Early Days of Guide Dogs for the Blind - Video

Seeing Eye graduate, in her own words

Blind biker Matt Gilman shows his moves

Couple Meets through Adaptive Sports

@Sensei_Rich on Twitter sent this video along. Hope you enjoy it. And, while you're at it, give Rich a follow.

Looking for assistive technology?

Check out blind bargains.

Brent tells his story

You can find Brent's Organized Confusion Podcast here.

You're invited to join....

the Inclusive Planet, the "best place on the web for accessible content, conversations and friends."

Lots of information for blind users, including about NVDA, the new open source screen reader.

And more information is there for those of us who may not know what a perkins brailler is.

And while I'm sending invitations, don't forget that there's a disability blog carnival on the horizon.

Accessibility bill signed into law

President Obama signed a bipartisan bill, 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, to expand technology access to people with disabilities. Earlier this week, Rosa's law was signed. More information can be found at the links and in the video below.

Governor Paterson on SNL...

addressed the issue of disrespectful treatment of disability on the show. The real governor appears about 2:30 minutes into the clip.

Will the real assistive technology stand up?

I was just over at Planet of the Blind which is both a blog and a place as far as I'm concerned. I go there to read poetry some days. I also visit to hear the thoughts of author and professor Stephen Kuusisto. His blog writing has been hampered lately, as has apparently all his other writing, because of computer issues.

Today he writes about PC and Mac fails with assistive technology needs for the blind and visually impaired. It's a piece worth reading. It's a disgrace that computers still lack access for people with disabilities, despite their claims that onboard software offers accessibility solutions.

The new Windows 7 system is supposed to have its own screen reading software built in, along with screen magnification. "Huzzah!" thought I. "Let's give it a go!"

Well of course it turns out that the W7 "narrator" is just a stunt or a gimmick--it's not a fully functional screen reading program like Jaws (which though pricey does afford full functional access to most major Microsoft programs). So guess what? Blind people will still have to fork out the hefty price for Jaws or its competitors in order to effectively use the pc.

If you're a visually impaired person this is all familiar enough


On top of this, computers present compatibility issues with assistive software and operating systems. So what about Macs....

Given all the problems with Windows 7 and the Dell laptop and Jaws I began to think about switching to the new Mac. Apple has been touting (or is that "tooting"?) about its new "Voice Over" screen reading program that's built into the OS 10 operating system. IN effect they're bragging about how seamless and accessible the new Mac is for blind people.

So of course I tried it out with a loaner Mac from the university. What I discovered is that Voice Over doesn't work with Mac's version of Microsoft Office, the very productivity tool one needs to work at the University of Iowa. It doesn't work with the Mac version of "Outlook" which is called "Entourage" nor does it work with the Mac version of "Word". I spent hours last night combing through Apple's unfriendly assistive technology website trying to gain information about why Voice Over couldn't work with these essential tools. Lo and Behold, buried on a web page about programs that "do" work one finds by process of elimination that Voice Over won't currently function with these all important programs.

Go on over and read the rest- about the effect all of this has had on Steve's ability to get work done and the amount of time he's had to waste trying to get information, much less a solution to these issues.

Study shows half of DC cab drivers pass by blind people with guide dogs

A study by a civil rights watchdog, the Equal Rights Center, showed in half of 30 tests cab drivers passed by blind passengers with guide dogs. The study was done based on complaints by blind people that some taxi drivers do not follow the law requiring reasonable accommodations. In fact, some try to charge surcharges for taking a guide dog. You can read more here and watch the video below.


{This video lacks narration. The video text precedes the video.}


Video Text:
The Equal Rights Center (ERC)

The Washington Lawyers' Committee for Civil Rights and Urban Affairs (WLC)

Hogan and Lovells US LLP

More than 25 million individuals in the United States report having vision loss; approximately 2.5 million of those are legally blind.

Federal law requires taxicab drivers to allow service dogs in their vehicles, and prohibits them from charging a surcharge, higher fare, or extra fee for transporting a service dog.

Despite these protections, people encounter discrimination on a daily basis.

(Video of blind woman with a service dog attempting to hail a cab. Two cabs pass her and pick up another woman 100 feet away)

The ERC conducted tests in the District; each included two individuals, one with a service dog and one without, who stood on the same side of the block.

(Video of blind woman with a service dog attempting to hail a cab. A cab approaches her, slows down to a near stop, and then drives on to pick up another women 100 feet away)

In 60% of these tests, the tester with a service dog was subjected to at least one form of discriminatory treatment.

(Video of a woman with a service dog attempting to hail a cab. A cab passes her and picks up another women 100 feet away)

"These instances are both hurtful and an insult to those of us who must rely upon the loving assistance of our dogs to travel independently." -ERC member, Charles Crawford

Video of a man with a service dog attempting to hail a cab. A cab passes him and picks up another man 100 feet away)

"Cabbie's go whizzing by and I can't see to know if they have somebody in their cab or if they don't." -ERC member, Stan Berman

(Video of a woman with a service dog attempting to hail a cab. A cab passes her and picks up another women 100 feet away)

Help advance civil rights and learn more about what can be done to end discrimination against individuals who use service dogs.

Learn more and download the report at www.equalrightscenter.org

Curious sighted people want to know....

...are there grocery stores for blind people?

Check out this article over at Fred's Head about the myths-and questions- encountered by the author.

Some folks use people with disabilities as their very own Google search, with no regard for the person's feelings.

Free universal text to speech software available soon

Under the weather a bit here, but wanted to post this link from The Blind Flaneur about free text to speech software from Kurzweil, to offer universal text to speech ( UTS )capabilities for ebooks. Sounds like it should be available by November.

via Publishers Weekly:

Although Kurzweil is a pioneer in creating technologies to assist the blind with reading, his new and as yet unnamed software product is aimed at both the general e-book reading market as well as the blind. In a phone interview with Kurzweil from his company’s headquarters in Massachusetts, he said not only can consumers use the software to read e-books, but the technology will allow the device its installed on to read the text aloud, in synch with a display of the text that highlights each word as it is spoken. On top of all that, he intends to offer the software for free via both downloads and CDs and told PW he expects to make money through the sale of books using the K-NFB e-reader. The software also offers high quality graphics and fonts and will even read plays aloud using different voices for different roles.

Dirt buggy with laser equipment can be driven by blind

Oh boy. We're going to need one of these up at Ski for Light. After being regaled with driving stories by my blind friends, I know they're going to want one of these buggies ASAP.




via Engadget:

As the mighty Hokies look to prove their dominance in the field of engineering, a student team from Virginia Tech has assembled what amounts to a vehicle that can actually be driven by blind individuals. In short, the specially equipped dirt buggy is outfitted with an array of laser range finders, an instant voice command interface and a few other related systems that enable drivers to respond to whatever the vehicle "sees." Best of all, the project is far beyond the drawing board, with a blind driver (Wes Majerus) already singing praises about the vehicle and deeming it a "liberating" experience.
[visual image: Two students sit in a small red, four wheeled buggy with a metal cage and off road tires, driving through orange cones for a test drive. ]

Immediate Empowerment

First a hat tip to Media dis&dat.

Imagine a device that allows deaf-blind people to instantly communicate with those around them. Sound like Star Trek?

Well, it's here. It's called the DeafBlind Communicator and it allows deaf-blind folks to make phone calls and engage in face to face communication. Washington state and HumanWare designed and manufactured it jointly, in a government -business cooperative effort that has resulted in immediate empowerment for those who have access to this technology.

How does it work?

For face-to-face conversations, the deaf-blind person hands the separate smaller device with a text display and keyboard to the person they want to communicate with.

A retractable tether is attached. With one click, the deaf- blind person who is operating the other half of the device sends the following opening message; "Hi, I’m blind and I can’t hear. To communicate with me, type a message on this keyboard and press (the return arrow)."

This message is both spoken through speakers and displayed on the text screen. The person who is deaf-blind can read the response via a display with Braille characters. Both parties can then communicate back and forth.

via Washington State Dept. of Social and Health Services site

People who were approached with the device "felt good" about the interaction and had no problem using it.

For those living in Washington state, the $8000 device is free or available on a sliding scale, with a cost reduction to $6000 due to the state's participation in designing the device. Free training is provided with the device.

For more information, go here to visit the Washington state site
or here to visit HumanWare.

Fast tracking production of electric vehicles: what about the safety issues for pedestrians?

Ford's electric Focus that will roll out for sale in early 2011 was made by a company named Magna. It's purely electric - and goes 100 miles without recharging, while the Chevy Volt goes 40 miles on electric before going on gas. The Focus uses no gas reserve. Ford is also introducing a small electric work van next year that was also made by an outside supplier.

Magna plans to sell the system used on the Focus to others, part of their deal with Ford, which lowers Ford's cost. Using Magna has allowed Ford to bring the car to market quicker.



The pedestrian safety issues are addressed in this video. The Ford representative minimizes the issue and says "We'll be prepared, when the vehicle goes into production, to address that issue."

They need to be held to this, since these cars, as well as hybrids, present an enormous mobility and safety issue to legally blind pedestrians and others.


Related: That Blissfully Quiet Electric Car Might Just Kill You

H.R. 5734 Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act of 2008, introduced April 9, 2008

National Federation of Blind information page on Quiet Cars (a plethora of information, including interviews, sample legislation, safety task force reports, resolutions, etc.)

This video shows one type of audible warning that has been developed.

Designated Shooter

Matt Steven is legally blind, but he did the free throws for his CYO team at a tourney in February. It was his brother Joe's idea to have Matt be the designated shooter since his brother usually gets no chance to play in the games.

The first game, Matt came in and -- to the crowd's shock -- made his first two. He was escorted back to the bench, where he grinned as if he had just kissed the head cheerleader. He was 4-for-8 that day.

In the second game, the star player , with the game on the line, waits for Matt to do the free throws, which he makes, putting his team ahead by one point. His brother said "I think it helped that he's blind. He couldn't see the crowd, the scoreboard, his teammates' faces."

The other team frantically tried to score, forgetting to let Matt off the court- but couldn't get any points and Matt's team won. His teammates now call him the Shooter.

Lighthouse choral group piece

Congratulations to my friend Louise and other members of the choral group at the Lighthouse in New York who were recently featured in a NY Post video.

CNN piece on SNL and the Governor Paterson skit

I can take a joke. But only 37% of disabled people are working and I’m afraid that that kind of third-grade humor certainly adds to this atmosphere. Let’s just say I don’t think it helped,” Paterson told the Daily News on Sunday.

Mocking disability- funny NOT

Society's discomfort with the open presence of disability in community, and especially in positions of power, was obvious this weekend when Saturday Night Live broadcast a skit featuring Governor David Paterson in which the cast mocked his blindness. As this post points out, any politician is fair game for policies, etc., but ridiculing his disability by airing a skit portraying him as wandering around a stage and holding a chart upside down amounted to nothing more than mocking his disability.

This kind of mocking comes from a sense of entitlement, where the person mocking disability feels superior.

Worse than the actual mocking, however, is society's refusal to even look at the dynamics of such cruel jokes. A lack of dialogue on this subject spells out a tacit agreement to sanction blatant disrespect to people with disabilities . It maintains the status quo :the able bodied have a right to make fun of disability and those in a condition of disability. This has been going on since biblical times. There is nothing creative or cool or new about it.

If all some see with their eyes or hear with their ears leads to cheap laughs at the sake of another human being's dignity and feelings, if their hands only move to applaud this kind of mockery, I pity them their so-called abilities. They are failing to see or hear or embrace the full humanity of those with disabilities.