Podcasts about perkins brailler

On this episode of Change Makers, learn about a cool product that allows individuals who are blind or low vision to turn their Perkins Brailler into a BlueTooth keyboard. After learning about Paige Connect, hear the latest from Braille Tales and what books are on the way.On this Episode (In Order of Appearance)Greg Hargraves, Paige FounderJennifer Wenzel, Technology Product SpecialistSarah Welch, Product ManagerChristine Genovely, Braille Tales Programs CoordinatorAdditional LinksPaige ConnectPaige Braille InstagramPaige Braille XPaige Braille YouTubeBraille TalesApply for Braille TalesUpdate Braille Tales addressEmail Braille Tales

Where do you go if you need to repair your Perkins brailler? That is the type-writer like machine that allows braillists to produce writing for school, work or leisure. Recent publicity that the UK's last certified visually impaired repairer of the Perkins, Alan Thorpe, is looking for an apprentice to continue his work, may have left the impression that there's no one else who can repair it for you. This is not the case. We speak to the Royal National College for the Blind (RNC) about the repair service that they offer.Peter White is rarely surprised by the different things blind people do for a living, but he was surprised by Just James, a blind professional wrestler. In Touch pays a visit to the World Association of Wrestling in Norwich to find out how James Jones developed his wrestling persona, how he goes about his fights as a blind person and to watch one of his shows. Will he win?Presenter: Peter White Producer: Beth Hemmings Production Coordinator: David Baguley Website image description: Peter White sits smiling in the centre of the image and he is wearing a dark green jumper. Above Peter's head is the BBC logo (three separate white squares house each of the three letters). Bottom centre and overlaying the image are the words "In Touch" and the Radio 4 logo (the word ‘radio' in a bold white font, with the number 4 inside of a white circle). The background is a bright mid-blue with two rectangles angled diagonally to the right. Both are behind Peter, one is a darker blue and the other is a lighter blue.

Now our Daivd Hogg chats to the last certified Perkins braille fixer in the UK, Alan Thorpe. Remember if your Perkins Braille from the RNIB is in need of repair and within its one-year guarantee then call the RNIB helpline. For out of guarantee repairs contact the RNC: perkins.brailler@rnc.ac.uk

Today on the show Steven and Shaun discuss the first announcement of the week from Apple and a cool way to make your Perkins brailler smart.First up, the guys chat about Apple's new product, the iMac with an M4 processor inside. This is the first of three announcements from Apple that will coming out over the next couple of days. The company also released Apple Intelligence in US English as part of their new operating systems for iPhone, iPad and Mac. AppleVis have reported a number of bugs and fixes in the latest releases - more details here:iOS 18.1https://www.applevis.com/blog/apple-releases-ios-181-ipados-181-bringing-new-bugs-some-fixes-voiceover-braille-usersWatch OS 11.1https://www.applevis.com/blog/apple-releases-watchos-111-bringing-changes-system-volume-behavior-voiceover-volume-rotorMac OS Sequoia 15.1https://www.applevis.com/blog/apple-releases-macos-sequoia-151-bringing-both-improvements-new-bugs-voiceover-usersOur main story today features a UK startup called Paige which have developed a tool to make Perkins braillers smart by replacing the bottom plate of the machine with a new sensor board. Greg Hargraves from the company joins Steven and Shaun to talk about the product and its development.Get in touch with Double Tap by emailing us feedback@doubletaponair.com or by call 1-877-803-4567 and leave us a voicemail. You can also now contact us via Whatsapp on 1-613-481-0144 or visit doubletaponair.com/whatsapp to connect. We are also across social media including X, Mastodon and Facebook. Double Tap is available daily on AMI-audio across Canada, on podcast worldwide and now on YouTube.Chapter Markers:0:00 - Intro4:12 - Apple Announces M4 Powered iMac17:31 - Apple Intelligence Launches26:01 - Contact Us26:59 - Smarter Perkins with Page Braille

As we join in the world-wide celebrations of 200 years of Braille here at Sight and Sound Technology, we're delighted to introduce another Braille device to our portfolio. Paige Connect transforms the classic Perkins Brailler for instant translation and gamified learning on any device. Stuart meets with Gregory Hargraves from Paige Braille to find out more. Alan Taylor has recently joined our Scottish team to head up our training function north of the border. Stuart meets Alan to find out a little about him and his role.

What is the Canadian Disability Hall of Fame? We talk questions like this and more in the first show of an important month for the disability community which we've marked for a few years now on air. Happy Disability Pride Month everyone! We celebrated Canada last week by replaying an episode with a fellow Canadian: Anne Mok's Purpose In View, but we're back, live, on Outlook this week with the three of us and Oyster the guide dog. And we'll be taking Outlook on the road this month, doing lived experience work, with a group of blind friends to celebrate disability pride together. We're talking PRIDE today - on this week's Mixed Bag show we discuss the upcoming trip to Portland, Maine and Boston and what we're doing at an inn in Maine for a week with other blind creatives, the three tourist experiences we have planned to meet each one of our interests, and we discuss why “pride? In the first place. Also, The National Federation of the Blind is one of a few organized blindness movements having their annual convention at the beginning of Disability Pride Month so we go over some of their 2024 resolutions to see what they're up to and these matters in the resolutions, we choose to discuss a few which we have something to say about, including their motion that Perkins School for the Blind should change their name because Perkins was involved in the illegal opium trade and in enslaved people. Between the two halves of our live show this week, our commercial for Outlook was chosen to air by the computer system at the station and it ends with the sound of a Perkins Brailler. It's always been Perkins to us, we're going on a tour of that historic school for blind children later this month, but we acknowledge the collective trauma caused by the honouring of men like Perkins and his hand in perpetrating lasting damage. We're exploring all the issues which matter to blind people where and how and when we can. So happy Disability Pride from us at Outlook On Radio Western. And why call it pride when Pride Month is June for LGBTQ2S+ just the month before? There are blind people in both minorities so we're honoured to follow, (the very next month) their path toward greater representation and inclusion. Check out our past episode featuring 2024 Canadian Disability Hall of Fame inductee Penny Bennett here: https://podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast/outlook-2021-06-28-deafblind-awareness-month-with/id1527876739?i=1000527431020

The braille community is buzzing about the next generation of braille display: multi-line devices which can show anything from tables to tactile graphics at the press of a button are now a reality, and enthusiastic early adopters around the world are putting the technology through its paces. These multi-line braille displays will, sooner or later, undoubtedly disrupt all our experiences of refreshable braille in many places, but perhaps most notably in education. What does this mean for teachers, and what does this mean for students in the classroom, doing their homework and progressing to further and higher education? We'll be digging into the detail in two parts: Firstly, we will hear from HumanWare, Bristol Braille Technology CIC, Dot Inc and Orbit Research, all of whom are developing multi-line braille displays, and each of whom will give a ten minute presentation on how they see their products working in the classroom. Secondly, we'll hear from a panel of education professionals. They will share their reactions to the presentations, discuss how current practice might evolve to take advantage of emerging braille technologies, and engage with the manufacturers to find answers to some of their most pressing questions. This episode is presented in collaboration with the Professional Association for the Vision Impairment Education Workforce (VIEW). Manufacturers, their Products and Representatives HumanWare, promoting the Monarch: Andrew Flatres, Braille Product Manager, and Peter Tucic, Director of Strategic Partnerships Bristol Braille Technology CIC, promoting Canute 360 (£2495.00) and Canute Console (£3995 or £1650 for existing Canute 360 owners): Ed Rogers, Managing Director Dot Inc, promoting the Dot Pad (£11995): Mazi Zarrehparvar Orbit Research, promoting the Orbit Slate 520 ($3495 USD) and the Orbit Slate 340 ($3995 USD): Venkatesh Chari, CEO Panellists Jane Sharp, Education Specialist QTVI at RNIB and Chair of the Visual Impairment Education Workforce (VIEW) Jonathan Fogg, Strategic Lead for IT at New College Worcester Jackie Brown, Technology For Life Co-Ordinator for Northern Ireland at RNIB The event was hosted by Dave Williams and produced by Matthew Horspool. Extracts from the Chat What are the dimentions of the Dot Pad please? Participant: 273.2 mm × 228.1 mm Mazi: 20 braille cells per line and 10 lines on the large screen. 20 cells on single line below graphics area. Dot Pad pricing is not fixed but our goals is to make the Dotpad economically accessible. Can you send information from the dot pad back to an iPad? Mazi: We are working on two way interaction between the Dot Pad and connected devices. At this time, the Dot Pad is a printer. It receives content from the iPad, iPhone, PC, or Mac. It is interactive in the sense that you can scroll up and down pages and make selections. You can also scroll across icons showing on your iPhone or iPad. If you would like more information, please be comfortable contacting me. We are rapidly innovating and all ideas and advice is welcome. Do the graphical devices allow a tactile diagram and a braille label on the same page? Ed: Yes. You can mix them up. We typically use a lot of Braille to make sense of the diagrams. For the Canute Console, that was. Andrew: For Monarch, Yes, it can display both graphics and braille on the same array. I'd be very interested to know if manufacturers were intending to (or have) produce progression charts/teaching ideas for supporting student development of skills in using these products? We can't afford to have one for us to learn on as well as one for the student, so any help on how to use them effectively and to think about skills progression is really helpful! Andrew: HumanWare appreciates there is a lot to learn when it comes to these types of new technology, therefore before Monarch will be released we will be conducting in-person teachers training across the UK. The objective will be to show how a Monarch could be used in a classroom along with getting a better understanding on this new ebraille file format. Please register your interest so you can stay updated on when these days become available. Participant: I am familiar with human wear products and they have a fantastic set of training videos for all of their devices. These are easily accessible for LSAs and BSAs as well as teachers. Would the Dot Pad be useful for a student taking physics at advanced level (up to university)? Rendering the visual data effectively has been a constant struggle/ongoing question. Mazi: Dot would love to work with you on your content and progression idea. YES, physics is an ideal subject matter for the Dot Pad. Participant: That's great to hear. I have a student applying for Physics at university this year, and this might be helpful for his Disabled Students Allowance application. Mazi: Wonderful. Exciting to know your student is going for it. Let's connect and set up a call to figure out how to help your student. What is a simple device for early years children instead of Perkins Brailler? Matthew (Braillists): The Perkins is still the best device for the job in our experience. Ed: Using the Canute Console in the basic text editing mode I demonstrated would be closest equivalent experience for our display. However as Matthew says the Perkins hasn't been superceded by any of these devices and they aren't meant as replacements for it. Participant: Unfortunately, for a 4 year old with small hands and not have the strength may impact their development Ed: In that case, pairing a multiline display with a Hable One or an Orbit Writer, be that a Canute Console or any multiline display that supports external keyboards, would be something to experiment with. Venkatesh: The Orbit single-line and multiline displays include an ergonomic Perkins-style braille keypad. The keys require very little force and would be suitable for a young child. Participant: Thank Venkatesh, I need to view this to understand if its suitable for my CYPVI Venkatesh: You are welcome. Please feel free to email me and we can work out a demo. Louise Johnson: The Annie Brailler is especially for young children. We will be purchasing two and I am happy to let you know how we get on. How do you distinguish colour? Textures? We need to teach students to read diagrams the way they will be presented in exams. Ed: Explaining our solution is a bit much to fit into the chat box but happy to tell you about the solutions we use and are experimenting with by email. In short though, with a display 40 cells wide you have space for a key along side every image if you need it and the image can include information about colour and other style information. That is one solution suitable for some circumstances. Participant: In terms of development of these products, it's worth remembering that there are a significant number of learners who are not braillists but still need tactile diagrams. Is it easy to create a table? Ed: Very easy to create a table for the Canute Console. You can use a spreadsheet or a text editor or generate a tables using conversion software. Will Monarch run on an up to date Android system? BNT+ is Oreo which no longer receives security patches. (Happy to hear if this is not the case!) Monarch will be based on Android, but will not have access to the play store, therefore it would be more capable of updating security. It should not be the case of being stuck. Does the Monarch come with Windows applications (Word, PowerPoint) and email? The Monarch will include KeySoft core application including word processor, email client and many more.

In today's episode of Double Tap, Steven Scott and Shaun Preece dive deep into the debate: Are you pro-Perkins? That's right, we're talking about the classic Perkins Brailler versus the modern QWERTY keyboard, and how the tech landscape is shifting for Braille users. Steven's got his hands on the Shure MV7 microphone, and he's sounding smoother than a Barry White serenade. But the real question is, will Shaun finally get his cheeseburger? But wait, there's more! We've got listener emails that are sparking conversations you won't want to miss. From the nuances of Braille education to the emotional rollercoaster of living with vision loss, our community is chiming in with stories and insights that are as real as it gets. And as always, we're keeping it light with some fun banter about language differences (black tea, anyone?) and the occasional rant about the trials and tribulations of being partially sighted in a sighted world. So whether you're pro-Perkins, QWERTY-keen, or just here for the laughs, tune in to Double Tap and join the conversation. Don't forget, we love hearing from you, so keep those emails coming! Keep in touch by emailing us at feedback@doubletaponair.com or calling 1-877-03-4567 and leaving us a voicemail. You can also find us on social media.

A look in to the past for me of some of the tech which I wish was  around today either in its original form as it would still work or updated to connect to modern day tech.   Plus some of the tech that is still around.   A look in to the past for me of some of the tech which I wish was  around today either in its original form as it would still work or updated to connect to modern day tech.   Accessible DECTalk. Artic Gizmo Pad. Audio Soccer Ball. Alva Braille Courier. Braille & Speak. Braille To Print. Business Memo. Enlarge for Mac. Freedom Box IBM Screen Reader Keypad. iPad on wheels (around 10 years ago). MPO. Nomad. Master touch Touch Tablet. Nokia N82 with Talks. Optacon. Pac Mate. Parrot.. Speech Game Centre. Sonic Glasses. System Access To Go. Talking Signs. Vista Magnfication PC Card.   Tech that survives in its own write or in a changed form.   Dragon Dictate (Dragon Naturally  Speaking). JAWS for Windows. Keysoft (hardware and software integration). Light Probe. Pac Mate (eBraille). Perkins Brailler. Mini Guide. Mountbatten. Zoomtext.Support this Vision Australia Radio program: https://www.visionaustralia.org/donate?src=radio&type=0&_ga=2.182040610.46191917.1644183916-1718358749.1627963141See omnystudio.com/listener for privacy information.

This is a live recording in which Kim and MOe shared some ideas about visually impaired and blind gardening, and we got feedback from the community. Listen in and take some tips away to save yourself or family a bit of money on fresh tasty goods.   Click here to see a full transcript...   Show notes Garden Sleeves on Amazon Gloves on Amazon Garden Markers on Amazon Label Tape on MaxiAids (0.5 inch) There are 2 sizes of tape, either should work with the garden marker above. There are also many other color options. Braille Label Maker on MaxiAids Note I had to keyword search this product. You can also use some slates and the Perkins Brailler with an attachment. Pen Friend on MaxiAids Way Around Tags on WayAround  These are a higher tech option. The tags have a NFC chip in them that when read with a NFC reader will open the Way Around App and read the information you have programed on the tag either by the screen reader on your phone, or by reading the text you have entered. MOe likes this option because it allows you to keep track of more than just the plant type. Be My Eyes (free visual interpreting service) Available for both Android and IOS Aira (subscription based visual interpreting service) Available for both Android and IOS App Picture This (plant identification) Available for both android and IOS Arrow Gardens on Amazon Refrigerator Garden I could not find a commercial product for this suggestion from Chris still available. NLS Books on Gardening Audio Books (MOe has read/used tips from most of these. There are many more than listed here.) Accessible gardening for people with physical disabilities: a guide to methods, tools, and plants DB52241 Carrots love tomatoes: secrets of companion planting for successful gardening DBC19721 Jim Wilson's container gardening DB59191 Fallscaping: extending your garden season into autumn DB66173 All new square foot gardening: grow more in less space! DB69864 Braille Titles Jim Wilson's container gardening / BR15635 All new square foot gardening :: grow more in less space! BR18588 Gardening on pavement, tables, and hard surfaces / BR15618 Jerry Baker's fast, easy vegetable garden / BR14841   Penny Forward Clubhouse Housepennyforward.com pennyforward@pennyforward.com Join as a member Support our work  Post Production help Brynn Lee: Superblink.org   Transcription Anne Verduin   Listen Below...  

This is a live recording in which Kim and MOe shared some ideas about visually impaired and blind gardening, and we got feedback from the community. Listen in and take some tips away to save yourself or family a bit of money on fresh tasty goods.   Click here to see a full transcript...   Show notes Garden Sleeves on Amazon Gloves on Amazon Garden Markers on Amazon Label Tape on MaxiAids (0.5 inch) There are 2 sizes of tape, either should work with the garden marker above. There are also many other color options. Braille Label Maker on MaxiAids Note I had to keyword search this product. You can also use some slates and the Perkins Brailler with an attachment. Pen Friend on MaxiAids Way Around Tags on WayAround  These are a higher tech option. The tags have a NFC chip in them that when read with a NFC reader will open the Way Around App and read the information you have programed on the tag either by the screen reader on your phone, or by reading the text you have entered. MOe likes this option because it allows you to keep track of more than just the plant type. Be My Eyes (free visual interpreting service) Available for both Android and IOS Aira (subscription based visual interpreting service) Available for both Android and IOS App Picture This (plant identification) Available for both android and IOS Arrow Gardens on Amazon Refrigerator Garden I could not find a commercial product for this suggestion from Chris still available. NLS Books on Gardening Audio Books (MOe has read/used tips from most of these. There are many more than listed here.) Accessible gardening for people with physical disabilities: a guide to methods, tools, and plants DB52241 Carrots love tomatoes: secrets of companion planting for successful gardening DBC19721 Jim Wilson's container gardening DB59191 Fallscaping: extending your garden season into autumn DB66173 All new square foot gardening: grow more in less space! DB69864 Braille Titles Jim Wilson's container gardening / BR15635 All new square foot gardening :: grow more in less space! BR18588 Gardening on pavement, tables, and hard surfaces / BR15618 Jerry Baker's fast, easy vegetable garden / BR14841   Penny Forward Clubhouse Housepennyforward.com pennyforward@pennyforward.com Join as a member Support our work  Post Production help Brynn Lee: Superblink.org   Transcription Anne Verduin   Listen Below...  

In our last Masterclass before the Christmas break, we're delighted that Kim Charlson, Executive Director of the Perkins Library (part of Perkins School for the Blind), was able to join us again. Kim is author of the book “Drawing with your Perkins Brailler”, which includes step-by-step directions for creating 36 different drawings including shapes, animals and subjects with holiday and transportation themes. In this session, she used Christmas-themed drawings to explain the concepts behind using braille cells to create pictures. Bring a Perkins and some paper and follow along and, by the end of the session, you will have your very own festive pictures made entirely of braille dots! And don't worry: if you heard Kim's excellent session last year, this year's pictures are brand new!

New legislation - the Web Accessibility and Software Applications ACT with Swatha Nandhakumar; meet Denise Colley, new President of the Braille Revival League, and learn more about BRL; The History of the Perkins Brailler, article from the BRL Memorandum

New legislation - the Web Accessibility and Software Applications ACT with Swatha Nandhakumar; meet Denise Colley, new President of the Braille Revival League, and learn more about BRL; The History of the Perkins Brailler, article from the BRL Memorandum

The Perkins Brailler has been a staple in the lives of braille users ever since the first one was manufactured in Watertown, Massachusetts in 1951. To this day, the Perkins is widely considered to be the most durable braille device on the market, with machines over 50 years old still going strong. They are so popular, in fact, that it is easy to forget that we need to teach new braillists how to use them! Furthermore, even established braillists do not always know how to diagnose faults when they arise, or how to take the best care of their machines so as to minimise the risks of faults arising in the first place. On 15 March, we were joined by Alan Thorpe of Eyecan, a certified Perkins Brailler Repair Centre. Alan took us on a tour of the Perkins Brailler, introducing us to the proper names of all of the parts! He explained how to insert paper and write braille, and described some common faults and how to overcome them. He also explained when a professional service or repair may be required and briefly explained the differences between the different models of Perkins Brailler available. For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

Episode Summary Talk about a man on a mission and a man with a vision, meet Dr. Kirk Adams. Dr. Adams was one of the fortunate children who happen to be blind and whose parents did not stifle his growth but let him explore his world no matter where it led. As an adult, Kirk worked for a time in the financial world, but later he found that his talents went more toward him working in the not-for-profit world. Today, Dr. Adams leads one of the largest and well-known agencies in the world serving blind people. The AFB today conducts a great deal of research about blindness and explores how to help lead blind persons to be more fully integrated into society. This week you get to experience Kirk's visions and thoughts first-hand. I hope you will come away with a different and more inclusive attitude about what blindness really should mean in our world. If you are an employer, take Kirk's positivity to heart and consider hiring more blind people in your business. About the Guest Kirk Adams, Ph.D. President and CEO American Foundation for the Blind As president and chief executive officer of the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB), Kirk Adams, Ph.D. is a longtime champion of people who are blind or visually impaired and is committed to creating a more inclusive, accessible world for the more than 25 million Americans with vision loss. Dr. Adams has led AFB to a renewed focus on cultivating in-depth and actionable knowledge and promoting understanding of issues affecting children, working-age adults, and older people who are blind or visually impaired. His role involves pursuing strategic relationships with peers, policymakers, employers, and other influencers to engender and accelerate systemic change. Dr. Adams frequently serves as a keynote speaker at conferences across the country, on topics including education, vocational rehabilitation and workforce participation, vision loss and aging, and technology. He has consulted with top leadership at Google, Facebook, Microsoft, as well as key leaders in the finance, public policy, nonprofit, and tech sectors to discuss topics ranging from product and digital accessibility to civil and disability rights. Before joining AFB, Dr. Adams was president and CEO of The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. He was a member of the Governor's Task Force on Disability Employment and the Seattle Public Library's Strategic Plan Advisory Committee and served on the boards of the National Industries for the Blind, and the National Association for the Employment of People Who Are Blind. Dr. Adams graduated magna cum laude with a Bachelor of Arts in economics from Whitman College in Walla Walla, Washington, and earned his master's in not-for-profit leadership at Seattle University in Washington. In 2019, he completed his doctorate in Leadership and Change at Antioch University in Yellow Springs, Ohio. In 2020, he was awarded a Doctor of Humane Letters from SUNY Upstate Medical University. About the Host: Michael Hingson is a New York Times best-selling author, international lecturer, and Chief Vision Officer for accessiBe. Michael, blind since birth, survived the 9/11 attacks with the help of his guide dog Roselle. This story is the subject of his best-selling book, Thunder Dog. Michael gives over 100 presentations around the world each year speaking to influential groups such as Exxon Mobile, AT&T, Federal Express, Scripps College, Rutgers University, Children's Hospital, and the American Red Cross just to name a few. He is an Ambassador for the National Braille Literacy Campaign for the National Federation of the Blind and also serves as Ambassador for the American Humane Association's 2012 Hero Dog Awards. https://michaelhingson.com https://www.facebook.com/michael.hingson.author.speaker/ https://twitter.com/mhingson https://www.youtube.com/user/mhingson https://www.linkedin.com/in/michaelhingson/ accessiBe Links https://accessibe.com/ https://www.youtube.com/c/accessiBe https://www.linkedin.com/company/accessibe/mycompany/ https://www.facebook.com/accessibe/ Thanks for listening! Thanks so much for listening to our podcast! If you enjoyed this episode and think that others could benefit from listening, please share it using the social media buttons on this page. Do you have some feedback or questions about this episode? Leave a comment in the section below! Subscribe to the podcast If you would like to get automatic updates of new podcast episodes, you can subscribe to the podcast on Apple Podcasts or Stitcher. You can also subscribe in your favourite podcast app. Leave us an Apple Podcasts review Ratings and reviews from our listeners are extremely valuable to us and greatly appreciated. They help our podcast rank higher on Apple Podcasts, which exposes our show to more awesome listeners like you. If you have a minute, please leave an honest review on Apple Podcasts. Transcription Notes Ad  00:01 On April the 16th at 2pm North American instant time, blind musicians from across the globe are getting together for an online benefit concert for Ukraine. It's called we're with you, and all money raised goes to the World Blind unions unity fund for Ukraine. To learn more, including how to listen and how to perform it were with you visit mushroom m.com/withYou that is mushroomfm.com/withYou   Michael Hingson  00:30 access cast and accessibly initiative presents unstoppable mindset. The podcast we're inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet Hi, I'm Michael Hinkson, Chief vision officer for accessibility and the author of the number one New York Times best selling book thunder dog, the story of a blind man, his guide dog and the triumph of trust. Thanks for joining me on my podcast as we explore our own blinding fears of inclusion and acceptance and our resistance to change. We will discover the idea that no matter the situation, or the people we encounter, our own fears, and prejudices often are our strongest barriers to moving forward. The Unstoppable mindset podcast is sponsored by excessive B, that's a cc E, SSI, capital B E, visit www.accessibility.com To learn how you can make your website accessible for persons with disabilities. And to help make the internet fully inclusive by the year 2025. Glad you dropped by we're happy to meet you and to have you here with us.   Michael Hingson  01:50 Hi again, and welcome to another episode of Unstoppable Mindset today. I'm really honored and proud and pleased to invite and have someone on the podcast who I've known for a while and he's he's moved up through the world of working with blind persons and disabilities over the years. When I first met Kirk Adams, he was the CEO of the Lighthouse for the Blind in Seattle. He is now the would it be CEO Kirk, President and CEO, President and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind. But more important than that, I mean, that's just a little thing more important than that. In 2019, he became a PhD he became as my mother used to say a doctor. Anyway, so Kirk Adams, welcome to unstoppable mindset.   Kirk Adams  02:39 Well, it's a pleasure. Thanks for having me.   Michael Hingson  02:42 So you, you have been involved in in the blindness world for a while, tell us sort of maybe some of the early parts about you that that, that you want to talk about growing up and how you ended up being involved in blindness and advocacy and all that stuff?   Kirk Adams  02:59 Well, it's, it's interesting, and I'll just kind of start where I am, and then I'll zip all the way back. But I'm very, very interested in social justice, and a more inclusive society. And of course, the way I come at that is through my lived experience of blindness, and working hard, day and night, to create more opportunities for inclusion for people who are blind in society. And in particular, I'm very interested in employment. As we all know, the workforce participation rate for people are blind is about 30, or 35%, which is about half of the general population. And I say whatever outcomes you're looking at, it's either half as good or twice as bad for people who are blind compared to the general population. As far as employment goes, but, you know, I'm at AFP. Now we're a very much a research focused organization. And when we do research and we look at the factors that lead to successful employment for blind adults, I through good fortune, and mostly not, not on any effort of my own, I lived a life that gave me a lot of those success factors. So it really started when I my retinas detached when I was in kindergarten. I became totally blind within a couple days had a bunch of emergency retinal surgeries that weren't successful. This was pre laser surgery. And so my parents were told Kirk cannot come back to school here at the neighborhood school, he needs to go to the state school for blankets, and we live north of Seattle. My parents visited the Washington State School in Vancouver were not very impressed with what they saw there. They were both teachers just starting out on their careers. And my retinal specialists, you University of Oregon medical school in Portland, said you should check out the Oregon State School and Salem, it's great. They visited, they liked it, they quit their jobs moved. So I could go to Oregon State School. And the success factor here is I was totally blind. There was no question. Does he need to learn braille? Does he need to use a cane? There's there's so many kids with, you know, varying levels of vision that are not, unfortunately, not always given the right instructional curriculum. So kids are using magnification and audio and not learning braille. But there was no question. And we know that strong blindness skills are a strong predictor of successful employment. So I've learned to read and write Braille as a first grader, and type on a typewriter and use a white cane. And a little aside, the one of the happiest days for me is when the Braille book review comes and one came last week, and they're in the children's book section is a book by Michael Hinkson. Running with Roselle anyway. Yeah, so there it is. I put it on my request list. I'll be reading it.   Michael Hingson  06:17 And let me know what you think.   Kirk Adams  06:20 And then, you know, my parents, although they didn't know any blind people we grew up in. I grew up in small towns, we're not connected with with blindness organizations, they instinctively did a couple things, right. One is they had very high expectations of me, they expected me to get good grades, and expected me to participate in sports. Expected expected me to do chores, and I didn't always helped me figure out how to do it. But the high expectations were there. And we see that as well as a predictor that the parents when schools have high expectations of blind kids, they, they they do do well.   Michael Hingson  07:05 Back thinking back on your parents, not telling you how to do it. What what do you think of that? And I'm sure it's different than what you thought at the time. But what do you say experiences?   Kirk Adams  07:16 Well, I'd say I learned how to it was sink or swim. So I learned how to swim. I was in public school, I was the only blind kid and all my schooling, I kind of had to wing it a lot. And I don't I don't think my psycho social deeds were attended to much, but I did, I did learn. And this was another another point, living every day as a blind person, you have opportunities to develop characteristics and some really unique ways and some strengths that the average person may not have around resilience and problem solving and grit and determination and how to work with teams. How to communicate, I got when I when I went to college, and I had some money from the Commission for the Blind to hire readers. So I was 18 years old. I was interviewing and hiring and sometimes firing employees readers and now invoicing and take taking care of the the the the accounts and and those things that my classmates were, we're not doing. The other the other thing I had early work experience. I was really into sports. My dad was a high school basketball coach, I wrestled ran cross country, and I became the sports editor for the high school paper. And the sports editor for the high school paper got to write a weekly high school sports column for the city weekly paper. So I was a I was a 16 year old sports columnist writing a weekly column for the Snohomish Tribune, showing up my timesheet and getting a check and happily spending that minimum wage. Thing was three 325 an hour, something like that. So again, I had some of these early I had some of these success factors that lead to successful employment for people who are blind. And my opportunity at AF B is to create those opportunities for lots of other blind people. So we develop programs that seek seek to level the playing field for people who are blind, we are focused on employment. And I had the experience as a young college graduate with a good track record and school Phi Beta Kappa and Akun laude and a four point in my field of econ and could not you could not get a job like many young blind people. We are the most highly educated, most underemployed disability group as far as college, college graduation, things like that. So I wanted a job in finance, I started applying for jobs, I wanted to live in Seattle, I went to college in Walla Walla needed to live where there was a bus system. I, you know, sent sent in resumes and cover letters, would get a phone interview, would be invited in for the in person interview, and then the employer would be very confused about why a blind person is coming at applying for this job. How in the world could they do it? So you know, disclose disclosing your disability is the thing, when do you do it? So I wasn't disclosing until I walked in with my cane, and my slate and stylus, and some braille paper in a folder. And then I started disclosing in my cover letter playing, I'm totally blind. This is how I do what I do. This is how I'll do the job. And then I wasn't even getting phone interviews. So yeah, I guess cast my net wider and wider and wider. And I applied for a job with a securities firm a sales job selling tax free municipal bonds. And the sales manager had also gone to Whitman College had also been an econ major, like 15 years before me. So he called some of the professors that we had, and they said, Sure, Kurt can sell tax free bonds over the phone. So I did that for 10 years, straight commission 50 cold calls a day every day builds build strong bones. And when I turned 30, had a had an opportunity to make a change. The firm I was with was purchased by another firm and just a good inflection point. And I got the What color's your parachute book, out of the Talking Book and Braille library and read it and did all the exercises and got clear that I wanted to be in the nonprofit sector. And I wanted to be in a leadership role. And I wanted to devote the rest of my working life to creating opportunities for people who are blind. So the next little blind kid could have an easier, easier time of it. And I got very interested in leadership, I went back to school and got a master's degree in not for profit leadership, got involved in nonprofit fundraising, was hired by the lighthouse, Seattle to start their fundraising program and foundation and eventually became the CEO there simultaneous to that. Again, really believing leadership is key to changing our world. I went back to school, as you mentioned, and earned a PhD in leadership and change through Antioch University.   Michael Hingson  13:09 I know the first time the first time I heard you speak was when you came to the National Federation blind convention after just becoming I think the CEO in Atlanta, in Atlanta, I had gone to work for Guide Dogs for the Blind, we were having challenges at gdb because people would not create documentation in an accessible format before meetings. And I recall you talking about the concept of no Braille, no meeting, no   Kirk Adams  13:40 Braille no meeting,   Michael Hingson  13:41 I took right back to them. And it helped a little bit. But it was amazing to see that there was such resistance at such a prestigious organization to hiring and being open to hiring blind people given what they do. And it was, it was a real challenge. Bob Phillips, who was the CEO at the time, created the job that that I had, and I'm sure there will I know there was a lot of resistance to it, but he was the CEO and made it happen. But still, the culture was not oriented toward being open for blind people to to have jobs there. And there are a few blind people working there now, but not even what there was several years ago, which is unfortunate, because there are a lot of things that that could be accomplished by blind people in various aspects of that organization. And as you point out of most organizations, you and I had a lot of very similar life experiences growing up, which is, I think, just evidence of what needs to be done for for kids who are blind and I'm defining blind, as Ken Jernigan used to which was your blind when you lose it If I sight that you have to use alternatives to be able to accomplish tasks and I gather you agree with that. When you were in college, did you have an Office for Students with Disabilities on campus? And if so, how did know?   Kirk Adams  15:14 You didn't know? Yeah. I went to Whitman College, which was small. You know, I graduated from high school in 1979. So I got a, you know, had the four track cassette player and I got is read by volunteers by Recording for the Blind. And the state provided me with a Perkins Brailler, and the cutting edge technology of an IBM Selectric typewriter with a recent. That's, that's what I had.   Michael Hingson  15:46 Well, I asked the question because when I went to, to UC Irvine, we had an office. And Jan Jenkins, early on when I started there, said to me, she lectured me, she said, I want you to understand what I do here, and this is her. She said, I'm here to assist, you need to take responsibility for doing things like going to professor's if you want books in braille, and getting the the books and, and doing the things that you do. But my job here as a principal in the university is if you can't get the cooperation you want, then you come to me, and I'll help you do it, which is such a refreshing attitude, even today. Because in the office is for students with disabilities, mostly today, you come into our office to take a test or we'll get the information for you, we'll get the things for you. And as you pointed out so eloquently, students as a result, don't learn to do it. And and like you I had to hire and fire readers. And and do all of the the same sorts of things that that you had to do. And it's the only way for us to succeed.   Kirk Adams  16:57 Absolutely. And again, if you if you look at research, and you look at what employers say they want employees for the 21st century, its employees who are resilient and flexible and have grit, and are problem solvers, and are creative and know how to analyze and manage risks and know how to work in teams of diverse people. And in my conversation as well. If you're looking to win the talent, war, blind people, by the fact of living everyday lived experience of blindness, learn, learn how to do all those things and develop those capabilities, develop those characteristics.   Michael Hingson  17:39 I think I've told the story on this podcast before but I like you debated often about whether to say that I'm blind when I'm writing a cover letter for a resume. And in 1989, I was looking for a job. And my wife and I were talking and we found this great job in a newspaper. It was perfect. And I said to her I said well, I say in the cover letter that I'm blind and my wife like wives all over can can say this. She said you're an idiot. And I said why? And she said you What is it you've always said that you learn when you took a Dale Carnegie sales course when you started out selling for Kurzweil? Well, she was ahead of me as often is the case. And finally, she said, you've said that you tell every sales person you've ever hired and every person that you've ever managed in sales, turn perceived liabilities into assets. And I think that's the key. Because blindness isn't a liability. It's a perceived liability. And what I did is I went off and I wrote a letter based on that. And I actually said that I'm blind. And the way I did it was I said in the last paragraph, so the letter, the most important thing that you need to know about me is that I'm blind because as a blind person, I've had to sell all of my life just to be able to survive and accomplish anything I've had to sell to convince people to let me buy a house, take my guide dog on an airplane, pre ACA, nada, rent an apartment and all that. So when you're hiring someone, do you want to hire somebody who just comes in for eight or 10 hours a day and then goes home after the job is done? Or do you want to hire somebody who truly understands sales for the science and art that it is and sells as a way of life? So I mean, that that I think is the whole point of perceived liabilities? Well, I did get a phone call from them. They were impressed by that. And I got the job and worked there for eight years. Fantastic. And I think we all need to learn how to win whatever job that we do to take that same sort of approach because I think most any job could adapt that same concept to say why blindness is a perceived liability on the part of the employers and why we're best for the job because of the way we live.   Kirk Adams  19:59 Perfect. Now I'm thinking about Carol Dweck work on the growth mindset versus the fixed mindset. So it all, it all holds together, you know, access strikes based asset, space, philosophy, etc?   Michael Hingson  20:17 Well, it does. And, you know, blindness is a perceived liability, and is all for us only as much of a liability as we allow it to be.   Kirk Adams  20:26 I think that's background expectations, too. As I mentioned, before my parents held high expectations of me, therefore, I hold high expectations of myself. Yeah, I know that not every blind kid is in a family situation like that. I've talked to many blind parents who are Parents of Blind Children, rather, who don't first learning their child is blind or going to be blind, just despair, and, you know, feel that their child has no future. And will, there'll be a caretaker role. And so it's really, really important that the high expectations get established early on. And like I say, not not every point blank kid is born into a family that's going to do that, automatically. So that's, that's an opportunity for all of us who are blind, to talk to parents of blind kids, and something I really enjoy doing, and letting them know that, you know, your, your kiddo can do whatever they want to do, as long as they are given the right tools and supports, and the opportunity.   Michael Hingson  21:36 Yeah, how do we get parents who feel desperation and so on? How do we get them to change their minds?   Kirk Adams  21:48 Well, I think that's exposure. And I think exposure to blind adults, successful blind adults, I am a big advocate for both consumer groups. So if someone's listening and are not connected with plain adults playing people, for the National Federation of blind American Council of the Blind, comes in different flavors, they have chapters and and different groups and affinity groups. And I would suggest checking it out. I think that's one way. I think that's an important way in the same in the workplace. And, you know, again, I'll keep harping on research. You know, it's shown that if a department or a manager hires a blind person, they're much more likely to hire another blind person, you know, then than another department hiring their first blind person. So, you know, familiarity, understanding the capabilities, and understanding that people are people with the same emotions and tribes and hopes and dreams and all the things I will before before I forget, I'm mentioned at work workplace technology study that we just did. And it was very well designed. We did We did focus groups interviewed then created a, an online survey then did in depth, in depth interviews, just to understand the dynamics of technology in the workplace, for people who are applying, what's working, what's not working, what tools do people use for which functions, and it's available on our website, so FB dot o RG? Easy, easy website to remember that we've done. We've done four or five, I think, really important studies in the last couple of years and and all that data is there.   Michael Hingson  23:36 You were talking a little bit earlier about what employers are looking for in terms of being flexible and so on? Where does loyalty fit into all that in today's world? You know, you used to hear about people staying in jobs for most of their whole time. And now it's a lot different. But where does loyalty fit?   Kirk Adams  24:01 That is a super interesting question. And I don't think there's clarity on that. And I was just reading an article this morning about the 10 greatest risks faced by corporate corporate boards, and one of them was the uncertainty of what the workplace is going to look like, in the future. Strategically, how do you build your workforce and your talent pool, not knowing exactly what the workplace is going going to look like? So a couple a couple things that come to mind. One One is that people change careers. I can't cite this. I can't cite the numbers, but something like seven, seven or eight job changes now and a lifetime of work. And the trick is to manage that person's career path. While keeping them in your organization, if you value them, and you find that they're a great contributor, and you don't want to lose them. So it's a different type of conversation, what? You, you try it HR, you don't like it that much, you'd rather be in it, how to recreate a pathway to keep a person within the organization. And then then the next thing we have, we've had the great resignation here with COVID. And so many people, it's been a wake up call for so many people to say, Hey, I'm Life is too short, I want to do something that's meaningful, I want to do I want to live well, I moved from the East Coast back to Seattle, to be closer to closer to family. So people are making those kinds of life based decisions that I think are much greater right now. I would say that the shifting landscape and employment I believe will create more opportunities for people who are blind as remote work, telework and hybrid work situations become normalized. You know, there, there is language in our statutes that says, setting up a person to work with a disability work from home is the accommodation of last resort. That was the, you know, the assumption was that everyone needed to go into the office, and everyone needed to be in a building with their co workers. And to set up a person to work for from home was the the last accommodation that should be considered. And I think that's, that's been flipped. Now. So I'm really, I'm really excited to see what it's going to look like.   Michael Hingson  26:44 I think that it is a, it is a moving target for everyone. And the key is to not allow blind people to be part of that flip. And I think that's that you're exactly right, it will be interesting to see where it goes, I asked you that question, because one of the things that I've often heard is, a blind person who is hired to work somewhere, will tend to be more loyal and want to stay there, rather, and will do a better job as a result rather   Kirk Adams  27:17 than and that's going out of that and that's verifiable. Look at Disability Research, DuPont did a really long longitudinal study 5060s 70s that people with disabilities are, they have less turnover, you have less absenteeism. Morale, in work groups goes up. customer perceptions improve. So there's there's a lot of there's good business cases for employers to include people with disabilities.   Michael Hingson  27:55 Yeah, it makes good sense. And, and, you know, we, we see in so many different ways that there are advantages to being blind, which which all of us also need to learn how to explain. And an emphasize another one that comes to mind. We've used it excessively a fair amount is the concept of brand loyalty, which is a little different. But the Nielsen Company did a study in 2016, talking about the fact that people with disabilities in general, and I'm going to narrow it to blind people tend to be a lot more brand loyalty to the companies online that give them access to their stuff, because they don't have to slave and work so hard to get access to it. And they're going to continue to work with those companies. That make sense to me. It is, it is just absolutely relevant that that we need to to get more of those messages out and make it happen. Of course, that's one of the reasons that we have unstoppable mindset is to hopefully educate people about some of these things, because it makes perfect sense to do. And there's no reason why we can't get get better access. It's just a matter of educating employers and a lot of decision makers who are not blind that we're, we're actually an asset to them.   Kirk Adams  29:16 Yeah, and I again, I'll mention an AFP. I think one of our crown jewels is our annual leadership conference. It'll be May 2 and third in Arlington, Virginia. When I first went to work for the satellite house in 2000, the person who hired me said if you want to get to know the blindness field, you need to go to the AFP conference. So I went to my first in 2001 I've never missed and it's it's fairly unique in that we bring together all the stakeholders so we bring leaders from voc rehab for the the federal agencies, nonprofit CEOs, corporate diversity, inclusion and access ability folks, academic researchers, blindness advocates advocates into the same space. And that's a really interesting thing to do. Because those groups don't often talk to one another. Although they, they would, they would all say they share a common goal in improving employment outcomes for people are blind. There's a really cool research study where they asked VR counselors and HR hiring managers, the same set of questions. And the one that stands out to me was the question was what what is the greatest barrier to successful employment of people who are blind, and the the VR counselor said, attitudes of employers, perceptions of the employer, and the employer said, lack of understanding of our business needs on the point of VR. So, you know, both groups would say they are very dedicated to improving employment outcomes, but but they come at it from from different angles. So, AFP Leadership Conference is a place where we, we bring all those stakeholders together in conversation. So it's, it's pretty cool.   Michael Hingson  31:14 And hopefully, you can get them to communicate a little bit more with each other. Yes. I don't know. It is it is interesting. Do you ever watch the ABC ABC show? What would you do? I have not. Have you ever heard of it?   Kirk Adams  31:30 I don't think   Michael Hingson  31:31 so. Duncan Jonas, has run the show in the summer, every year for a number of years. And one of the the whole premise of the show is that they bring in actors to play roles. And see how the, the people who are around them react. So for example, on one show is actually one of the first shows they brought in a an actor to play a barista at a coffee shop. And this was, I think, put on or created by the Rochester Institute for the Deaf. They brought in two women, deaf people, and there was a job posting and they went in and applied for the job. And the whole process for the decrease barista was to simply say, No, you're deaf, you can't do the job. And, and he did a really good job of that. But these, these two deaf people kept saying, well, we could do the job. This is a kitchen job. You're not asking for me to even interact with customers all the time. And he said, Well, what if there's something I need you to do? Well, you can write it down, or I can read lips, and he just continued to resist, which was great. But during the day that they did this, there were three HR people who came in. And they after listening to all this for a while, pulled the barista aside, and they said, you're handling this all wrong, these people have more rights than the rest of us. Just take the application and write on it. It's not a good fit. But don't don't keep arguing. It was it was fascinating that the HR people did that. So there is a there is a problem with HR. But again, that's what we have to help educate in, in all that we do too. So I'm glad to to see what you're doing and that you are bringing people together. I've I've been to a couple of the leadership conferences, but not not lately.   Kirk Adams  33:34 Well, we'll see. We'll see you in May. But I've got to work that out. But the workplace technology study I mentioned earlier, there's there's real data there from real people. Current so we can show HR managers that, hey, blind people report that part of your recruiting process involves some sort of online exercise or test 60% of your blind and low vision, people are having challenges accessibility challenges with that, you know, 30% of the people you're hiring, are having problems with your employee onboarding processes. So you know, there's anecdotal stories, there's complaints, but now we have real data. So it's really intended for the HR manager, the IT manager, and assistive technology developers to really show what's what's actually happening. You know, how your blind employees are needing to take work home and use their own equipment and work more hours. And, you know, they're having having to ask sighted colleagues to do essential steps in their processes. And I know people hear those stories, but now we've got we've got numbers and we got statistics. And you know, and I HR person doesn't want to say Yeah, 30% of this group of people is having problems with my onboarding process. You know that that's, that's a number that is going to get some attention, we think.   Michael Hingson  35:12 We hope so. And we hope that we can continue to find ways to, to get people to be a little bit more aware of all this, because accessibility to the tools is, is one of the biggest challenges we face. You know, that's why I joined accessibe. B last year, because I saw that there were opportunities and accessibility has even expanded a lot. And is saying that what it does to create internet access, which began with an artificial intelligence system that does a good job with some websites and a significant part of websites, but also doesn't necessarily do everything in an accessible he has now put together additional processes to create human intervention to help with the rest of it. But excessive he also wants to educate people about web access, whether they use excessive these products or not, because the feeling is we've got to do more to educate people in that exactly what makes sense to do.   Kirk Adams  36:13 Yes, and as I mentioned, before, we began our recorded part of our conversation, FB, NFB ACB, and the national rights Disability Network have drafted a joint letter to the Department of Justice, asking them to implement the web and app accessibility regulations that they are empowered to enact. And we have sign on letter. Again, you can go to afp.org, for more information, and we're looking for disability and civil rights organizations who want to join us and Ernie urging the Department of Justice to do that. Because it's so meaningful. I am a I'm not a high tech person. I like you said, I'm brand loyal to a small, small number of retail websites. But we also did a study last year, as part of what Mississippi State National Research and Training Center on blindness was doing. They contracted with AFP, we looked at 30 corporate websites, and we looked at specifically at their recruiting and hiring portals. And there's lots of accessibility issues. So they're there. So   Michael Hingson  37:42 five away compliance for the government. Yeah.   Kirk Adams  37:45 Yes. So whatever we add FB can do to change that landscape to change the way institutions, government, nonprofit corporate address, inclusion, put it under the umbrella of digital inclusion. You know, I think it's somewhat similar to we've more from diversity to inclusion. In our language, I think we've more from the digital divide to digital inclusion, which I think as a much more proactive concept.   Michael Hingson  38:21 A speech I've given for years is actually titled moving from diversity to inclusion, because diversity is doesn't even include us anymore. Which is unfortunate. And so we've got to go to to something that makes more sense. And you're either inclusive or you're not, you can't be partially inclusive, because then you're not inclusive.   Kirk Adams  38:40 There you go. Like it makes I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm stealing that one here. Welcome   Michael Hingson  38:46 to have it, it's You go right ahead. Because you either are inclusive, or you're not, it's a quantum jump in you can't be partially inclusive and say you're inclusive. You shouldn't be able to say you're partially diverse. And so you're diverse, because but but you know, that ship has kind of sailed. But I think it is something that that we need to do. And it's all about education. And it's all about finding ways to give kids at a young age the opportunity that you talked about Braille earlier. How do we get the educational world to recognize, again, the value of Braille and what's happening with that? Oh, boy. I know that was a loaded question.   Kirk Adams  39:36 That's that's that's my my personal soapbox, which I can can get oh, I don't know how to do it, other than frame it in terms of literacy. It is a literacy question. Reading is reading listening to something as listening to something writing is reading writing, you know, if if we didn't need to read and write and cited kids wouldn't be taught how to read and write. It's just a matter of efficiency and efficacy and art and being being a human human being in a literate society. So there's some there. There are some numbers embedded in some of our research, that that show the number of employed respondents who are Braille readers or use Braille displays. There are some there were some numbers generated 30 years ago that indicated that 90% of of blind people who are employed read Braille, that doesn't appear to be the case. Now, based on what we can infer from from our surveys. Does that I'm not sure what that means. So I I will say, to answer your question, I don't know. And we need to figure it out. So I will take 10 I think that's some deep research questions. But I would be energized to explore   Michael Hingson  41:15 take what you said to another level, let's let's say your right 30 years ago, 90% of employed blind people were Braille readers. And that number has dropped. Just for the sake of discussion, let's say significantly. The other thing that immediately comes to mind is how far people who are blind especially who are not Braille readers today are advancing as opposed to Braille readers. Because Braille is the, the means of reading and writing, I know so many people who are partially blind, who have grown up, not having the opportunity to learn to read Braille, who are very blunt about saying, if we had only been able to learn to read and write Braille, we would have been a lot better off because it's just so much slower and harder for us today.   Kirk Adams  42:14 Yeah, so I hear people with those same, same regrets. And, again, it's back to what I said earlier that as a, becoming totally blind at age five, there was no question I knew I was going to learn braille, and I was instructed in Braille. And, you know, it wasn't a question or debate. Who, who, you know, who knows what would have happened if I would have had enough usable vision to read with magnification? So I like I guess, along the same lines, is what you mentioned about Doctor turning his definition of blind, you know, if, if a child cannot read at the same rate as their sighted classmate using magnification, they need to learn braille, so they can read read just as fast as their kid at the next desk, you know,   Michael Hingson  43:03 otherwise, why do we teach sighted kids to read just let them watch TV which is, which is another, which is another technology and art form or whatever, that that isn't as creative in some ways as it used to be, but they're also good shows. So I guess we got to cope with that, too.   Kirk Adams  43:24 But yeah, audio description is not not our thing. Although we appreciate it immensely. And I know some other blindness organizations are really carrying the torch to increase the amount of audio description. But that just brings to mind that accessibility and innovation around accessibility for people with with particular disabilities is good for everybody. Yeah, and I know, my, my wife, she's puttering around the kitchen, and there's a movie on, she'll put the audio audio description on, you know, so she can, she can follow it. When I was at the lighthouse in Seattle, we worked with Metro Transit to put larger bus numbers with contrasting colors, because we have had a lot of employees with ARPI. A lot of Dateline, employees with ushers, and they did enlarge the bus numbers and put them in contrasting colors. And they said they had more positive comments from their general ridership about that than anything they've done. Because it made it easier for people with 2020 vision to see if that was their bus coming. Sure. So simple, simple example. But yeah, one of   Michael Hingson  44:45 the things that one of the things that really surprises me still, and I've mentioned it before, and so it's one of my soap boxes is Apple, put voiceover partly because they were compelled To do it, but put VoiceOver on iPhones, iPods, iTunes, you and all that, but on iPhones and iPods and the Mac, they put voiceover, they created it. But I'm very surprised that in the automotive world, they haven't done more to make voiceover a part of the driver experience so that people don't have to go look at screens on their iPhones or whatever. As opposed to being able to use VoiceOver, because clearly, it would be a very advantageous thing. And I also think of like the Tesla, which uses a screen including a touchscreen for everything. And my gosh, yeah, you can do a little bit more of that, because the Tesla has co pilot that allows you to interact in some other ways, although you're still supposed to keep your hands on the wheel and all that, but why aren't they using voice technology more than they are?   Kirk Adams  45:53 That's a good question that I can't answer.   Michael Hingson  45:56 I know, it's, it's, I've never heard a good explanation of it as to why they don't. And it makes perfect sense to do it. The voices are very understandable, much less dealing with Android and so on. But no one is using the voice technology and the voice output to take the place of of screens, which is crazy, much less voice input. So it is it is a mystery. And it is one of those things that it would be great if people would would consider doing more of that the automotive industries missing out and of course, we as blind people are the ones who bring that opportunity to them will take credit.   Kirk Adams  46:34 There you go. Well, you know, when when I was walking around with my four track, cassette player listening to textbooks, I was the, you know, the the oddity in school, and now everyone listens to Audible books. Right, right.   Michael Hingson  46:51 It's a common thing. And now not only that, you can use things like bone conducting headphones, so you can listen to your audio as you walk around and still hear what else is going on. So you're a little bit safer.   Kirk Adams  47:05 Yeah, I don't know how far afield you want to get in this conversation. But you know, indoor wayfinding navigation systems, many people are trying to figure that that out, you know, the GPS systems work pretty well when you're outdoors. But when when you're indoors, what are the wayfinding tools that are that are emerging? And you know, I'm thinking about haptics and, yes, different modes of receiving information than then audibly, because most of the adaptations accommodations for people who are blind tend to be audible. And if you get 234 things going at once you get you get a diminishing marginal utility there. And then at some point, you know, becomes counterproductive if too much is going on audibly. So I'm, I'm I went to Consumer Electronics Show ces for the first time, this past January. And I was very interested, I was very interested in kind of the the emerging use of different modes of conveying information, either through vibration or temperature or airflow, different types of information. So lots of smart people out there, trying to figure out ways to make make us all live better.   Michael Hingson  48:35 Yeah, I will have to hunt down Mike Mae and get him on the show, because he can certainly talk our ears off about indoor navigation integration, you should haven't done that. I've got to get hold of Mike, I think that would be cool. But it is all part of as you said, making all of our lives better. And the whole concept of virtual reality is something that all of us can take advantage of and use. And again, a lot of the things that that come about because of some of these developments actually started with with blindness. I mean, look at Ray Kurzweil with the Kurzweil Reading Machine, he developed the technology to be able to let a camera build a picture of a page of print. And his first choice was to develop a machine that would read out loud of course for blind people. Percy took it further after that, and now OCR is a way of life but it did start with Ray without machine, the Kurzweil Reading Machine for the blind.   Kirk Adams  49:37 Yep. Remember, it becomes a washing machine. Now Yeah, we can just now you can do with your iPhone.   Michael Hingson  49:43 You can and better how much our computer processes have have evolved over the years. It's really pretty incredible, isn't it? It really, really is. And you know, but technology is all around us. And it, it is a it is a good thing. But again, it's all about how we use it and how we envision it being used. So it again, it gets back to the discussion that we had about Braille. You know, people say, Well, you don't need Braille because you can use recordings and all right, well, that's just not true. Why is it that we should be treated differently? Why should our exposure to being able to read and write be different than people who have eyesight because reading and writing with Braille is really equivalent to reading and writing with, with printed page or pens and pencils, or typewriters now that I knew mentioned running with Roselle earlier, I remember, sitting on an airplane going, I think I was flying back to California from somewhere. And we were going through many revisions of running with Roselle at the time and Jeanette Hanscom, who was my colleague in writing that who writes children's books, so she was able to make the words something that we felt would be more relevant for kids, although I gotta tell you more adults by running orthros health and then children do so I've heard. But I spent the entire time flying from the East Coast to the West Coast, going through an editing, running with Roselle. And I was using a computer that talked but I also know that the skills that I learned as a braille reader gave me the ability to catch nuances and so on, that I never would have been able to learn to catch if I hadn't learned how to truly be able to read a book. And we edited the book. And you know, it is where it is today.   Kirk Adams  51:45 Well, it's on its way to me from the Talking Book and Braille library. I look forward to reading it. Congratulations on yet another publication Good on you.   Michael Hingson  51:56 Well, thank you, we're working now towards another one. Writing about fear, and especially with the pandemic all around us. And, gosh, fear has taken on many forms, some of which are understandable, and some of which are ridiculous. But we're we're looking at the fact that well, when I left the World Trade Center, I didn't exhibit fear. And that was because I learned what to do, and approach to the day when an unexpected emergency happen from a standpoint of knowledge. And I had actually, as I realized, over the last couple of years developed a mindset that if something were to occur, I mean, obviously something could happen. And we could have been smashed by something, but but without that happening, I could step back and quickly analyze whatever situation was occurring as we were going down the stairs or getting out. And I could focus on that and let the fear that I had not overwhelm me, but rather instead be a mechanism to keep me focused. So it's developing the mindset. So we're, we're working on it, and we've got proposal out to publishers, so we're hoping that that's going to go well. And, you know, we'll   Kirk Adams  53:18 see. Well, as mentioned earlier, I am president and CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind. And as such, I am scheduled to be on a zoom call with our Finance and Investment Committee of our Board of Trustees.   Michael Hingson  53:33 Well, we're gonna we're gonna let you go. But I'd like you to want to tell us if people want to reach out or if he wherever you want them to go to to learn more about AARP or you and reach out to you yeah,   Kirk Adams  53:45 FB dot o RG is the website. My email address, if you want to email me is my first initial K my last name Adams, K da ms at AFB dot o RG. And AFP and myself are present on social media. And you can find us easily and we'd love to connect. Get your thoughts, share our thoughts. Check out the Leadership Conference, May 2 and third in Arlington, Virginia and go to fb.org and look at our research.   Michael Hingson  54:20 Well, perfect. Well thank you very much for being with us today on unstoppable mindset. We very much appreciate your your time and hope that we'll be able to chat some more.   Kirk Adams  54:29 All right, Michael, keep up the good work.   Michael Hingson  54:32 We'll do it. If you'd like to learn more about unstoppable mindset, please visit www dot Michael hingson.com/podcast Or go to wherever you listen to other podcasts. We have a number of episodes up we'd love to also hear from you. You can reach me directly at Michael H AI that's ni ch AE L H AI at accessibly ACs. c e ss ibe.com. So Michael hai at accessible comm we'd love to hear from you. If you've got suggestions of people you think that we ought to have on the podcast, please let me know. We're always looking for guests if you want to be a guest, let us know about that as well. And most important of all, please, after listening to this, we'd appreciate it if you would give us a five star rating in wherever you're listening to podcasts. The ratings help us and they help us show other people that we're doing something of interest. So if you feel that way, please give us a five star rating. Thanks again for visiting us today. And we'll see you next week with another episode of unstoppable mindset the podcast where inclusion, diversity and the unexpected meet.   Michael Hingson  55:51 You have been listening to the unstoppable mindset podcast. Thanks for dropping by. I hope that you'll join us again next week, and in future weeks for upcoming episodes. To subscribe to our podcast and to learn about upcoming episodes, please visit www dot Michael hinkson.com/podcast. Michael Hinkson is spelled ma ch AE l h i n g s o n y you're on the site. Please use the form there to recommend people who we ought to interview in upcoming editions of the show. And also, we ask you and urge you to invite your friends to join us in the future. If you know of any one or any organization needing a speaker for an event, please email me at speaker at Michael hinkson.com. I appreciate it very much. To learn more about the concept of blinded by fear, please visit www dot Michael hinkson.com forward slash blinded by fear and while you're there, feel free to pick up a copy of my free ebook entitled blinded by fear. The Unstoppable mindset podcast is provided by access cast an initiative of accessibility and is sponsored by SSP. Please visit www.accessibly.com accessibly is spelled a cc e SSI B E. There you can learn all about how you can make your website inclusive for all persons with disabilities and how you can help make the internet fully inclusive by 2025. Thanks again for listening. Please come back and visit us again next week.

In celebration of all things Braille for World Braille Day today (Tuesday 4 January 2022) Connect Radio's Toby Davey chats with Stuart Lawler, Head of Content Creation and Business Development Manager for Sight and Sound Technology Ireland to find out what Braille means to him and how he might be celebrating the life of Louis Braille on World Braille Day. Stuart began by telling Toby how he was introduced to Braille at an early age at school with the excitement of the arrival of a Perkins Brailler all the way from Dublin to his school in the Irish countryside and how the arrival of the Perkins Brailler brought Braille to life for him. For Stuart, Braille means access to information, literacy, reading with his hands and not relying on speech and Stuart will even read from Braille paper and not from a refreshable Braille display when delivering a speech or presentation. As Stuart works for Sight and Sound Technology demonstrating and promoting Braille technology to blind and partially sighted people on a day-to-day basis, he is very excited about the future of multiline Braille displays for use with Braille music, Braille maths, etc. Stuart feels that blind people are the best ambassadors for Braille and all Braille users should except any form of Braille when it is offered to them us such as Braille menus as one example, to make sure that those producing Braille know that their Braille is being used.  Stuart will be celebrating World Braille Day by getting out his Perkins Brailler and playing with it to remind him that he has a Perkins which he may only use 3 or four times a year. The RNIB website and shop have a wide range of information and resources on learning Braille and more details can be found by visiting -  https://www.rnib.org.uk/practical-help/reading/braille-and-moon-tactile-codes For more details on Sight and Sound Technology do visit their website -  https://www.sightandsound.co.uk/ (Image shows RNIB logo. 'RNIB' written in black capital letters over a white background and underlined with a bold pink line, with the words 'See differently' underneath)

We were delighted to be joined by Kim Charlson, Executive Director of the Perkins Library (part of Perkins School for the Blind). Kim is author of the book “Drawing with your Perkins Brailler”, which includes step-by-step directions for creating 36 different drawings including shapes, animals and subjects with holiday and transportation themes. In this session, she used a drawing of a Christmas tree to explain the concepts behind using braille cells to create pictures. Bring a Perkins and some paper and follow along and, by the end of the session, you will have your very own frilly Christmas tree made entirely of braille dots! This session was recorded on Tuesday 7 December 2021. For further information please visit the Braillists Foundation Media Page.

Despite a sickly Shaun, a missing Marc and Steven destroying all his computers, another episode of Double Tap Canada is here. We kick off the show with the news that Steven is returning his Surface Laptop 4. What went wrong this time? Was it the stuttering speech or the furry fabric coating? Steven explains all. Next, it's on to the news that Forza Horizon 5 has won the "Innovation in Accessibility" award at the recently held Game Awards 2021. The very fact that the category exists does seem to show that accessibility is being taken seriously by the video game industry, so why aren't there more accessible games? In other news, Steven is about to start a Braille course, but can he convince Shaun to join him? And why does Shaun hate the Perkins Brailler? Also, there's some exciting news for Canadians interested in getting hold of the Jaws screen reader. Matt Ater tells us all about the new Home Annual License program.

As a sighted transcriber with the Department for Education in South Australia, I transcribe into braille literary, mathematics and other technical material, music, and languages such as French, German, Italian, Indonesian and Japanese. As technology has advanced and with the adoption of Unified English Braille, in the 30 plus years of my career, I have seen many changes. One of the biggest changes that has occurred in the past 30 years is being able to source electronic documents to speed up the production of braille. When I started my career as a transcriber, I would be given a paper document or book to painstakingly reproduce into braille using a Perkins Brailler. I was able to reproduce the text according to what my eyes and brain interpreted the text was saying. Then came the advent of the personal computer with word processing software. As these became more available braille translation software was developed which could take an electronic document and translate it into braille from which a hard copy could be made using an embosser. I could take my printed document and manually create an electronic document either typing it directly or scanning and editing. This document would then be put through translation software, edited and embossed. Again, as I created the word processing document, I was able to ensure that what I read with my eyes on the page was faithfully reproduced into braille. The next technological development was OCR software whereby a printed page could be scanned and converted to electronic text, eliminating the need for manual typing. Around the same time came the braille display whereby not all braille needed to be physically embossed but could be read directly from a computer. Now, more often than not, our source document comes to us already in an electronic format whether it is from a classroom teacher or a publisher. I now rarely need to manually type or scan text to produce braille. Over the years, the accuracy of braille translation software has undergone continual improvement to the extent that the accuracy of translation is extremely high including mathematical and technical material. But … the question needs to be asked, “is an electronic document the same as a printed document?” How can we ensure that an electronic document when translated to braille to be either physically embossed or read via a braille display, will accurately reflect what the original document says? My personal experience is that whilst this is mostly correct, this assumption cannot be made.

In this weeks Talking Tech, David celebrates his 30 years at the RBS of NSW and now Vision Australia by discussing some of the tech highlights over his time working as a technology specialist.     With these notes, you get the whole list, enjoy.   Unusual or Meaningful Tech Over the Last 30 years   When I started work for the then RBS of NSW (now Vision Australia) on June 4 1990, my tech on my desk was a Keynote PC Plus based on a Toshiba 1000, a Braille & Speak note taker, and of course a telephone land line.   Tech sitting on my desk 2020 for general everyday stuff, iPhone, QBraille Braille Display, iPad, MacBook Pro, Surface Pro, Google Home, Amazon Echo, and HomePod: plus my audio studio setup for podcasting and my radio program.   In no particular order, this is a list of all the tech that I have personally used for both home and work over the last 30 years covering my time at both Royal Blind Society of NSW then  Vision Australia).   Where amazingly some of the tech still exists when it first came out and where it has evolved to current, I’ve put the updated version in the current lists as well.   Interestingly, there are over 10 products that are Assistive Tech related that have lasted the test of time and are in the old and current tech sections.   Where some of the products may not be that well known (at least according to me smile), I’ve put a very short blurb next to them.   Oddly or not, I wish some of the devices that are no longer around still were, as they did some great specific things.   For me, I think the main technology advances were: Microsoft Windows 3.1 access (keeping in mind Outspoken had been out for a while for Macs) in the 1990’s, Mobile and Smart phone access in the 2000’s (Talkback for Synbian and VoiceOver for iPhone) plus VoiceOver for the Mac in 2005, Smart speakers and Smart home tech in 2010-2020.   Things we still need to conquer: Ongoing message and change for accessibility across mobile/desktop apps, and the huge one, the web. Access to self service kiosks. Indoor navigation. Accessibility in white goods. Accessible EFTPOS terminals (Apple Pay sort of gets around this). More audio described content on free to air. Hate to pick out out Foxtel, but they sort of deserve it, an accessible Foxtel box. One final point, we should be careful about assigning accessibility based on the fact that it works with one specific type of software, particularly in the screen reader industry.   Old Tech   If you haven’t heard of some of this stuff, use good old Google, should still be some info floating around.  If it brings back hopefully good memory’s I’m glad.     Keynote PC Plus (Toshiba 100 laptop with Keynote note taking software and insult speech). Keynote for DOS. Keynote across portable devices (current today - BrailleNote Touch)).   Braille & Speak (Braille keyboard based simple note taker with speech). Braille Lite (Braille & Speak with a 40 cell Braille Display). Type & Speak (Braille and Speak with a QWERTY keyboard).   Inca QWERTY Keyboard for DOS (with two Braille display lines).   Navigater Braille display.   OutSpoken for Mac for System 6.07, 7 and 8. OutSpoken for Windows.   Enlarge for Mac.   Closeview for Mac.   Artic Business Vision MSDOS screen reader. Artic Business Vision internal PC Card. Artic Transport (you could upload the screen reader to the MSDOS PC from the external synthesiser). Artic Gizmo Pad (an external navigation keyboard for Artic). Arctic Winvision for Windows.   Double Speak (external synthesiser).   Accent SA (external synthesiser).   Keynote Gold PCMCIA, PC or Keynote Gold external synthesiser (had driver to be made available to other screen readers).   Apollo external synthesiser.   Hal MSDOS screen reader (worked with the Apollo Synthesiser). Hal for Windows (eventually became Supernova for Windows current today).   DECTalk Classic(very large external speech synthesiser. DECTalk PC internal synthesiser card. DECTalk Express external synthesizer. DECTalk Access software synthesiser.   ASAP (As Soon As Possible) MSDOS screen reader. ASAW ASAP for Windows).   JAWS For DOS MSDOS screen reader. JAWS for Windows (current today).   Eloquence software synthesiser (Made famous when first worked with JAWS For Windows V3.2).   Vocal-Eyes MSDOS screen reader (could be configured). Window-Eyes for Windows.   Master Touch MSDOS screen reader (could read direct video writes). Master Touch Touch Tablet (25 line by 80 column tablet for navigating with Master touch cursor).   Dragon for DOS. Dragon For Windows (current today).   Braille to Print for Perkins Brailler.   Jot A Dot (small Braille writer).   Kurzweil PC Reader (internal PC Card supporting the KPR OCR software).   Arkenstone Easy Reader OCR software. OpenBook for Windows OCR software (current today).   Versa Braille (20 cell Braille note taker using cassette tapes).   Pac Mate note taker with 40 cell Braille Display.   Blazy Personal Embosser   Rainbow  Reader (stand alone reading machine).   Eureka A4 (personal Braille input keyboard note taker).  Oddly had a vault metre, and thermometer..   MountBatten Brailler, Braille Writer, embosser etc  (current Today). Mimic for MountBatten, LCD display  (current Today).   Braille Mate (single Braille cell on a notetaker).   Light Probe (detects light source - current today).   ABC Courier (deaf/blind Communicator). Telebraille, deaf/blind communicator.   Talking keyboard plug in box (made any keyboard speak that was plugged in to it).   Nomad tactile and talking diagrams.   Vista plug in PC screen magnifier for MSDOS, had own mouse. ViewPoint Split PC/CCTV.   Magic for DOS. Magic for Windows (no longer being upgraded).   Zoomtext for Dos. Zoomtext for Windows (current Today).   Road Runner text reader.   Book Sense (book reader).   Plextalk Pocket (seems to be no longer available).   Parrot or later Voice Mate (record notes and appointments).   Voice Diary (record notes and appointments).   Olympus DM5 Digital Recorder (with inbuilt speech menus).   Business Memo (voice recorder).   IBM OS 2 Screen Reader for OS 2 and Windows 3.11 with dedicated external number pad keyboard which could also be programmed).   Home Page Reader (from IBM for reading the web - self voicing application for Windows).   PW WebSpeak (self voicing application for reading the web in Windows).   Narrator for Windows XP screen reader for Windows, used to be joked about that this was an example of a screen reader that wasn’t a screen reader. Narrator for Windows 10 (current Today).   Talking Microwave late 90’s LG. Talking Microwave 2020 Cobolt (current Today).   Talking Caller ID for land line.   Nokia Communicator 9210 with Talks for later Nokia phones. Nokia N82 and other Nokia’s running Talks and the Symbian operating system.   Freedom Box talking interface to Windows - self voicing application, name later changed to System Access Mobile network. System Access Screen reader for Windows (could also run off a USB stick). SAToGo (run System Access from a Webpage). System Access Remote Access Manager (remote PC support).   Guide Connect early 2000’s, later sold to Dolphin Systems. Guide Connect (Dolphin Systems, simple to use menu driven self voicing application for Windows, current Today).   Speaking menus on iPod nano/Shuffle (speech came from PC).   Talking set top  box (Hills Set Top Box).   I can’t remember the name of this, but before land lines had a hands free speaker phone so you could instruct someone over the phone, there was a gadget that you placed the receiver of the phone on and it turned the phone in to a hands free phone for microphone and loud speaker.   Current Tech   A few main stream bits and Bobs in here as well.   The first 13 or so products below, are listed in both sections and whilst they have ben updated or changed, are still around amazingly.   Keynote across portable devices (current today - BrailleNote Touch)).   JAWS for Windows. JAWS Tandom (part of JaWS but fantastic tool for remote PC support).   Window-Eyes for Windows (this has only recently been discontinued).   Non Visual Desktop (NvDA) screen reader for Windows. Can be completely run as a stand alone screen reader. Supernova screen reader for Windows. Hal for Windows (eventually became Supernova for Windows).   Dragon For Windows.   OpenBook for Windows.   MountBatten Brailler. Mimic for MountBatten.   Magic for Windows (no longer being upgraded).   Zoomtext for Windows.   Narrator for Windows 10 (happy to now call it a screen reader smile).   Guide Connect Dolphin Systems. Dolphin Pod (use your TV to access entertainment options of Dolphin Guide Connect - plug in box).   Light Probe.   Plextalk Pocket (seems to be no longer available).   Victor Reader Stream.   Victor Reader Trek GPS.   Envoy Connect (basic daisy player.   Focus 14 and 40 Braille displays.   VoiceOver for Mac from 10.4.   VoiceOver for iPad nano, iPhone, iPod touch, iPad, Apple Watch, and Apple Tv. Various iPod nano (latest version had version of VoiceOver on it before device was discontinued). Various iPhones. Various iPads. Various iPod touch. Various Apple TV. Various Apple Watch . Various AirPods.   Magic Trackpads and Magic Keyboards.   Wireless chargers.   Various Fitbits.   Be My eyes and Aira using 2 way video communication  via Smart phone for assistance.   Various tablet/phone stands.   Xbox One/One S (with Narrator).   Talkback for Android. Voice Assistant on Samsung phones/Tablets, and Galaxy Watch. Symapptic software for Android.   Various Macs (all Mac since 2005 with work laptop and current Surface Pro tablet).   Kindle eBook stand alone Readers.   Samsung Tab One (originally to drive my App driven coffee machine in 2017 and iOS version of the app was not accessible).   Samsung Galaxy S10 smart phone.   Surface Pro (Windows tablet).   Smart TVS (Samsung in particular).   RIVO keyboard (custom keyboard to navigate mobile platforms for iOs/VoiceOver, Android/Talks, and Samsung/Voice Assistant).   Orbit Reader 20 (first cost effective Braille Display).   Brailliant BI14 small Braille Display.   ElBraille Windows 10 docking station with a Focus 14 or 40 Braille Display.   InsideOne Windows Braille TAblet with 32 cell Braille Display.   Tap With Us Wearable Keyboard supporting VoiceOver for iOS.   Dot Watch (smart Braille watch).   Sunu Band (wearable sonar device for O&M).   Mini guide (hand held sonar O&M device).   Buzz Clip (attach to clothing or cane sonar O&M device).   O6 (navigate iOS with VoiceOver).   Orcam OCR etc wearable device.   Accessible Radio (Sangean Accessible Radio).   Accessible Power Bank (Engergrid).   Large print USB keyboards black/white, white/black, yellow/black.   Code Jumper from APH for teaching coding. Swift Playgrounds on iPad/Mac for teaching coding. 3D printing (Ballyland 3D objects to teach coding). Dash robots for Swift Playgrounds Tello Edu Drones for Swift Playgrounds.   Bose Frames (3D Audio Reality sun glasses).   Bone Conduction Head Phones (Aftershokz).   ID Mate Bar code scanner.   QBraille braille display and BT keyboard.   ViewPlus Embraille personal embosser.   Amazon Echo Dot, Echo Plus, and Echo Show. Google  Home, Google Mini, and original Google Hub. HomePod.   Olitech EasyFlip 4G Mobile Phone with speech/physical keyboard.   Smart Vision 2 Android phone with speech/physical keyboard.   Smart Home Tech: eg AC Controller for Split AC, video doorbell, switch’s, weather sensors, vacuum cleaner etc.   Tile Tag Tracking devices.   Beyond the usual assistive tech of screen readers. Screen magnifiers, Braille displays, Braille note takers, reading machines or OCR software etc etc, the devices that have stood out for me have been (and a few add ins here): Outspoken for Mac, Braille & Speak, The ABC Courier, Artic Business Vision/Winvision. Vocal-Eys for MSDOS. Master Touch. IBM OS/2 Screen Reader, Nomad Tactile Talking Diagrams. Road Runner, Arkenstone Easy Reader, Mountbatten Brailler, Talking Microwave, Victor Reader Stream, Victor Reader Trek, ID Mate, Talkback for Synbian, Speaking menus in Nano, VoiceOver for Mac and iOS, Apple TV, Macbooks, iPhones, iPads, Apple Watch, AirPods Swift Playgrounds. Code Jumper, 3D printing, Olitech 4G Easy Flip Phone. Magic keyboards and Magic Trackpad, App Store’s for iOS, Android, Mac, and Windows. QBraille, Dot Watch, Orcam, RIVO Keyboard, Tap With Us wearable keyboard, Sunu Band and Mini Guide, Aftershotkz Bone Conduction head phones, Bose Frames. JAWS For Windows and Eloquence, Narrator for Windows 10, Smart Speakers, Smart TVS. Be My Eyes and Aira. Wireless charging. Tile Tracking Tags.   The End    

Show Summary: (Full Transcript Below) Please welcome Teen correspondent, Simon Bonenfant, as he steps into the interviewer role for Blind Abilities. While attending and presenting at the Pennsylvania NFB convention, Simon pulled out his recorder and went to work. Conducting 5 interviews from vendors and presenters. In this interview, Simon talks to Retired Teacher of the Visually Impaired/Orientation and Mobility Instructor Keith Ford. They talk about the importance of braille and how modern technology is changing the way teachers teach and Keith gives us some insight into the field of a Teacher of the Visually Impaired along with some tips for Transition age students. Join Simon and Keith in this brief look back at the journey Keith has gone through and his optimistic view of the future of technology and training. Check out previous interviews with Simon Bonenfant: TVI Toolbox: Summer Academy, Total Transition to College Experience – Welcome Back Simon Bonenfant and Meet Fellow Student, John Dowling TVI Toolbox:  Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Carving His Pathway Towards Success, Meet Simon Bonenfant 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: TVI Toolbox: A Conversation with Keith Ford l- Retired Teacher of the Blind and Visually Impaired and Orientation and Mobility Instructor Keith Ford: I got a Masters Degree as a teacher of the visually impaired and a certification as an orientation and mobility instructor. Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson. Blind Abilities presents Keith Ford. Keith Ford: Back in the old days it was just kids that were just partially sighted and totally blind but over time I had to learn to adapt my instruction to meet the needs of lots of different children and actually learn new skills. Jeff Thompson: A retired teacher for the blind and visually impaired and orientation and mobility instructor. Simon Bonenfant: I used the Perkins Braille writer for math because you could have lines horizontally, vertically where when the Braille was placed just a flat and horizontal surface and you can't do the spatial element of Braille which is missing but on the paper you get that. Jeff Thompson: This podcast was made possible by our team correspondent, Simon Bonenfant. Keith Ford: With this device that's being developed at the University of Michigan, it'll be like a Braille iPad which will just be like a sheet of Braille. The way it will produce lines and make it do graphs. Jeff Thompson: For more podcasts with the blindness perspective, be sure to check us out on the web at www.blindabilities.com, on Twitter @BlindAbilities and download the free Blind Abilities app from the app store and Google Play store. That's two words, Blind Abilities. Keith Ford: I'm real pragmatic. I would always tell students that they want to get into something that's going to lead to employment after college. Jeff Thompson: And now here's Simon Bonenfant with Keith Ford. Keith Ford: Well you certainly want to have dual certification as an O&M instructor and a teacher of the visually impaired, that's really important to have that flexibility. Simon Bonenfant: Hello Blind Abilities. This is Simon Bonenfant here and I'm here at the state convention in Pennsylvania of the National Federation of the Blind. I got a chance to talk to a man named Keith Ford. How are you doing, Keith? Keith Ford: Hello. Simon Bonenfant: Very nice to talk to you. Keith Ford: Okay. Simon Bonenfant: Keith, you are a retired mobility instructor, is that correct? Keith Ford: And a teacher of the visually impaired. Simon Bonenfant: Oh, very nice. It's very interesting because as I was talking to Keith I found out that he's not blind and he's sighted so we were talking about how that worked. How did you get into the field of orientation, mobility and teacher of the visually impaired? Keith Ford: That was way back in 1985 where I decided to make a career change and I thought something that a helping professional would be more something I was interested in pursuing and I guess it has to do with attitudes and interests and abilities and just a certain view of life. Maybe you just feel more comfortable working in a helping profession than something else. Maybe that's it. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah. Did you get a degree to do this kind of job? Keith Ford: Yes. I went to the University of Pittsburgh and I got a masters degree as a teacher of the visually impaired and it also had certification as an orientation and mobility instructor. I graduated in August of 1986. Simon Bonenfant:  Wow. Very nice. Did you do orientation, mobility and TVI all in the same kind of job? Keith Ford: As an itinerant teacher, yes. Simon Bonenfant: Okay. As you were working in this field, what did it teach you? What did you learn the most from your students as you were teaching them? Keith Ford: In the time that I taught you saw a lot of change occurring where in the early years most of my students were just partially sighted or totally blind, but then as time went on you saw more multi-impaired children. We like to use in the profession terms like life skills and learning support. You had more and more students like that and then you saw more and more autistic children who were visually impaired and then more and more students that are called cortically visually impaired where that deals with trauma to the brain since you have more and more premature babies being born. Keith Ford: CVI, cortical visual impairment, usually involves a long list of visual behaviors because it's trauma to the brain, it's not to the eye or the optic nerve. That's a whole different ballgame and it's still a relatively new aspect to what teachers of the visually impaired do. Simon Bonenfant: Right. Keith Ford: But they're predicting that CVI students will be the new face of blindness or visual impairment in the future. Simon Bonenfant:  Wow. Keith Ford: It's always been, to answer your question, over the time I taught there was just so much change. Back in the old days it was just kids that were just partially sighted and totally blind but over time I had to learn to adapt my instruction to meet the needs of lots of different children and actually learn new skills. Nowadays in orientation and mobility programs you're getting a lot more emphasis on students that are totally blind and totally deaf so that there's instruction involved with those kinds of students, which wasn't a part of my instruction back in 1985. Keith Ford: But the field is always changing because the population is just changing. Nowadays kids that are just partially sighted or totally blind, they're in the minority. You're also seeing a lot of new approaches to orientation and mobility. Back in the old days we were always taught that you had to have a control mechanism to cross an intersection, like a stop sign or a traffic light. Keith Ford: But now more and more travelers are encountering situations where there isn't a control mechanism so there's this emphasis on crossing at intersections where there isn't any control mechanism. There's a decision-making process involved in that called acceptable risk and non-acceptable risk. It's still a relatively new thing but it's blind and partially sighted travelers are running into situations now where they have to cross where there isn't a control mechanism. Keith Ford: Not that every crossing could ever ... There's some crossings you just can't make, they just can't be done, you shouldn't try it. The whole idea of acceptable risk and unacceptable risk is something you have to learn. There are decision-making skills you have to learn for that. It's something that's happening more and more in making those kinds of crossings. Keith Ford: Overall I would say what I've learned from my students is just learning new skills to work with students that have other handicapping conditions. That would probably be the most I've received from my students is I had to learn to adapt and learn new skills. Simon Bonenfant: Did you have to learn Braille when you were becoming a TVI? Keith Ford: Oh yes. We had a heavy emphasis on Braille back in the old days, certainly. Braille is very important, but there are some students that are lower functioning that just can't understand Braille so they can't use it. Simon Bonenfant:  Right. I'm sure you've seen a lot of changes in your time in the blindness field in terms of technology. Keith Ford: Oh yes. Simon Bonenfant: Were you using the Perkins Braille writers back when you started? Keith Ford: It's always going to be there, the Perkins Braille writer, because technology breaks down. Simon Bonenfant: Exactly. Yeah. Keith Ford: But the assistive technology they have nowadays is a much higher quality, much more reliable. Back when I started we had the VersaBraille P2C, which in its day was a wonderful thing but they had a lot of breakdowns and by the end of the school year you'd have to send the Versabraille P2C back to the manufacturer and they'd have to kind of do an overhaul just to replace things or just upgrade it to get it back to where it's totally functional for September. Simon Bonenfant:  Yeah. Keith Ford: But as time went on you'd have little glitches here and there but the quality of the equipment they have now for visually impaired students is a whole lot better, plus you're seeing ... Like say the iPhone, you have the accessibility options are built into the technology so it's technology that is used by sighted people but also could be used by blind and partially sighted so that brings the cost down. Keith Ford: You're also seeing, which I'm kind of excited about, up at the University of Michigan they're trying to build ... They're developing this ... It's like an iPad that will have refreshable Braille that will be less expensive. I've heard they're using, whether it's compressed air or some kind of gel technology to reproduce Braille cells on an iPad-like device with lines of Braille rather than the refreshable Braille units that are electronic and cost a lot more money. Simon Bonenfant Yeah, I know. Braille is very important. Keith Ford: But getting the cost down is really important. There's probably always going to be a need for paper Braille but I think as time goes on the paperless Braille is going to be more the case. Simon Bonenfant: Bring down the cost. Keith Ford: It'll be more common. Simon Bonenfant: Okay, yeah. Keith Ford: Being able to carry Braille in a small device like you have with you now certainly makes a lot more sense than those bulky Braille books. Simon Bonenfant: Yes. Keith Ford: But we're always going to have paper Braille and Perkins Braillers because things break down and you want to have a hard copy. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah. Keith Ford: But in their day I think the Perkins Brailler came out in the late 1950s. That was a really big deal when it came out. Simon Bonenfant: Oh, I know. I still use the Perkins Braille writer. When I transitioned to the Braille writer I used to think, I don't know if I'll ever use the Perkins Braille writer. But then I found a use for it and I'm like, you know, technology breaks down, stuff happens. With the Perkins Braille writer you don't need a battery, it works. Sometimes the best low-tech solutions are the most high-tech to get things done. Keith Ford: Yeah. I have a Perkins Brailler at home I used when I was working. It's a very reliable, very well-made piece of equipment and you always have to respect it. It'll always be there. 100 years from now it'll be still being used. Simon Bonenfant: Oh yeah. Keith Ford: But it's exciting to see all the new technology because it allows for blind and partially-sighted people to have greater access to the world in getting employment and right along with sighted people. It is a positive thing in the long-run. Simon Bonenfant: Oh yeah. Have you heard of the [iWear] application? Keith Ford: I've heard about that. I believe it's a device that you wear and then a sighted person at another location tells you what to look for or ... Simon Bonenfant: Yeah. It's a connection with a sighted agent and it can help in any kind of activity and it also helps in the mobility aspect. That's come a long way too because there are certain things that are not going to be visible with a cane like street signs or numbers on doors and things. That's something that [iWear 00:09:30] will help out with. The technology has come a long way with mobility and Braille and now we have things that will take print and read it out loud or take print that will put it in Braille material. Braille is getting to be more available these days. Keith Ford: Oh yeah. When I used to teach children Braille, children that were included within a regular environment, I used to work with a classroom teacher and we would teach the sighted children about Braille too. We'd have Braille cells all over the place and numbers on a child's desk in kindergarten. We'd have the name of the child in print and in Braille so that they could learn in class and get some experience with what their blind peer in the class was learning. It made it really nice. The kids enjoyed that and it helped the blind child to feel very much a part of the class. When I was teaching young blind children Braille readiness skills I used to do a lot of stuff like that, creative things, to just make everybody aware of Braille and they just thought that was neat. Simon Bonenfant Have you also used tactile diagrams, how to utilize them? Keith Ford: Well yeah, tactile graphics. I've used software that would produce tactile graphics for different things. Simon Bonenfant: Mm-hmm (affirmative). Keith Ford: And plus Patton, they would provide ... Simon Bonenfant:  They do that. Yeah. Keith Ford: Textbooks that had tactile graphic illustrations inside with Thermoform. Simon Bonenfant:  They're a wonderful service. That is still used today. Keith Ford: Absolutely. Simon Bonenfant: I think that's the one thing ... Reading Braille on the electronic display, that's great but I think Braille paper is always going to be needed because tactile diagrams and stuff that can't come up on a flat display. I used the Perkins Braille writer for math because you could have lines horizontally, vertically where when the Braille was placed just a flat and horizontal surface and you can't do the spatial element of Braille which is missing but on the paper you get that. Keith Ford: With this device that's being developed at the University of Michigan, it'll be like a Braille iPad which will just be like a sheet of Braille. The way it will produce lines and make it do graphs. From what I'm being told they'll be able to produce graphs and all kinds of tactile graphics on this new device. Simon Bonenfant: That's great. Keith Ford: Yeah. Simon Bonenfant: Keith, my final question is: What would be your advice to blind students who are in high school or either transitioning to college or to the workplace, and also what would be your advice to instructors who are thinking about going into this field? Keith Ford: I would say ... I'm real pragmatic. I would always tell students that they want to get into something that's going to lead to employment after college, so any kind of technology field would be beneficial. I would also say that you want to do some vocational interest training or testing. At Penn State here we have the CEDAR program and you can do some vocational interest testing with them. Keith Ford: It's always good to gather data about yourself, whatever you've achieved in life, whatever area you've shown any kind of aptitude and interest and you want to get into a field where there's a need for your services. Any kind of technology related kind of degree is always going to give you a better chance. Keith Ford: You were talking about ... The other part of your question about the instructors or people getting into the field. Simon Bonenfant:  Yes. Keith Ford: Well you certainly want to have dual certification as an O&M instructor and a teacher of the visually impaired, that's really important to have that flexibility, you don't want to have just one. Simon Bonenfant: Right because you can get work in both and there's a high demand for that. Keith Ford: Yeah. The field is always changing. You want to get acquainted with this whole new system of cortical visual impairment. There's a whole new evaluation tool to get acquainted with that so that you can evaluate those kinds of students. You certainly want to gain as much ... And the programs I'm hearing about nowadays are putting much more emphasis on multi-impaired students, deaf-blind students, which wasn't the case when I was getting my university training because it was just a different time. Keith Ford: I would also mention the importance of just getting as much information and training and experience in dealing with just a wide range of visually impaired students. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah. Well, very nice. Keith, I want to thank you for coming on the program today, the podcast. Keith Ford: Okay. Simon Bonenfant: Thank you for sharing your insights with all of us. Have a good one. Keith Ford: Okay. Jeff Thompson: Once again, a big thank you goes out to our team correspondent, Simon Bonenfant and to Keith Ford for sharing with us his experiences as a BTVI and O&M instructor. And a huge thank you to Chee Chau for his beautiful music. That's @LCheeChau on Twitter. Once again, thank you for listening, 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 at Blind Abilities. Download our app from the App Store, Blind Abilities. That's two words. Or send us an email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.

Panel – Brian Norton, Josh Anderson, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler – Q1- Closed captioning in the classroom Q2- Fixing a Perkins Brailler Q3- Jaws vs. NVDA showdown Q4- Battery Interrupters – where do I find the copper discs  Q5- Adaptive Eating Utensils  Q6- Text-to-speech app for person who is visually impaired Q7- Wildcard question: What […] The post ATFAQ086 – Q1- Closed captioning in the classroom Q2- Fixing a Perkins Brailler Q3- Jaws vs. NVDA showdown Q4- Battery Interrupters – where do I find the copper discs Q5- Adaptive Eating Utensils Q6- Text-to-speech app for person who is visually impaired Q7- Wildcard question: What type of tech do you bring on vacation with you and why? appeared first on Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads.

Introducing Liz Bottner: AT Specialist, Self Advocate, Blind Hockey Player and Aira User Full Transcript Below. Jeff Thompson sits down for a conversation with Liz bottner. Liz is a dynamic individual who works for the VA as an Assistive Technology (AT) specialist, teaching blinded Veterans about computer technology. Listen as Jeff and Liz delve into her early childhood and schooling, a strong TVI who positively influenced her approach towards self-advocacy throughout her life, and her progress through college and her MBA studies. Learn how Liz actively found work and the round-about road to her current position with the Veteran’s Administration (VA). As we said, Liz is a dynamic person: a fearless goalie on a blind hockey team, a strong advocate for the blindness community and an Aira Explorer who tackles each and every opportunity in life as if it is a challenge to be overcome. Join Jeff Thompson as he engages this fascinating guest as only Jeff can, with insightful questions and inimitable style! Thanks 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. Get the Free blind Abilities App on the Google Play Store   Full Transcript: Pete Lane: Meet Liz Bottner. Liz Bottner: I am a computer access technology specialist, so I teach access technology to veterans who are blind or who have low vision. Pete Lane: Blind since birth, Liz learned the power of self-advocacy throughout her schooling. Liz Bottner: It's important to have good skills in terms of being able to advocate for yourself to get things done that you need done, when you're not getting what you need from the disability services offices. Pete Lane: All the way through her MBA studies. Liz Bottner: You're your own best advocate. It might be easy to have your TVI do things and help prepare materials for you, but ask about how to do that yourself, because there's most likely going to come a time when you're going to have to have those skills. Pete Lane: Fearless in so many ways. Liz Bottner: I'm not one to turn away a challenge. Pete Lane: In the workplace. Liz Bottner: Don't give up, despite employers having unrealistic expectations of what you can do as a blind person. Pete Lane: In her leisure time and athletic endeavors. Liz Bottner: I did really, and still very, very much enjoy being a goalie. The puck is made of steel. It's three times the size of a standard National Hockey League puck, and it has ball bearings inside of it. It's okay. The equipment works. We're fine. Pete Lane: Throughout her life. Liz Bottner: Drive is realizing that you have a passion for something and just keep pushing and keep doing that thing. When you put yourself out there and keep putting yourself out there, the right experience will come, and you'll be where you're supposed to be. Pete Lane: You can find more podcasts from a blindness perspective on the web at www.blindabilities.com. We're on Facebook and on Twitter, and be sure to download our free apps in the App Store and the Google Play Store. And now, without further ado, let's join Jeff Thompson and Liz Bottner. Liz Bottner: Challenge accepted. Let's do this.   Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson, and today we're talking to Liz Bottner. She is a hockey goalie in a blind league. She's been to college, master's degree, she works for the VA, she's got all sorts of technology stuff, has a lot of experience getting jobs, and she's here to share her story. Liz, welcome to Blind Abilities. Liz Bottner: Thank you, Jeff. Thank you for having me. Hello, everyone. I am Liz Bottner, originally from Delaware, currently living in Connecticut. I do work at the VA. I am a computer access technology specialist, so I teach access technology to veterans who are blind or who have low vision, and I very much enjoy my job. As Jeff said, I am a blind hockey player. I play the position of goalie for the Hartford Braillers, instead of the Hartford Whalers. They do not exist anymore as a hockey team, but Connecticut does have the Hartford Braillers.   Jeff Thompson: That's a good point. You've had quite the journey, being born blind, you've had all the education from working with probably your school district, then into vocational rehab, then into multiple disability services. Liz Bottner: Yes, and some of them were friendly, and some of them weren't. That's why it's important to have good skills, in terms of being able to advocate for yourself to get things done that you need done, when you're not getting what you need from the disability services offices.   Jeff Thompson: You found that out, probably, the hard way, right? Liz Bottner: I did. There were many a night where I would stay up and have to scan page by page books or articles and things like that, so yes.   Jeff Thompson: I've been there. I used to have a big old flatbed scanner. You spend three, four hours just trying to get to your material before you even start doing homework. Liz Bottner: Yeah, and then when you do scan it, you still have to sometimes go back and edit it, which is hard, not being able to necessarily see the printed material. So okay, what is it supposed to say? You don't even have a reference, so you kind of have to guess.   Jeff Thompson: Exactly. What do you do for your job? Liz Bottner: I teach veterans who are blind or who have low vision how to use access technology. I also am able to teach living skills, which both are important areas. My passion, though, is truly access technology. Whatever they have the goals to do, be it sending email to their friends and family or learning about how to be more portable with technology and have a way to consolidate a lot of the devices they're carrying around, be them magnifiers, talking book player, things like that, have that all in one device, which may warrant issuance and training on an iPhone or an iPad.   Jeff Thompson: That's really neat. So you're mostly working with people who are 20 and above. Liz Bottner: It's 60 and above. These are veterans, so their age is generally up there.   Jeff Thompson: Oh, wow. Liz Bottner: A lot of the younger veterans, if they're discharged or if they come back and have blindness, a lot of times it's related to combat, and that's actually their secondary injury to them, and so they're usually seen for their primary injuries, and then at their home station or at some other area of the country that can better serve their missing limb or something like that, and then they get blind rehab later.   Jeff Thompson: So when they come to you they're kind of new into the iPhone itself? Liz Bottner: Yes, many of them, not all. Some do have previous experience, but many of them don't. Many of them have no technology experience, and so it's just starting from scratch.   Jeff Thompson: You're basically iPhone 101 with voice over. Liz Bottner: Yes, or even technology 101. This is an email address. With an email address, you have to have a password.   Jeff Thompson: So you have to be ready for everything? Liz Bottner: Oh yeah, which honestly is to me a very, very positive challenge. I much rather be ready for everything than have a situation where I'm constantly doing the same thing over and over again. That way, I would get bored, and myself and bored do not mix well.   Jeff Thompson: Now, you are an Aira user. Liz Bottner: I am an Aira user, yes.   Jeff Thompson: And the veterans have just jumped on board with Aira. Liz Bottner: Yes, after a full assessment has been conducted, as long as there are goals that support issuance and training, it definitely can be issued to them.   Jeff Thompson: What is that program with Aira? How does it work with the VA? Liz Bottner: They're given an assessment. If it's determined that it's something that would be useful to them and deemed appropriate to train on, then they can receive training. With that, the VA will pay for actual glasses, and then, much like when the VA issues an iPhone, the VA provides the device, and it's up to the veteran or student at that point to then supplement that device with purchasing the plan. The plan that they can purchase is a different plan than those available to non-veteran users, so it's a different price point, but they are responsible, though, for the monthly cost of that plan.   Jeff Thompson: Do you do any of that training? Liz Bottner: I have not yet done Aira training. It's just recently been deemed that it can be issued, but I have not yet.   Jeff Thompson: Well, that's great, the opportunity for them. Liz Bottner: Absolutely. It bridges many different skill areas, from basic living skills to technology to even orientation and mobility in specific cases where it's deemed by the orientation and mobility specialist that that's an appropriate and feasible goal for them. It's all based on goals. It's not just, oh I want this or give me that, it's what are your goals? What devices, if any, can help meet those goals? And then all training, in whatever skill area, is based on that.   Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah. Just like the RSA, everything has to be based off employment goals, education, employment to the workplace and all that. It's great that they do have goals, so they're just not throwing money away on whimsical type of ideas and stuff. When you're 60 and you lose ... you know, macular degeneration or something else, age-onset blindness, I think it's a great tool at that point for different reasons than someone who might be 12. Liz Bottner: Absolutely, especially with the new equipment that Aira has now. It's even simpler to use, and you don't need your own smartphone, which is a problem for some of the students that I work with, because they may not be smartphone candidates for various reasons. But now they are still able to use it, because with the new equipment that Aira has, you don't need to have to have your own smartphone to use it.   Jeff Thompson: Mm-hmm (affirmative). They have a blocked-up device that is ... it's a Android device, isn't it? Liz Bottner: Yes.   Jeff Thompson: Yeah, so you have the AT&T device, and it just waves to the glasses? Liz Bottner: I call it the Aira phone, myself, in summer.   Jeff Thompson: The Aira phone. Liz Bottner: Called it the Aira phones.   Jeff Thompson: There we go. Liz Bottner: Yes, the Aira phone.   Jeff Thompson: Turn it on, and you're basically connected. Liz Bottner: Yes.   Jeff Thompson: That's with the Horizon glasses. Liz Bottner: Yes.   Jeff Thompson: With a wider field of view. As a Aira explorer, tell me a little bit how you utilize that on your job or in your daily life. Liz Bottner: In my daily life, I have used Aira for many things. Most recently, and in my mind very much impressively, I was out of town at a conference and had to navigate from the hotel to an Apple Store, because my phone was just being completely ridiculous and not working.   Jeff Thompson: That's when I met you. You were at the point of taking off. Liz Bottner: Yes. When you and I met, that's when I was like, "Well, I'm going to have to go to the Apple Store." So I was able to use Aira to help navigate me from the hotel ... well, actually, I was working the Aira booth at the time. I was volunteering with them. I navigated using Aira from the Aira booth to the front of the hotel. Luckily, I had forethought to link my Lyft account to Aira, because I was getting very, very limited use of my touchscreen at that point on my phone. Before I even kind of planned out my journey, I was thinking, "Oh, great, I'm going to have to have a taxi and pay cash. That's not good." Luckily, though, I was able to use Aira. I called a Lyft. See, this is one of the only times where I will say that I was actually grateful to Siri on the iPhone. 99.9% of the time, it doesn't work, and you have to end up doing what you want to do manually. Liz Bottner: But I was able to ask Siri where the closest Apple Store was. She told me, and I was able to give that address to the Aira agent, who was able to call Lyft and track it for me. My guide dog and I hopped into the Lyft vehicle, we hopped out, I prayed to the universe that my touchscreen would work again, as I'm standing there in front of the mall, wearing my Aira-Google Glass, my guide dog and my smartphone at the entrance to this mall where I've never been before.   Jeff Thompson: Had never been to. Liz Bottner: In no time at all, I was able to, without a hitch, get into the mall and navigate to the Apple Store and do what I needed to do, just like any other person. Could I have done it without Aira? Absolutely.   Jeff Thompson: Just gave you more independence, more information that enhanced the opportunity that you had to get there. Liz Bottner: Yes.   Jeff Thompson: Plus, you were limping with a broken phone. Liz Bottner: Right.   Jeff Thompson: I mean, you came in there, barely dragging in there. I mean, I know what it's like. Hey, if you don't have your phone, what a weird feeling it is when your phone's not working. Liz Bottner: Absolutely.   Jeff Thompson: Some people talk about, you know, there's some really big things. Some people ran the Boston Marathon. Some people put something from Ikea ... Greg Stilson put together a hammock. Is it always something big, or is it the small things? Liz Bottner: It is not always something big. It could be something very small, and for me, I have had those experiences when I have needed to match an outfit for a banquet, in packing things in my suitcase. Or even identifying the temperature on my thermostat, because while adjusting the thermostat is accessible with buttons and a remote control, the display is visual. Could I use TapTapSee and take 20-some pictures potentially? Yeah, I could do that, and it might tell me, "Your thermostat's set at such-and-such a temperature," but I could use the Aira service, and in two seconds flat have my answer. Liz Bottner: Sometimes, though, it is big things. For me, I must say that my absolute 120% favorite way of getting around an airport now is using Aira. It's so much more fluid. I can get access to things, whether it be information or location of somewhere, when I want, on my schedule, and not have to wait for airport staff, which in some cases can take a very long time and cause anxiety, especially if you're potentially missing your flight.   Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah, I've been corralled by assistants, and "Sit here and wait." You just wait, and time's ticking, and you just always ... And then someone comes up with a wheelchair or a cart or, you know, it's something. They have no clue, you know.   Jeff Thompson: Now, you're pretty versatile in your tools. You're not just locked into a PC? Liz Bottner: No.   Jeff Thompson: Tell us what you use on a daily basis. Liz Bottner: I personally use a Mac, and then at work, I use a PC. I like both for different reasons. I think it's imperative to know both. I prefer Mac for some things, and I also knew I had to learn it, so I just decided okay, I need to just learn this. Instead of buying a new Windows machine at the time, was fortunate enough to be awarded a scholarship, with which I purchased a Mac. It was during the semester, and I kind of gave myself, at the end of the semester, once I had everything done, I would really dive in and learn it when I was in grad school. But also realizing that on the employment side, where I work, it's a Windows-based environment, so I have to keep my Windows skills up. Liz Bottner: Each person is going to have different preferences for tools, but definitely as someone who is in the teaching field, I feel like it is my duty to show people as many tools as might be appropriate in certain situations, or not even in certain situations. It's here are the tools that we have on the table. Here's one that might be appropriate, but you're actually going to make that decision for yourself, as to when to use which tools, because not everyone has the same preference for tool in a certain situation.   Jeff Thompson: In the PC world, what screen reader do you utilize? Liz Bottner: JAWS mainly for work, but I also make use of Narrator in Windows 10, as well as NVDA. In some instances, Narrator does better than JAWS does, in terms of reading some aspects of the computer.   Jeff Thompson: And that's improving all the time. Liz Bottner: It is.   Jeff Thompson: And as for your smartphone device? Liz Bottner: I use an iPhone. That's my device of choice.   Jeff Thompson: Yeah, that's quite the tool. I can't believe how much I use the iPhone to kind of replace a lot of the stuff that I used to do on the computers, mostly social stuff, keeping up on your emails and calendars, everything. And it seems like it just transfers real well to the Mac, back and forth, and yeah, I feel really connected. If I miss a meeting, it's my own fault. Liz Bottner: Exactly.   Jeff Thompson: All that you do for work, all that technology and all that, how did you get there? Let's start with college. How did you transition from high school to college? Liz Bottner: I had two teachers of visually impaired growing up, one of whom I had for most of my high school career, and the other one I had for the last two years or so. But my first TVI, Neil, was truly, truly instrumental in providing me the foundation of here are the basics, and it's up to you to kind of figure out the rest, and really giving me the drive to do that and explore things on my own and advocate for myself, because no one else knew how to do that better than I did. I mean, that still holds true today. With guidance from Neil, I was able to kind of go into college feeling ready for being able to advocate for myself and even teaching a lot of other people. Even the disability services office, sometimes they might not understand how to use a certain piece of equipment or what was going on, and so I was able to help them with things. Liz Bottner: When I was at Ithaca College, my first two years of undergraduate degree, I did a work-study in the disabilities office, and so that was kind of cool. And being provided with the basics from my TVI and just having the drive to just run with it and teach myself a lot of the other things, with technology mainly. And I would teach others as well, which helped me gain more skills.   Jeff Thompson: Let's go back to a word that you used, and I really like this word: "drive". Can you explain that to the listeners? Liz Bottner: Drive is realizing that you have a passion for something, or that you're invested in something, and taking that investment and realizing that's something you need to keep doing, and just keep pushing and keep doing that thing, because it gives you great fulfillment to be able to do whatever it might be.   Jeff Thompson: And overcome any roadblock or hurdle in the way. Liz Bottner: Yes. And not let those roadblocks or hurdles stand in the way, because of that drive that you have to pursue whatever it might be.   Jeff Thompson: Poof, gone. Liz Bottner: Yep.   Jeff Thompson: Not always poof, gone, but it takes some time. Liz Bottner: It's also good, in using technology, to know when applicable or appropriate the non-tech skills for doing things. I mean, I'm also of the very strong opinion that if you're a user of Braille, that you better have a Perkins Brailler somewhere around your area, be that at a workplace or home environment, because there might be times when you're going to have to use that. Technology fails, the Perkins does not.   Jeff Thompson: Right. Liz Bottner: At least, the old metal ones. I'm not a huge fan of the plastic new ones at all, but the metal ones are tried and true, yes, I work all the time. Exactly.   Jeff Thompson: I had mine within three feet. That's why I could do that. Liz Bottner: Nice.   Jeff Thompson: Talking about basic skills and all that, how did you learn your basic skills growing up? Liz Bottner: When I was in preschool, I would say about three or so, it was when I believe I started both with the long cane, just basic cane skills, and Braille. I mean, by the time I was five, I was reading basic chapter books, I believe. Not anything major, but children's books. So from a very, very young age, and also, my mom was and still is a very, very strong advocate for myself, as well as my sisters. In my learning Braille when I was younger, she would just put Braille labels on different things around the house. I mean, when you're sighted, you have print all around you. As a child who was blind, especially as one who doesn't have any vision, as I myself do not, I did not have opportunity to look around and see things. And so she would put Braille on the toilet or the refrigerator, whatever it might be. That way, I would be able to associate the word with the object.   Jeff Thompson: Oh yeah, that's pretty good of her to have done that, to label stuff and get you used to it. Liz Bottner: Yes.   Jeff Thompson: And make it purposeful. Liz Bottner: Absolutely, and give me that immersion, as Braille isn't readily available in society as print is, I otherwise do not think I would able to get as readily.   Jeff Thompson: The first time you went over for a sleepover somewhere, did you ask the parents there? There's no Braille. Liz Bottner: No, I don't know.   Jeff Thompson: When you went into college, what was your experience like for the disability services office? Liz Bottner: I think at college, this is the first college I went to in undergrad, they were great. They were more than willing to accommodate me, and they respected that I knew what I needed and was able to advocate for myself, which sometimes isn't the case. They were great people, and I was really very fortunate.   Jeff Thompson: You went to a couple different colleges, right? Liz Bottner: Yes, I ended up transferring halfway through my undergrad degree to University of Delaware. Unfortunately, while financially it was definitely a lot more feasible, academically and just every other area, it was not the experience that I wanted it to be. And I'm truly glad that I had the experience and the foundation of all the classes and the college experience in general that I got at Ithaca, because that better prepared me for being able to deal with, in my opinion, the subpar experience that was my attending the University of Delaware.   Jeff Thompson: Now, when you're talking about subpar, are you saying that the teachers didn't challenge you? Liz Bottner: Yeah, I was not challenged. Some of the professors just did not want to accommodate me, despite my attempting multiple times to say, "This needs to happen." There was a lot of pushback. Unfortunately, I ended up dropping one of my majors, because it was just too stressful for me to keep going, because of all the back and forth. I at that point just wanted to graduate. When I was in Ithaca, I was a double major in computer science and philosophy and religion, which was awesome. I was very much happy with how things were going and totally would have continued there and gotten those majors, but as I said, financially, it was more feasible for me to transfer. But in that, the computer science did not end up happening for various reasons, and so I ended up dropping it. They did not have a philosophy and religion double major, so I ended up graduating with a philosophy major and then minoring in religious studies.   Jeff Thompson: Upon graduation, you started your employment search. Liz Bottner: Yes, and that was very unfruitful, to be completely honest. In terms of working with the state vocational rehabilitation agency, I just was not having luck. They were not helpful to me, and luckily, in part I'm sure to my awesome TVI that I mentioned earlier, Neil Anzilli and me, if people aren't helping you, you need to go out and get it yourself, as long as you know what you want. I was able on my own, pretty much, to look for job leads and apply, and I had some interviews and some leads, but nothing really ever panned out. So for about two years, after about that point, I said okay, something needs to happen. I can't keep doing this. Then I decided that I really wanted to go back ... My whole reasoning for getting the computer science degree, assistive technology was and is a very big interest of mine, and so I wanted to in some way get into that, whether it was in developing things or whatever it might be. I still had that kind of in the back of my mind. Liz Bottner: When I graduated with my bachelor's, I pretty much knew that that wasn't going to get me where I wanted to go, just because of the nature of those degrees. I didn't want to become a professor or anything like that. I knew that, but at the time I just wanted to graduate and be done, just because of the experience at University of Delaware.   Jeff Thompson: How disheartening was that to realize you had the degrees, though, to go out there and look for work, and yet for two years, were getting turned down? Liz Bottner: Absolutely heartbreaking. Sometimes I felt like I wasn't getting anywhere.   Jeff Thompson: Do you relate it to blindness? Liz Bottner: Yes, and it's very hard in that line of experience not to think, okay, it's me, it's definitely got to be me. There's something wrong with me, because I mean, I'm going on these interviews, and they're not calling me back, or they're not getting in touch with me at all, so obviously, there's something that I'm doing or not doing. But in all actuality, I felt a lot of the times, it isn't you as the person seeking employment, it's the employer not knowing how to deal, or not wanting to deal. Liz Bottner: In my case, in wanting to go back in to do something with technology, I really felt passionate about teaching it, and so in looking at jobs, a lot of them required a master's degree. Even before then, even before I started undergrad, I had every intention of going and getting a possible master's degree, with the caveat that I wouldn't pay for it, because I didn't want to be in any more debt than I already was with my undergraduate loans. Liz Bottner: Lo and behold, I, on an email listserv one day, came across a posting for a tuition-free graduate school experience halfway across the country at Northern Illinois University, which is near Chicago. I reached out to the director of the program and took my GRE, and then I luckily was able to go to NIU and successfully earn my master's degree, which then opened up a lot more doors for me in terms of employment.   Jeff Thompson: And what was it like after you received that degree, to search for employment? Liz Bottner: Then it was a lot easier, because I had more certification, more qualifications than I did before. In fact, I had done my internship at the VA where I currently work now. In getting my degree, I spent four months there completing an internship, and they at the time did not have any positions open. And so I, again, on an email list saw the position in Atlanta, of all places, for an assistive technology instructor, and I, honest to gosh, on a whim I threw out my resume, thinking this is just going to be experience. I don't know that I really want to go there. I know no one there. But whatever, it'll be experience, and I'll at least have that interview under my belt, and that experience will be good. Liz Bottner: We did a phone interview, and then from that point on, I ended up landing a job there and was there for about a year. You never know where the next opportunity's going to come, and you just kind of have to take things as they come. And even if it's something that you're like, what? No way. Nothing's going to come of it, I'm just going to throw my resume out there, and they're not going to do anything with it, or it'll just be interview experience. I have no desire to go there, in terms of location. Be careful what you say, because you actually may end up there. And it might be, as it was for me, a very, very good experience. I was able to take away a lot of good things from it, good contacts, good networking, good experiences in terms of location. Living in a city has its perks, definitely. It was definitely bittersweet purchasing that one-way ticket when I was moving out there. I'm like, well, usually you purchase tickets, and it's like okay, round trip. I'm like, wait a minute, no, this is not round trip, I'm moving here.   Jeff Thompson: One way, wow. Liz Bottner: I think that was the most surreal thing of the whole experience for me.   Jeff Thompson: But then, after a year, you purchased a one-way ticket again. Liz Bottner: Yes, technically. A car was involved. I was not driving it, however. Since it was moving all of my stuff, I relocated then. I had several months in between jobs, actually, from when I left Atlanta and when I started in Connecticut.   Jeff Thompson: Building networks and all that stuff, that paid off, and then you landed the job at the VA, where you are today. Liz Bottner: Yes, there was a position open. They asked me if I wanted to apply. I said absolutely, and now here I am.   Jeff Thompson: Hobbies. You have a particular hobby that I don't think a lot of people have heard about, but you were telling me about blind hockey. Liz Bottner: Yes, blind hockey is a relatively new sport, but it definitely is a USA Hockey-sanctioned sport now, and there are several teams across the country. The team that I am a goalie for is the Hartford Braillers in Connecticut. Instead of the Hartford Whalers, we're the Hartford Braillers.   Jeff Thompson: I like it. What got you interested in that? Liz Bottner: A friend of mine mentioned to me that I should try blind hockey. I had skated before when I was very young. It had been some time. This is about three years ago. He said that since I had no vision, I would primarily be best suited as a goalie, and so I'm like, well, all right, sign me up. I will at least try it. I did really, and still very, very much enjoy being a goalie. I've never tried any other position and don't want to.   Jeff Thompson: Describe the puck to everybody. Liz Bottner: The puck is made of steel. It's three times the size of a standard National Hockey League puck, and it has ball bearings inside of it.   Jeff Thompson: And you are trying to put your body in front of that thing? Liz Bottner: Yes. And the nets that are used are a foot shorter than the regular NHL, National Hockey League nets, so it's easier to keep the puck lower to the ground, and you don't have to worry about high shots as much.   Jeff Thompson: As much? Liz Bottner: Yes. That has happened. I am witness to that. But that's why they make equipment, so whenever that happens, I'm like, "It's okay, the equipment works. We're fine."   Jeff Thompson: Well, that's good. That's good. So you got the chest protector, you got the shoulder guards, the waffle, the glove, the helmet, the throat protection? Liz Bottner: The leg pads. Yep.   Jeff Thompson: Everything. Liz Bottner: Everything.   Jeff Thompson: Awesome. It's a fun sport, it's really fun. Liz Bottner: It's definitely fun. I would encourage anyone, if you have the opportunity to try it, definitely do it.   Jeff Thompson: All the rules are the same? Liz Bottner: One of the rules that's different is that before a shot is attempted, you have to pass the puck. That way, the goalie can better track it. Other than that, to my knowledge, all the other rules apply.   Jeff Thompson: You mean pass the puck once you're in the blue line? Liz Bottner: Once you're in scoring range, that puck has to get passed once, and then you can shoot.   Jeff Thompson: Okay. So you can't just break away? Liz Bottner: No.   Jeff Thompson: Interesting. So how's your team do? Liz Bottner: Our team is awesome. I am of the very, very strong opinion that we have the best team in blind hockey.   Jeff Thompson: And now that they're sanctioned, they'll be able to do the Olympics, won't they? Paralympics? Liz Bottner: Not yet. We're still waiting on a few other countries for that. We do, though, have this year for the first time ever a US National Team, of which I am very, very hopeful that some of my fellow Braillers will be represented on that team. We'll find out later in August who actually makes the final team roster, but two of my fellow teammates were selected in the first round of tryouts, and so we'll find out if they make the team. But in October, at a USA Hockey event to be held in Pittsburgh, there will be a US versus Canada series that'll be played that weekend, which is the 12th through the 14th of October. That's when the USA Blind Hockey Summit takes place.   Jeff Thompson: That's awesome. Go Braillers. Liz Bottner: Yes, go Braillers, for sure.   Jeff Thompson: Now, you also like snowboarding. Liz Bottner: Yes, I for two years have attended the United States Association of Blind Athletes ski/snowboard event in Breckenridge, Colorado. I had skied once when I was very, very young, and the first year I went, I was kind of debating back and forth with myself, do I try skiing or do I do snowboarding? It had been a while since I had skied. I really didn't have the memory of what that felt like, but I ultimately decided, after being told that snowboarding was a lot more challenging, I said, "Okay, sign me up." I'm not one to turn away a challenge. I said, "Challenge accepted. Let's do this." I ultimately fell in love with it.   Jeff Thompson: I like that, "Challenge accepted." It's that drive again. Liz Bottner: Exactly.   Jeff Thompson: For someone who is transitioning from high school to college, what advice would you give that person? Liz Bottner: You're your own best advocate. It might be easy to have your TVI do things and help prepare materials for you, but ask about how to do that yourself, because there's most likely going to come a time where you're going to have to have those skills. It may not be easy, and you may not want to, but in the end it's going to be of benefit to you in the long run, not only in college, but also in your adult working life.   Jeff Thompson: What advice would you have for someone who has gone through college and is just now embarking on a career that they want? What would you tell them? Liz Bottner: Don't give up, despite employers having unrealistic expectations of what you can do as a blind person. Be true to yourself. Realize that yes, you do have these skills, and keep putting yourself out there. It might take a while, and it definitely is frustrating at times. I speak from experience, but as hard as it is to just want to give up and say forget it, don't do that, because when you put yourself out there and keep putting yourself out there, the right experience will come, and you'll be where you're supposed to be. Versus if you don't put yourself out there, it's at your disservice, because you're not going to get where you need to be.   Jeff Thompson: Excellent. We've been speaking to Liz Bottner. She's from Delaware, works at the VA, and she's heavily into tech. And she's a hockey goalie. So Liz, I really want to thank you for coming on the Blind Abilities, sharing your stories, sharing your experiences. Great advice, and good luck with that hockey career. Liz Bottner: Thank you. My pleasure.   Jeff Thompson: Thank you so much for taking the time to do this. Liz Bottner: You're welcome. My pleasure.   Jeff Thompson: Bye-bye. Liz Bottner: Bye. Pete Lane: This concludes our conversation with Liz Bottner. We'd like to thank Liz for taking the time to chat with Jeff on Blind Abilities. Once again, you can find more podcasts with a blindness perspective on our website at www.blindabilities.com or on our free apps in the Apple App Store and the Google Play Store. We'd like to thank Chee Chau for the fantastic music. Thanks so much for listening, and have a great day.   [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 a 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 email at info@blindabilities.com. Thanks for listening.    

 Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Carving His Pathway Towards Success, Meet Simon Bonenfant   Full Transcript Below Blind Abilities presents the TVI Toolbox. Where the collaboration between Teachers, Counselors, Parents, Agencies and the Students themselves help enhance the opportunities for success. Transitioning from high school to college and the workplace is a major step and the beginning of lifetime goals and aspirations. As Simon Bonenfant , this month’s featured interview, talks about his goals and what he is doing to enhance his opportunities and gain the skills to succeed. Simon is entering Geometry and Physics and showing the self-confidence he has about his skills, tools and support system, Simon will make this all happen in order to achieve his career that he wants. Join Simon Bonenfant and Jeff Thompson in this introduction to Simon and be sure to stay tuned when Simon returns to tell us all about his experience he gained from summer camp. You can follow Simon on Twitter @TheTechKid123and on Skype at TheTechKid55. You can find out more about Independence Science at www.IndependenceScience.com and follow on Twitter @IndSci From the TVI’s to the Agency counselor’s and program specialist, working together along with parents as well, is creating more opportunities and successes for Transition age students. Sharing experiences through Success Stories, sharing programs that make a positive impact, sharing ideas, findings, upcoming events and the Tools for Success all play a part in making the transition process a natural progression and better understood by all. Check out your State Services by searching the Services Directory on the AFB.org web site. State Services for the Blind of Minnesota We offer tools and training for employment and for helping seniors remain independent and active. As Minnesota’s accessible reading source we also transcribe books and other materials into alternative formats, including audio and braille. We assist Minnesotans who are blind, DeafBlind, losing vision, or who have another disability that makes it difficult to read print. I hope you find what you need here. We’ve also created a Tips for Using Our New Website page. If you’d like to apply for services, learn more, or have more questions, just give us a call. You’ll find contact information for all of our offices on our contact page, or you can call our main office at 651-539-2300. 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;    Science, Technology, Engineering and Math: Carving His Pathway Towards Success, Meet Simon Bonenfant   Speaker 1: The special education teacher and I, we worked on technology. We looked at different job options and job opportunities, and career opportunities. Speaker 2: Use state services for the blind all the way through college. Jeff Thompson: Welcome to TVI Toolbox. Speaker 4: Part of the blind skills that I had to learn which helped me with my job is I have to be really on top of things. Jeff Thompson: Success stories of students on their journey through the transition process from high school to college to the workplace. With agency professionals, teachers of the visually impaired, parents of students and the students themselves. What's in your toolbox? What's in your toolbox? What's in your toolbox? What's in your toolbox? Simon Bonenfant: I just finished doing algebra, math and now I'm going into geometry next year and I'm also going to be taking physics next week. Jeff Thompson: Meet high school student, Simon Bonenfant. Simon Bonenfant: Hopefully going to be using equipment from a company called Independent Science, which a good friend of mine Cary Supalo, he runs that company and he made all different talking science equipment and I'm going to be using that for my physics next year. Jeff Thompson: Working through science, technology, engineering and mathematics. Simon Bonenfant: I'm not exactly sure what college I want to go to exactly but I know a career I want to get into. Jeff Thompson: Working on independence, working on striving to be the best that he can be. Simon Bonenfant: Network with lots of different people who have done what you are looking to do. Jeff Thompson: You can find more TVI Toolbox episodes on the web at www.blindabilities.com. You can also find our Job Insights episodes where we focus on vocational rehab and transitioning to the workplace. Simon Bonenfant: And so often I've met people who have finished their journey but say they wish that they found the people they did at a younger age because they can network and mentor more. Jeff Thompson: And now welcome, soon to be 10th grader, self-driven, Simon Bonenfant. Jeff Thompson: Welcome to Blind Abilities. I'm Jeff Thompson and I'm at the National Federation of the Blind Convention 2018 in Orlando, Florida. And I caught up with an old friend of mine. I shouldn't say an old friend of mine but a friend of mine from back in the Audioboom days and his name is Simon Bonenfant. How are you doing, Simon? Simon Bonenfant: I'm doing good how are you, Jeff? Jeff Thompson: Good. Just surprised to catch up with you because I've known you for four, five years and here we are here. You looked me up and it's just a great time to catch up with you and your mom. Simon Bonenfant: Oh yeah it is, has been. Jeff Thompson: So this is your second convention. Simon Bonenfant: My third. Jeff Thompson: Third. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah, I'm enjoying the convention, I'm enjoying the exhibit hall mostly and I also want to mention to you that I also live in Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Jeff Thompson: What keeps bringing you back to the convention? Simon Bonenfant: I've been a part of NFB for a very long time and I have a lot of friends here that I know including you, Jeff, as one of mine. And I also enjoy learning about the technology too. I use a lot of HumanWare products and I use Apple products so I went to the different seminars and the different exhibit booths that have been here and I really enjoy that part of it. Jeff Thompson: What's your big excitement in the exhibits this year? Simon Bonenfant: I like the Google booth. I went to the Google booth I saw the Google Home that's the smart speaker that they have. I also went to Freedom Scientific that was very nice, cool. Yeah so I went to those booths. I enjoy that. Jeff Thompson: Did you get a load of the Aira stuff going on? Simon Bonenfant: Yeah I heard about Aira. I heard about that and it's very nice program. I heard that they have a free program for the people at the convention. Jeff Thompson: Yeah that program you can download the app right to your phone. You call up an agent and get service that way. Did you give that a try yet? Simon Bonenfant: No, I did not. I might do that maybe today or tomorrow just download the app and see if I can use it. And I heard about the there's glasses you can use too. Jeff Thompson: The new Horizon glasses just came out so give that a shot, get some instant access to information. So you went to the sessions and how were they going today? Simon Bonenfant: They were very good. I went to the general session today and that was very nice. And the part I like the most is they did a ... every state got up and they talked about their attendance at the convention and every state got to talk about themselves a little bit. And it was kind of cool because for Pennsylvania, I think Pennsylvania cheered the loudest we were screaming and yelling and having a good time. But we actually chanted the Eagles chant because the Eagles are Super Bowl Champions this year so that was kind of fun. Jeff Thompson: Rub it in. Rub it in. So you're going to a camp in a couple of weeks here? Simon Bonenfant: Yes I am. Yes, I'm going to a place called the Summer Academy down in Penn State Pennsylvania. It's a three week camp. They teach all blindness skills. They teach daily living skills, cane travel. They do all that kind of thing. It's going to be good for me because I'll be getting my independence and I'm actually going into 10th grade in high school. I've been getting more independent. I've actually done a lot of getting independent in this convention I've met a lot of people. And I actually was able to navigate the exhibit all myself, which at first I thought it was going to be giving me a little trouble but I made it around. I made it through and I found what I was looking for. I got around so I'm going to that camp for three weeks next Saturday actually I'll be leaving for that camp. Yeah I will be doing that and maybe I'll give a little recap on one ability after that of how it went and all. Jeff Thompson: Oh, we'll look forward to that. Can you tell us a little bit about your mathematics and your science and your school? Simon Bonenfant: Yes, well I just finished doing algebra, math and now I'm going into geometry next year. And I'm also going to be taking physics next year. It's going to be an interesting process for me. Jeff Thompson: So what kind of tools do you use, what kind of adaptive technology or accessible devices, alternative techniques do you use in that area? Simon Bonenfant: Well, for school mostly I use a BrailleNote Touch by HumanWare that's a relatively new device. For math, last year, I actually transferred back over to a bit of a low tech solution. I transferred over to the Perkins Brailler which had used in my early days but I transferred back to that because I find it was easy for me to do equations and read all my lines better and things like that. And next year, I'll be going to physics and actually, well, hopefully going to be using equipment from a company called Independent Science which a good friend of mine, Cary Supalo, he runs that company and he made all different talking science equipment and I'm going to be using that for my physics next year. Jeff Thompson: So when you talk about HumanWare you talked about the BrailleNote Touch. Did you check out the Brailliant that they have out now? Simon Bonenfant: Yes I did. Yeah I actually went to a session on HumanWare and I heard about the Brailliant and I went to the booth and I took a look at that. And the BrailleNote Touch for those of you who don't know it's by HumanWare. It's actually a braille note taker running Android on it. So, it's basically the first modern blind note taker and it's actually a certified Google tablet. And what's kind of neat is any kind of app that's on the Google Play store which is sort of like the Android of Apple so say equivalent to the Apple App store. So, anything that's on the Google Play store can be downloaded to the BrailleNote Touch and be used. And so it really opens up the playing field for the blind of note taking to have equal access to a lot of different, more opportunities and programs. Simon Bonenfant: And another thing that's neat about it is it has a screen on the device and what that's used for is blind users can actually type on the screen, type braille on the screen and it can be displayed for sighted viewing so it's really bridging the gap of blind and sighted. I've said this to a lot of people that out of all the generations and decades to be blind, this is probably the most exciting, and most fun and most accommodating era because of all this technology that's there. It's really accommodating. Jeff Thompson: Yeah I can tell your passion when you started talking about technology. What other type of technology do you utilize for school? Simon Bonenfant: Well I use a MacBook, I have the MacBook Boot Camp so I'm running Windows on it and I use that for Microsoft Word and other applications like that. I use this screen reader called NVDA which is a free screen reader, stands for Non Visual Desktop Access. And I also use JAWS as well. I also use iPhone which has been very helpful for me. An iPhone is a great tool. I've used seeing AI and other different apps like that. Jeff Thompson: Oh great, you're in the 10th grade and you got summer camp coming up here. Have you been starting to look towards college in the near future? Simon Bonenfant: Yes, I have been. I'm not exactly sure what college I want to go to exactly but I know a career I want to get into. I want to work as a technology teacher for the blind. And teaching JAWS, NVDA, voiceover, things like that. Because in my state and the country there's a real need for that expertise in the blind world. You know there is always something I heard from people that, "If you love what you do you never work a day in your life." And me doing that job would be me not working a day in my life because I have a passion for teaching people technology. And I'm actually starting, I'm trying to, in the future, hopefully I'll be starting a little bit of a tutoring business of tutoring people on using technology, assistance technology devices on trying to get that started in the near future. Jeff Thompson: I heard you're actually helping other students, tutoring them. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah, I have been doing that. Yeah. Jeff Thompson: What's that like? Simon Bonenfant: That's been good. I really want to give back to my community and technology is the way that I can do that. I would kind of say that I'm kind of like self-taught in technology. I'm involved in an online blind community on the service called Skype and a few other places where they kind of get me into using all kind of technology. I never really got any formal school training in technology and all it's been kind of me asking people or me just kind of playing around with programs and getting the knowledge, and I want to give back to the people in the community who are learning or to have an outlet where they can ask questions and talking things. In my technology exploration was when I found Audioboom which is where the Blind Abilities communities’ community channel started and I was involved with that for a very long time. Jeff Thompson: And you were actually part of that. You're part of the community that helped make that keep going for four years. Simon Bonenfant: I was and I tell people about my technology journey, I always imagine Audioboom because that was a real good outlet for me. I learned a lot. I met a lot of people through that community. It was really like a family, like a Blind Abilities family. So that's what it was kind of like. Jeff Thompson: I can't help but the time I heard your voice break it was really something because you were kind of like the child of the group, was like the kid. Also when you came on one time on a YouTube video you were speaking for your school, fundraising I believe it was. Also and I called my wife, Lorie, I said, "It's Simon, his voice changed." Simon Bonenfant: Yes I was doing some fundraising for school. The school that I previously went to was a school for the blind called St. Lucy School that's in Philadelphia. And I went there for all my grade school and that was a very nice school. That taught me a lot of good things. Taught me how to use a cane, cane travel, and braille. And it really taught me to be mainstream in a sighted classroom where I am in high school now, because it's the only blind school in the country that has a certain setup. And the way that they run their school is they actually partner up with a sighted school and they merged the blind students in with the sighted students and that gets the blind students, that gets us ready for high school and the challenges that's going to face and that has helped me tremendously. Now I can say I'm in a mainstream school called Archbishop Carroll High School. And the school I'm going to now is Catholic school and the St. Lucy School that's the blind school that one is Catholic as well. That's been my kind of schooling and education. Jeff Thompson: In that process, have you used teachers for the visually impaired like TVI's that are provided by the districts? Simon Bonenfant: Yes. I am working with one currently with two actually. Two teachers of visually impaired that are very good to me, they work very well with me. Jeff Thompson: Oh that's great. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah they're very good they help me with math and technology and a lot of other good things and they're very good. Jeff Thompson: A good resource. Simon Bonenfant: Oh yeah, very good. Jeff Thompson: So Simon, what advice would you have for someone who is in high school and considering transitioning into college one of these days and employment or going to camps or stuff like that? What advice would you have for them as they look forward to this journey? Simon Bonenfant: Well one advice I would have for them is network with lots of different people who have done what you are looking to do and find information from them. I know that some of my best friends are my best mentors and that's because I've reached out to them and talked to them. One of my friends, her name is Marta, she's an independent blind woman, and she went through a training center and she's one of my role models. And that's because she went through the things that I am planning to do and would like to do for my life, and I use her and you Jeff and people all from Blind Abilities as a resource because it's people that have gone through what I'm planning to go through. It's good to tap in and network to people that's how you find about things, like I found NFB. Simon Bonenfant: And so often I've met people who have finished their journey but say they wish that they found the people they did at a younger age because they can network and mentor more. Meet as many people and ask some questions as many people as you need to and as you want to and that are going into your same fields. And I would also say too, keep an open mind and meet people who are maybe not going into the exact same thing that you want to go into but you can learn something from everyone in this world. Jeff Thompson: That's great. Well Simon, thank you so much for taking your time out of the convention. I know those exhibits are a lot more fun than sitting with me doing a podcast. Simon Bonenfant: Oh it's a great time, definitely great. Jeff Thompson: But it's been a long time coming. Like we said Audioboom was something where we all met, a big community and now there's hundreds of us out there and we get to meet up sooner or later. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah, I've known you for four years. I just figured that out today, I've known you since 2014 when I came on to Audioboom. Jeff Thompson: Well, now you're on Blind Abilities podcast. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah, yeah there you go. Jeff Thompson: Alright, thank you very much Simon. Simon Bonenfant: Yeah, thank you. Jeff Thompson: Simon, if someone is interested in learning from you and want to get a hold of you how can they do that? Simon Bonenfant: Well, there's a few ways. You can either access me via Twitter @thetechkid123. That's t-h-e-t-e-c-h-k-i-d-1-2-3. And you can also find me where I most am more responsive is via Skype, and my Skype name is blindkid55, that's b-l-i-n-d-k-i-d-5-5. Jeff Thompson: All right, thank you. Simon Bonenfant: Thank you. Jeff Thompson: Such a great time to finally meet up with Simon Bonenfant. He's got such great self-determination and drive, I'm sure he's going to succeed in all his endeavors. Jeff Thompson: And if you or someone you know who is visually impaired or blind, be sure they contact their state services, their vocational rehab and begin to carve out your pathway to success today. And thank you Chee Chau for the beautiful music. You can follow Chee Chau on Twitter @lcheechau. Jeff Thompson: I want to thank you all 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.

Paul Sullivan of the Bristol Braillists speaks with Alan Thorpe from EYECAN about manual braille writing equipment. Alan shares tips on caring for your Perkins Brailler and how the design has endured for over half a century. We also discover other historic Braille Writing machines including Pike Glouser, a British machine from the first half ... Read more...

There are only a few ways people can create Braille labels these days. One could use a $500-1000 Perkins Brailler and feed the tape into it, after which you cut it yourself per label. There are other handheld labeling devices sold which provide a stamping mechanism for labels; These take time and require rotating the disc after each strike. Not convenient. Logan Tech's Label Maker solves this problem quite well by offering a solution even those with sight could integrate with. In this case, the device allows for a qwerty keyboard to be hooked up over micro-USB, providing labeling as well. A note about the recording from after it was recorded. At one point, I pondered if the batteries in the unit can be recharged or are rechargeable. There is an FAQ page which explains that using batteries which recharge is not recommended. These may damage the unit as they cannot provide exact currents that it may require. In the few weeks of constant use the unit has received, I have not had to replace the batteries however, so expect quite some time out of them. For anyone looking to make labels for a family member, schools which wish to keep a unit on-hand to deliver crisp labels quickly to students will find their world opened by this option as well. If you would like to know more about the products provided by LoganTech, check out their Youtube. If you would like to know more about the 6Dot Braille Label Maker, you can follow 6Dot on Twitter, or connect with 6Dot on Facebook.

There are only a few ways people can create Braille labels these days. One could use a $500-1000 Perkins Brailler and feed the tape into it, after which you cut it yourself per label. There are other handheld labeling devices sold which provide a stamping mechanism for labels; These take time and require rotating the disc after each strike. Not convenient. Logan Tech's Label Maker solves this problem quite well by offering a solution even those with sight could integrate with. In this case, the device allows for a qwerty keyboard to be hooked up over micro-USB, providing labeling as well. A note about the recording from after it was recorded. At one point, I pondered if the batteries in the unit can be recharged or are rechargeable. There is an FAQ page which explains that using batteries which recharge is not recommended. These may damage the unit as they cannot provide exact currents that it may require. In the few weeks of constant use the unit has received, I have not had to replace the batteries however, so expect quite some time out of them. For anyone looking to make labels for a family member, schools which wish to keep a unit on-hand to deliver crisp labels quickly to students will find their world opened by this option as well. If you would like to know more about the products provided by LoganTech, check out their Youtube. If you would like to know more about the 6Dot Braille Label Maker, you can follow 6Dot on Twitter, or connect with 6Dot on Facebook.

Tommy Edison demonstrates how blind people write braille using a Perkins Brailler.