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The Desert Cafe Closes Its Doors on ACB Radio Interactive

February 28, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker
Hello Everyone,
 
After approximately a year and a half run on ACB Radio Interactive, we at the Desert Cafe are closing our doors. We are giving all of you one last opportunity to stop in, pick up your favorite virtual beverage, enjoy some pizza and other snacks and listen to some of the greatest hits from the 1950’s through today.  We may even toss in some technology news and an impossible question.
 
You may listen to our farewell show on Saturday March 1 from 02:00 to 05:00 UTC, that’s Friday evening here in the United States starting at 6:00 PM Pacific, 7:00 PM Mountain, 8:00 PM Central and 9:00 PM Eastern time on ACB Radio Interactive at http://interactive.acbradio.org.
 
It has been our pleasure to spend time with all of you each week for the past year and a half, and we hope you will continue listening to all the other fine broadcasters on the station. If you would like to stay in touch with us, please feel free to send an e-mail to editor@blindaccessjournal.com, visit http://www.blindaccessjournal.com to stay up to date with developments in accessibility evangelism or check out http://kdd.shandrow.com to see how we are doing on a more personal basis.
 
All the best,
 
Darrell and Karen Shandrow
The Desert Cafe
Categories: Uncategorized

FCC Online Digital Television (DTV) Conversion Workshop for People with Disabilities

February 25, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Marlaina from ACB Radio reminds us all about an upcoming FCC workshop
covering the impact of the impending digital television (DTV) conversion on
people with disabilities.

This subject arose on my show this evening, and i promised to post this far
and wide. Here is a copy of the e-mail I received from Jill Pender of the
FCC regarding their upcoming workshop on conversion from analog to digital
tv. Let's keep asking why our video description has not been restored. Or,
when might we expect it to be restored.

Marlaina:

I am so glad that you are interested in the February 28 workshop. Eric
Bridges, Director of Advocacy and Government for the American Council of the
Blind will be participating as a panelist and we are looking forward to his
remarks.

A live, open-captioned webcast of the hearing will be available at the FCC's
website at http://www.fcc.gov/realaudio/#feb28 on a first-come, first-served
basis. The webcast will remain available after the Workshop in the FCC's
website archives.

We also encourage questions from listeners. During the Workshop, the public
can e-mail questions for the panelists to dtvworkshop@fcc.gov .

If you have any more questions about the program, feel free to email me
directly or call me at 202-418-2947.
Jill Pender
Attorney-Advisor
Consumer Bureau – FCC

Categories: Uncategorized

Coming Up on Main Menu for the Week of February 27 – Bookshare and Apple’s MacBook Air

February 21, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker
Hello Everyone, 
 
This week, we bring to all of you another two hours of brand new live content.  In the first hour, we are honored to hear from Jim Fruchterman, Benetech President and CEO, talking with us all about Bookshare, NIMAC and other projects from a blindness perspective.  In the second hour, Darcy and Holly join us to discuss Apple’s new MacBook Air laptop computer from an accessibility point of view.
 
Here is how to participate in the show: 
 
The number to call into the show is 866-400-5333.
You may email your questions to: mainmenu@acbradio.org
You may also interact with the show via MSN (Windows Live) Messenger. The MSN Messenger ID to add is: mainmenu@acbradio.org 
 
Would you like to interact with a group of Main Menu listeners about the topics heard on Main Menu and Main Menu Live? You can do this by joining the Main Menu Friends email list. The address to subscribe is: main-menu-subscribe@googlegroups.com
Come join an already lively group of users. 
 
Would you like to subscribe to podcast feeds for Main Menu and Main Menu Live? The RSS feeds to add to your podcatching application are: 
 
 
Main Menu can be heard on Tuesday evenings at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, and at 1 universal (GMT) on Wednesday mornings on the ACB Radio Main Stream channel. 
 
Follow this link to listen to the show: 
 
 
Jeff Bishop and Darrell Shandrow
The Main Menu Production Team
Categories: Uncategorized

Coming Up on Main Menu for the Week of February 13 – K-NFB Reader, HumanWare VictorReader Stream and Serotek

February 9, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker
Hello Everyone,
 
This week, we deliver two hours of brand new live content.  In the first hour, Earle Harrison from Handy Tech North America and Jim Gashel from KNFB Reading Technology present and discuss with us all about the new K-NFB Mobile Reader.  In the second hour, Gerry Chevalier from HumanWare and Mike Calvo from Serotek tell us all about the new features in the upcoming VictorReader Stream and its integration with the System Access Mobile Network.  Time will be made available during each hour for all of you to speak live with our guests.
 
Here is how to participate in the show:
 
The number to call into the show is 866-400-5333.
You may email your questions to: mainmenu@acbradio.org
You may also interact with the show via MSN (Windows Live) Messenger. The MSN Messenger ID to add is: mainmenu@acbradio.org
 
Would you like to interact with a group of Main Menu listeners about the topics heard on Main Menu and Main Menu Live? You can do this by joining the Main Menu Friends email list. The address to subscribe is: main-menu-subscribe@googlegroups.com
Come join an already lively group of users.
 
Would you like to subscribe to podcast feeds for Main Menu and Main Menu Live? The RSS feeds to add to your podcatching application are:
 
 
Main Menu can be heard on Tuesday evenings at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific, and at 1 universal (GMT) on Wednesday mornings on the ACB Radio Main Stream channel.
 
Follow this link to listen to the show:
 
 
Jeff Bishop and Darrell Shandrow
The Main Menu Production Team
Categories: Uncategorized

Why Not Enjoy a Little Fresh Air?

February 9, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

On January 31, 2008, the Accessibility Is a Right (AIR) Foundation was launched. The foundation’s first initiative is to provide a free screen reader to all blind computer users, or those who would like to be able to access computers, around the world. The blind still suffer at least a 75 percent unemployment rate in the United States and the other developed nations, and it is much higher in the rest of the world. Though initiatives do exist to get computers and even Internet connectivity into the hands of the less fortunate, these well-intentioned efforts almost always leave blind people behind. The result is that, though many blind people may be able to acquire a computer, it would be totally useless to do so without the needed access technology to read the information displayed on the screen. In the vast majority of cases, the less fortunate members of the blind community are not even able to afford $1,000, $600 or even $24 per month for the privilege of using a computer. This statement is not intended as one of complaint regarding the plight of a miserable, poor, small minority, but simply one of fact for tens of millions of blind people living outside the confines of the United States, United Kingdom, Western Europe and Japan.

The current assistive technology industry is based almost exclusively on the status of people with disabilities in the developed world. Blind and visually impaired people here in the United States have a number of ways to obtain expensive assistive technology products costing thousands of dollars. If they are children, parents and the school system work together to ensure the necessary hardware and software is made available. If they are working toward a career goal, Vocational Rehabilitation agencies may purchase all or most of the equipment. If they are employed, they may be able to afford some of the costs outright, arrange a payment plan with the assistive technology company directly or even purchase it on credit. Finally, in some cases, service organizations such as Lions International may step in to cover the costs. The availability of all these pools of funding helps to set the price of assistive technology. Companies in the field determine their research and development, overhead and other costs, then make wise business decisions concerning the price they can charge according to the basic economic principles of supply and demand.

With a 75 percent unemployment rate in the developed nations, most blind people simply can’t or won’t make their own assistive technology purchasing decisions. This means the “demand” for such technology is not ultimately coming from the blind consumers who will use it, but from schools, Vocational Rehabilitation Agencies and others. The result is that most of our current crop of assistive technology companies charge the prices they can get in the developed world, while they listen to those who “demand” the technology by spending the money. The people who spend the lion’s share of the money on assistive technology are not those who use it on a daily basis. The incentive on the part of businesses in this field is, thus, to listen to the stated needs of agencies, schools and other organizations rather than to the individual when determining the capabilities, enhancements, pricing and all other attributes of their product offerings.

Outside the nations known as the “developed” world, the situation remains bleak for the blind. In addition to barriers imposed by poor social attitudes regarding the capabilities of blind people, there is almost no access at all to the expensive assistive technology we enjoy here in the USA. While sighted people in these nations also don’t tend to own computers, they are often able to visit Internet cafes, libraries and other public places where computer and Internet access is made available at a reasonable price or no charge at all. Sadly, with very few notable exceptions, these public computers do not feature the necessary access technology to permit use by a blind person. Once again, blind people are left behind with respect to their sighted peers.

The AIR Foundation is here to change this bleak state of affairs for the blind all around the world. Serotek has donated the company’s System Access To Go (SAToGo) screen reader to the foundation for the purpose of making it available to the blind completely free of charge in as many languages as possible. Now, any blind person who can get their hands on a computer with Internet access running either the Windows Vista or Windows XP operating system can also read the screen using a free screen reader provided by the AIR Foundation. A blind person visiting an Internet cafe, public library or any other public computer access facility can now use that computer right alongside their sighted peers, without the need to have a specialized piece of software installed. Any blind person who needs to access web sites, exchange e-mail, write letters, work with the computer’s operating system or perform other common computing tasks will substantially benefit from the free screen reader offered by the AIR Foundation in partnership with Serotek. The foundation is also working with companies such as Lenovo to make the free screen reader available in mainstream computers right out of the box.

Will System Access To Go replace all other screen readers? Certainly not. Many blind people will continue to need the configurability, scripting and other advanced features found in JAWS or Window-Eyes to access complex educational software and the applications used in today’s busy modern workplaces. We can only hope that innovations such as the AIR Foundation and solutions such as Serotek’s Remote Incident Manager will serve to turn the blindness assistive technology industry upside-down, breaking the stranglehold of the agencies and organizations who often want to make our technology decisions for us, making accessibility available to the less fortunate, and compelling the currently entrenched players in the field to stand up and really listen to the needs and desires of those in the blind community who use their technology on a daily basis.

Categories: accessibility, opinion, Serotek

Visual Verification: AnnualCreditReport.com Finally Tears Down "No Blind People Allowed" Sign, Makes Credit Reports Accessible to Blind Consumers

February 9, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Matt McCubbin from Blind Bargains reports that the AnnualCreditReport web site instituted by the Federal Trade Commission and sponsored by the three credit reporting companies has finally decided that blind and visually impaired consumers ought to be granted the same opportunities to review their credit reports online as the sighted have enjoyed for three years. Despite a complete lack of response from the FTC Webmaster to numerous letters from blind individuals, the site now implements an automated, telephone based alternative to their inaccessible visual only CAPTCHA. After selecting the state in which the consumer resides, a link is offered near the bottom of the form pointing to an alternate request page. Once this alternate page is chosen, the user simply completes the form, notes the six digits near the bottom, calls an indicated toll free telephone number, enters the numbers given on the web site, receives another six digits, enters those digits from the automated telephone message into the box and is granted access. Although this solution isn’t inherently perfect for deaf-blind consumers, they can utilize their state’s relay service to complete this transaction.

We are glad the Federal Trade Commission, the three credit reporting companies and all other involved parties have finally brought down this access barier, though we would have appreciated the professionalism and respect of follow up letters to our correspondence. We are also waiting to see if the FTC or the sponsoring credit reporting companies will post a press release concerning this new accessibility accomodation. We believe that any other federally funded web sites featuring inaccessible visual only CAPTCHA or any other accessibility barriers may be at least in violation of Section 504 of the Federal Rehabilitation Act, and would welcome any reader comments concerning any such sites.

Coming Up on Main Menu for the Week of February 6 – ATIA Coverage

February 4, 2008 • Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

Hello Everyone,

This week we present a special 2 hour Main Menu Live all about things
learned at the ATIA conference in Florida. J.J. Meddaugh and Matt attended
the conference and we will be reviewing the conference with them. Here is
what you will hear among other things:

* Doug Geoffray from GW Micro announced Window-Eyes 7.0 with the major new
feature being scripting. In addition to playing an interview about this
exciting new enhancement for Window-Eyes, we provide a demonstration of
Window-Eyes 7.0 working inside of Winamp with scripts that enhance its
capabilities that will be available when Window-Eyes 7.0 releases.

* AIR (standing for Accessibility is a Right). We talk with everyone about
this new foundation and now free screen reader.

* Serotek talked all about The Accessible Digital Lifestyle and made some
major announcements.

* The new KNFB Mobile Reader that runs on a cell phone is out and we talk
all about its capabilities. We will have much more to say about this on a
future episode of Main Menu soon as well.

* We will talk about Optelec, HumanWare, Code Factory, Freedom Scientific
and more.

Here is how to participate in the show:

The number to call into the show is 866-400-5333.

You may email your questions to:

mainmenu@acbradio.org

You may also interact with the show via MSN (Windows Live) Messenger. The
MSN Messenger ID to add is:

mainmenu@acbradio.org

Would you like to interact with a group of Main Menu listeners about the
topics heard on Main Menu and Main Menu Live? You can do this by joining the
Main
Menu Friends email list. The address to subscribe is:

main-menu-subscribe@googlegroups.com

Come join an already lively group of users.

Would you like to subscribe to podcast feeds for Main Menu and Main Menu
Live? The RSS feeds to add to your podcatching application are:

Main Menu –http://www.acbradio.org/podcasts/mainmenu
Main Menu Live –http://www.acbradio.org/podcasts/mainmenulive

Main Menu can be heard on Tuesday evenings at 8:00 Eastern, 5:00 Pacific,
and at 1 universal (GMT) on Wednesday mornings on the ACB Radio Main Stream
channel.

Follow this link to listen to the show:

http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=8

Jeff Bishop and Darrell Shandrow
The Main Menu Production Team

Categories: Uncategorized