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The best way to have a Merry Christmas this year is to make it a Mary Christmas. Do what Mary, the mother of Jesus did. Observe, reflect, and ponder the joy of God saving us from ourselves. Listen in to learn how. In the midst of all the busyness and activity of the holiday season, I've been thinking about how we can all enjoy Christmas a little better this year. For me, I find it restful to think back to that very first Christmas over 2,000 years ago. The first Christmas Most of you know the story pretty well from the Bible. Joseph and Mary are in Bethlehem to be counted for a census. Mary is about to give birth, but there's no lodging available. The town is packed with visitors. Tradition has it that Jesus was born in a stable because Luke's gospel makes reference to Jesus lying in a manager. What's more likely though, is that he was born in one of the many shallow caves all around Bethlehem. I was there in the ‘80s on a Holy Land tour and saw several. Plenty of room for the manger, but the shepherds who visited probably gathered around the entrance to the small cave. All of this is the backdrop to the climax of the story, where in Luke 2:19, we find this most soothing and reflective description of Mary, …But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. I'm convinced that if we viewed our Christmas as Mary viewed hers, our hearts would be as calm as hers. Instead of a M-e-r-r-y Christmas, we can have a M-a-r-y Christmas. Mary observes To make it a Mary Christmas we start by observing, as Mary did. I can picture her taking note of the humble housing her baby, the son of God, is been born into. So in keeping with Mary's own humble origins. Being a first-time mother, I imagine she observed a sense of inadequacy within herself. On the one hand, “how am I going to do this? I've never been a mother before?” And on the other hand, “I know I can count on God to show me how to do this. After all, this story is not about me; it's about him.” As any mother would, Mary watches her baby, and those relating to him. There's her husband Joseph. This good man who led her on the 95-mile journey on foot from Nazareth to Bethlehem. Then there were the shepherds who came in from the fields excited to see what the angels told them would be lying in a manger. The word “but” in “… but Mary”, indicates a contrast between her and the shepherds. How different they are from her. She's a city girl, while they are people of the land. They live outside, she lives inside. A Mary Christmas includes everyone The shepherds were strangers to Mary. They left their sheep in the fields to go see what the angel described to them that they would find in the manger The shepherds were more the extroverted types, telling people in Bethlehem what the angels told them and what they saw, both from the “great company of angels” and what they saw in the manger. Mary gives a more measured and introverted response in her “treasuring up” and “pondering” about the birth of Jesus. How wonderful of God to use people so different from each other to further his purposes. Extroverts and introverts, and all people in-between, have a place at the table when it comes to praising God for sending his son Jesus to save us all. I wonder about you? What are you observing concerning Christmas this year? Is there anything new that God might want you to notice? Anything external in the world around you? Anything internal within your mind and heart. Mary reflects Having made observations around her and within her, Mary reflects. As Luke puts it, she … treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart.. What are “all these things” that she treasured and pondered? For starters, I imagine Mary treasured the time when the angel came to tell her she was going to give birth to Jesus, and all the implications of this miracle. And now what Gabriel told her has now come to pass. Another thing I suspect she treasured was going to see her Aunt Elizabeth and what Mary shared with her at the beginning of her pregnancy and the end of Elizabeth's. The three months they spent together were priceless. And then, how could she not reflect on the joy she feels having just given birth to Jesus? And the joy of being used by God to channel this great blessing into the whole world. I bet she also treasured and pondered all the possibilities of what's going to happen next, not just for her personally, but for the rest of humanity. How about you? What does your Christmas cause you to reflect upon? Looking back in God's involvement in your life, what can you treasure and think about? What could be the possible opportunities in your near and distant future you can treasure? Mary acted Finally, notice the action words in Luke's description, two verb phrases in …But Mary treasured up all these things and pondered them in her heart. “Treasure up” and “ponder in one's heart.” What action could God be calling you to engage in, as Mary did? What would you do well to "treasure up?” Are there things you could ponder in your heart? To take action like this might mean finding a quiet place and just sitting and thinking about the important things of life. To an outside observer it may appear you're doing nothing. Just sitting there staring off into space. But in actuality it could be the most important action you take all day. The best Christmas gift Like Mary, we can act by reflecting not only about what we love and appreciate about God, but also about what God thinks of us. I love this quote by Andrew Farley I came across recently, “If there was one Christmas gift I could give all of us is, it would be the gift of knowing Jesus delights in you.” I don't think we do enough of this, pondering what God thinks about us. Imagine a God who loves us so much he sent his son away for 33 years to pay the penalty for something we did. 33 years of voluntary separation because of his love for all of us. This is something we would do well to think about often and reflect upon in our hearts as Mary did. It would be good preparation for heaven, where we have no to-do lists. Nothing to accomplish, nothing to get done so we can move on to the next thing. Where we are never bored. Where our time will be taken up with marveling at all the wonders of God in its many manifestations. Taking action like this will give us a glimpse of heaven every now and then and give us something to look forward to. And it will certainly help to make it a Mary Christmas this year. Here's the main point I hope you remember from today's episode To have a merry Christmas this year, make it a Mary Christmas. Do what she did. Observe what's happening in and around you. Reflect upon the meaning of what you see. And then act by pondering the joy of God entering into our world to save us from ourselves. This will guarantee you a Merry/Mary Christmas for sure. I'd love to hear any thoughts you have about today's episode. Just send them to me in an email to john [at] caringforothers [dot] org. Or you can share your thoughts in the “Leave a Comment” box at the bottom of the show notes. Closing I hope your thinking was stimulated by today's show, to observe, reflect, and act. It's one important way you can find the joy God intends for you through your relationships. Because after all, You Were Made for This. One thing you could do to help us out is to leave a review and rating wherever you listen to this podcast. It helps others to find us on the Internet Well, that's all for today. I look forward to connecting with you again next week. But for now, Mary Christmas to all of you. Related episodes you may want to listen to 005: The Gift of Joy - Part 1 135: Christmas with a Good Man Brings Joy 131: Thankful to Be the Person God Created Us to Be You Were Made for This is sponsored by Caring for Others, a missionary care ministry. We depend upon the generosity of people like you to pay our bills. You can support what we do with a secure, tax-deductible donation when you click here. We'd be so grateful if you did.

As we continue down our "Here Comes Halloween Horror Movie Director Series," we have finally reached Wes Craven territory! We travel the horror globe and make stops in Woodsboro, CA with Neve Campbell and Springwood, OH with Robert Englund, all the way to Haiti with Bill Pullman and a violin class in Harlem with Meryl Streep....wait (checks notes), Music of the Heart was a Wes Craven movie? (Checks the Internet) Well, we'll be damned. Anyway, by the end of this episode, we'll have a definitive Top 5 Wes Craven Movies of all Time list! Don't worry, it's not all scary. On this episode we also learn how J reacts in a life-threatening situation, how a Ken Burns Star Wars documentary might sound, and what connection Werner Herzog has with High Five: The Podcast. This is one you don't want to miss or you'll be as unhappy as Christina Ricci was in Cursed...because she realized she was in Cursed.

What was life like before the Internet? Well, for one, it was a lot harder to fix things. A simple search on Google or Youtube will provide the answers you need to fix almost anything. On this episode of Digital Optimist, host Scott Klososky examines how instant access to information provides us with the opportunity to fix the world's most daunting problems.

ジェイ・コウガミとType Beat、Sonar、政治で進化するインターネット、音楽ライブビジネスなどについて話しました。 Show Notes: Type Beat（タイプビート）とは？ – MCKNSYSónar Barcelona - Music, Creativity & Technology - 18.19.20 Junio 2020 Starring:

Show Summary: (Full Transcript Below) Screen readers, Refreshable Braille, Magnification, Audio Books, Computers and Smart Devices are just a few of the Tools for Success that are available to the Blind/Visually Impaired community. From education to the workplace, Assistive Technology enables people with a visual impairment to do just about anything they want to and apply for the jobs and the careers that they want. State Services for the Blind has a technology Unit that makes assessments and help clients determine what assistive technology would best suit their needs as they set their educational and career goals. Jesse Anderson is an Assistive Technology Specialist at State Services for the Blind (SSB) in Saint Paul, Minnesota. In this podcast, Jesse will take you through the assessment process and how assistive technology choices are made and individualized for each person and their educational and career goals.  Jesse admits he is a nerd and loves technology. Jesse loves Accessible Gaming and Advocates for accessibility in the gaming industry. You can find out more about Jesse and accessible gaming on his YouTube Channel, Illegally Sighted. If you want to find out more about State Services for the Blind. You can call (651) 539-2300 Find them on the web. Outside of Minnesota, search for your state agency/Vocational Rehabilitation Services in your state and find out what they can do for you.   Contact: Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store. Full Transcript Full Transcription: Jeff Thompson: Be sure to check out the blind ability scill on your Amazon device. Just say, "Enable Blind Abilities." {Music} Jesse Anderson: We're not just looking at, okay, how can we get you through your classes that you're currently in. We're actually looking at more of a long-term goal. Jeff Thompson: Meet Jesse Anderson. Jesse Anderson: They use Windows PC's typically in many office environments. Jeff Thompson: Assistive Technology Specialist from State Services for the Blind in Minnesota. Jesse Anderson: Mac is in a lot of the more artistic areas, so maybe audio, video production, maybe some web design. It's good for people to learn that experience as well, to kind of know how to find ways to fix problems. If you are low vision, how would you do that? If you are blind, how would you do that? Well, I might take my phone and use it as a magnifier. Or if I am blind, I might take my phone or my laptop, and snap a picture of it and have it read aloud with my Bluetooth headphones. Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I am Jeff Thompson. Today we're going to be talking about assistive technology. About the tools for success. The tools that will help you level the playing field in the job market, in employment, and in education. We'll be talking about the services that your state agency can provide to you, and how your participation is vitally important towards your success. So be sure to check out your state agency, your voc rehab, your state's services for the blind and see what they can do for you. Jesse Anderson: Have the technology skills and knowing those skills well I think is just a really good thing to do, no matter what you are going to be doing in your employment or education. If you are low vision, you may be a Zoom text user, but you know what? It might be a great idea to learn Windows Magnifier, because a. It's free, b. It's built into Windows. Jeff Thompson: If you wanna find more podcasts with a blindness perspective, check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, and check out our extensive library. From job insights, TVI Toolbox, iPhone 101, and our tech show, Tech Abilities, where we cover the latest developments, the latest innovations and the technologies that will enhance your opportunities for success. Jesse Anderson: I am into a little bit of everything but I am definitely still a nerd. Jeff Thompson: Please welcome assistive technology specialist, Jessie Anderson. We hope you enjoy. Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I am Jeff Thompson and today I am at State Services for the Blind in St. Paul, Minnesota, and I'm talking to assistive technology specialist, Jessie Anderson. Jessie, how are you doing? Jesse Anderson: I'm doing pretty good. Thanks for having me on today. Jeff Thompson: Great. Jessie, I wanna thank you for taking the time out of your day to come on the Blind Abilities and share with our listeners the services that you provide here at State Services for the Blind as an assistive technology specialist. Jesse Anderson: Yeah, there are actually five assistive technology specialists at SSB and we all work out of the St. Paul office. How it works is we are assigned to specific counselors who cover specific areas of the state. For instance, I do cover the [inaudible] Cato area, and then you have all the other tech specialists covering the different other parts of the state. And the last couple years, my role has changed a little bit because I am starting to work a lot more with transition age students, and that's a little bit more statewide. So I do a lot of metro, but I am traveling around the state a fair bit as well. So I will do assistive technology assessments. Meet with students in the schools or at SSB or wherever we need to. And there's a lot of stuff going on with the transition program. Jeff Thompson: Well that's a good age, 14 to 21. Students that are transitioning from high school to college where they really wanna hone in on some accessible technology to gain employment. Jesse Anderson: Yeah. During one of the ... when I meet with a students, it could be anyone between eighth grade on up in school, and like I said, if they are in the area, sometimes they'll meet here at SSB and if they are local, that is really helpful because we do have quite a few more types of devices in our technology lab or our resource center here. But I do go on the road a lot especially to greater Minnesota. So a lot of times, we'll set up a meeting to meet in the student school during some time that they can meet either during study hall or something, like that. And when I meet with people, some of the things we look at ... we're not just looking at, okay, how can we get you through your classes that you are currently in? We're actually looking at more of a long-term goal. So even if you're eighth, ninth grade, we're still going to kind of be looking at, well maybe you want a summer job. Maybe you want to work a little bit after school, or maybe you are participating in some transition related activities through SSB or other organization. Jesse Anderson: And then moving onto maybe what are you thinking after graduating high school? Are you going to go to college? You kind of maybe have an idea what type of degree. Maybe you wanna work with computers or people or animals. Maybe you don't wanna go to college and maybe you just wanna look for work right away. So those are the kind of things that we look at and then what types of technology would kind of best work to meet those types of education or employment goals based on their vision. Jeff Thompson: Covers a wide spectrum of low vision to totally blind from whether it's their braille, or if they are going to be using a lot of brail, to if they are using more audio. You do a full assessment of what would probably work best for those type of goals that they are seeking. Jesse Anderson: Absolutely. We work with people who are blind, who are low vision, who are deaf-blind, and I have met with people of all those groups. Blind, deaf-blind, and low-vision. And it could also be an accommodation thing. You may have a low-vision user who has some usability vision but honestly, it's much more affective for them to primarily listen to audio and maybe they even know braille. So, instead of maybe you have a very, very limited field of view or very, very low-vision and so visual is just not practical. So we may still look at brail displays. We still may look at a lot of audio. Yeah, it could be anywhere from computer software to smartphones, tablets, braille displays, note takers, portable devices, CCTVs. Any kind of number of things. Jesse Anderson: And so when we get a referrals from the counselor and just kind of get an idea of the person's vision and kind of what they are thinking of doing, then we can kind of help them identify what would work best for them. Jeff Thompson: And that's great because people are coming in. They're probably trying to set up an employment program. And so they are working with counselor and then you have a transition team, and your part of this is when it comes to technology. So what is an assessment? When someone does in come for that assessment, how long do you spend with them? And where do you start? Jesse Anderson: Well, when we do an assessment, usually I tell people that I kind of schedule things for, I would say, between an hour and a half to two hours. I usually block off a two hour block of time, and then even have a little bit of extra time after, if needed. Because I always let people know that if we go through things quickly and end early, or if we go a little bit longer, that's totally fine. My main thing is, I don't want to rush people through everything. We're going to cover a lot of different topics. A lot of different types of technology during that assessment as it is, and so I wanna give people enough time to ask questions, try out some of the technology and not rush through everything. We'll have the information from the counselor's referral and I'll just kind of ask some general questions. What is your vision? Is it stable? Because we also wanna look at, maybe your vision is like this, but oh, maybe it was a little bit better six months ago. And is it stable or is it expected to deteriorate over time? Jesse Anderson: And so we want to look at if that is the case, you may be able to use some large print now, but you may also kind of want to look at using more speech or gradually, especially if someone is not used to it, getting used to using more audio and maybe braille or something like that. Because as their vision changes, they'll need to do that. We look at what their needs are. How they like to best process information. Are they a visual learner? Do they have to physically read it either visually or tactilely through braille? Or do they prefer audio? What's most efficient? If we're looking at employment, we're looking at even things like, yes, okay, I might be able to read visually, but it's not really that fast and if I was in a fast-paced work setting where I had to get my job done quickly, maybe I am talking with customers on the phone. I need to access client information at a customer service job, maybe print isn't the fastest and you do have to look at audio because you also have to look at level of productivity that makes sense. Jeff Thompson: My experience out in the work force and businesses and corporations and all that, it seems like a lot of companies are PC based or they are Microsoft based through their databases. I see a higher percentage of people using JAWS or NVDA on their computers that are in the workforce. I mean, Apple is good with voiceover and your phone. A lot of people use that, and the Androids. But predominately in the workforce, I see Microsoft based computers. Jesse Anderson: Yeah. That's actually what we see a lot too. It's actually really interesting in education because in high schools and stuff right now, we have a pretty good mixture. I'll meet with some students and some schools will use iPads a lot, especially for special education. You'll see some schools that try to use Chromebooks which, they do have accessibility built into them. I don't have a lot of experience with it. I really need to get my hands on a modern Chromebook to play with that a little bit more. But, a lot of people do find even though they do have accessibility built in, they find it a little bit more restrictive. So they would like to either use more of a PC or a Mac, but you have some schools, it'll have PC. Some will use Mac. Some will use iPads. And it's just a wide variety of things. Jesse Anderson: And then when you get To college, it's kind of a free for all, because everybody has their own way to take notes or write reports. You can use your Mac. You can use your PC. But like you said, in the work world, and this is even if somebody is in high school and if they are like, "Oh, I wanna be a psychologist", or, "I wanna work in an office", or, "I wanna work in some type of setting like that", I do let them know that, like you said, they use Windows PC's typically in many office environments. The main place where I would see Mac is in a lot of the artistic areas. So maybe audio, video production. Maybe some web design. But that could go either way. Jesse Anderson: So I mean, we do recommend some Mac packages. Or if somebody is maybe you do have a technical position but maybe somebody is wanting to ... they are a programmer and they need to develop for Mac or iOS. You have to pretty much have a Mac to do that. So there are cases where we do recommend, but yes. In a lot of business settings, I would say, I can probably count the number of actual office settings on one hand that would use a Mac, as it's all been pretty much Windows. Jeff Thompson: Yeah. Well that's the unique thing about what you do here at State Services for the Blind, is you develop programs for individual for their needs. What works best for them to succeed. Jesse Anderson: Correct. Jeff Thompson: So Jessie, say someone does acquire a piece of equipment and it's working for them, but they wanna learn a little bit more about it. What do you suggest to them to do at that point? Jesse Anderson: Well, when we meet with people during the original assessment, we'll kind of also look at what their computer skills are. Not just computer skills, but how well they use the computer. If they are using an iPhone or an iPad, Android device, or whatever technology that is that they need or are currently using, and we'll let them know that we do have a couple of on-staff trainers that can work with them for some tasks and then we also have some certified contracted trainers that we work with throughout the state who can meet individually, one-on-one, with people for technology training. And that can happen at SSB. That can happen at the client's home. That can happen at the job site. Like I said, in addition to assessments, we will also go ... let's say somebody gets a job offer, and the company says we're using this software. Is this going to work with JAWS, Zoom Text or NVDA? Something like that. Jesse Anderson: And so we can work with the user and we can work with the business and we can set up a time to go to that business and get the demo of JAWS, or Zoom Text, let's say, installed on those machines, and have somebody at the job who knows what that position requires, and then they'll walk us through kind of what that person would be required to do, and then we can test how that assistive technology works with their software. Are there any problems? And if there are, what kind of things can we do to get around them or fix them? Yeah, there's a lot involved. With training, or with assessing job sites. All kinds of different things. Jeff Thompson: So they are not alone. Jesse Anderson: No, no. And if somebody has ... we got some equipment for them, or they have equipment already. Like I said, there is a training part of it, and then let's say somebody gets ... receives some technology with the assistance of SSB. We give them an assistive technology resource guide, and that's kind of a long document that has all kinds of helpful information. It'll have all of their device information. Their serial numbers of their devices. It'll have some common tips for different things. A lot of times we have a few cheat sheets for some programs like using some of the built in accessibility features of Mac and Windows. And then there's also in this resource guide, we also provide contact information for a lot of the common types of devices that we recommend. So be it a computer, a brail display, Zoom Text or JAWS. Something like that. Jesse Anderson: And we do encourage them. Yes, we are definitely there to help but we also do encourage them to contact ... let's say they have a computer program. Their computer just died, or they have a weird JAWS behavior problem or they have whatever issue. To also encourage them to learn how to contact some of the manufacturers and get some of their technical support too, because some of the really strange bugs, maybe some things that even we can't quite figure out. Or maybe there's a hardware issue, where they will have to kind of send it in. And so it's good for people to learn that experience as well to kind of know how to find ways to fix problems. Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah. And that's a life-long skill because all the way down to your job, career, whatever you are doing, you're going to come across problems and develop advocating for assistance, help, maintenance, whatever it is, pays off in the long run. So, Jessie, you've talked about going to college but employment seems to be the big thing. For people who are looking for employment, what suggestions would you have for them in regards to technology and maybe an employer not understanding what AT, assistive technology, is? Jesse Anderson: There are a few things that I will kind of tell people are as we are discussing things during the assessment or as we we're meeting in general. When we're talking about transition, the common sort of issues is that, well, this assistive technology is cool, but I don't really wanna look different. Like okay, I've got this CCTV or I've got this brail display and people are like what the heck is that? And we all know. I mean, I went through it. You went through it. Kids can be mean. When you're in high school, junior high, high school, kids can do some really mean things. And so they are kind of worried about looking different or standing out. And we just try to encourage them to ... if this makes your life a lot easier, like if you are really struggling to read that assignment, if you are really struggling to see the white board at the front of the room or to write that report or whatever it is for school, yeah, you might look a little bit different. But everybody uses technology in the room now. I mean, you've got people using their smartphones and tablets and laptops and things. Jesse Anderson: So you might have a few little bit different things, but if it's going to make your life a lot easier and more efficient, speed up what you're doing, and spend half an hour instead of three hours on an assignment, don't worry about it. And when you get to college, not only will people not care, but that's actually a really interesting conversation starter, because then people go, "Oh, dude, what's that?" And then you can show them stuff. Then they also get more of a positive impression of, "Oh, okay. You are going to college. You are going to look for work." Kind of gives them more of a positive impression on blindness or low-vision as well. Jesse Anderson: One of the other things that I would talk about is that when you are at that employment stage, I think it's just really important to treat the job search as a full-time job in itself. You know, I mean, a lot of people might kind of expect, "Oh, well SSB is here and they are going to help, or they are going to find me a job. Oh, they are going to get a job for me." No, we're definitely here to help you, but you definitely have to do your part as well. I'm speaking from experience, I got my undergrad degree and after that, I was unemployed for three and a half years. But that wasn't for lack of trying. I basically set aside anywhere between six, eight hours a day on weekdays, and sometimes weekends if I found a good job lead. And I would apply for jobs. I would look for jobs. Jesse Anderson: I had a whole jobs folder where I would have several types of templates for resumes and cover letters, where maybe I am applying for help desk jobs. Maybe I am applying for a web design job or a customer ... Any type of job, so I could just quickly get those out there. And then I would even have Excel workbooks, because I was applying for so many jobs, it's so hard to keep track. And so I would put, okay, I applied for this business, this position. I applied for it on that date. Did I get a response? Did I get an interview? What are the things [inaudible], because otherwise, I was not going to remember it. In that three and a half period, I got so many rejection letters, I jokingly would tell people that I could wallpaper my apartment with them. So it's just you really do have to put in the work and treat the job search as pretty much a full-time job to really get good results. You really gotta put in, especially since we have to prove ourselves. Hey, we're blind or vision impaired, or deaf-blind, but we can do things too. Jesse Anderson: The other thing that I would ... I kind of recommend as far as technology goes that can be really helpful is, okay, so you get an interview, and I didn't do this right away but what I found to be helpful as I started doing later on, was I would bring some ... not everything, but I would bring a couple of commonly used items with me to that interview. It could be my laptop in a laptop bag. It could be my ... now it would be my iPhone and you'll be doing the interview, and by that time, they will probably know that you have a vision impairment and they may ... employers will have concerns. "Oh can you do this part of the job?" Or, "How would you do this part of the job? Can you do it quickly enough?" And not only bringing the technology to the interview, but even having some documents on your laptop ready or some tasks in mind that you could do, so someone says, "Okay, we're in a meeting and we need to hand out these memos that we want people to read and we're going to discuss. Okay if you're low-vision, how would you do that? If you're blind, how would you do that?" Jesse Anderson: Well, I might take my phone and use it as a magnifier. Or if I am blind, I might take my phone or my laptop and snap a picture of it and have it read aloud with my Bluetooth headphones. How do I access the Internet? Well, let me bring up my phone or let me bring up my laptop and go to a website that you know, go to something fairly complex so that they can see that you are using the sites that everybody does. Go to Amazon. That's a pretty complex. There's a lot of information there. Pretty complex site. And just kind of showing them some of those things, offer to kind of show them so that way they think, "Oh, okay. Not only can you do it, but you can do it well." And know your assistive technology. That's the other thing. Know your assistive technology. Jeff Thompson: That's a good point. Because sometimes you may get the equipment, but you don't know how to use it and that takes a lot of time to get familiar with it so you can use it efficiently. And that's a great point when you're at a job interview because that person there, their internal monologue is wondering, can they do this? They're not saying it, but their thought bubbles are, I don't know if they can access a computer. So you're actually breaking that ice and it's showing them and just opening the door for the possibilities like, wow I didn't know that. Because a lot of people don't know what we can do with assistive technology. Jesse Anderson: Absolutely. And I would say that a lot of people really underestimate. That's one thing that I see in education. That's one thing that I see in employment. Just kind of everywhere. A lot of it isn't the ... as long as we're doing everything that we can, we're capable. But there's a lot of low expectations or just people just don't know that, oh ... I've had people ask me, actually it was very recently. I was getting my, I think I was getting mail and somebody at my apartment complex was like, "Oh so do you work?" And I'm like, "Yeah." "Oh, okay. That's interesting." I said, "Yeah. Not only do I work, I work full-time and I do this and I do that." It's just kind of even people that kind of see me around, they're like, I didn't know really what you could do. So yeah, we encounter that a lot. It's just a lot of low expectations. But something like that can help a lot. It's just being prepared. Jeff Thompson: That's the great thing about state services for the blind, because when you're in the predicament, maybe you just lost some eyesight or maybe you've been blind and you are looking towards transitioning to college to the work place, you can come here, get a counselor and you'll meet up with someone like Jessie, an assistive technology specialist, to find the tools for success that'll help you level the playing field basically. Put you on an even keel with everyone else. And like Jessie mentioned, employment. They have employment specialists as well that can help you look for jobs, teach you how to look for jobs, teach you some skills of resume building. Jesse Anderson: Mock interviews as well. Jeff Thompson: Mm-hmm (affirmative). There are so many services here that you can get at state services for the blind. Your state agency, your vocational rehab, wherever you are, check them out and Jessie what advice would you give to someone who is transitioning from college to high school to the workplace? Jesse Anderson: Really, it's just kind of a matter of look at what you wanna do. I've had people come in and say, "Well, what are some blind jobs I could get?" And yeah, there are certain things. I'm not going to become an airline pilot or a driver or something like that, but if you wanna work on mechanics, if you want to work in an office, if you wanna do ... work in education, there's probably ... especially with all of the services and all of the technology and different things, there's probably a way to make it happen. So don't pigeon hole yourself into necessarily like, oh, these are ... I can do customer service, or I can do tuning pianos or I don't know if that's even a thing anymore, but you know? And like I said, knowing your technology. Learning those technology skills as early as possible I think is really helpful because not only just for employment but I mean, for independence, I mean, just being able to look things up on the Internet. I mean, Amazon Prime is wonderful and evil at the same time, because it's so easy to buy things but I can research products and shop. Jesse Anderson: I can pay my bills. I can do all kinds of things with my phone or my computer. Whatever. So just having the technology skills and knowing those skills well, I think is just a really good thing to do no matter what you are going to be doing in employment or education. Jeff Thompson: Great. Jessie, on a daily basis, what tools do you utilize? Jesse Anderson: In my job, I use a lot of different tools myself, because I am indeed legally blind. I have some vision, but I am legally blind. So, I actually use a combination of magnification and speech. I find myself using Windows Magnifier actually, quite a bit. Especially in Windows 10. Windows 10 has Windows Magnifier built in. It also has some high contrast features that I've been ... especially in the latest October update. They've really fixed some things and added some things so it's worked better. But I'll use Zoom Text from time to time. But honestly, I use a screen reader. I use speech a lot. I use NVDA a lot. I do still use JAWS sometimes. But NVDA and even System Access, I really like the way System Access works on the Internet. So NVDA, System Access, JAWS, those are things I use all the time. I also use my phone. Jesse Anderson: I have an iPhone and I use the built in magnifier to read short little documents or serial numbers. Things like that. I use other magnification apps. I will use things like Seeing AI, or Prismo, or KNFB Reader to OCR a document really quick. I use Voice Dream Reader and BookShare books, and BARD, and I mean just reading books for recreation or even part as my job, I wanna keep up on technology and things like that. So I read a lot of technology related books and information. So there's all kinds of apps I use on my phone, but that's probably one of my most used tools is my phone. Jeff Thompson: And in the world out there, especially in the job market and having more tools in your tool box, [inaudible] that's a catchall phrase, but having different angles of attacking at certain solution problem is a screen doesn't read to have a couple things that you could draw from is probably a good skill to have. Jesse Anderson: I'm really glad you brought that up because I totally forgot about that. That is absolutely what we recommend as well. So if you are low-vision, you may be a Zoom Text user but you know what? It might be a great idea to learn Windows Magnifier because a. It's free, b. It's built into Windows. It doesn't cost anything, but you're not always using your computer. Maybe you go to a library, a computer lab, a friend or family's place and they don't have Zoom Text installed. You can still have magnification if you are a speech user, you may be a JAWS user, but guess what? NVDA is free. It runs on a thumb drive. You can use that. You might be able to get by with using Windows Narrator and of course Apple has its voice over for a screen reader. You have Zoom built into the Mac and iOS both. Yes, knowing more than one screen ... I regularly, professionally, I regularly switch between multiple tools. Like if one OCR app doesn't work, I'll use a different one. I might visit a website with JAWS and it doesn't work, and so I use NVDA or NVDA doesn't read something and JAWS does. So absolutely knowing more than one tool, especially nowadays with the way things move so quickly. Absolutely important. Jesse Anderson: It's really interesting being an assistive technology specialist right now, because things move just so much faster. Back in the day we had, maybe you had Magic and Zoom Text or you had JAWS and WindowEyes and now you've got the Windows stuff. You've got Mac. You've got iOS. Android. And then that's not even getting into people ask about smart appliances like Google Home and Alexa or the Amazon Echo. There's so many different platforms and they all can have good uses for them, but there's a lot to keep track of. Even we can't keep up with it all. I mean, I try to. I am a nerd, and I'm into that kind of stuff, but I can't even learn everything. Jeff Thompson: Especially, I'll go on my wife's PC and I'll hit the VO keys. Well there are no VO keys on that, the PC laptop, so it's kind of fun that ... going back and forth, for me, I can do it but I have to think about it for a little bit and staying up to date with stuff. So I'll use a Mac. I can use the PC. I can use a couple of other things and that's an asset that I do. But, it does take a little bit of work to get my brain wrapped around it again. Jesse Anderson: Yeah. Definitely. I want to say, especially if you are totally blind or if you are a speech user, magnification, you can kinda figure things out because the interface might be a little bit different, but you can kind of, oh I can click around and stuff. But me being a long time PC user and just learning Mac a few years ago, I'm still not a great Mac user, I'll admit it. But I know enough to kind of get around and do some damage. Yeah. The way that you would think of navigating a Windows screen reader is kind of a bit different with voice over and that took me a lot of time to kind of get used to. So people go, "Well I wanna use a Mac because I've heard it's good for blind people." Or, "I'm using a Mac and maybe I gotta learn [inaudible] a PC", and some people might have the mistake and impression, oh, well they are both speech. You just learn a few commands and you go. Yeah. Some can take a little more time to transition because some of the way you navigate and stuff can be a bit different. Jeff Thompson: Now in your position, a lot of us out here, we have friends in the community and stuff. We get to sample things once in a while. Try and kick it around the block a little bit here and there. Now, in your position, you probably go to conferences or events where they are displaying stuff or people want to show you stuff. Vendors and all sorts of stuff, so you probably get a whole onslaught of different tools and accessible devices to sample. Jesse Anderson: We do work with quite a few of our vendors. We do have vendors who come into SSB and show the tech specialists news devices or updates to new devises, but we also do periodically have events that are opened to the public where you'll have a vendor come by and they'll show their devices and device demonstrations and we've had people come in to do that. People come in to watch that as well. We also do, if we can, we will sometimes try to get down to the CSUN conference in California. Usually it's in March and that is kind of the premier assistive technology conference. You do have things like closing the gap in ATI, but those don't really focus on blindness as much, I think as they used to. I've gone to CSUN now twice and absolutely love it. They are actually going to be in a new hotel or a new venue this year. So that'll be interesting. I'm not going to be going to that unfortunately this year, but it's a fantastic conference if you're into assistive technology. If you're a tech specialist. If you're a user. Whatever. It is pretty fun. It's pretty informative. Jeff Thompson: So Jessie, this is your day time job. What are some of your hobbies that you do? And what's your interest in? Jesse Anderson: Well, I'm into a little bit of everything, but I'm definitely still a nerd. Like I said, I still do some technology stuff at home. Technology, gaming, I like music. I'm trying to teach myself the drums. Mess around with the guitar a little bit, that kind of a thing. But I do, like I said, I still do some technology and even game accessibility stuff in my spare time. For the past several years, I do run a YouTube channel called Illegally Sighted, and that's going pretty well. And I'm really trying to advocate, like I said, everything ... my day job is all about work, but there's more to life than just work and especially video games and VR. Virtual reality, augmented reality. Those things are all becoming quite popular in the mainstream world, and blind and low-vision users would like to be included in some of that, too, and so as I've been doing the YouTube channel, it's kind of turned into this ... I've really started working more with advocating for game accessibility and I have a VR headset at home. Jesse Anderson: So I've been trying to use that as a way to like hey, approach developers. We don't have standards yet for virtual reality officially, because everyone is still trying to figure it out. So if we can get someone in there to say, "Hey, you're trying to figure things out. Let's get accessibility as just one of those standards from the beginning because it's much easier to do it from the beginning than it is to bolt it on later." So I've been trying to advocate for that and as part of that, I did a presentation in fall of 2017 that's archived on my channel. I did a presentation for #id24, Inclusive Design 24, on VR accessibility for low-vision users, and in March of this year, I was actually invited to be a presenter, part of a panel, at the third annual game accessibility conference. GACon, as it's kind of referred to online and on Twitter. And you can go to gaconf.com and it's a one day conference that's held in San Francisco and I was able to get things lined up and working so I am going to be going down to that conference for the first time this year and be a panel speaker, and hopefully I'll be able to meet some developers, and a lot of the people that I have been kind of socializing with on social media, on Twitter and things like that. Jesse Anderson: So I'm really looking forward to it, and hopefully it can result in just getting another voice out there and making more developers and stuff realize, hey, it may not be as difficult as you think it is, but blind people, low-vision people are a market too, and we do have money to spend and we wanna do, we wanna participate in games and such as well. So, that should be really fun to see how that goes. Jeff Thompson: Jessie, thank you for being an advocate for everyone, because I know a lot of people out there that want to hang onto that or have the possibilities of playing games. It's a big market out there, and thank you for doing what you are doing. Jesse Anderson: Sure. No problem. Jeff Thompson: Great, well Jessie Anderson, I wanna thank you very much for coming on to Blind Abilities. Taking the time out here at SSB. That's State Services for the Blind of Minnesota. Thank you very much. Jesse Anderson: All right. Thank you. Jeff Thompson: Be sure to check out your state services, your state agency, your vocational rehab, and see what they can do for you. And be sure to check out the Blind Abilities scale on your Amazon device. Just say, enable Blind Abilities. And you can listen to the Blind Abilities on the Victor Stream. Just go to their favorites list and find Blind Abilities. There you go. You can search for Blind Abilities in any of your favorite PodCatchers. Just type in, Blind Abilities. That's too words. Blind abilities. And you can always download the free blind abilities app from the Apple store, or the Google Play store. And like I said, it's two words. Blind abilities. Jeff Thompson: I want to thank you for listening. We hope you enjoyed and until next time. Bye-bye. [Music]  [Transition noise]  -When we share -What we see -Through each other's eyes... [Multiple voices overlapping, in unison, to form a single sentence] ...We can then begin to bridge the gap between the limited expectations, and the realities of Blind Abilities. Jeff Thompson: For more podcasts with the blindness perspective: Check us out on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com On Twitter @BlindAbilities Download our app from the App store:  'Blind Abilities'; that's two words. Or send us an e-mail at: info@blindabilities.com Thanks for listening. Contact: Thank you for listening! You can follow us on Twitter @BlindAbilities On the web at www.BlindAbilities.com Send us an email Get the Free Blind Abilities App on the App Store.

The host, Tamika Cody, has taken a new spin on the podcast, Better Said Than Written. This time around she's decided to "read" a short essay that she thinks sounds better said than written. First up, is Emma Rathbone's article Before the Internet which you can find on The New Yorker's website. Would you know how to fill your day if you didn't have the Internet? Well, there was a time when most of us relied on creativity to occupy our day without the help of the World Wide Web. Emma Rathbone gently reminded readers of what it was like to create dance moves in the spur of the moment, whip out a notebook to create a piece of artwork, and to flip through a booklet to identify a precious stone. The short essay actually sounds Better Said Than Written. So here's a question for you. How would you occupy your day if the Internet wasn't an option? Send your views to TCsViews@gmail.com or leave your comments below.