with it, or even quite
realizing it. Besides which, there was a strong sense that how much sight
one had was a primary predictor of how much responsibility one could be
expected to take. The experience, although it was not all bad, did not
generally present much hope to me.
Fortunately I soon met the National Federation of the Blind and was
astonished to discover that my own expectations were actually far too low.
For example, I got to know people who not only walked independently around
their cities, but took control of things by hiring drivers rather than
waiting and hoping people would be willing to drive them somewhere. Not
only that, I witnessed blind people taking charge of navigation when riding
with a directionally-challenged sighted driver and knowing precisely where
specific locations were, even in a mall. After recovering from the shock, I
got to work on improving my skills and learning all I could from my new
role models.
No less important than the skills, and probably more so in the scheme
of things, were the adjustments I was able to make to my approach and
attitude. Learning new skills went a long way to helping me understand that
I was not somehow a lesser person than others. However, it was in some ways
a rude awakening to figure out for sure that I was not actually the least
bit amazing either. There were many blind people smarter than I was, more
talented than I was, and with better social skills. In this group one
helped with the cleanup regardless of one's level of sight-no excuses or
special treatment for me. People assumed, respectfully, that I was capable
of doing a given thing and would ask if I needed help, rather than
immediately scurrying to the rescue at the first sign of questions. If I
didn't know how to do something, people would teach me rather than just
doing it for me, and they kindly but frankly let me know if I did or did
not do things that would be detrimental to general life success. I learned,
directly and by example, how to fit in in the larger community and to do my
share. The messages were consistent in this environment, so it was possible
to learn how to put the views of the larger society into perspective. I
have now been a Federationist for many years, and the help of this
organization in this respect remains invaluable.
This experience is not unique to people who grow up blind. Many who
lose their vision later in life may start out maintaining the independent
spirit that they had when they were sighted, but, as time goes on without a
supportive community and without strategies to deal with the constant
barrage of well-intentioned low expectations from others, it becomes just
easier to give in-to stop trying to live the life we want, which can make
us dependent and disabled in ways that are not really necessary. The
Federation can help us get that spirit back and to get the five ingredients
of freedom that Jim Omvig so aptly enumerates in his book Freedom for the
Blind: The Secret Is Empowerment:
. Coming to believe, emotionally and intellectually, that it is
respectable to be blind.
. Learning the skills and mastering the alternative techniques
of blindness.
. Knowing how to cope effectively and unemotionally with things
people do and say because of their misunderstandings about blindness.
. Having the discipline; the flexibility; and the work ethic,
grooming, and appearance to blend in.
. Giving back, both to other blind people and to society.
I am grateful to be able to "calibrate" from time to time with my
Federation family-people who show by their example how to be a blind person
with confidence, class, resourcefulness, and willingness to believe in and
help others. We strive to create a space that lets us measure ourselves
against normal expectations and to keep low expectations from coming
between us and our dreams.
----------
Responses to "What Is the Cost of a Free Product?"
by Gary Wunder
In the November 2014 issue of the Braille Monitor, we ran an article
entitled "What Is the Cost of a Free Product?" It was written by Tim
Connell, and I dare say that it was sent to me because I had been trying to
get major screen reader developers to tell their side of the story by
explaining the struggles faced by for-profit companies in an ever-changing
market, one which offers far fewer consumers than most businesses hope to
find for their products. I thought it important to discuss the case that
can be made for the for-profit screen reader development that has long been
the way those of us who are blind have gotten screen access and many other
blindness-related technologies, especially since we have devoted
considerable space to low-cost or free screen reading solutions. My hope
was that the article we ran would stimulate discussion, and, after some
gentle prodding from me, this it did. That gentle prodding took the form of
a question: If access to technology is so important to us, why hasn't there
been more discussion about the models of screen reader development reviewed
in Tim Connell's article?
Most who commented did not attempt to address the three major funding
models currently used for screen reader development and reviewed by
Connell. Instead, they responded to what they saw as an attack on NVDA, the
Nonvisual Desktop Access program developed and maintained by NV Access.
While the Braille Monitor cannot hope to print each of the responses
generated, there are two that are particularly thought-provoking and add
significantly to the discussion of how we will continue to have access to
information that appears on the screens of computers, tablets, and
telephones. Here, with slight editing, our responses are taken from the
National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science mailing list. The
first is from Aaron Cannon, who apologizes for not being articulate and
then proceeds to acquit himself very well in putting forward his point of
view. Here is what he says:
[PHOTO CAPTION: Aaron Cannon]
I think the reason we haven't seen more arguments with Tim's article
is that, frankly, his main points are hard to track. I can't complain too
much, though, since I suspect that he writes much more clearly than I do.
But let me let Tim speak for himself:
The work that the developers of NVDA have done is exceptional.
On a small budget they have developed a really good product and have
provided a free screen reader to many thousands of people around the
world who couldn't previously afford one, especially in developing
countries. Their technical skills and dedication are to be applauded;
however, I have a problem with the funding model they have chosen.
Philanthropic funding is at best a fragile beast, and it often doesn't
extend to covering services like training and support, which can be
the most important components of accessibility (especially in
education). The bigger issue of equity and why we accept such a
fundamental right as access to a computer to be at the whim of
philanthropic generosity should be of tremendous concern. Do we
welcome it simply because the recipients are people with a disability?
Why is this particular group of people not worthy of a business model
that guarantees standards of support, service, and viability? The
developers of NVDA need investors, not handouts.
Perhaps my brain just isn't working right this morning, but I am
having a hard time following his objections to NVDA. If I understand it
right, he is saying that the funding model for NVDA is fragile, so we
shouldn't trust it. He also seems to be arguing that it's based on charity,
and so beneath us, and besides, it doesn't allow for user support and
training. If my reading is correct, I remain unconvinced. NVDA support is
available from various organizations for a fee. JAWS users, on the other
hand, end up also paying for support, but they do so up-front, whether they
need it or not. Training is also available for a fee, but that's certainly
not unique to NVDA. JAWS does come with some training materials, but
similar materials are also available for free for NVDA.
I agree that NVDA funding is more fragile than we should like, but
much of what we who are blind rely on is philanthropic in nature. And, if
one source of funding dries up, another one is found. Anyway, I don't see
traditional sources of investment funding being substantially more reliable
than philanthropic ones. Investors/donors come, investors/donors go, and
organizations either find new ones, figure out a way to do without, or
fail. So far NV Access seems to have been able to find new donors when
needed.
Consider what would happen if FS [Freedom Scientific, the developer of
JAWS] and NV Access both went under, and all the developers moved on to
bigger and better things (or at least things that would provide them with a
paycheck). JAWS would be gone. Your already-installed copies would probably
work, but there would be no way to install the full version on new
machines. NVDA, on the other hand, would still be available. Not only would
it still be available to install, but it would be available to improve,
fix, and whatever else someone wanted to do with it, within the bounds of
the GPL [general public license]. It's even possible that a new group of
developers would come along and keep the project going.
In short, JAWS belongs to FS. NVDA belongs, in a very literal sense,
to everyone. I'd much rather see money invested into something I own than
into something I don't. That's all for now.
Aaron Cannon
[PHOTO CAPTION: Steve Jacobson]
So there you have a thoughtful and articulate response to one of the
concerns in Connell's article. This was followed by several posts, the one
which follows being by Steve Jacobson. He currently serves as the vice
president of the NFB in Computer Science and holds the same office in the
affiliate of the NFB of Minnesota. He has been employed by the 3M company
as a programmer for many years and is currently a Lead Data Quality
Analyst. Here is what he says:
This article and the issues it raises are very important in my
opinion. I think we have a somewhat false sense of security regarding our
ability to use computers and access software in many ways.
First, I did not interpret anything Tim said in his article as
minimizing the efforts of those working on NVDA. I certainly keep a copy on
my computer as a means to help me out when my main screen reader hangs up,
and NVDA has a lot of power. My interpretation of his point was more like
this: How would it go over if sighted people on the job had to depend upon
volunteers to build and support their computer monitors? That just wouldn't
be accepted. Our screen readers are our computer monitors, and I think he
was asking why we should expect anything less for something that is so
important.
Those of you who are working for someone else are likely very aware of
how terribly fragile our accessibility is. If you are in full control over
the software you use, the picture is a good bit better because you can
control what you use and could, for example, pick software that works with
NVDA. Where I work, I regularly use two programs that work fairly well with
JFW [JAWS for Windows] and Window-Eyes and do not work with NVDA. I am not
blaming NVDA since these are both older pieces of software, but both JAWS
and Window-Eyes are a little more robust and offer some ability for a user
to stretch their functionality more easily than is the case with NVDA.
Since efficient access means money in my pocket, paying the price for a
commercial screen reader is worth it to me. However, that doesn't mean I
would not donate to NVDA, and NVDA has often been better at implementing
modern approaches to accessibility. That is a valuable contribution that
cannot be overstated.
The Wikipedia model for funding was mentioned in another note, and
while I use that resource some, I don't see that as an effective approach
to screen reader development that needs to exist in employment settings
where there is security involved. A screen reader is not a collection of
information that you can crosscheck for accuracy; it is closer to a
computer monitor that bridges software to hardware. I am not arguing that
there are not other funding models to support NVDA that we could consider.
Discussing alternatives is the point to all of this after all.
The commercial screen reader model isn't perfect either. As I see it,
screen readers, including NVDA, are so busy trying to keep up with new
versions of Windows and Microsoft Office that they don't have a lot of
resources to try to innovate. Software and webpages have changed
dramatically over the past ten years, but how information is presented to
the blind has not changed all that much. Even the efforts of screen readers
to take advantage of ARIA [Accessible Rich Internet Applications, a tool
used to tell screen readers how information should be presented when its
presentation is visually obvious but is ambiguous to screen-reading
software] seems to be painful. Large companies like Google and Microsoft
make sweeping changes to their software, provide very basic accessibility
by exposing the information in their changes, and then leave it to the
screen reader developers to make it all work for you and me. The time and
money that they have to spend just to keep up is not insignificant, and a
lot of the money that we pay for upgrades goes to just staying even with
what particularly the large companies change. I have personally witnessed
the time it can take to figure out why something doesn't work right, and it
can be extreme. We expect our screen readers to know when a menu pops up
and to track menu selections as they have been doing for twenty years. If
finances were unlimited-a dream, I know-shouldn't there be a way to
automatically tell us what is important on a webpage in a similar manner?
There are tools we can use, but thinking about what is really important on
a webpage isn't something screen readers really have time to research, and
they have concentrated on what they can get from HTML. But, one has to
wonder, could useful analysis of appearance help us? How about a command to
jump to the text with the largest fonts or analyze text color for example?
What about the third model discussed in Connell's article: building a
screen reader into the operating system? From a technical point of view
this is probably the most sound approach. However, I have the same
reservations that were expressed in the article. I know that there have
been bugs with accessibility both in Microsoft Office and Windows for a few
years that are known to Microsoft. Microsoft sends us updates all the time
to their software and operating system. How often do you run Windows or
Office Update? But some accessibility bugs have to wait for the "next major
release" whatever that means. We have also seen Microsoft leave out or
complicate keystroke access to Office 2013 that can only have happened
because making keystrokes work well isn't a real priority. This is within
their own software, so they have control. While keyboard access is
something some sighted people still use, it still gets what appears to be
casual consideration at best. How can I feel confident that they would
maintain a screen reader over time, and what priority would they give bugs
that might be present in handling competing products? What priority would a
Microsoft screen reader give to Open Office support, for example? Similar
concerns could be asked about Apple, although the environment is somewhat
different. The point is that there are some real drawbacks to all of the
current models. Add to that the fact that software and web development are
extremely dynamic right now and probably will be for some time to come. Now
look at our market size, which is relatively small. Also look at the laws
that require accessibility, which apply mostly to state governments and to
the federal government. These laws have limited applicability in the
private sector, and even in those areas they clearly cover, access is too
often substandard or not available at all. It isn't that efforts are not
being made, but the number of webpages is huge, and the pressure to
continually evolve is great.
As consumers we really need to think about all of this as we move
forward. It is one thing to evaluate all of this in terms of our leisure
activities. Inefficient access can be frustrating, but it is mostly
manageable because we have some control over our environment. But in
particular, how do we deal with websites and software used within parts of
the private sector, where even ADA may not apply completely, and where
"undue burden" may accurately describe the changes that would need to be
made in some cases? These are real challenges that go beyond insulting
one's favorite screen reader or web browser, and this is what we really
need to try to address.
When I attended the first Microsoft Accessibility Summit in 1995 and
when I participated in discussions of the accessibility of JAVA in 1998, I
never dreamed we would still be fighting for accessibility as we must in
2014. There needs to be serious thought as to how we can do better in the
future, and we need to discuss it thoroughly and reasonably.
Best regards,
Steve Jacobson
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Michael Barber]
A Fine State President Steps Back
Michael Barber, the End of an Era
by Jim Omvig
From the Editor: Jim Omvig is a distinguished member who has been an
active member of the National Federation of the Blind for almost fifty
years. He has moved around the country to fulfill a number of Federation
assignments, and he and his wife Sharon have returned to Iowa, where he
continues to be active in the affiliate.
Jim is the author of several published works and a frequent
contributor in these pages. In this article he offers a much-deserved thank
you to Michael Barber, our immediate past president in Iowa. What Jim does
not mention was the concern expressed by some about Michael serving as the
president of our NFB affiliate, while simultaneously working as a staff
member at the Iowa Department for the Blind. While it is essential that
organizations of the blind maintain their independence from the agencies
that exercise extraordinary power over our lives, this should not preclude
Federationists from taking leadership roles in our chapters, affiliates, or
in the private and state agencies created to serve the blind. Michael
Barber proved once again that a person of character and strength can serve
in both roles. Here is what Jim writes as his tribute to a fine man who has
worked tirelessly for blind Iowans and blind people throughout the country:
In our younger days we humans frequently speak glowingly of the
"Golden Years," and we anticipate wonderful things as our time on this
earth passes. For many of us, of course, these marvelous dreams come true,
but for others, the gold can become more or less tarnished by the health
issues which often accompany the aging process.
Such has been the case for retiring NFB of Iowa state president,
Michael Barber of Des Moines. Mike is only sixty-five years old, but this
past year has been extremely difficult for him. The gold truly has become
tarnished.
His major health troubles began right after the 2013 National
Convention in Orlando, when he passed out in a Gainesville, Florida,
restaurant and had to be given CPR to survive. Testing and treatments over
the next several months revealed that he suffers from a lung problem called
Pulmonary Fibrosis, along with some heart issues.
Despite his illness, Mike has put his heart and soul into his
presidential duties during this past year. But, as the October 2014 NFB of
Iowa state convention approached, he and his wife Kim reasoned that, for
his own well-being, as well as for the good of our Iowa affiliate, he
should step down as state president, and we should find another high-
quality Iowan to assume those rigorous presidential duties. He did so, and
Donna Prime of Iowa City, Iowa, is our new state president. She assumed her
duties on Sunday, October 19, 2014. Donna works for the Veterans
Administration in Iowa City. She has been a medical secretary in the Iowa
Regional Histocompatibility & Immunogenetics Laboratory for twenty-three
years and has also been president of our Iowa City chapter for several
years.
Like so many other Jernigan-trained blind Iowans, Michael Barber has a
fascinating background. He was a student at the Iowa Commission for the
Blind in 1967 and 1968. And if my speculation holds, he will be the very
last Federation state president to have been personally trained and
empowered by Dr. Kenneth Jernigan. It may well be that this is "the end of
an era."
Mike, along with many other very proud Iowans, had the distinct
pleasure of being present in the spring of 1968 when, as Kenneth Jernigan
was being presented with a presidential citation from Lyndon Johnson, the
president's representative proclaimed wisely, "If a person must be blind,
it is better to be blind in Iowa than in any other place in the nation or
the world!"
Like so many other blind Iowans from the sixties and seventies, Mike
truly became empowered at that Jernigan "attitude factory" in Des Moines!
He has had an interesting and varied career. He first worked for four-and-a-
half years at the Iowa Department of Transportation as a transcriptionist.
He then changed careers and worked as a manager in the Iowa vending program
for fifteen years. He changed directions again and worked as the first
totally blind banking service representative for the Norwest Company for
about five-and-a-half years.
Finally, like so many of Kenneth Jernigan's students, he began to feel
the need to give back. He joined the staff of the Iowa Department for the
Blind in 1996, and he worked there helping other blind people with
sophisticated blindness technology for the next eighteen years. One of his
proudest accomplishments while there is that he worked with Project Assist
to produce tutorials for blind people.
During the twenty years Dr. Jernigan was in Iowa, the National
Federation of the Blind of Iowa (NFBI) flourished. But, after he left in
1978, troubles arose, and those problems continued in one way or another
for many years. By 2006 Mike Barber decided to run for the presidency in
the earnest hope that he could restore order and bring the organization
back to something like the proud heritage it had enjoyed since the glory
days of the sixties.
As I said above, Mike has put his heart and soul into the task, and he
has done a terrific job. The NFB of Iowa has truly flourished during the
eight years of Mike's presidency. He re-established good relations with the
Iowa press, and he accomplished the same with the Iowa governor and
legislature. In fact, in 2012, when the Iowa Department for the Blind could
not get the state funding it needed from the legislature, Mike rallied NFBI
members, along with members of the Iowa Council of the United Blind, to go
to the legislature every day for weeks to work on funding. We were
successful, and the department received even more state dollars than it had
requested.
Mike also worked vigorously on activities inside the Federation.
Through those eight years he got large numbers of blind Iowans to go to
Baltimore to attend leadership seminars at the National Center. He also
worked hard each year to encourage many Iowans to go to DC to participate
in the Washington Seminar.
One of the fun things which happened during Mike's presidency had to
do with retiring Iowa US Senator Tom Harkin. Senator Harkin was one of
those strongly opposed to the Federation's effort in Congress to eliminate
the payment of subminimum wages to people who are blind or otherwise
disabled. In an effort to help change his thinking, Mike got twenty-six
blind Iowans to picket one of Harkin's Iowa offices. Harkin became so angry
that he personally called then-president Marc Maurer to complain.
Then we dare not omit Mike's efforts to guarantee the right of blind
people to carry guns and to receive permits. Mike's activities on this
issue brought worldwide attention to the issue and to the Federation.
Finally, what a way to end a Federation presidency: Mike bought
seriously into the Federation's effort to establish seventy-five new
chapters this year in recognition of our seventy-five years as a movement.
His last official act, before giving up his office, was to finalize the
establishment of a new chapter in Cedar Rapids, Iowa.
Mike, thank you for your many years of service to the blind of Iowa
and America. We know you'll continue to be around and involved to the
extent which your health permits. In the meantime, thank you, God bless
you, and be well! And to our new NFBI president, Donna Prime, welcome, and
the best of luck to you, too. You have large shoes to fill, and, like those
before you, we are confident you will.
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[PHOTO CAPTION: Christian Coudert]
Digital Braille Versus Paper Braille
by Christian Coudert
From the Editor: Christian Coudert is the editor in chief of the
Louis Braille magazine (Paris, France). He has done some interesting
research about the reading of Braille from paper and from refreshable
Braille displays. Some of the findings from his study are surprising and
may provide helpful guidance for those considering whether to purchase a
refreshable display or a Braille notetaker and how many cells it should
have. We have removed parts of the article that describe how to simulate
the tests done in reaching these results and have tried to smooth a few
rough edges that resulted from translation of this article from French to
English. Here is what he says:
Let me recount how I came up with the idea of writing this article:
since I have had a Braille notetaker, I have gradually given up reading on
paper, preferring electronic Braille. However, without taking the trouble
to check it, I have always been convinced that reading on paper must
unquestionably be much more effective. Indeed, whereas both hands can be
used for reading on paper (the left hand reading the next line while the
right hand ends the current line), this method cannot be applied to
paperless Braille because you have to press a navigation button on the
device to display the text below once you have finished reading the content
of the Braille display. Another preconception has always led me to think
that the more Braille cells we have (up to a point), the faster our reading
speed will be.
In order to check the validity of these assumptions, I decided to
perform an experiment with a panel of volunteer readers. This study does
not claim to be scientific. To have true scientific validity, it would have
been necessary to select a group of readers and have each of them read the
same texts during several timed sessions, assign everyone the same
electronic equipment, and refine the results, taking into account each
reader's age and length of Braille experience. However, the number of
readers involved and the number of reading sessions undertaken enable us to
draw what we believe to be objective conclusions that would likely be
confirmed by other studies.
Before getting into the details of the study, let me make it clear
that I do not write with the purpose of promoting one reading mode over
another. All reading systems are complementary; each person chooses the
system that suits him or her, based on factors such as fixed location or
travelling, the availability of various formats for a given title,
budgetary constraints, and so on. It is also true that a large majority of
sighted readers who use digital tablets do not use them exclusively, seeing
no need to give up paper and generally seeing no need to decide which
method is better-they let the content and other factors determine how they
will read.
There is no doubt that a Braille reader must first master reading on
paper to understand fully the concepts of pages and paragraphs and enjoy
the benefits of the various layouts used in this medium (title centering,
line breaks, paragraphs, lists, and poetry layout). On a Braille display,
where text blocks of eighteen, twenty, or thirty-two cells follow each
other, most of these markers disappear. Hence, learning Braille, like
learning to write, is best done with a solid background in paper Braille.
For our tests we chose to use Braille notetakers rather than
standalone Braille displays because the notetakers are designed for reading
text, whereas standalone Braille displays are designed for displaying the
contents of computer screens and contain more Braille cells. Readers used
their own equipment, and, when they wished, equipment was lent to them.
When we crunched the numbers after each reader went through several
sessions reading from paper, an eighteen-cell display, and a thirty-two-
cell display, we were a little surprised by what the numbers revealed. Half
of the readers had a slightly faster reading speed on paper than on a
Braille display, but the difference was very small, almost to the point of
insignificance. The difference in reading speed for each individual reader
between his or her fastest and slowest speed was rather low, with the
exception of one reader, who had a difference of thirty-four words per
minute between his fastest and slowest speeds. This indicates that the
reading pace is not fundamentally altered by using a device instead of
paper Braille.
Strengths of Paper
One achieves a high reading speed and comprehension when reading with
both hands because of the ability to begin reading the next line. Blank
lines can be easily skipped, and knowing the boundaries of a page is easy.
The spatial representation of the page communicates the layout and the
importance of empty lines, indented lists, and other formatting is easily
understood.
Weaknesses of Paper
With paper Braille, fragility (dots get deleted over time) can become
a barrier to rapid reading. The bulkiness of paper requires significant
space for storage. Size can also make finding a large enough reading space
difficult, especially while traveling.
Strengths of a Notetaker
Braille in a digital format means the reader has a large number of
works available, whether through books prepared for digital Braille or
books with letter-for-letter presentation which are translated by the
notetaker. The notetaker provides a text-search facility, which partially
offsets the difficulty in skipping multiple pages or finding a page by its
number. Of course one also has the advantage of being able to search for a
wanted word or phrase. The compact size of the notetaker means it can be
used where space is limited, and, since books are stored digitally, the
unit can hold many titles. Our readers made the point that these devices
allow one to read anywhere, including standing in the tube [the mass
transit trains in France].
Weaknesses of Reading Braille on Refreshable Braille Displays
One can waste time reading if the text is not properly formatted for
Braille or converted by the translation and formatting programs inside the
display. Reading can be hampered when lines are formatted specifically for
print, contain hyphens to indicate the end of print lines where no such
hyphenation is required on the Braille display, and by the presence of
print page numbers that serve little purpose. Some of the information
conveyed in the printed or the paper Braille is lost when using a Braille
display and can interfere with both reading speed and comprehension. The
Braille display can eliminate information essential in the reading of
tables and Braille music, but for literature these formatting
considerations are less critical.
Our Findings
This study shows that the average reading speed on paper is
equivalent to that obtained on eighteen-cell notetakers (120 words/minute).
It is slightly higher than that on thirty-two-cell devices (4 percent). The
perception we have of our reading speed is distorted by a set of factors we
were not aware of but which were disclosed by this experiment: the dot
quality on piezoelectric displays largely offsets the disadvantages of a
reading process of real two-handed reading on paper. In addition,
electronic Braille frees the reader from the need to turn paper pages, the
problem that arises when Braille is close to the fold of a magazine or soft-
bound book, and the problem that results when having so little reading
space means one has no place for the opposing page.
In order for reading with a Braille display to be comfortable and
efficient, it is important to be sitting comfortably and find the position
that lessens or eliminates wrist, upper limb, and back fatigue. Placing the
device flat on a table is not always the best solution. It is also
important to set one's Braille notetaker to maximize its ability to display
given types of information. If knowing about blank lines is not important,
turn on the function which suppresses them. If multiple spaces between
words are not required for understanding the document, turn on the feature
to compress the information and make the most of the cells on the display.
We observe that devices with front panel buttons provide the best ergonomic
experience since scrolling the text with the thumbs is more natural than
pressing a button at the end of a display.
Our study shows that using a display with a larger number of cells
does not necessarily increase the reading speed: fatigue is usually greater
on thirty-two-cell equipment than on those with eighteen or twenty cells
because of the greater movement of the hands which is required.
We have not yet mentioned the observations made by those attempting
to use automatic reading. This function, available on all notetakers,
automatically scrolls the display at a speed determined by the user. We
found that the use of this feature significantly decreases reading speed
because scrolling of the display is based on time rather than on the number
of characters displayed. In cases where the display contains a small amount
of text, perhaps as little as one or two words, much time is wasted waiting
for the next forward movement through the text. Manufacturers should
consider improving this function by seeing that each line contains as much
text as it can accommodate and by speeding up the pace of the forward
movement when fewer characters are displayed.
I would like to thank all the readers who agreed to take part in this
experiment. The results speak for themselves and should encourage Braille
producers to offer more digital books in Braille. Braille readers who
currently use paper should consider adopting refreshable Braille displays
because they offer so much access to the written word, ease of transport,
instant access (no delay waiting for parcels to be delivered), easy
navigation when searching a digitized document, the ability to add markers
for bookmarks on places where one needs to return, and archiving books and
magazines without any deterioration over time and without the significant
amount of space required by their bulk. We sincerely hope the price of
equipment will fall significantly so that more readers around the world can
benefit from them.
I extend my warm thanks to Alain and Brian, who made the translation
from French.
----------
Mentioning Ol' Reliable
by Grace Warn
From the Editor: At chapter meetings, state conventions, and at our
national convention, we work hard to make the content of our meetings both
interesting and informative. We must decide how much of our agenda will
focus on history, how much on current events, and how much on future
planning.
Grace Warn assists me in putting together each issue of the Braille
Monitor. She has written a piece that encourages us to listen to those who
know about our history, learn it, and be in a position to pass it on. Here
is what she says:
Disney's Lady and the Tramp happens to be my mother's all-time
favorite Disney movie, and it's in my top five, so we've watched it
frequently over the years. When I was younger, I laughed at the way Trusty
would several times say, "It's like my grandpappy Ol' Reliable used to say-
don't recollect if I've ever mentioned Ol' Reliable before?" And Jock, with
long-suffering patience, would reply, "Aye, you have-repeatedly," thereby
stopping Trusty from telling this story (for what may have been the four
millionth time). Then there is that final scene in which Trusty brings up
Ol' Reliable, only this time Lady and Tramp's pups say, "No you haven't,
Uncle Trusty." And Trusty is so thrilled-finally, someone who wants to hear
his story. Except that, when Trusty starts to tell the pups this wonderful
bit of wisdom that his grandpappy told him, he can't. It's been so long
since he got to tell someone what Ol' Reliable used to say that Trusty has
forgotten what it was. As a kid, I found it funny. As an adult, I find it
sad.
Now I'm sure you're wondering what the heck a running gag in an old
Disney movie has to do with the NFB, blindness, or anything else that would
make this article belong in the Monitor. Simply put, it's because I want
our people to let Trusty tell us what Ol' Reliable said once in a while. In
every group there's a Trusty: be it a family, an NFB chapter, a church
congregation, or what have you. There's that one person, usually older,
(whether by age or by years as a member) who is ready and willing to tell
the stories at the drop of a hat. And often that person has two or three or
five favorite stories to tell about experiences in the group. Some of these
stories they tell so frequently that, after a year or so, you and other
members can repeat them word for word. Now you love this person, but you
come to recognize when Trusty is about to start in on one of these stories,
and you've heard it often enough that you'll do just about anything to keep
from having to hear it again. Perfectly understandable: there's a limit to
how many times you can hear the same thing over and over and keep your
sanity. Ask any parent about that movie that somehow "got lost" or the
cassette tape that "got stretched" so it wouldn't play anymore.
I've only been a member of the NFB for a few years. One of the best
parts of working with Gary to put together the Monitor is how interesting
it is. I've learned more about civil rights, legislation being considered
in Congress, technology, and any number of topics than I ever did in high
school, all because of articles I've helped edit. But several times I've
had to ask Gary about an issue or an organization that was referenced in
passing in an article because, while it's perfectly obvious to someone who
was reading the Monitor in the 90s when the issue was huge in the work of
the NFB, in 2015 I'm clueless. And I'm not the only one. My best friend has
been a member of the NFB for over twenty years, but when I've asked her
about a couple of these topics, she didn't know either. Because, after all,
she's my age. At the time when whatever it was was a hot topic of
discussion, she was ten, or twelve, or fifteen, and she wasn't interested
in that. She was talking to me about whether NSync was better than the
Backstreet Boys, or whether our Girl Scout troop would go roller skating or
bowling next month.
My point is that the story that you're tired of hearing-perhaps we
haven't heard it, but we'd like to. This year there's a lot of focus on
history with this being the National Federation of the Blind's seventy-
fifth anniversary. This is the time when the old stories about the amount
of work Dr. tenBroek did in founding the NFB, or how Dr. Jernigan inspired
one of the current leaders of the NFB, or how Dr. Maurer brought the
Federation into the new millennium should be told again and again. Some of
you were lucky enough to have met one of these men, gotten to know them,
been encouraged or inspired by what they had to say to you. But, for me and
countless other younger members of the Federation, these men are names on
an award or a voice heard once a month at chapter meetings when the
Presidential Release is played. It is hearing someone else talk about
meeting Dr. Jernigan at a convention or that letter that Dr. Maurer wrote
to them when they were sixteen-that's how we're going to connect to these
leaders.
It's a balancing act that all organizations must negotiate. You have
to have eyes on the future, have goals that will take you there, and ways
of getting members interested in moving that direction. Otherwise the
organization becomes stale, irrelevant, and ultimately, it falls apart. But
at the same time, we have to maintain the organizational memory of who we
are as a group, where we have come from, how far we have come, and how we
made the journey, because that maintains the core of the organization's
identity. Those old-timers who remember all those stories-they won't be
around forever. They can choose to stop being a member for any number of
reasons, or they can be taken from us by age or illness. And with them go
memories that can't be replaced.
So next time you're at a chapter meeting or a state convention and
your local Trusty starts winding up to that story you've heard twenty times
too many, let them tell it just one more time. Do it for that person who
joined last year who hasn't learned the story by heart or for the veteran
Federationist who heard it as a kid but who didn't have the attention span
to hear it the whole way through the last time Trusty told it. When one of
our younger members is called upon to relate that story, maybe in a decade
or two, you'll be very glad you did.
----------
Consider a Charitable Gift
Making a charitable gift can be one of the most satisfying
experiences in life. Each year millions of people contribute their time,
talent, and treasure to charitable organizations. When you plan for a gift
to the National Federation of the Blind, you are not just making a
donation; you are leaving a legacy that insures a future for blind people
throughout the country. Special giving programs are available through the
National Federation of the Blind (NFB).
Points to Consider When Making a Gift to the National Federation of the
Blind
. Will my gift serve to advance the mission of the NFB?
. Am I giving the most appropriate asset?
. Have I selected the best way to make my gift?
. Have I considered the tax consequences of my gift?
. Have I sought counsel from a competent advisor?
. Have I talked to the NFB planned giving officer about my gift?
Benefits of Making a Gift to the NFB
. Helping the NFB fulfill its mission
. Receiving income tax savings through a charitable deduction
. Making capital gain tax savings on contribution of some appreciated
gifts
. Providing retained payments for the life of a donor or other
beneficiaries
. Eliminating federal estate tax in certain situations
. Reducing estate settlement cost
Your Gift Will Help Us
. Make the study of science and math a real possibility for blind
children
. Provide hope and training for seniors losing vision
. Promote state and chapter programs and provide information that will
educate blind people
. Advance technology helpful to the blind
. Create a state-of-the-art library on blindness
. Train and inspire professionals working with the blind
. Provide critical information to parents of blind children
. Mentor blind people trying to find jobs
Your gift makes you a part of the NFB dream!
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[PHOTO CAPTION: Curtis Chong]
Blind Voters in New Mexico Forced to Take a Step Backward
by Curtis Chong
From the Editor: This article appeared in the fall issue of Que Pasa,
the newsletter of the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico. It is
written by Curtis Chong, a man who began voting long before there were any
kind of civil rights laws addressing the voting rights of blind people:
before one was allowed to bring a person of his or her choice to the voting
booth, before one could come to the polling place alone and be assisted by
a judge from each party, and before the time when machines would allow for
the casting of a truly secret ballot.
For all the progress we have made in assuring that blind people have
the right to cast a secret ballot, this article shows that we still have
some distance to go. In the March issue of this publication we will hear
from Lou Ann Blake, the staff member and fellow Federationist who works so
hard to see that provisions of the Help America Vote Act are enforced and
the technology available to us is enhanced. Here is what Curtis has to say:
Members of the National Federation of the Blind of New Mexico will
recall Resolution 2014-04, passed at our 2014 convention, which expressed
"extreme disappointment with Secretary of State Dianna Duran for the
failure of her office to involve and consult with the blind community
during the evaluation and certification of the Dominion ImageCapture
Evolution (ICE) voting machine" (This resolution was printed in the June
2014 issue of Que Pasa).
Some of our members had tried the new Dominion ICE voting machine
during a "mock" election held in Albuquerque in late March, and others had
taken advantage of the opportunity to examine the new machine when
representatives from Bernalillo County brought it to our 2014 convention.
For the most part, as reflected in the resolution, we were unimpressed with
what was supposed to be the latest and greatest in nonvisual voting
technology, and we were extremely displeased by the failure of the
Secretary of State to involve the blind community during the early stages
of the evaluation and selection process.
Since the time of our convention, blind voters in New Mexico have had
the chance to use the Dominion ICE in both the primary and midterm
elections. I regret to say that, with very few exceptions, our experience
using the Dominion ICE in a real election was even worse than anything we
might have imagined when we passed Resolution 2014-04.
Audio Quality
I don't know what speech synthesis engine is being used in the
Dominion ICE. What I do know is that the quality of the voice used on the
Dominion ICE is significantly worse than the voices we hear when we run our
computers with the latest screen reader or our iPhones with VoiceOver.
Anyone who has used the AutoMARK to vote in a previous election will marvel
at the consistency and quality of the speech on that system-especially as
compared to the muffled speech and poorly pronounced words on the Dominion
ICE.
Some voters have reported that the volume of the speech on the
Dominion ICE tends to go up and down even while one happens to be reading a
proposed amendment or bond measure. It has been reported that because of
this, lengthy proposals are very difficult to understand.
Perhaps more significant is the deplorable fashion in which candidate
names are pronounced. The Dominion ICE massacres Hispanic names; this
problem was far less noticeable with the AutoMARK. In many cases, candidate
names, as spoken by the Dominion ICE, sound much different from the way
they are spoken on radio or television.
Speed Control Makes Speech Incomprehensible
Since the Dominion ICE is supposed to be the latest and greatest in
voting technology, you would think that it should out-perform older access
technologies that have been used for years by the blind. Not so with the
speaking rate controls.
When speech is first turned on in the Dominion ICE, the speaking rate
is slower than a normal speaking rate. Some blind voters might be tempted
to speed things up. Fortunately, the Dominion ICE does have a button which
does this. Unfortunately, when the speech is made to talk faster, words are
actually chopped off. For example, "party" becomes "part," and "voting"
becomes "vote."
Slowing the speech down presents a different problem: an echo effect
seems to be introduced, and syllables are long and drawn out, making some
words impossible to understand.
Bad Nonvisual Interface Design
The way in which a blind voter must operate the Dominion ICE does not
demonstrate an understanding of how we use our computers and iPhones today.
Nor does it reflect any appreciation or awareness of how the nonvisual user
navigates through lists and lengthy passages of text.
The first problem is that when you are navigating through the list of
candidates in a particular contest (often a list with only one entry), you
are thrown out of the contest when you move past the last name in the list.
When this happens, you have to press a left arrow key to move back to
the contest and a down arrow key to get back into the list of candidates
for that contest. This is frustrating, especially if the list is short
(i.e., contains only one or two names). The problem is even worse when you
are trying to vote the last contest on the ballot. In this case, if you
should move past the last name in the list, you cannot simply press the
left arrow and the down arrow to return to this last contest. No. The
software thinks that you are finished voting and takes you right to the
summary function, which means that you then have to traverse the ballot,
contest by contest (two key presses per contest), until you reach the last
one. Good nonvisual interface design would avoid this problem by keeping
you in the contest when the bottom of the list is reached and enabling you
to move back up to the top of the list so that a selection could be made.
The second problem is that, after you have selected one or more
candidates for a particular contest, the Dominion ICE insists on repeating
your selection-not once but twice-before you are permitted to move to the
next contest. Good nonvisual user interface design might repeat your
selection once, but certainly never more than once.
The third problem relates to long passages of text such as the text
contained in a proposed bond issue or constitutional amendment. The blind
user is forced to listen to the entire text of the passage. There is no
opportunity to back up one word, line, sentence, or paragraph. If you miss
something, you have to listen to the entire passage again-all in all, an
unnecessary waste of time.
Failure to Consult with the Blind
As Resolution 2014-04 indicates, Secretary of State Dianna Duran
never reached out to the blind community during the time that her office
was evaluating and selecting a replacement for the AutoMARK. If we had been
as involved in the evaluation of the Dominion ICE as we were in the
selection of the AutoMARK, we would have told the Secretary of State in no
uncertain terms that the Dominion ICE was not a good voting system for us.
I am sure that the secretary of state will maintain that the Dominion
ICE is the best nonvisual voting system on the market and that there is no
competing product which would better meet the needs of blind voters.
However, I have had a chance to examine at least one competing voting
system, and I can say with certainty that blind voters in New Mexico would
have been a lot happier with this machine had it been selected.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Despite our tremendous unhappiness with the shabby treatment meted
out to the blind community by Secretary of State Dianna Duran and her
office, and regardless of how much we find fault with the Dominion
ImageCapture Evolution (ICE), the bottom line is that New Mexico is not
going to abandon the Dominion ICE voting system any time soon. On the plus
side there is a very good chance that over time the Dominion ICE will get
better. But the improvements will surely not happen unless we continue our
efforts to identify the problems and offer detailed suggestions for
improvement.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: David and Matthew pose in front of the toboggan shoots.
They are holding the big, long toboggan between the two of them.]
Seeing Is Believing, or Is It?
by David Cohen
From the Editor: How many times have we heard the expression that
finds itself the title of this article? It is said so often that we come to
believe it as true, but is seeing really believing?
I remember presiding at a state convention and being approached while
on stage by someone who needed change for a twenty dollar bill. We handled
the transaction quietly, and I was relieved to turn my attention once again
to the presenter. About an hour later I was again approached, this time
during a presentation by our rehabilitation agency's director. This time I
was told that someone had left the restaurant without paying, and the hotel
staff was angry. The person who had eaten and left was developmentally
disabled and did not understand what she had done, so again I reached for
my wallet.
Later in the day we had a contest in which our chapters compete to
raise the most money for the affiliate. The chapter that won had about
twenty dollars more than the second place winner, and the argument began to
be made that some of us in a position to know the totals helped the first-
place chapter beat out the second-place chapter. I was accused directly of
giving money to change the results, and when I denied that I had made a
contribution to either chapter, I was told, "Gary, you have to realize that
not everyone in this room is blind. Some of our people can see, and we saw
you-right there on the stage-exchanging money." Now it is one thing to
expect fairness in a contest and to ask if the state president, who should
presumably be impartial, had donated to one chapter in favor of another,
but the thrust of the argument was that my denial that I was giving money
in the contest was provably untrue because I was seen pulling money from my
wallet. Seeing is believing; seeing is truth; seeing is knowing, but I
hadn't contributed a dime to either the first- or second-place contestants
and certainly had not tried to change the outcome of the contest. Many of
us have experiences in which those around us gently or not so gently remind
us that seeing is believing. Here is David Cohen's account of one such
encounter in his life:
If ever there was a loaded statement, "seeing is believing" packs the
equivalent of the funniest Looney Tunes gags. I'm thinking of Yosemite Sam
in the episode about the singing sword, where he finds himself, along with
the loveably innocent resident dragon, inside the castle turret, surrounded
with explosives and the dragon's desperate need to sneeze fire. (To see
this episode, go to <https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CUCUQJBmpdQ>.)
Seeing is believing-it is seemingly obvious, easy to say, easy to
remember. But observing and allowing the facts to be revealed takes time
and patience, and very often that which is revealed needs no words of
explanation, for the truth of it is a feeling of knowing. If any words at
all are spoken, the result is an "Oh my God" moment, or what is otherwise
referred to as an epiphany.
Those of us who work hard at changing public attitudes about
blindness are often left to wonder, "How many times have my attempts at
public education about blindness resulted in an epiphany?" Probably we wish
that experience was more common than it is, but we do our best to soldier
on.
I have two black dogs which I walk routinely. The elder is Maggie,
and she is 100 percent Labrador. The younger male is Snerdley, and he is at
least half Labrador and possibly more-he is always mistaken for Labrador,
but his crescent-curve tail, his pinched-short ears, and his twin elongated
canine teeth, which bow inwards to his mouth, lead me to think he's got
something else in his bloodline...possibly Burmese Python or perhaps the
vampire Lestat. So, when I am asked about the dogs, I like to say that I
have 1.5 servings of the recommended daily allowance of Labrador.
The three of us go walking at least twice each day. On the day of the
incident I'm about to describe, it was late afternoon on Labor Day, and
there had been a parade earlier in the day. Because today is a holiday, the
traffic on State Route 48 passes at a reduced volume-like a Sunday evening
as opposed to the normal weekday ever-present and rushing volume one can
expect from the most heavily-traveled road in the state of Ohio's second
largest suburb.
The sidewalk on which we are walking is blocked by twin aluminum
bleachers positioned outside the board of education building two blocks
north of my home, and additionally the city has stationed portable toilets
intermittently a few yards from the corners of select blocks both north and
south along the one-mile stretch of the parade's route. Years ago when I
was passing one such port-o-john and struck the backside of the molded
plastic enclosure with my cane a bit too forcefully, a surprised voice
called out from within, "Just a minute. Occupied!" The smile that spread
across my face had a life of its own as I recalled how many times I had
accidentally knocked on the doors of hotel rooms, apartments, and cubicle
walls at work before I thought to apply a softer touch in such situations.
On this day we circumnavigate the portable toilet stationed on the
sidewalk near my driveway. I knock on and identify with my cane the wooden
sawhorse barriers placed in the crosswalk of this street to block any
through traffic from entering the parade procession. My cane tap echoes the
location of the upcoming curb, and I sweep for the wheelchair ramp on the
other side. We three step up onto the next block, and Maggie stops after a
few yards to sniff at a familiar spot. Ahead of me I hear a voice and with
it several sets of footsteps. As the voice draws closer I realize that it
is the voice of a man, and walking along beside and behind him are young
people.
"Stay to the side everybody. Those dogs are working," he says. As the
group passes, I exchange neighborly greetings perfunctorily because it's
important that my primary focus remain on Maggie, who on occasion relieves
herself at this spot and forces me to attend to my civic duty and pick up.
"Hi. Hello. How are ya?" they call.
As the young people pass, I smile, but do not take my attention away
from Maggie. She is rooting in the grass at the end of her leash, like an
Iowa hog, and snorting just as loudly. This informs me that she is not
thinking of relieving but searching for edibles left over from the parade.
If you have a Labrador of your own or have ever lived with such a dog, you
know that no other appetite on earth compares to that of the Lab-not even
that of professional athletes injected with HGH and steroids. I do believe
that, if I ever spilled mustard or ketchup on her, she'd consume herself
into nothingness and find a way of communicating with me spiritually to beg
for something else to eat.
I give Maggie a cursory leash tug, signaling her to come along, and
the three of us are walking northwards again. I have the twin leashes in my
left hand, my cane in my right. I always keep the dogs on my left, which
has taken some patience and a lot of repetition to train into them.
Obviously I cannot have one or both of them crossing in front of me to my
right side to sniff, but sometimes they cannot resist. "Two legs or four,
you cannot beat the arc of the cane," I like to say, and many times I've
tickled the pad of a dog foot. Dog feet are so cool, and especially
Labrador duck-style feet.
The way I manage walking two dogs is to use common stainless steel
choker chains so that I can heel them both quickly with a catch-and-release
tug/signal, and shorten the length of leash or leashes as necessary. Most
of the time the walk is smooth, but sometimes one dog or the other will try
to stop or go too fast. Maggie is most often the culprit, but sometimes
Snerdley sees a rabbit or cat, and he rockets ahead and will cross to my
right side. But, when this happens, I simply stop, reattach my shoulder to
its socket joint, and try to think of something other than the guilt I feel
at restraining Snerdley from acting on his nature. I try to tell myself
that I have equally disappointing experiences in my life, one being that
Chipotle does not deliver to my house.
"I know, Snerdley. I know. You missed the rabbit. I love fast food
too but can't always have it," I tell him, and he chuffs at me disgustedly.
A twin portal blow through his dog nostrils is his way of dismissing me,
I'm sure.
The three of us have been walking together for five years now. Prior
to engaging in this twin walk, I would walk one dog and return home to walk
the other, but after months of their competitive bickering and my hearing,
"She always gets to go first," and "That's my leash! Why doesn't he get his
own?" I'd had enough and made the change to walking them simultaneously.
At present both dogs are pulling ahead strongly, both competing to be
the first to capture the freshest inhalation of oxygen, and I pick up my
own pace. The sidewalk beneath my feet soon begins to slope downward and
informs me that we're approaching the end of this block. I mentally throw
my ears forward to the cross-street, the crosswalk, and I include the
passing traffic on State Route 48 to my left as I shorten their leashes to
bring them closer to me. Hearing nothing ahead of me, we cross this street
without stopping and maintain our pace. It's a perfectly executed crossing;
even the Olympic orientation and mobility Russian judges are pleased, and
their scorecard displays a 9.7 rating for my performance. For me it is just
one of those days when alignment is Zen-like, no other people approach with
dogs, and no remnant of parade food has been discarded in the crosswalk to
distract my pack.
In this next block are the aluminum bleachers. They block the entire
sidewalk, which is at least twice the width of your average suburban
sidewalk path because it accommodates a very nicely cobbled-brick area
surrounding a city bus stop and shelter. I am quite familiar with the
parade bleacher setup because at least twice in the early years of my
residency here I took a five foot nine-inch bleacher seat to my forehead,
with my cane sweeping beneath and my ears and mind elsewhere. I was either
dreaming about Diane Sawyer's voice in my computer's next-generation
synthesizer or perhaps thinking of eating a Frisbee-sized Wendy's double
burger with everything.
But today, in contrast to previous years when I took those headshots,
I have stepped off the sidewalk well before the bleachers, and, along with
the dogs, I walk up the sloping grass of the board of education lawn to go
around the blockade.
"Hello. I like your dogs," a woman's voice speaks. Maggie, Snerdley,
and I are heading directly for her until Maggie stops short to root at what
I can only imagine is food droppings from parade-attendees.
"Oh I'm sorry," the woman says, as I tug on Maggie's leash, giving
Maggie a smart leash correction of the sort I learned how to administer
when in guide dog school twenty years ago. The correction is not a harsh
one-a mental check at best-and the equivalent of a tap on the shoulder.
"I'm sorry," the woman repeats. "I know they're working... I
shouldn't have distracted them." She says this apologetically, but I can
hear that she's smiling because-well-dogs have this effect on people.
"No problem," I say, loosening my hold on Maggie. She's now sweep-
sniffing and no longer rooting, which tells me she's not eating or about to
eat.
"I know you're not supposed to pet working dogs, but can I..." the
woman asks me.
I worked with a black Labrador guide dog for many years and never did
get used to this request. In it is both the acknowledgement that the dog
must not be distracted and the dismissal of the admonition. I sometimes
wonder if these people might just as easily say, "I know you're not
supposed to smoke in the maternity ward, but can I?"
"I know the sign reads twelve items or less, but I have three boxes
of cereal-isn't that one cereal?"
"I know it's a school zone and the cautionary light is flashing, but,
come on man, this is a Porsche."
Alas, I give in. "Sure," I say, and ask if she attended the parade. I
am attempting to avoid another guide dog conversation which, as dog guide
users can tell you, is not an easy thing to do. Guide dogs attract interest
and questions. Never mind that these are not guide dogs. Seeing is
believing, and to this woman I have two canine assistants. I cannot imagine
how, with me clearly using my cane, the assumption is so often that these
dogs are guides. Isn't it just as likely that I am out collecting dogs,
just four short of a sled-dog team? But my experience as a blind man has
taught me that we see what we know, and that knowing is not the same as
understanding. Knowing is good for multiple-choice tests and Jeopardy, but
understanding has very little to do with memorization.
In response to my question about whether she has been here for the
parade, she says, "Yes. We're cleaning up and are waiting for the trucks to
remove the bleachers. Were you here for the parade?" she asks.
"Yes and no," I tell her. "I live just two blocks south of here and
the parade...well, it passes in front of my house. It's like having a
marching band playing in your living room," I say to her and feel chills on
the nape of my neck as I recall the scene I've just inadvertently described
from The Amityville Horror movie.
"Oh I know you," she says. "You're the guy with the dogs," and I
desperately hope she's saying that I am the white cane guy with the dogs.
But to her I am not the white cane user but the blind guy with two guide
dogs, working dogs or service dogs...whatever.
"Yes, that is me," I reply.
"I think these dogs are so amazing...I mean what they do for you,"
she says, bending over to pet one and then the other.
What do I say? Do I tell her the truth: that my dogs are regular
walking, trashcan-sniffing, rabbit-chasing, and obviously harnessless dogs,
with no formal training? This is a uniquely dissonant situation, for
everything in plain view contradicts the woman's belief. "God, why are you
doing this to me?" I ask internally. "Why am I doing this to myself? Please
turn my head into a plasma flat screen so I might be seen for who I am and
what I am doing," I muse patiently. "Give me the radio voice of Art
Schreiber, Rush Limbaugh, or Terry Gross so I might be heard."
"Now where did you get them?" she asks, still petting and cooing to
them.
"Maggie is from a breeder in Tampa, and Snerdley comes from the Tampa
Humane Society, where he was doing three to six for civil disobedience," I
reply.
"Whaaat," she said, laughing at me, but I know she's sincere and
believes the twain are working.
"The truth is that neither dog is a working dog," and this I relate
seriously. "I sort of rescued them, and they are from Tampa, Florida."
"But they work for you, right?" she states more than asks.
"Nope. This works with me," I say, offering her a soft but sincere
smile and holding my cane upright above the recently shorn front lawn I
feel beneath my feet. I know my cane's simple utilitarian power, but most
folk know it only as an accessory to the DMV driver exam picture and
functionally like a candy-striped barber pole mounted on the wall outside
the shop.
"They're not working for you... They're not service animals?" she
replies, and I can hear the disbelief in her voice.
"No, they're served animals," I reply. "They get served meals in the
morning and in the afternoon, dog snacks from Who Laid the Rail, and
routine walks with me to the pet store, where they are served treats and
God only knows how many discounts that I am unaware of which they steal
from the store's lower shelves."
The woman is laughing. I am laughing. I think she's definitely a dog-
person. This mistake has occurred so many times since I began walking the
dogs I've cared for in the past ten years since my former guide died. Who
knows-maybe I've educated someone. Even better, maybe she'll want two dogs
of her own.
But the thought that she may have been listening and now understands
is soon dislodged. "I don't understand. I always thought they guided you.
I've seen them take you across the street," she says.
Take me across the street-I incredulously consider this. Chinese
emperors are taken places by rickshaw inside the Imperial City. The New
York Yankees are taken by floats or convertibles through the streets of
Brooklyn in parades celebrating victory, but the last time I was taken
across a street was by my mother in the early seventies.
"Do you have a dog?" I asked in a mild tone. I don't want to
communicate my frustration at her not getting that I am just a man out
walking his dogs.
"Yes, a Beagle mix," she says and, hearing Beagle, I so want to reply
"BeagleJuice, BeagleJuice, BeagleJuice," but even I know now is the time
for seriousness.
"When you walk the Beagle, the Beagle sometimes walks ahead of you
and sometimes at your side. Beagle turns at all the routine corners and
after certain street crossings. Beagle marks territory at the usual places
and walks down curbs and up wheelchair ramps along with you." I am
explaining, and she is understanding. This I know because she is now
speaking to me engagingly, and, truth be told, she is laughing at herself,
which I can appreciate because I've walked into bleachers in broad
daylight.
"Oh my God. You're just walking these dogs. You're blind, though,
right?" she asks, and she is most definitely in need of confirmation. If
ever there was an opportune time for me to walk into a tree or bleachers,
it is now. This would be called taking one for the team.
"This is true," I say. You who work to change public attitudes know
how it is, that moment when you are engaged by a person unfamiliar with
blindness but who gets it because of something you've said. Elation! Now
the person who was once ignorant simply wants you to confirm the obvious-
hurray. It's the experience one has when trying to convince someone about
the usefulness of Braille and then having the light come on for them when
you press the right button on the elevator and begin heading for your
floor.
"Yes," I reply, now uncomfortably looking directly at her for only a
second or two.
"Ohhhh," she exclaims, and she's cool in her understanding and not at
all uncomfortable with the word "blind," which I really appreciate.
"Sweet!" I'm elated. She's comfortable with her new understanding-I
can get on with my walk.
But, not so fast. I'm hearing the dismantling of square one of this
understanding I have helped to build-the foundation is not as strong as I
had hoped.
"But how...You just walk...alone...with that," she states a bit
incredulously, pointing at my cane as if I'm holding a soiled diaper.
I have a choice to make. I can prolong the exchange, which has turned
into a whole bunch of everything regarding blindness, and maybe dispel her
disbelief. Or I can make another joke and tell her that yes I do use the
cane, it works for free, I incur no health insurance costs, it requires no
room and board, does not cheat at cards, and also functions as a sweeping
tool for the identification and retrieval of all the single socks that have
gone AWOL beneath beds and behind the washing machine and dryer in my home.
I could answer yes, excuse myself, continue my walk-or I could give it one
last try.
"My name is David," I say, holding out my hand to her and we shake.
"This cane is a literal extension of my arm and hand, with five fingers
each and an eyeball for a fingerprint. It informs me of everything I need
to know sixty-five inches ahead of my scheduled arrival. It really works
wonderfully in its simplicity."
"Oh I guess so," she replied, in a tone of challenged consideration.
"I never really thought...but...but...just that cane...don't you need a
service dog?"
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Kyle Wiens]
Ebook Legal Restrictions Are Screwing Over Blind People
by Kyle Wiens
From the Editor: Kyle Wiens is the co-founder and CEO of iFixit, an
online repair community and parts retailer internationally renowned for
their open source repair manuals and product teardowns. His opinion piece
originally appeared on December 15, 2014, on WIRED.com. He graciously gave
his permission for us to reprint it. As you can tell, he gets it. Here is
what he says:
In late 2012 a fourteen-year-old high school student stood in front
of a camera and began to read. Chris Nusbaum's voice was calm and steady.
And so were his hands, which ran smoothly over lines of Braille as he made
a personal appeal to Amazon-maker of the most widely-used e-reader in the
world.
"My class has just been assigned a project for which we must use
information in the class's textbook. Every student has a Kindle, which has
the textbook loaded on to it. All of the sighted students can easily read
the material and complete the assignment independently," Nusbaum read. "I,
on the other hand, cannot read the book without the assistance of a sighted
reader. Therefore, I am put at a severe disadvantage in completing the
project when compared with my sighted classmates... All of this because of
a problem which can easily and inexpensively be solved by integrating text-
to-speech software into your readers and making sure that your apps and
information are accessible with that software."
For the nearly eight million people in the US with some degree of
vision impairment, the advent of ebooks and e-readers has been both a
blessing and a burden: a blessing because a digital library-everything from
academic textbooks to venerated classics to romance novels-is never further
away than your fingertips; a burden because the explosion of ebooks has
served as a reminder of how inaccessible technology really can be.
For more than a decade the visually impaired have been locked in an
excruciatingly slow and circuitous battle against US copyright laws. And
it's left the visually impaired with few options but to hack their way
around digital barriers-just for the simple pleasure of reading a book.
Books, Blindness, and Barriers to Content
There's no Library of Alexandria out there for visually-impaired
readers. Only 1 percent of published books are available in Braille. And,
while audiobooks are widely available through online platforms like
Audible, the selection is relatively narrow. Audible boasts more than
150,000 titles, but that's only 4 percent of the estimated 3.4 million
books that are available through Amazon. If you're looking for an
independent author, or the collected stories of a minor, long-dead
novelist, or a biography on anyone less celebrated than a celebrity or a
world leader-you're probably out of luck.
Still, many popular books are available on venues like Audible, so we
asked Blake Reid-head of the Samuelson Glushko Technology Law & Policy
Clinic-whether that was enough. Reid's team works on media and
accessibility issues; they explained: "Yes, audiobooks are already on the
market. But there are not very many of them and virtually none for
technical or academic subjects."
That's why ebooks and e-readers are especially promising for people
with disabilities. There are well over a million ebooks in the Kindle's
Store alone-everything from cookbooks to magazines to how-to books. A lot
of e-readers come prepackaged with a Text-to-Speech (TTS) feature, which
converts the words on an e-reader's screen into a synthesized, human voice.
Essentially, TTS reads a purchased ebook aloud-and that's been an
incredible tool for making the collective digital library more accessible
and more inclusive.
That is, until the copyright hounds got out.
When the Kindle 2 was released in 2009, it came with TTS functions
that could be used across all Kindle ebooks. Publishers balked. They argued
that TTS would negatively impact the audiobook market, and that a computer
reading an ebook aloud constituted a violation of copyright.
Amazon conceded, and it gave publishers the option to opt-out of TTS.
Publishers took advantage of this and removed this feature from a huge
swath of books. And so, the doors to the collective digital library slammed
shut on the blind and print impaired once again.
"Blind people, when we ask for accessibility, we're not doing it
because we want anyone's charity," Chris told us. "We want equal access to
the same information that anyone else could have access to. We have the
mental capacity to compete on equal terms in education and in the workforce
and in any other areas of life with our sighted counterparts. In order to
do that, we are just asking for a very simple request from developers and
engineers and institutions of higher education: and that is make sure that
we have access to information that we need. We'll take care of the rest."
The situation has improved since Chris made his appeal to Amazon two
years ago. TTS features have gotten more prevalent-but there are still
critical accessibility gaps that need filling.
"Among the three main ebook distributors-Apple, Amazon, and Barnes &
Noble, text-to-speech support is limited. While Apple's iPad has built-in
text-to-speech functionality that works well with most formats of ebooks,
including Apple's own iBooks format, most Kindle devices do not," Reid's
team explained. "Only the Kindle Fire has text-to-speech functionality,
which can be (and often is) blocked by individual ebook publishers using
DRM. Also, it is often difficult for readers who are visually impaired to
determine which Kindle books have text-to-speech functionality disabled
before purchase."
DRM, or digital rights management, is a genteel term for digital
handcuffs; it's used to control access to copyrighted material. In ebooks
DRM stops pirates and profiteers from making thousands of copies of
something like Tina Fey's autobiography and then selling them for cents on
the dollar. Fair enough. But, when it comes to accessibility, DRM becomes a
barrier that can stop a reader with disabilities from listening to a good
book.
Hacking for the Right to Read
That's not to say that locks can't be picked. Over the years the
print impaired have found viable workarounds-hacks to pry open the doors to
their digital library.
If a tablet doesn't have a text-to-speech feature, you can modify it:
root the tablet and install a TTS app not sanctioned by the manufacturer.
More commonly, though, people just strip the DRM off ebooks they buy. Then
the ebook can be uploaded to and read through an e-reader's existing TTS
feature. The problem is that both those workarounds are technically illegal
under an esoteric clause in US copyright law.
Here's why: The Digital Millennium Copyright Act (DMCA), a 1998 law
designed to protect digital content from infringement. Under Section 1201
it's illegal to break a technological lock that protects copyrighted
content-like an encryption over a tablet or DRM over an ebook. So, it's not
just a voided warranty that would-be readers have to worry about: Web-
connected e-readers are essentially tablets, and you can't legally root or
jailbreak a tablet-even if you just want to trick it out with a cool app
that extends the device's accessibility or functionality.
Breaking the DRM on an ebook is also technically a violation-but the
Librarian of Congress granted an exemption for people who are visually
impaired or have a print impairment. But the ruling is interestingly
idiosyncratic: it's legal for someone with a disability to strip DRM from
ebooks, but it's not legal for developers to create programs or apps that
strip DRM.
And the exemption isn't permanent. Every three years advocates have
to request the Librarian of Congress to extend his previous exemptions.
Which means that people with disabilities are, essentially, legally
mandated to ask for permission to read a book once every three years, which
is what they've done for more than a decade.
And now it's time to ask again. Reid's team at the University of
Colorado submitted, in conjunction with the American Foundation for the
Blind and the American Council of the Blind, the petition to renew the
current exemption.
"In a seemingly endless loop that calls to mind the dilemma of Bill
Murray's character in the movie Groundhog Day, we, our colleagues, and our
pro bono counsel have poured hundreds of hours of work into a lengthy
bureaucratic process that requires us to document and re-document the
accessibility of copyrighted works," said Mark Richert of the American
Foundation for the Blind during a congressional hearing into the DMCA, "and
argue and re-argue the rarely-disputed premise that making books and movies
accessible to people with disabilities does not infringe or even remotely
threaten the rights of copyright holders."
Advocates narrowly procured the exemption for ebook DRM over the
objection of the register of copyright when they applied in 2010. This year
it's anyone's guess-and that's part of the problem.
Copyright law is taking away our rights. It means that developers are
afraid of writing applications to help the blind. It means that consumers
are afraid of repairing and tinkering with their things. And it means
people with visual impairments like Chris don't know if they'll be able to
keep listening to some of their books.
"For me if I could describe text-to-speech in one word, it would be
liberating," said Chris, now sixteen and a junior in high school. "It's a
kind of freedom. I, as a blind person, don't have access always to most
kinds of information that sighted people have access to. It's a kind of
freedom when I know that I have access to that information."
Reading is a basic human right, and no one-not the Library of
Congress and not corporate copyright lobbyists-should have the power to
take that away.
----------
The Battle for ATM Accessibility Continues
From the Editor: We have been working for most of a dozen years to
get Cardtronics to make its machines independently usable by blind people.
We have had advances, setbacks, promises, missed deadlines, and sanctions
by the court against the company for a failure to comply with previous
agreements. Hopefully we are nearing the end of this battle.
Below is a document which we are reprinting because it offers blind
people a chance to weigh in on this matter. While the contents lack the
punch of a good legal thriller, we believe the text is sufficiently clear
to speak for itself. Here is the proposed settlement:
NOTICE OF PROPOSED AMENDED AND RESTATED CLASS ACTION
SETTLEMENT AND HEARING TO BE HELD ON MAY 7, 2015
TO ALL MEMBERS OF THE NATIONWIDE CLASS CERTIFIED BY THIS COURT TO INCLUDE
BLIND PATRONS OF AUTOMATED TELLER MACHINES ("ATMs") OWNED OR OPERATED BY
EITHER CARDTRONICS, INC. OR CARDTRONICS USA, INC.:
On December 4, 2007, this Court granted final approval of a class
action settlement agreement ("Settlement Agreement") entered into between
Plaintiffs, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts, the National Federation of
the Blind ("NFB"), and several individual blind persons, and Defendants,
Cardtronics, Inc. and Cardtronics USA, Inc. (collectively "Cardtronics"),
concerning, among other things, the accessibility of ATMs owned or operated
by Cardtronics to blind patrons under the Americans with Disabilities Act
("ADA") and Massachusetts state law. The class certified by the Court
consists of patrons of ATMs owned or operated by Cardtronics who have total
blindness or central vision acuity not to exceed 20/200 in the better eye,
with corrective lenses, as measured by the Snellen test, or visual acuity
greater than 20/200, but with a limitation in the field of vision such that
the widest diameter of the visual field subtends an angle of not greater
than 20 degrees (the "Class Members").
The parties subsequently had a number of disputes concerning
performance of the Settlement Agreement by Cardtronics. The parties
ultimately resolved these disputes through a revised agreement called a
Remediation Plan, which was granted final approval by the Court on November
3, 2010. The Remediation Plan extended some of the deadlines in the
Settlement Agreement and also obligated Cardtronics to install customized
voice-guidance software on the vast majority of its owned machines by
December 31, 2010.
On July 29, 2011, and again in August 2012, Plaintiffs moved for
contempt sanctions, alleging that Cardtronics was not in compliance with
the Settlement Agreement and Remediation Plan. On March 21, 2013, the Court
issued an Order finding that contempt sanctions against Cardtronics were
warranted, but stating further that the extent of Cardtronics' violations
remained to be ascertained. After extensive negotiations, and with the
assistance of a Court-appointed Special Master, the parties have now
entered into an Amended and Restated Class Action Settlement Agreement
("Amended Agreement") to resolve all remaining disputes concerning
Cardtronics' alleged noncompliance with the Settlement Agreement and
Remediation Plan. This Amended Agreement is subject to approval by this
Court.
THE PARTIES BELIEVE THAT THE AMENDED AGREEMENT WILL GIVE THE MEMBERS OF THE
CLASS EVEN GREATER ACCESS TO CARDTRONICS' EXPANDING NATIONWIDE FLEET OF
ATMs.
As a general summary of the Amended Agreement, Cardtronics has agreed
to develop and install enhanced voice-guidance software for its fleet of
ATMs-both owned and operated-on or before March 31, 2017. The parties have
also agreed to new, NFB-approved Braille signage. The Amended Agreement
also provides for a robust field inspection and testing program, as well as
comprehensive compliance reporting. The Court-appointed Special Master will
serve as "Arbiter" during the term of the Amended Agreement to determine,
through a rigorous software approval process that will include testing by a
NFB-approved blind consultant, whether the enhanced software satisfies the
parties' agreed-upon voice-guidance standards and to certify Cardtronics'
compliance with those standards. Cardtronics has agreed to pay the
reasonable fees and expenses incurred by the Arbiter and the consultant
during the software testing and approval process. Cardtronics has also
agreed to pay $1,250,000 to the NFB and $250,000 to the Commonwealth of
Massachusetts, to be used to promote or to fund other programs or
initiatives that promote equal access for Blind persons. Cardtronics has
further agreed to pay the reasonable attorneys' fees and expenses incurred
by class counsel in connection with negotiating the Amended Agreement and
obtaining final approval of the Amended Agreement by the Court. The
attorneys' fees and expenses incurred by class counsel through October 31,
2014, total $307,093.80. These payments will not detract from Cardtronics'
obligations to provide accessible ATMs to the class.
Under the Amended Agreement, Class Members will release Cardtronics
from all claims concerning Cardtronics' compliance with the Settlement
Agreement and Remediation Plan. Class Members (other than the named
Plaintiffs) will not release claims for monetary damages except for those
related to Cardtronics' alleged noncompliance with the Settlement
Agreement, Remediation Plan or prior Court orders. A full copy of the
Amended Agreement is available on Cardtronics' website:
<http://www.cardtronics.com/about/legal.asp> and the website of the
National Federation of the Blind, Inc.:
<https://nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/pdf/cardtronics_settlement_agreement.p
df>.
YOU ARE HEREBY NOTIFIED, pursuant to Rule 23 of the Federal Rules of
Civil Procedure and an Order of this Court dated December 2, 2014, and as
thereafter amended, that a Final Approval Hearing will be held on May 7,
2015, at 2:00 PM, before this Court in the United States Courthouse, One
Courthouse Way, Boston, Massachusetts 02210. The purpose of this Final
Approval Hearing is to determine whether the proposed Amended Agreement
should be approved by the Court as fair, reasonable and adequate, whether
class counsel's application for attorneys' fees and costs and the payments
to the NFB and the Commonwealth should be approved, and whether the
contempt proceedings should be dismissed on the merits and with prejudice.
The date of the Final Approval Hearing may change without further notice to
the class. Class Members are advised to check the Court's Public Access to
Court Electronic Records (PACER) system at <https://ecf.mad.uscourts.gov>
to confirm that the date of the Final Approval Hearing has not been
changed.
Class Members who wish to object to the proposed settlement must
provide notice of and explanation of their objection in writing to the
Court at the address above, with copies to Counsel at the addresses below,
no later than April 2, 2015. Only Class Members filing timely objections
may request to present their objections at the Final Approval Hearing.
Office of the Massachusetts Attorney General
Attn: Genevieve Nadeau, Esq.
Assistant Attorney General
Civil Rights Division
One Ashburton Place
Boston, MA 02108
(617) 727-2200
<Genevieve.Nadeau at state.ma.us>
Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
Attn: Sharon Krevor-Weisbaum, Esq.
120 E. Baltimore Street
Suite 1700
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410) 962-1030
<skw at browngold.com>
Cooley LLP
Attn: Douglas P. Lobel, Esq.
One Freedom Square/Reston Town Center
11951 Freedom Drive
Reston, VA 20190
(703) 720-7000
<dlobel at cooley.com>
FOR FURTHER INFORMATION, VISIT <http://www.cardtronics.com/about/legal.asp>
OR CONTACT COUNSEL FOR PLAINTIFFS:
Office of the Attorney General of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts,
(617) 727-2200, <www.mass.gov/ago>
OR
Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP, (410) 962-1030, <www.browngold.com>
EXCEPT AS INSTRUCTED IN THIS NOTICE, PLEASE DO NOT CONTACT THE COURT.
Dated: December 8, 2014 By Order of the
United States District Court
for the District of Massachusetts
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: David sits in a chair playing an acoustic guitar.]
The San Fernando Valley Chapter Reviews a Year of Progress
by Racquel Decipeda
From the Editor: Admittedly, February is not usually a month in which
we are still talking about Christmas, but this item was submitted at the
end of December and was too late to be included in the January issue.
Congratulations to the San Fernando Valley Chapter, not only for the
projects they mention here, but for taking the time to share this
nationally:
The San Fernando Valley Chapter of the National Federation of the
Blind of California is celebrating another wonderful year, particularly two
of our most successful events: the Best in Tech Conference and the Adopt A
Child Project. Our chapter, in collaboration with the Center for the
Partially Sighted in Los Angeles, put together the Best in Tech Conference
in 2009 with the intent to provide a much-needed service to our community,
as well as to help increase awareness about our respective organizations.
We just had our sixth annual event on November 22, 2014, which was bigger
and better than ever. Best in Tech offers a great opportunity to those who
are interested in learning about the latest innovations in assistive
technology for the blind and partially sighted. It is a free, annual event
for our community, where some of the biggest and most well-known
manufacturers and vendors of assistive technology gather with about three
hundred blind and low-vision attendees including students, teachers,
department of rehab counselors, and ordinary folks who are interested in
learning about the best and most helpful assistive technology solutions of
the year.
In December we hold our annual chapter holiday party, where our
chapter members and their families and friends gather together to share and
enjoy the spirit of the holidays. In 2012 the SFV chapter decided to
enhance our holiday party by embarking on a new project, the Adopt a Child
program. Our chapter members felt that Christmas is the time to give back
and share the blessings we have received throughout the year and throughout
our journey as blind and low-vision individuals. Once again we reached out
to our local community and partnered with the Therapeutic Living Centers
for the Blind in Reseda, California (TLC), to help us find families of
blind children who could use a little holiday cheer. We were all so touched
and overwhelmed with joy at the outcome that this has now become a highly-
anticipated yearly tradition.
That first year we adopted a child named Hizela, and in 2013 we had
Kobe and Alejandra. These children and their siblings were showered with
gifts from all of our chapter members, and they joined us in our annual
holiday dinner party, along with the staff from TLC. In 2014 the chapter
decided to adopt David Sandoval, who is a thirteen-year-old blind child
with microphthalmia/anophthalmia. David is a student at Irving Middle
School. He is gifted with a love of music and attends the Primary Academy
of Music. David performed for us before dinner and played a Christmas carol
with his flute and sang "Treasure," a song popularized by Bruno Mars. Of
course, the highlight of the evening was surprising David with his gifts.
The chapter made it possible for David to get one of the things on his wish
list: an electric guitar. All of us were happy seeing the big smile on
David's face as he eagerly unwrapped his shiny new guitar, including
everything that came along with it: the carrying case, amplifier, and
accessories. It was such a pleasure to see and hear David's mother, Maria
Acosta, joyfully experiencing her child's excitement, happy and thankful
for the blessings they've received this Christmas.
It is a true blessing and pleasure to give and share with others. This
is one project we will continue in future years, and we hope that other
chapters will be similarly inspired. We also see this as a great
opportunity to convey an important message: that being blind is not a
hindrance in achieving your hopes and dreams. You can live the life you
want with the proper tools, education, resources, and information. In other
words, we are committed to extending a warm welcome to the Federationists
of the future.
Editor's Note: Along with this article we were sent a copy of the
letter written by Ms. Acosta to thank the chapter for the gift it gave to
her son. Here are a few gems from what she said:
I just want to thank you all from the bottom of our hearts for making
my son David so happy. We had so much fun this year. You all made us feel
like we were part of your NFB family and that you really wanted to get to
know David.
He loved, loved, loved his guitar. He has been asking me for one for
a long time, and fortunately the National Federation of the Blind was able
to help with this gift. The smile on his face is unforgettable. You are all
amazing people who understand the need of a child. As soon as he got home,
David couldn't wait any longer, and he started playing the electric guitar.
I am pretty sure our neighbors will enjoy the music!
Once again, thank you so much for my son's guitar and for inviting us
to your holiday party. I hope this will not be the end of our journey with
the NFB and that we will be part of this family for a long time.
Maria Acosta
David Sandoval's mom
----------
The Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund
by Allen Harris
From the Editor: Allen Harris is the chairman of the Kenneth Jernigan
Fund Committee and was one of the people who came up with the idea of
honoring our former president and longtime leader by establishing a program
to promote attendance at the national convention, where so much inspiration
and learning occur. Here is Allen's announcement about the 2015 Kenneth
Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund Program:
Have you always wanted to attend an NFB annual convention but have
not done so because of the lack of funds? The Kenneth Jernigan Convention
Scholarship Fund invites you to make an application for a scholarship
grant. Perhaps this July you too can be in the Rosen Centre Hotel in
Orlando, Florida, enjoying the many pleasures and learning opportunities at
the largest and most important yearly convention of blind people in the
world.
The three biggest ticket items you need to cover when attending an
NFB national convention are the roundtrip transportation, the hotel room
for a week, and the food (which tends to be higher priced than at home). We
attempt to award additional funds to families, but, whether a family or an
individual is granted a scholarship, this fund can only help; it won't pay
all the costs. Last year most of the sixty grants were in the range of $400
to $500 per individual.
We recommend that you find an NFB member as your personal convention
mentor, someone who has been to many national conventions and is able to
share money-saving tips with you and tips on navigating the extensive
agenda in the big hotel. Your mentor will help you get the most out of the
amazing experience that is convention week.
Who is eligible?
Active NFB members, blind or sighted, who have not yet attended an
NFB national convention because of lack of funding are eligible to apply.
How do I apply for funding assistance?
1. You write a letter giving your contact information, and your local NFB
information, your specific amount requested, and then explain why this is a
good investment for the NFB. The points to cover are listed below.
2. You contact your state president in person or by phone to request his or
her help in obtaining funding. Be sure to tell the president when to expect
your request letter by email, and mention the deadline.
3. You (or a friend) send your letter by email to your state president. He
or she must add a president's recommendation and then email both letters
directly to the Kenneth Jernigan Convention Scholarship Fund Committee.
Your president must forward the two letters no later than April 15, 2015.
Your letter to Chairperson Allen Harris must cover these points:
Your full name, and all your telephone numbers and label them - cell phone,
home, office, other person (if any).
Your mailing address and, if you have one, your email address.
Your state affiliate and state president; your chapter and chapter
president, if you attend a chapter.
Your personal convention mentor and provide that person's phone number.
Your specific request:
Explain how much money you need from this fund to make this trip
possible for you. We suggest you consult with other members to make a rough
budget for yourself.
The body of your letter should answer these questions:
How do you currently participate in the Federation?
Why do you want to attend a national convention?
What would you receive; what can you share or give?
You can include in your letter to the committee any special circumstances
you hope they will take into consideration.
When will I be notified that I am a winner?
If you are chosen to receive this scholarship, you will receive a
letter with convention details which should answer most of your questions.
The committee makes every effort to notify scholarship winners by May 15,
but you must do several things before that to be prepared to attend if you
are chosen.
1. Make your own hotel reservation. If something prevents you from
attending, you can cancel the reservation. (Yes, you may arrange for
roommates of your own to reduce the cost.)
2. Register online for the entire convention, including the banquet, by May
31.
3. Find someone in your chapter or affiliate who has been to many
conventions and can answer your questions as a friend and advisor.
4. If you do not hear from the committee by May 15, then you did not win a
grant this year.
How will I receive my convention scholarship?
At convention you will be given a debit card or credit card loaded
with the amount of your award. The times and locations to pick up your card
will be listed in the letter we sent you. The committee is not able to
provide funds before the convention, so work with your chapter and state
affiliate to assist you by obtaining an agreement to advance funds if you
win a scholarship and to pay your treasury back after you receive your
debit or credit card.
What if I have more questions? For additional information email the
chairman, Allen Harris, at <kjscholarships at nfb.org> or call his Baltimore,
Maryland, office at (410) 659-9314, x2415.
Above all, please use this opportunity to attend your first
convention on the national level and join several thousand active
Federationists in the most important meeting of the blind in the world. We
hope to see you in Orlando.
----------
Recipes
This month's recipes have been submitted by the National Federation of the
Blind of South Carolina.
[PHOTO CAPTION: Kim Diggs stands with her husband Parnell and their son
Jordan.]
Sausage Cheese Dip
by Kim Diggs
Kim Diggs is the wife of Parnell Diggs, the president of the National
Federation of the Blind of South Carolina.
Ingredients:
1 pound hot sausage
1 large jar of thick and chunky salsa
16 ounces cream cheese
Method: Brown sausage. Remove grease. Keep on low heat. Mix in cream cheese
and salsa. Serve hot on chips of your choice.
----------
Potato Casserole
by Kim Diggs
Ingredients:
1 32-ounce package frozen hash brown potatoes
2 cans of cream of potato soup
2 8-ounce packages sour cream
2 cups grated sharp cheese
1 1/4 cups Parmesan cheese
Method: Thaw potatoes. Mix all together. Put in greased 9 x 13-inch dish.
Bake for 40 minutes at 350 degrees.
----------
Dirt Dessert
by Kim Diggs
Ingredients:
1/2 stick butter or margarine, softened
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1 cup powdered sugar
4 cups milk
2 large packages instant vanilla pudding
1 12-ounce container frozen whipped topping, thawed
2 20-ounce packages Oreos
Method: Cream butter, cream cheese, and powdered sugar in large bowl. In
another bowl mix milk, pudding, and whipped topping. Combine mixtures.
Crush Oreos (not too fine). Put 1/3 of crushed Oreos in bottom of foil-
lined clay pot or plastic sand pail. Add 1/2 pudding mixture. Layer 1/3
crushed Oreos and remaining filling. Top with remaining crumbs. Can garnish
with plastic greens, flowers, or gummy worms to serve.
----------
Orange Fluff Jell-O Salad
by Kim Diggs
Ingredients:
1 large package Cook and Serve vanilla pudding (4.6 ounces)
1 large package orange Jell-O (6 ounces)
2 cups water
16 ounce container Cool Whip
1/2 bag mini-marshmallows
20 ounce can pineapple tidbits (drained)
22 ounces mandarin oranges (drained)
2 or 3 bananas, sliced (optional)
Method: Mix together pudding, Jell-O, and water over medium heat
until it boils. Remove from heat and pour into a large mixing bowl.
Refrigerate until mixture has thickened (about an hour). Beat until creamy.
Fold in Cool Whip, marshmallows, and fruit. Chill for about an hour before
serving. If desired, top with sliced bananas just before serving.
----------
[PHOTO CAPTION: Shelley Coppel with her husband Frank]
Salmon Pâté
by Shelley Coppel
Shelley is the president of the NFB of SC Blind Seniors Division and
the wife of NFB of SC first vice president, Frank Coppel.
Ingredients:
1 can salmon, drained
1/2 small pkg. frozen salad shrimp, thawed and drained (approximately 1
cup)
1 12-ounce bottle seafood cocktail sauce
1 small bunch green onions, finely chopped
1 8-ounce package cream cheese, softened
1/4 cup bacon bits (real ones preferred)
5 to 6 Ritz crackers, crushed
Method: In a bowl, combine all of the ingredients. Stir well to
thoroughly mix in the cocktail sauce and cream cheese. Put into a container
and refrigerate. Can divide up and save it for later; this recipe freezes
well. Serve with raw vegetables or on crackers. Serves a bunch!
----------
Impossible Quiche
by Shelley Coppel
Ingredients:
1 1/2 cups cooked breakfast meat, chopped
1 cup shredded cheese
1 1/2 cups milk
1/4 cup margarine, melted
3 eggs
1/2 cup Bisquick
1/2 cup chopped onion (optional)
Method: Place the breakfast meat in the bottom of an 8-by-8 baking
dish or a pie plate and cover this meat with the shredded cheese. Combine
melted butter, milk, eggs, and Bisquick in a mixing bowl. Pour this egg
mixture over the meat and cheese in the baking dish. Bake for about 35
minutes at 350 degrees. No need to grease the dish because of the butter in
the mixture.
Notes: You can use eight cooked slices of bacon or some kielbasa as
the breakfast meat. I have also used raisins instead of meat and cheese. I
eat gluten free and have substituted gluten free Bisquick and had it work
just as well as the original.
----------
Tortilla Rollups
by Shelley Coppel
Ingredients:
1 package eight-inch flour tortillas
8 ounces pre-made dip (any of the type found in the dairy case of your
grocery store)
8 ounces grated cheese
1 small can chopped black olives
4 green onions, chopped
Method: Mix all of the ingredients except the tortillas. Spread the
mixture onto the center of the tortillas. Roll up the edges of the
tortillas. Refrigerate them until they set up. Cut them into one-inch
circles and serve. This mixture can also be used as a chip dip.
----------
Crock Pot Smothered Steak
by Shelley Coppel
Ingredients:
2 pounds round steak, cut into strips
1/3 cup flour
1 teaspoon salt
1/4 teaspoon pepper
1 large onion, sliced
1 green pepper, sliced
1 1-pound can tomatoes
4 ounces mushrooms, drained
2 tablespoons molasses (optional)
3 tablespoons soy sauce
16 ounces French-cut frozen green beans
Method: In bowl, stir together flour, salt, and pepper. Dip the steak
strips into this mixture and place into the crock pot. Add the rest of the
ingredients into crock pot. Cook on high four to five hours, or on low for
eight hours.
----------
Collard Greens
by Darlene Houck
Darlene Houck is the wife of David Houck, the director of the Federation
Center of the Blind in Columbia, South Carolina.
It is better to get your collard greens from a farmer's market or a
local produce stand. Make sure each bunch is a good size and that the
leaves are fresh, not discolored or bug-eaten.
First, cut the leaves off the stems and wash them in water. Then
place a few leaves flat on a clean surface and cut them into small pieces
(two to three inches square). Place the cut leaves into a saucepan with
melted butter and sauté until softened. Then place them in a pot.
Once you have completed the process, you can place the pot on the
stove and boil the greens in water for about thirty minutes; then they are
ready to serve. The leaves should not taste bitter.
If you have more than you expect to use after they are sautéed, you
can place the extra in one gallon freezer bags and freeze until needed.
When frozen, place into water and let boil for thirty minutes before
serving.
This goes well with black-eyed peas and cornbread, especially for New
Year's Day!
----------
Monitor Miniatures
News from the Federation Family
Dawnelle D. Cruze Passes:
Dawnelle D. Cruze, sixty-one, of Virginia Beach, went to be with the
Lord on Wednesday, December 17, 2014. She was the daughter of the late
Doris D. Cruze.
Dawnelle was an excellent advocate for the blind in many areas. She
was a longtime member of the advisory committee for the state library for
the blind. She was a founding member of the Tidewater chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind (NFB) and served as its president for
several years. Dawnelle graduated from Mary Washington University, where
she received a BA in sociology and also received a master's degree in
sociology from VCU. She was a supervisor at the Norfolk Red Cross working
for military families division and retired there after twenty seven years.
Dawnelle also served as a field instructor at Norfolk State University,
School of Social Work. She served many years on the board of directors for
the National Federation of the Blind of Virginia and was a member of the
National Association of Social Workers. She was active in the NFB on both
the state and national levels. She served as the second vice president on
the state level, and was president of the affiliate's diabetic division.
The NFB gives thirty college scholarships annually, and Dawnelle has served
on the national committee to choose the recipients of these. Dawnelle was a
loving and caring sister, aunt, and a loyal friend. She always put the
needs of others before her own and was always the person with the biggest
smile in the room. She was a faithful member of St. Benedict's Parish
Catholic Church for many years.
New Guide Dog App Warmly Received:
When the National Association of Guide Dog Users launched the NAGDU
Guide & Service Dog Information & Advocacy mobile app on September 17,
2014, our goal was to have the app downloaded at least one thousand times
by the end of 2014. It was an ambitious goal; however, the NFB is known for
its ambition to ensure every blind person has the opportunity to live the
life he/she wants! We are pleased and excited to announce that we have not
only met our goal, but exceeded it!
As of midnight on December 31, 2014, the NAGDU app has been downloaded
by 1,039 users. And we are not finished! The app is continuing to be
downloaded, demonstrating the value of the information we are providing to
guide and service dog users, as well as to the general public. We are
working to enhance the app with new features suggested by our users,
including location tracking, sharing options, more streamlined access to
the information, guidance for other industries, and an Android version.
If you or someone you know has not yet downloaded the app, please help
us continue our progress by going to the App Store, searching for "NAGDU,"
and downloading this incredible free app. Doing so will help the National
Association of Guide Dog Users improve the app and enhance the other work
we do on behalf of guide dog users. Once you download the app, please
browse through the information, and send us your feedback. You can do this
directly from the app by using the "send an email" feature. We look forward
to hearing from you and working with you to raise the expectations of the
blind in the United States so we can live the lives we want.
Performing Arts Scholarship Available:
In remembrance of one of our leaders, Mary Ann Parks, who served as
the secretary of the Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of
the Blind, a scholarship program was established in 2008. She was first
elected in 2005 and helped oversee the division as it experienced great
expansion. As one of the leaders of the division, she worked to manage the
summer conventions, kept valuable records, and assisted in promoting and
producing our first "Sound in Sight" album, which was released in 2007. In
addition to working with the Performing Arts Division, Mary Ann also held
the post of secretary of the National Federation of the Blind of Georgia.
On August 25, 2007, due to injuries sustained in an automobile
accident, Mary Ann passed away. She will always be remembered as a
positive, upbeat, and strong-willed person, and she is greatly missed by
all who knew her.
At the 75th anniversary convention of the National Federation of the
Blind in July of 2015, the division will award a scholarship to recognize
achievement and offer support to a legally blind individual interested in
pursuing a degree in the performing arts. The scholarship will be available
for high school seniors through grad students who are currently pursuing or
planning to pursue a full-time post-secondary course of study in a degree
program related to the performing arts at an accredited institution in the
United States. Each applicant will be considered based upon performing arts-
related achievements, aspirations, and goals; academic excellence; and
community service endeavors.
The scholarship winner will attend the National Federation of the
Blind's seventy-fifth anniversary convention to be held in Orlando,
Florida. The scholarship will be presented at the annual talent competition
on Thursday, July 9, 2015.
In addition to our scholarship program, we have also established a
subsidy program which will, through a short application process, assist
legally blind individuals with funding for performing arts projects, travel-
related expenses incurred as a result of performing arts projects, and
other related needs that may arise. Each application will be carefully
reviewed, and stipends will be awarded based upon demonstrated need.
Please consider making a donation to the Mary Ann Parks Performing
Arts Scholarship program as well as our new subsidy program; all donations
are tax-deductible. You can make a check payable to the National Federation
of the Blind Performing Arts Division and send it to:
8259 Harcourt Road, Suite 127, Indianapolis, IN 46260. Please write
Scholarship Program or Subsidy Program in the memo line as appropriate. No
amount is too large or too small. Each donation will be greatly
appreciated.
If you need more information, please call us at (317) 643-1890, or
send us an email at <nfbpad at gmail.com>.
Division Looking for New Members:
Greetings Fellow Federationists: Time has a way of really flying by,
and before we know it we will be attending our seventy-fifth convention of
the National Federation of the Blind. I am in search of new members for our
National Association of Blind Automobile Enthusiasts Division, formally
known as the CARS Division. Dues are only five dollars, and you can have a
lot of fun being part of a division where you can learn about cars, build
them, and display your car at a show. You don't have to know how to drive;
lots of blind people work on cars, and they also own them for show. If you
have a love for the automobile, come on down, join us, and have lots of
fun.
For more information, please call Dave Hutchins at (816) 942-3233. See
you in Orlando.
----------
In Brief
Notices and information in this section may be of interest to Monitor
readers. We are not responsible for the accuracy of the information; we
have edited only for space and clarity.
Acclaimed Narrator to be Honored:
Mitzi Friedlander, a Talking Book narrator at the American Printing
House for the Blind (APH), is retiring. During her extraordinary career,
which spans over a half century, she has recorded more books than any other
Talking Book narrator in the nation.
The Talking Book program, administered by the National Library Service
for the Blind and Physically Handicapped of the Library of Congress,
provides recorded literature to 500,000 blind, visually impaired, and
physically impaired Americans. The National Library Service (NLS) contracts
with the American Printing House for the Blind to prepare these Talking
Books.
Her fans, locally and nationally, will celebrate her accomplishments
at a retirement ceremony that will take place February 5, 2015, from 5:30
to 7:00 PM at APH. Those who want to share their thoughts with Mitzi may
send them to APH, c/o Roberta Williams, 1839 Frankfort Ave., Louisville, KY
40206 or email them to <rwilliams at aph.org>.
A well-known figure in Louisville's theatrical world, Mitzi earned the
first master's degree in theater arts given by the University of
Louisville. She has performed with Actor's Theatre of Louisville, the
Louisville Ballet, the Kentucky Opera Association, and the Louisville
Children's Theatre. She has also taught theatre arts at the University of
Louisville and at Indiana University Southeast. The versatile actress, who
has recorded over two thousand titles during her fifty-plus years at APH,
has lent her voice to nonfiction pieces, works of fiction, scientific
publications, and children's literature.
Through her work as a narrator in the APH studio, Mitzi became the
first recipient of the Didymus Award for narration of one thousand Talking
Books for the Library of Congress. She is familiar to over half a million
people in the listening audience as the voice of such classics as Gone with
the Wind, Charlotte's Web, and several of Sue Grafton's "alphabet" series
of detective novels. In 1993 this nationwide audience selected her as one
of their favorite Talking Book voices, honoring her with the Alexander
Scourby Award for excellence in the narration of nonfiction titles.
To hear a sample of Mitzi Friedlander's work, visit:
<http://www.aph.org/museum/Narrator-Jukebox/Mitzi-Friedlander.html>.
Free Service Animal Eye Exams:
American College of Veterinary Ophthalmologists (ACVO) is gearing up
for the 8th Annual ACVO/StokesRx National Service Animal Eye Exam Event
this May. The goal of this event is to provide as many free screening exams
as possible to eligible service animals across the U.S. and Canada
throughout the month of May. Service animals include guide, handicapped
assistance, detection, military, search and rescue, and certified-current
registered therapy animals that all selflessly serve the public.
This year's event is sponsored by ACVO® and Stokes Pharmacy, as well
as several generous industry sponsors, volunteer ophthalmologists, and
staff. Participating doctors volunteer their services, staff, and
facilities at no charge to participate in the event.
To qualify, service animals must be "active working animals" that
were certified by a formal training program or organization, or are
currently enrolled in a formal training program. The certifying
organization could be national, regional, or local in nature. Owners/agents
for the animal(s) must first register the animal using an online
registration form beginning April 1 at <www.ACVOeyeexam.org>. Registration
ends April 30. Once registered online, the owner/agent will receive a
registration number and will be allowed access to a list of participating
ophthalmologists in their area. Then they may contact a specialist to
schedule an appointment, which will take place during the month of May.
Times may vary depending on the facility and are filled on a first-come,
first-served basis, so clients should try to register and make appointments
early.
Distinctive Greeting Cards Available:
The many styles, materials, and textures used set our cards apart from
all of the rest! These uniquely original and tactile cards come with
options for your customized Braille messages, with the first forty-two
cells being free. Whether you simply need one to say "Hello!" or want a
five-pack of all occasion cards, invitations, other special orders, or you
choose any of our "greener" options, the recipients will certainly be
delighted, no matter their age or gender. We can also integrate your gift
card (in a pocket/envelope) into the design of the card and mail it
directly for you when completed. The cards come in two sizes: 5.5 inches by
4.25 inches (A2) and 4 inches by 6 inches (A6), and are put in a plastic
sleeve for protection and display. They range in price from $3 to $8. The
"greener" option is like a postcard, with one decorated side instead of a
photo. The other side will have a designed area where we can Braille or
write your personal message. In this way we can create two cards rather
than one from the same piece of paper! Please contact us using email at
<jwhw4unity at aol.com> and use the subject "Cards." Alternatively, you may
call A Touch of Thoughts at (419) 283-9000 between the hours of 2 and 6 PM,
Eastern Standard Time, Monday through Friday, and from 1 to 4 PM on
Saturday. The cards are created in a smoke-free environment. Our mascot,
Bubby the English bulldog, helps keep us on track, as well as bringing
plenty of comic relief, so we are not canine-free. We look forward to
creating something special just for you and would be grateful for any and
all feedback about our products!
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Monitor Mart
The notices in this section have been edited for clarity, but we can
pass along only the information we were given. We are not responsible for
the accuracy of the statements made or the quality of the products for
sale.
Four-Track Tape Recorder Wanted:
I am looking to purchase a working four-track tape recorder that can
read books produced by the National Library Service. I am also interested
in learning about services that still exist to repair such units. If you
have one to sell or information about where older recorders can be
repaired, please contact David using email at <scopist65 at gmail.com> or by
calling (337) 264-3785.
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NFB Pledge
I pledge to participate actively in the efforts of the National
Federation of the Blind to achieve equality, opportunity, and security for
the blind; to support the policies and programs of the Federation; and to
abide by its constitution.
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