Darrell Shandrow Hilliker

I will be taking action on this notice today, and urge all of you who fit
the profile below and care about web accessibility to do likewise as soon as
possible. This is one important case where NFB is on the correct side of
the accessibility issue. Let's do everything we can to help out this law
firm.

The law firm representing the interests of persons who are blind in
achieving full access to the internet in the Target case needs your help!

It is critical that you review the memo below, and respond to the law firm
if you fit the profile they are looking for in the stated questions below.

You may wonder why there is an emphasis between activities on the internet
and activities that take place in physical stores? The reason is that this
is one of the first ADA cases involving the internet, and thus, for this
particular case a so-called nexus needs to be present between the internet
site and a physical place of public accommodation. Of course, in future
legislation and cases, the need for such a nexus may be elliminated.
However, again as far as the internet and an accessibility mandate, we are
still in the early stages of this new era of civil rights for Americans who
are blind.

Best,

Mika Pyyhkala

From: Daniel F. Goldstein [mailto:dfg@browngold.com]

My name is Daniel Goldstein. Many of you know that I have been
representing the National Federation of the Blind for over 20 years. We are
currently in a lawsuit against Target Corporation and the judge has recently
raised questions about the blind's use of Target's web site in connection
with shopping at Target stores (as opposed to shopping online) and we have
30 days to submit affidavits from blind people that answers her questions.
So if you would answer yes to any of the questions below, we need to talk to
you. If you know anyone who would answer yes to any of the questions below,
please tell us who they are and how to get in touch with them. If you are a
state or chapter president, please get the word out on this to your members.

1. Do you ever use the internet to find out what store has the item you
want or the price you want before you go out to buy it?

2. Do you shop at Target stores? If you do, would you like to be able to
use Target's web site to know what products are at the store at what prices
or would you like to use the web site for store coupons or for services like
pharmacy refills?

3. Have you ever tried to use Target's web site for such purposes and found
it inaccessible?

4. If you don't fit this description, do you know someone who does?

If you are such a person, the NFB needs your help in the lawsuit
against Target right now. Please contact Mehgan Capek at
Brown, Goldstein & Levy
(410) 962-1030
You can call her collect, or you can send her an e-mail at
msc@browngold.com.

Thank you for your help in this important matter.

Daniel F. Goldstein
Brown, Goldstein & Levy, LLP
120 E. Baltimore St., Suite 1700
Baltimore, MD 21202
(410)962-1030
(410)385-0869 (fax)
443-923-1314 (direct dial)
dfg@browngold.com
www.browngold.com

I'm just taking this opportunity to remind all of you about the availability
of this excellent text editor, which I utilize on a daily basis to perform
the duties of my technical writing job.

TextPal, by Jamal Mazrui, is available at the following link:

http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/palsetup.exe

See the announcement from Jamal below for details on the enhancements and
fixes found in this version.

Version 3.6
Released May 1, 2007

Fixed TextPal treating a document as having been modified after a search
and replace with no matches. Replaced the Word Wrap Toggle command with
Control+W to turn this setting on and Control+Shift+W to turn it off.
Control+Shift+J is the new key for joining (wrapping) lines with hard line
breaks.

Modified the Yield command, Alt+Y, to operate on selected text rather than
all text when a selection is in effect. Made TextPal say "characters"
instead of "bytes" when reporting the size of a file or selection.
Adjusted the optional JAWS scripts so that PageUp and PageDown read the
current line after navigating by screen.

These scripts now require at least JAWS 6.2. They use the latest Homer
script library, available with other components of HomerKit at
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/kitsetup.exe
or
http://www.EmpowermentZone.com/kitsetup.zip
The files Homer6.jsh, Homer6.jss, and Homer6.jsd, previously used by
TextPal, are now obsolete and may be manually removed from the user script
folder. They may also be left there without a resulting problem.

Changed enhanced navigation commands to be consistent with JAWS
conventions. Reassigned keys are as follows. Press Control+DownArrow or
Control+UpArrow to go to the next or previous paragraph, and then read it.
Press Alt+DownArrow or Alt+UpArrow to navigate by sentence.

Alt+RightArrow and Alt+LeftArrow are new commands to navigate by chunk. A
chunk is defined as a sequence of nonblank characters. It is usually, but
not always, the same as what Control+RightArrow or Control+LeftArrow
consider to be a word, since these keys stop at some punctuation marks.

In programming source code, press Alt+PageDown or Alt+PageUp to go to the
next or previous cdefinition of a class or function — including a sub or
method. Press Control+I or Control+Shift+I to go to the next or previous
change in indentation (developed for Python). Press Tab or Shift+Tab to
indent or outdent the current or selected lines by one level.

As before, Control+Shift+R replaces with a regular expression, and
Control+Shift+E extracts. Now Control+Shift+C counts matches of a regular
expression without changing text.

The Export Script Dictionary command has been replaced by the more
powerful, Refresh JAWS Text command, JAWSKey+F5, for updating a .jss
(script source), .jsd (script dictionary), or .jkm (key map) file. If the
current editing window contains a .jss file, its routines are sorted
alphabetically, with functions placed before scripts. If a .jsd file, the
dictionary entries are syncronized with the corresponding .jss file. If a
.jkm file, the key assignments are sorted by script name.

PHP has been added to the list of languages with preconfigured support. If
you have an existing TextPal version installed, it is necessary to delete
the TextPal.ini configuration file before installing this in order for the
PHP settings to become available. The default file location is C:\Program
Files\TextPal\TextPal.ini

More precisely, at least the [Compilers] section of this file should be
deleted. Within TextPal, you can do this by pressing Alt+Shift+M for
Manual Options, and then either deleting that section or the whole file
with Alt+Shift+D.

After launching the new TextPal, use the Pick Compiler command,
Control+Shift+F5, to choose PHP settings. TextPal assumes that php.exe is
on the Windows search path, so if that is not the case, you may wish to
add it by going to the System applet of Control Panel, and then inserting
(assuming the default directory target of the latest PHP for Windows
installer)
C:\Program Files\PHP;
at the beginning of the Path environment variable on the Advanced tab
page.

The Compile command, Control+F5, would then perform a syntax check of the
PHP file in the current editing window. If an error is found, the cursor
moves to the start of that line. The error message spoken is abbreviated
to eliminate irrelevant output. If no syntax error is found, TextPal
simply says "Done!" To execute the file with the program associated with
its extension (usually .php), use the Run command, F5.

Jamal

This week we return to coverage of the Mac. Gordon Smith joins us to talk
all things machine virtualization. It is possible to run multiple operating
systems on the Mac and switch between them. Come hear how this is done.

On the second hour of Main Menu Live we bring Gordon Smith on to talk to all
of us about the Mac. We will ask him about the current state of
applications running on the Mac and more questions on virtualization. You
will also have an opportunity to call in and ask any questions pertaining to
the Mac, Tiger, Voice Over and machine virtualization.

We will briefly discuss the brand-new ACB Radio Tuner released on May 1,
2007.

The number to call into the show is 866-400-5333. You can email your
questions to mainmenu@acbradio.org. You can also interact with the show via
MSN 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 and Main Menu Live can be heard on Tuesday evening at 9:00
Eastern, 6:00 Pacific, and at 1 universal on Wednesday morning on the ACB
Radio Main Stream channel. To listen to the show, just click this link:

http://www.acbradio.org/pweb/index.php?module=pagemaster&PAGE_user_op=view_page&PAGE_id=8&MMN_position=14:14

Jeff Bishop and Darrell Shandrow
The Main Menu Production Team

This is a good article that describes a little of what it is like to be
blind, from the perspective of an actual blind couple

Fresno Bee, California USA
Monday, April 30, 2007

Time to break the mold of paper money for the blind

By Eddie Jimenez

04/30/07 05:46:59

Ed and Toni Eames, both blind, each have their own systems to distinguish
denominations of paper money once they've separated the bills.

Ed keeps dollar bills flat, folds $5 bills in half width-wise and $10 bills
length-wise. Toni also leaves her dollar bills flat, but folds $5 bills in
half twice width-wise and $10 bills in half, but keeps them in a different
part of her purse.

They try not to carry around anything larger than $10. That makes it easier
to keep track of their money.

"If somebody does cheat you, intentionally or unintentionally, you don't
lose a lot of money," Toni said.

The Fresno couple and other blind and visually impaired people will no
longer have to go through this exercise if Pete Stark, a Democratic
congressman from Fremont, has his way.

Stark wants all U.S. paper money to be redesigned to meet a federal court
ruling last November that said our nation's currency — being all the same
size and indistinguishable — violates the civil rights of the blind.

A judge told the Treasury Department to fix the problem, but the agency is
appealing the ruling. Treasury officials say changing U.S. paper money would
be costly.

Undeterred, Stark has suggested a less expensive remedy — cutting off the
edges of bills, for example, trimming the four corners of the $1 bill, three
corners of the $2 and so on.

That doesn't seem too practical, but one way or another, a change should be
made so the blind can tell the difference between denominations of paper
currency. As one news report said, about 180 other countries have different
sizes for paper money.

The Eameses understand that the switch would be costly and realize there are
other pressing issues for the blind, such as education, transportation,
learning Braille and getting easier access to Web sites.

Still, being able to distinguish paper money would eliminate one dependency
on others.

The couple offered examples of how the blind are overlooked in everyday
dealings that sighted people take for granted.

Listening to a Channel 18 fundraiser, the Eameses kept hearing "Call the
number on your screen," but the number was never read aloud.

So they had to phone a friend for the number before they could contribute.

They're also not able to use all the functions on their cell phone because
it's about "50% blind friendly." And their search for a new stove was
hampered because most oven functions are digital. They need a stove with
knobs to distinguish temperatures.

"Change doesn't always include the blind population," said Ed, who is the
chairman of the Fresno Americans with Disabilities Act Advisory Council.
This can add to life's challenges.

"You get by," Toni said, and Ed finished, "with occasional high levels of
frustration."

They said making the switch to a new U.S. paper currency system would be
another step toward independence for the blind.

"There's no way to get around it. [Now] you do need sighted help with
bills," Toni said. "I think it's time for the government to do it."

The columnist can be reached at ejimenez @fresnobee.com or (559) 441-6386.

http://www.fresnobee.com/190/story/44769.html

The ACB Radio Web team among a number of others have been working hard on a
brand-new version of the ACB Radio Tuner. With the launch of the ACB Radio
World stream, we have released the new ACB Radio Tuner. Here is what is new
in this release:

This version only supports Windows 2000, Windows XP, Windows 2003 and
Windows VISTA. The older version will remain available for older client
desktops such as Windows 95, Windows 98, Windows ME and Windows NT Version
4.0.

Addition of the ACB Radio World stream reachable by pressing CTRL+D.

Addition of several new hotkeys.

Windows Media Player hotkey changed to CTRL+E.

Settings are saved in a custom INI file (ACB Radio Tuner.ini) to eliminate
Windows registry writes. The file is placed in the user's Application Data
folder in a directory called "ACB Radio Tuner". This insures that the
program will operate under VISTA.

Improved, cleaner visual user interface.

The "No Extra Speech" setting is now saved if selected so that future
sessions do not check for the availability of a screen reader.

We have great plans for the future of the Tuner and you will start to see
more frequent updates as we begin to implement those features.

You can download the Tuner from the web at:

http://www.acbradio.org/tuner

I want to sincerely thank the following individuals for their contributions
in making this version a tremendous success:

Darren Paskell – for giving us the source code of the original from which to
build from. He rocks!

Darrell Shandrow – for putting up with buggy versions and for assisting in
writing the documentation.

Matthew Horspool – for assistance with documentation updates and for
developing the ACB Radio Tuner tutorial (to be released soon).

Tina Ektermanis – for digging out her dusty Windows 98 box, blowing the dirt
out of the fans, finding its old power cord and getting that crusty hard
drive to boot to test the new version on that platform. Shucks, and all to
find out it doesn't work. Thanks Tina for the hard work late in to the
night.

Chrissie and Marlaina – for giving us the support we needed to get this done
and for always being there.

Main Menu Friends Group users – without their help, this never would have
been a success. There are far to many to list here, but thanks gang!

Again, get the new tuner at:

http://www.acbradio.org/tuner

Happy Tuning everyone.

Hi Folks

This is to announce the imminent birth of a new station, ACB Radio World.

This brand new station will concentrate on programming in languages other
than English, although English programs will be carried, as well as focusing
on music from all parts of the world.

The station will commence programming on 7 May at 06:00 UTC with a live
stream from the Africa Forum, hosted by the Institutional Development
Program and the Perkins School for the Blind. The Forum is being held in
Nairobi Kenya, and focuses on continued action of the African Decade of the
Disabled to breakdown barriers towards social inclusion and the creation of
opportunities for blind and visually impaired citizens of Africa.
Concerning the Forum itself, I will be posting more details of speakers
etc., as and when I receive the full agenda.

The new ACB Radio World stream can be reached from the ACB Radio homepage,
acbradio.org and will cater for both broadband and modem users.

ACB Radio World can also be found on the new and improved ACB Radio Tuner.
Watch for details of that coming very soon.

If you are a speaker of a language other than English and fancy yourself
broadcasting to the world, then we'd very much like to hear from you.
Please write to support@acbradio.org.

I genuinely hope that ACB Radio World will be a catalyst for the bringing
together of the world's blind community, and I look forward to working with
blind people from every part of this planet of ours.

Chrissie Cochrane
managing Director
ACB Radio

Syracuse.com, New York USA
Friday, April 27, 2007

Finally, somebody listened

By James T. Mulder, Staff writer

Therese Fredette receives her utility bill and her bank statement in
Braille, the system of raised letters she reads with her fingers.

At many restaurants, she can order from menus written in Braille.

But the North Syracuse woman, blind since birth, could not read her annual
12-page recertification letter from Medicaid, the state's major health
program for the blind and disabled, because it came in standard print.

She asked the Onondaga County Department of Social Services, which
administers Medicaid locally, to send her the letter in Braille. County
officials refused, but offered to have someone read the letter to her over
the phone or in person. That proposal didn't sit well with Fredette, who
likes to do things for herself.

"The less people help me, the better," Fredette said. "I believe my mail and
everything is private."

She turned for help to the Disability Rights Clinic at Syracuse University's
College of Law. Law students Koert Wehberg and Carrie Auringer worked out a
compromise on Fredette's behalf with the state Health Department, which
oversees Medicaid.

While state officials rejected the request for Braille, they recently agreed
to provide the information to Fredette on an audiocassette. Wehberg and
Auringer said it took them 18 months to

cut through the government bureaucracy to get Fredette the accommodation she
is entitled to under the federal Americans with Disabilities Act.

"We find it ironic that private businesses such as banks and National Grid
provide people with information in Braille, but our own government, where we
pay taxes, does not provide people with accessible information so they can
be independent," said Wehberg, who also is blind.

Wehbergand Auringer consider Medicaid's agreement to accommodate Fredette a
victory for visually impaired people. They said it is important for people
with disabilities to know they can ask for accommodations from the county
Department of Social Services and the state Health Department, the two
agencies that run Medicaid.

Zach Karmen, Onondaga County's chief welfare attorney, said the county
Department of Social Services often receives requests to accommodate people
with physical and mental disabilities or limited language proficiency.

"Ideally what we like is for the case worker to make the accommodation right
on the fly," he said. "They just use common sense."

Karmen said Fredette's case was the first time the department received a
request for Braille correspondence. He said the county could not provide the
information in Braille because the Medicaid letters are sent directly by the
state.

After the law students negotiated the compromise with the state, the county
made the recording by taping one of its employees reading Fredette's letter
aloud, according to Karmen.

"To be honest, that didn't make too much sense to me," he said. "I thought
it would make much more sense to have someone read it to her and help her
fill out the form."

That was unacceptable because it would not let Fredette review the
information more than once to make sure she understood it, the same way a
sighted person would when reading and rereading a printed letter, Wehberg
said. It also would have compromised her privacy, he said.

The state Health Department was contacted by the law students in November
and resolved the case in three months, according to Claire Pospisil, a
department spokeswoman.

She said the request should have been resolved at the county level.

Wehberg said a Health Department official told him the agency did not want
to provide Fredette her recertification letter in Braille because it would
set a precedent.

The Americanswith Disabilities Act says that as long as the accommodation is
considered reasonable, it does not have to be exactly what the individual
requested, according to Pospisil. Under the law, an audio recording is
considered a reasonable accommodation. "She was offered and accepted the
accommodation of an audiocassette of the recertification letter's contents,"
she said.

The Health Department may have opted for an audiocassette instead of Braille
because the cassette is accessible not only to Fredette, but to anyone else
she may want to share the information with, such as an attorney, Pospisil
said.

About 10 million Americans are totally or partially blind. In Central New
York, there are more than 5,800, according to an estimate by Aurora of
Central New York, an agency that serves people with hearing and vision loss.

Federal disability laws such as the ADA and the Rehabilitation Act require
that blind and visually impaired individuals receive communications in an
alternative format.

Many privatecompanies accommodate the blind because they understand it's not
only a legal obligation, but good business, said Silvia Yee, a staff
attorney with the Disability Rights Education & Defense Fund, a national
civil rights and policy group.

Government agencies, however, often are slow to abide by these laws, Yee
said. Her organization is representing some blind Social Security
Administration beneficiaries suing the federal agency for not providing them
with alternatives to standard print.

"If you cannot communicate with the agency or the agency refuses to
communicate with you in a way you can understand, you are denied
participation," Yee said. "These bureaucracies have a lot of inertia to
overcome in thinking of systemwide solutions and creative changes."

Persistent individuals like Fredette who file complaints are sometimes
successful in getting accommodations, according to Yee.

"But it's very hard to get systemic change so that all people with visual
disabilities, including seniors who need large fonts, are able to get the
communication they need to effectively participate in the system."

James T. Mulder can be reached at 470-2245 or jmulder@syracuse.com.

http://www.syracuse.com/articles/business/index.ssf?/base/business-8/1177664650192310.xml&coll=1

TheLouisvilleChannel.com, Kentucky USA
Friday, April 27, 2007

Target 32 Investigates: Drivers Endanger The Blind

UPDATED: 1:01 pm EDT April 27, 2007

LOUISVILLE, Ky. — Blind pedestrians have been victims in two recent
accidents in the Clifton neighborhood, where the Kentucky School for The
Blind is located. The people hit were doing nothing wrong, even though they
could not see where they were going.

After the accident in March, Newchannel 32 anchor John Boel investigated.

While law mandates drivers "shall stop and give the right of way at any
intersection to blind pedestrians" the hidden camera investigation found
drivers seldom do. Even a police officer failed to follow the law.

In one tape, at the same intersection where a blind man was seriously
injured last month, a blind woman waited for the walk signal. The moment the
light turned green, a car coming the other way jumps the light to make a
left turn without waiting just as the woman receives the audio command to
cross. The left-turning car misses her by inches and if she had started
walking on her cue, she would have been hit.

The neighborhood around the Kentucky School for The Blind is loaded with
signs reading "No Turn On Red When Pedestrians Are Present" because that's
how the blind are often hit.

But over and over, Boel recorded people disregarding the signs and turning
with or without noticing blind pedestrians right there.

"I think the right turn on red is a problem," Kentucky School For The Blind
mobility teacher Mary Pawlowski said. "Speeding is a big problem. Parking
lots, I would say, is the most dangerous."

Teachers at the school also said drivers should wait longer than they might
think it should take them to cross, and not to honk or talk to them because
the noise or instructions might divert them from practicing what they've
learned.

http://www.wlky.com/news/13211337/detail.html

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Listen to The Desert Skies tonight,
Jeff will be playing the tunes passed midnight,
He wil start at 7 o'clock
And the music will rock.

The desert Skies can be heard from 0 to 5 UTC,
And on Interactive,
Is where, he will be.

Saturday, April Twenty-eight
Won't it be great?
His show will be extended and be 6 hours long.

Come join us, he will play your favorite songs,
Whatever you choose,
As well as Techie News,
Give you the Impossible Question to make you think,
So no need for winks
Do not take a nap,
Bring your thinking cap,
You all will have a great time.