Posts Tagged ‘Technology’

This Friday – Invitation to Comment on the Accessibility of Technology for People with Disabilities

Accessibility in this digital world is critical – just as are ramps in the physical world. It is impossible to ignore the changes and challenges in technology for persons with disabilities, whether with personal computers, Internet web sites, or smart phones.

The Department of Rehabilitation would like you to know about an upcoming federally sponsored “listening session” where we – as agencies, organizations, individuals and private companies – can share our needs and ideas on what the Federal government can do to improve accessibility of technology for people with disabilities. Participation is in person only. The listening session will be held on Friday afternoon, 1:30 to 5:00 pm on June 17, at Stanford.

Stanford University
Hewlett Training Center
Auditorium Hewlett 200
370 Serra Mall
Stanford, CA 94305

Please click here to RSVP and see more details: http://ssa.gov/open/listening-session.html

Sendero Group GPS Demonstration

GPS has become one of the essential options in a blind person’s access technology tool box. Learn about all the current GPS solutions available, and the pros and cons of each system.

Jaime Adams of Sendero Group will be at the LightHouse in San Francisco on Wednesday June 22 from 10:00 to 11:30 a.m. for this demonstration – she will also be available after the demonstration to meet with you individually. Some of the GPS products that will be on display include the BrailleNote GPS, Sense Nav for the BrailleSense and VoiceSense, Mobile Geo, Sendero Maps for the PC, and the Sendero Lookaround Application for both the iPhone and Android Phones.

Where: San Francisco office of Lighthouse for the Blind
When: June 22, 10:00 to 11:30 a.m.

If you are interested in meeting with Jaime individually, please make an appointment for a half hour segment between 10:00 and 11:30 a.m. To sign-up, please contact Kathy Abrahamson at 415-694-7336 or kabrahamson@lighthouse-sf.org.

Free App Helps Identify U.S. Currency

The Bureau of Engraving and Printing has developed a free, downloadable application (app) to assist the blind and visually impaired denominate U.S. currency. The app is called EyeNote.

EyeNote is a mobile device app designed for Apple iPhone (3G, 3Gs, 4) and the 4th Generation iPod Touch and iPad2 platforms, and is available through the Apple iTunes App Store. Research indicates that more than 100,000 blind and visually impaired individuals currently own an iPhone.

EyeNote uses image recognition technology to determine a note’s denomination. The mobile device’s camera requires 51 percent of a note’s scanned image, front or back, to process. In a matter of seconds, EyeNote can provide an audible or vibrating response, and can denominate all Federal Reserve notes issued since 1996. Free downloads will be available whenever new U.S. currency designs are introduced.

The EyeNote app is one of a variety of measures the government is working to deploy to assist the visually impaired community to denominate currency, as proposed in a recent Federal Register notice.

These measures include implementing a Currency Reader Program, whereby a United States resident who is blind or visually impaired may obtain a coupon that can be applied toward the purchase of a device to denominate United States currency; continuing to add large, high-contrast numerals and different background colors to redesigned currency; and possibly adding raised, tactile features to redesigned currency, which would provide users with a means of identifying each denomination via touch. More information is available at www.eyenote.gov.

Access to 9-1-1 Survey

All Americans need to be able to call 9-1-1 in an emergency. This survey asks questions to help figure out the best ways for Americans with disabilities to call and get help from 9-1-1 services.

Under the new 21st Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act, the Federal Communications Commission (FCC) created the “Emergency Access Advisory Committee” (EAAC) to work on 9-1-1 accessibility issues. The EAAC is now conducting this survey to better understand how people like you use 9-1-1 services now and how you want to access these services in the future.

In the future, access to 9-1-1 will be changing. Callers will still be able to dial 9-1-1 using voice telephones. But a new “next generation 9-1-1 system” will also allow you to call 9-1-1 using text, video, and other kinds of devices. Some of these devices will use the Internet. This survey is to help figure out which of these devices and communications services are needed so that you have access to the new 9-1-1 system.

The survey should only take 10 to 15 minutes to complete. To participate, please respond by April 24, 2011. Your answers are kept confidential. We will not distribute any of your personal information to anyone.

Please only answer this survey if (1) you are 13 years or older, (2) have a disability or a senior, and (3) live in the United States.

If you have any questions about this survey, please contact: EAAC@fcc.gov or call (202) 418-2285.

Thank you very much for your participation. Your input is extremely valuable and will help us to shape a better 9-1-1 future.

Adoption of Google Apps Program Discriminates Against the Blind

Baltimore, Maryland (March 15, 2011): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB), the oldest and largest nationwide organization of blind people in the United States, today requested that the United States Department of Justice, Civil Rights Division, investigate civil rights violations committed by New York University (NYU) and Northwestern University against blind faculty and students. The NFB made the request because the schools have adopted technology that is not accessible to the blind. Both universities have recently adopted Google Apps for Education as a means of providing e-mail and collaboration tools to students and faculty. Google Apps for Education is a free suite of hosted communication and collaboration applications that includes Gmail, Google Calendar, Google Talk, Google Docs, and Google Sites. Each of these applications contains significant accessibility barriers for blind people utilizing screen access technology, which converts what is on the computer screen into synthesized speech or Braille. A similar request for investigation has been filed against four Oregon public school districts that are using Google Apps. The complaints allege violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) and the Rehabilitation Act of 1973. For further illustration of this matter, please view a demonstration of screen access technology used by the blind and the accessibility barriers that a blind person experiences using Google Apps.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: “Given the many accessible options available, there is no good reason that these universities should choose a suite of applications, including critical e-mail services, that is inaccessible to blind students. Worse yet, according to recent data more than half of the American higher education institutions that are outsourcing e-mail to third-party vendors plan to deploy this suite, even though they know that it cannot be used by blind students. Nor can these universities claim ignorance of their legal obligations, since the United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of Education have specifically warned all university presidents against the adoption of inaccessible technology. The National Federation of the Blind will not tolerate this unconscionable discrimination against blind students and faculty and callous indifference to the right of blind students to receive an equal education. We urge these higher education institutions to suspend their adoption of Google Apps for Education until it is accessible to all students and faculty, not just the sighted, or to reject Google Apps entirely.”

The National Federation of the Blind is represented in this matter by Daniel F. Goldstein of the Baltimore firm Brown, Goldstein, and Levy.

An iPhone App Helps the Blind Identify Currency

A new application, the LookTel Money Reader, available for $2 on the Apple iOS platform, hopes to help solve this problem by taking advantage of the devices camera to “read money” and speak the value of the currency out loud.

According to the company’s Web site, LookTel recognizes all United States currency and can read $1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100 bills aloud.

LookTel, which is made by the software company Ipplex, says the app can recognize currency denominations in real-time. This means that users can simply wave their phone in the direction of the currency and it will speak the bill’s value as it falls into view of the camera. The application does not require an Internet connection.

The currency reading software will soon be available on other platforms, LookTel said.

To read the full article and watch a video demonstration of the app, click here.

The Digital Network for Students with Visual Impairments: How do visually impaired students approach the new trend of digital social networks by using assistive technology?

Sunggye Hong currently works for San Francisco State University and trains teachers of students with visual impairments and is currently seeking participants for a study.

The purpose of this study is to examine the role digital social networks play in the development of social skills of students with visual impairments and the degree to which visually impaired students are participating in such activities.

Sunggye is looking for a student who is blind or visually impaired and is 12 to 18 years old to participate in a survey study. The survey will take approximately 15 to 20 minutes to complete and will focus on the use of digital social media such as online social networks, text messaging, and assistive technology when using such digital media.

If you have any questions or concerns at this point or in the future, or would like to know more about the study, please feel free to contact:

Sunggye Hong, Assistant Professor

Department of Special Education, San Francisco State University
1600 Holloway Ave.
San Francisco, CA 94132
hong72@sfsu.edu
(415)338-3430

Hope for Blind Pedestrians

By Brian McCallen, LightHouse guest blogger and volunteer

Good news for those blind and visually impaired folk out there who just love to stroll the streets.

President Obama recently signed the all-new Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act last month. The act calls for the U.S. Department of Transportation to set some new rules, requiring future models of hybrid or electric vehicles to come with alert sounds. The alert sounds would let blind pedestrians, crossing those very busy intersections, know when cars are coming their way.

The act also requires that these rules have to be finalized in just three years.

I spoke with Katherine Zachary, Manager of Corporate Communications for Nissan, and she said that the car company has already followed the new act. Zachary mentioned that after focus groups with blind pedestrians and organizations (e.g., The National Federation of the Blind), Nissan has already added new audible alert tones, forward and reverse, for its new hybrid vehicle called the LEAF.

I believe that the new act is helpful for a visually impaired pedestrian like myself who relies more on sound than sight when crossing the streets. I also admit that I sometimes daydream and think about last night’s American Idol auditions on TV while walking. So the new alert tones would wake me up and keep me more focused on my immediate surroundings.

The Hadley School for the Blind Launches Three New Access Technology Courses

The Hadley School for the Blind is pleased to announce the launch of three new, structured and practical online courses designed to improve user access technology skills for users of screen readers. Each course consists of two lessons.

“Screen Readers: Listening Skills” trains users to increase their speed of listening to a screen reader. The course assists in being able to listen and comprehend a screen reader at 300 words or more a minute. It also teaches techniques to enable a user to listen to a screen reader and listen to another person on the phone at the same time. This skill lends itself to success in most work places. For more information or to register, follow this link.

“Screen Readers: Web Browsing” is about navigating Web sites. This course has lessons that provide tips and advice on the best methods to navigate very accessible Web sites as well as those that present more accessibility challenges. The Internet is “an information super highway,” and an ability to navigate it efficiently and skillfully is crucial to educational and workplace success. For more information or to register, follow this link.

“Screen Readers: Formatting Word Documents” is aimed at sharpening the user’s skill in Microsoft Word 2007. This course covers editing text, adjusting fonts, using headings, bullets and much more while using a screen reader. Determining editing and formatting problems with a screen reader can be challenging, but mastering the techniques taught in this course can lead to confident creation of appropriate-looking documents for work or school. For more information or to register, follow this link.

Tactile Graphic Survey

The Haptics Laboratory at Virginia Commonwealth University is in need of participants to fill out a survey on how tactile graphics are used. In particular, the survey is interested in how tactile graphics are used in terms of Bloom’s hierarchy of cognitive skills. The survey needs participants to comment on their use of tactile graphics in support of cognitive skills (e.g., solving problems, compare, interpret or extrapolate, etc.). . Results of this survey will be used to guide research in developing more effective display methods. Participants are encouraged to include comments of what they would like to be able to do with tactile graphics, not just what they do now.

The link to the survey can be found here:
http://tactilegraphics.questionpro.com

If you have questions or concerns about completing the questionnaire or study, please contact: Professor Dianne T. Pawluk, Virginia Commonwealth University, Department of Biomedical Engineering, 401 W. Main Street, Engineering East, P. O. Box 843067, Richmond, VA 23284-3067. Phone Number: (804) 828-9491.
Email: dtpawluk@vcu.edu