Twenty-first Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act: Thoughts from a Blind Consumer

By DAVID FAUCHEUX

I've just received an email from AFB about a proposed law that will would make things better for blind cell phone users and may make TV more accessible by both adding video description and accessible onscreen menus. 

I do not have a cell phone yet; I'm probably one of the last people on earth to not have a cell phone.  A telephonic dinosaur.  I do not have one because I am both worried about the effects of radiation despite assurances that it won't hurt my brain and I am a little intimidated by learning yet another piece of technology that may not be fully blind friendly.

Making a telephone speak menus helps to make it accessible but if all the layers or levels of software do not speak, my accessibility is only skin deep.  (Like Braille on a drive thru banking window--me drive!)  I know I'll get a phone within the next several years. 

I was pleased to learn that they are again trying to make video description fly on television.  They tried it several years back but it flopped.  I simply can't understand why producers find this such a hardship.  I rarely watch TV now because it's too confusing for me.  I don't want to work that hard to sit in front of the idiot box and veg out.  I sadly lack sufficient genius to decode all the sounds made by various people, devices, and animals and to instantly recognize any voice I hear and store it in my brain.  I want to know what people look like, wear, what physical actionhappens on a show, and then some!  I'm really letting down the blind brotherhood by such an admission. 

The sighted world will think I am an incompetent since they all know a blind person who can tell you what denomination any piece of paper money given to them is by feel; who can cross streets anywhere in the world listening to the traffic going any direction, turning on right or even when a quiet hybrid car happens by; who can hear the sounds of walls and other building structures and instantly map out a cartography of sound and travel anywhere and even go skating while never bumping into anyone because of facial vision; who can read Braille at 500 words per minute; who can use a slate and stylus to produce 100 words a minute in Grade 3 Braille while taking college notes; and who plans to become a medical or naturopathic doctor/tax lawyer/mountain climer/Olympic medalist/actor/singer/inventor/millionaire/model/world solo traveler/Nobel Laureate/politician/chef/humanitarian/minister/professor all before age 30!  Yawn.

IMAGINE That! 

A good virus?

By DAVID FAUCHEUX

Today I received an e-mail from journalist Tom Avril; and while I am not certain whether we have ever exchanged e-mails, I did find a link of interest.  It discusses a virological approach to treating a unique sub-type of RP.  I hope more gene therapy makes blindness nothing more than the memory of a mere nuisance. 

One wonders where the next 50 years in medicine will take us provided we don't help greenhouse the planet to death or something even worse!

IMAGINE That!

Optacon: Memories

By DAVID FAUCHEUX

The optacon--the name is an acronym for optical tactile converter--was the first portable reading machine.

Consisting of a small camera attached to a display via a thin cable, it turned images into tactile shapes by means of vibrating pins.  If I recall correctly, it was invented by a scientist for his blind daughter in the mid 1970s.  This was several years before even the earliest synthetic speech reading machine, clunky with a funny garbled accent and the size of a microwave and the cost of a car, was introduced. 

I remember that day in eighth grade when we were introduced to the optacon.  I forget which group of people from where came to the school for the blind to demonstrate it.  I found it novel and interesting but tricky.  You had to glide the camera over each page of text, not swerving off each line and then read with the other hand which was resting on a shallow trough full of vibrating pins.  It could be confusing to me.  It sounded a bit like a mosquito attack.  My left index finger sometimes got tired of the vibrations.  I recall several times feeling like I was falling when I used it to read.  Some of my friends were whizzes.  Some still use one to read bills and to read the addresses on envelopes that they receive in the mail.  I had hoped one could be made that changed the print letters into Braille using refreshable Braille display technology--nothing doing, I was told!

I receive Dean Martineau's weekly tech sheet and the following announcement caused me to remember this nearly  forgotten chapter in my early life.

>>>

1) The Optacon was the first portable reading device that was widely used by the blind, and many people still swear by it. Efforts are being made to keep it alive. You can find documentation and other information about it here.

>>>

IMAGINE That! 

Write it right without sight: 'Robotic pen guides the hand of the blind'

By DAVID FAUCHEUX

From the New Scientist news service, April 4, 2008...

"The 'McSig,' a forced-feedback pen, has been developed by University of Glasgow researchers to help blind and visually impaired children write clearly and consistently by gently guiding their hand. In addition to haptic feedback, the system offers audio cues, with stereo sound panning to the left and right as the pen moved horizontally..."

Could this help blind students learn shapes kinesthetically?

IMAGINE That!

Cookies, anyone?

By DAVID FAUCHEUX

The past several months have not been great for me.  I think I crashed head long into that proverbial anxiety-ridden bugbear plaguing the male of a certain age--not the quarterlife crisis, nothing that trendy, but rather the midlife crisis!  It's all about careers vs. jobs and niches,  health vs. just hanging on with a chronic medical condition, life vs. family, and just wondering when or if the radio reading service that several friends and I have been working on in Southwest Louisiana will actually take off and change so many lives!  I could write more on any of the items listed above, but won't at this time.  Employers can read blogs too and who wants to shoot oneself in the cyber-foot or look ineffectual. 

I have been reading with Suzanne Beacher's online book clubs--oh, why did I not have a cool idea like that?--since Illinois-librarian, Lori Bell, told me about them in late 2004--and I finally won some of Suzanne's famous chocolate chip cookies.  They are good.  My picture should be online with other cookie winners. 

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If you've never won some of my homemade chocolate chip cookies, please enter the drawing today. I'd love to bake for you! To enter and see photos of some of last month's winners, go here. The "how-to-enter" information is on the third page of photos. It's easy to enter. Simply tell me how long you've been reading at the book clubs, (I'm just curious) and why you'd like cookies. Then submit your email to the "enter" address and your name is in the drawing. I'll be choosing at least four winners this month.

*     *     *

I interviewed Mrs. Beacher several years ago for my blog, but concerns with the audio portion of this blog are causing potential archive problems.

Best to all who celebrating Easter this weekend and/or headed out for Spring Break.  I realize Passover comes in late April this year. 

IMAGINE That! 

David Faucheux

'Future Blogger community launched'

From KurzweilAI.net:

MemeBox has announced the public
beta release of Future Blogger, a
blogging community dedicated to
exploring the future. Visitors can
post their thoughts, predictions and
scenarios. Community ratings then
determine page ranking for posts.
The site's Future Scanner also
aggregates and organizes information
about the future by year and and category.

(Found by David Faucheux.)

Tech tips: Three for the price of one

By DAVID FAUCHEUX

Top Tech Tidbits, an e-mail e-newssletter, is Dean Martineau's compendium of interesting developments in the tech world. 

Condensed, the following items from the newsletter  should be of interest. 

• The KNFB cell phone, which reads seemingly anything.  The link to the NPR story was interesting as you could hear the phone determining the correct currency by scanning a bill.  This is not a standalone scanner but a high-end Nokia cell phone with MP3 capability and high-speed Internet capabilities, too.  I do hope we don't end up with a digital divide of haves and have-nots in the blindness community, but it  seems to be happening.  Perhaps, the price will continue to come down as the original  hand-held scanner was, if memory serves, about $1,000.00 more than this Nokia phone with software.
• The impending release of the new version of the KNFB Reader, expected to ship around February 15. The Reader software will run on a Nokia N-82 phone, making it a very portable and convenient way for those on the go to scan print material. The Reader software will cost $1,500, with the phone costing around $550. Here's an audio link to the NPR news story on the topic, and here is the official page.
• DailyLit, a collection of books which they will send in installments using RSS or e-mail. Public domain books are free; others carry a small charge.
• Storyline Online, a site containing children's stories read by Screen Actors Guild members. Along with the story, a video of the actor reading it and its illustrations is available, and there are downloadable activity guides.
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Visit the Tidbits page where you can subscribe to the RSS feed and grab back issues. Information for future issues, much welcome, should to dean@topdotenterprises.com.

IMAGINE That!