Blind Access Journal

The WGBH – Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media
(NCAM) has published a new Outreach and Policy Paper, Digital Television and
Video Description: Service Continues, Consumer and Industry Efforts Required

Most consumers are just now becoming aware of the mandated transition from
analog to digital broadcasting scheduled for February of 2009 and how it
will affect the TV viewing that they rely on daily. Blind or deaf consumers
who purchase digital TV sets, and subscribe to cable, satellite or
fiber-optic TV services have expressed frustration with set-up, reception
and incompatibility problems regarding access services (captioning and video
description), few of which are understood or even documented by
manufacturers and retailers.

In addition, people who want to continue receiving free over-the-air
broadcasts using their analog sets and an antenna must purchase a set-top
converter box to do so – and figure out how to make captions and
descriptions work for them. NCAM previously published an overview of
problems confronting deaf or hard-of-hearing people trying to access
captions via DTV or through a converter box. The "DTVCC" paper can be found
on NCAM's Web site listed below.

This new paper focuses on challenges facing blind or low vision viewers who
rely on video description to enjoy and fully understand television
programming. Topics covered include:

– Set-top Converter Boxes
– Accessible Menus
– Tips for Finding Video Description in DTV
– Troubleshooting
– and a Technical Note about PSIP (or Program and System Information
Protocol)

This paper, along with much more information about the DTV conversion from a
variety of resources, can be found at NCAM's DTV Access site,

http://dtvaccess.org or http://ncam.wgbh.org/dtv

We want to hear from you…
NCAM has established a one-way e-mail address, dtvaccess@wgbh.org, as an
aggregator of complaints and problems related to the DTV rollout. If you
send a report about a DTV access problem to this address, you will receive
an automatic response that says that your report has been received and that
we are gathering information but cannot respond to your inquiry, and that we
will pass along common issues to relevant parties.

—
Mary Watkins
Director of Communications and Outreach
Media Access Group at WGBH
mary_watkins@wgbh.org
http://access.wgbh.org
One Guest Street
Boston, MA 02135
617 300-3700 v/fax
617 300-2489 TTY

WGBH Boston informs, inspires, and entertains millions through public
broadcasting, the Web, educational multimedia, and access services for
people with disabilities.

Catch the 68th Annual Convention of the National Federation of the Blind
Online!!!

July 1-5, 2008

The National Federation of the Blind–the voice of the nation's blind–will
be streaming portions of its annual convention over the Internet. The NFB
National Convention is the largest gathering of the blind anywhere in the
world. If you cannot be in Dallas, Texas, to catch the excitement in
person, you will be able to get portions of the convention via the Internet.
To connect to the NFB convention stream, simply visit the NFB Web
site–www.nfb.org–and click on the "Tune In to the National Convention
Now!" link.

To view the full NFB 2008 Convention Agenda in a Microsoft Word format,
visit:
http://www.nfb.org/images/nfb/documents/word/Agenda-2008-final-WEB.doc

The NFB Convention live stream schedule is as follows (note that all times
are Central Daylight Time):

Tuesday, July 1
9:00-11:30 a.m. NFB Board Meeting

Wednesday, July 2
7:45-8:45 a.m. March for Independence Rally/Louis Braille Commemorative Coin
design unveiling–note the rally program is scheduled to begin at
approximately 8:00 a.m.
9:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. NFB General Session
2:00-5:15 p.m. NFB General Session

Thursday, July 3
8:30 a.m.-12:00 p.m. NFB General Session

Friday, July 4
9:00-12:00 p.m. NFB General Session
2:00-5:00 p.m. NFB General Session
7:00-11:00 p.m. Annual NFB Banquet

Saturday, July 5
9:00-12:00 p.m. NFB General Session
2:00-5:00 p.m. NFB General Session

VICTOR READER STREAM THE PROVEN SUCCESS STORY, IS NOW EVEN BETTER WITH A
FREE VERSION 2.0 SOFTWARE UPGRADE

Longueuil, Canada, June 30, 2008 — Victor Reader Stream, the pocket-sized
portable MP3 player designed for blind and low-vision people has swept the
world wide market place since its launch in September 2007. Heralded by its
users as the most significant assistive technology in recent years, the
Stream has already enhanced the life style of thousands of blind and low
vision people world wide. In addition to the variety of audio formats (MP3,
DAISY, and NISO books and music) supported by Victor Reader Stream, the new
version 2 software will add even more media and text formats.

Victor Reader Stream version 2 will now play electronic Braille files with
its built-in text-to-speech including multiple formats of English Braille
encoded files, Unified English Braille, and non-English Braille formats.
Version 2.0 also adds playback of Windows Media Audio (WMA) and Rich Text
Format (RTF) files. , Further, the bookshelf feature has been extended to
enhance the access and playback of all media types with special new features
for Audible books, Podcast files, and music.

With the addition of the new media types of version 2.0 the Stream now
provides a pocket size device that can play an impressive list of alternate
format books and documents available to the print-disabled. IT will play the
special navigable DAISY and NISO digital talking books produced by most
libraries for the blind in the world. It can be authorized to play the
AudioPlus digital books from Recordings for the Blind and Dyslexic (RFB&D)
in the United States. It can play Bookshare.org digital books. It can be
authorized to play the popular commercial audio books, newspapers, and
magazines from Audible.com. It is optimized to integrate with Serotek.com
who provide an extensive repository of digital multi-media content for blind
and low vision people. It also plays MP3,, OGG Vorbis, WMA, Wav, AMR-WB+,
SPX, and FLAC audio files. The built-in text-to-speech can play electronic
text formats including BRF (Braille), HTML, RTF, TXT, and XML. In addition
to its extensive digital player capabilities, it has a voice recording
functionality for recording of voice notes, meetings, and lectures.

What Stream customers are saying:
"I love my Victor Reader Stream and it travels with me wherever I go."
"This is one of the best products I have seen come along in a long time. It
is well made, works right out of the box, and reads just about any kind of
book you need read."
"It's one of the most impressive and well-planned and well-working pieces of
equipment I have seen for a long time."

"We appreciate the overwhelming enthusiasm of our customers and are pleased
that we have been able to incorporate many of their suggested new features
and improvements in the enhanced version 2 of the Stream", says Gerry
Chevalier, HumanWare Victor Reader Product Manager. "And the best news is
that the latest version 2 software can be installed for free on all existing
Victor Reader Streams."

The Stream has extensive navigation features for moving through audio books
and text files, including functions that allow you to move to the next
chapter, section or page, or to set bookmarks. For all audio book and media
formats the Stream provides a variable speed control with digital pitch
correction which allows the reader to accurately listen at higher than
normal playback speed.

The player is completely accessible by blind and low-vision users. All keys
and messages are provided through audio feedback. The player has a built-in
User Guide and a Key Describer mode.

Besides playing electronic text, the integrated text-to-speech voice
announces the track names of music files. It uses an SD memory card to store
books and music transferred from a computer.

Victor Reader Stream can be purchased online at www.humanware.com (in USA).
Current Victor Reader Stream users can upgrade their player to software
version 2.0 online at www.humanware.com.

About HumanWare

HumanWare (www.humanware.com) is the global leader in assistive technologies
for the print disabled. HumanWare provides products to people who are blind
and have low vision and students with learning disabilities. HumanWare
offers a collection of innovative products include BrailleNote, the leading
productivity device for the blind in education, business and for personal
use; the Victor Reader product line, the world's leading digital audiobook
players, and SmartView Xtend, the first fully modular and upgradeable
CCTV-based video magnifier.

For more information:

HumanWare
Nicolas Lagace
Tel.: (450) 463-1717
E-mail: nicolas.lagace@humanware.com

Hello Everyone,

Coming up on this week's Main Menu Live, we dedicate the two hour episode to
talk all about Window-Eyes 7.0. Doug and Aaron from GW Micro will be with
us as well as many beta testers from the Window-Eyes private beta team. We
will discuss the product and the many scripts that will be available on GW
Micro's Scripting Central web site found at:

http://www.gwmicro.com/Script_Central/

We had Doug and Aaron on Main Menu in the past and it is time to bring them
back to discuss the product and to get feedback from private beta users and
scripters on the new version. Jamal Mazrui has written a significant amount
of scripts for the 7.0 product and he will be here to talk about the many
things he has developed. I will discuss the newest refinements to the
Winamp scripts that will be available including features that could replace
the ACB Radio Tuner for Winamp users that use Window-Eyes as well as much
improved access to the Auto-Tagging capabilities of Winamp. Aaron and Doug
will talk all about the GW Toolkit scripting library, the AutoComplete
script, the progress indicator script, the VirtualView script, the Weather
or Not script, and much much more.

As of this writing, we are happy to report that Window-Eyes 7.0 Public Beta
1 is available at the following link:

http://www.gwmicro.com/beta

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

For this next week, only the Main Menu Live podcast feed will be updated.

Main Menu can be heard on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 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

Hello Everyone,

Coming up on this week's Main Menu Live, we dedicate the two hour episode to
talk all about Window-Eyes 7.0. Doug and Aaron from GW Micro will be with
us as well as many beta testers from the Window-Eyes private beta team. We
will discuss the product and the many scripts that will be available on GW
Micro's Scripting Central web site found at:

http://www.gwmicro.com/Script_Central/

We had Doug and Aaron on Main Menu in the past and it is time to bring them
back to discuss the product and to get feedback from private beta users and
scripters on the new version. Jamal Mazrui has written a significant amount
of scripts for the 7.0 product and he will be here to talk about the many
things he has developed. I will discuss the newest refinements to the
Winamp scripts that will be available including features that could replace
the ACB Radio Tuner for Winamp users that use Window-Eyes as well as much
improved access to the Auto-Tagging capabilities of Winamp. Aaron and Doug
will talk all about the GW Toolkit scripting library, the AutoComplete
script, the progress indicator script, the VirtualView script, the Weather
or Not script, and much much more.

As of this writing, Window-Eyes 7.0 is not publically available, but you
will be able to see it at the conventions this summer.

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

For this next week, only the Main Menu Live podcast feed will be updated.

Main Menu can be heard on Tuesday evenings at 9:00 Eastern, 6:00 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

Sadly, July 4th won’t  be Independence Day for some among us.

In 2005 Sprint announced Free Voice-Dialing Services for the Blind, Elderly, and Disabled ( http://www.mobiledia.com/news/32095.html ), to justifiable applause. For the first time, family members and caregivers could quickly and easily maintain on-line phone books for those who couldn’t even reliably dial cell phones, much less program phone numbers or “train” complicated voice recognition features. Now, names and numbers only had to be typed once into a web page, by a caring friend (who could be a complete klutz with technology), and a person with physical limitations had amazing new independence through their simple cell phone.

For example, my mother, blind from diabetes, lives in Los Angeles.  She keeps her phone on a thick string around her neck. I live hundreds of miles away in San Francisco. Without seeing or touching that phone around her neck, I spent just three minutes logged into her Sprint account. I typed in names and phone numbers to her eye doctor, her local taxi service, and my brother David. Just seconds later (and forever more) down in LA, mom just had to press <star> then <talk>, on her cell phone, then say “call eye doctor,” “call taxi” or “call David” and she was instantly connected.  Should my 89 year old dad have a heart attack, she could even speak numbers, like “dial 9-1-1,” , and an ambulance would be on the way. Nothing short of magical, Sprint’s “Voice Command” system was “speaker’s voice independent,” understanding any voice or accent. If my mom was incapacitated, dad could just pick up her phone and press <star> then <talk> and tell the same Sprint computer who to instantly dial. I’ll bet you know a son or daughter that could empower parents like my mom and dad this way, and make their lives safer.

As is often the case with the elderly, blind, or cognitively disabled, phones get misplaced or damaged. Not to worry, mom’s private phonebook now existed online, not on the physical phone. Mom’s caregiver in LA could pop by a Sprint store to pick up ANY cheap replacement phone. The very second the phone was activated, mom was back in business. Neither she, her caregiver, nor even the Sprint employee had to do ANYTHING. Replacement phones are assigned the same telephone number, and that’s all that matters. Nothing new to learn, no names/numbers for anybody to re-program. The same voice phonebook I spent three minutes to set-up, was right back at mom’s private service when she pressed <star> <talk> on the new phone around her neck.

Many others rely on Sprint’s “Voice Command” technology just like my parents, but it will be abruptly and quietly decommissioned on July 1st ( http://www.sprint.com/landings/voicedecommission/ ). The people most affected by this are unable to complain effectively on their own behalf, and no other phone carriers offers such functionality. They’re in trouble.

Sprint advertises: “Our mission is to provide the highest quality service for our customers with disabilities” ( http://www.sprint.com/landings/accessibility/index.html ) and “Sprint is committed to working with the Blind and Visually Impaired community to deliver user-friendly, accessible phones” ( http://www.sprint.com/landings/accessibility/vision.html ). Yet, incredibly, notification to their blind and disabled users was only by mail?  Not even a common-sense phone call or voice message? Most of Sprint’s blind, elderly and disabled “Voice Command” users can’t read mail, and will only learn they’ve lost the ability to call physicians, family, taxis, and ambulances–in the moment the need has arisen. This is very dangerous, and they’re at real risk.

Even if the service is unprofitable, how much could it cost Sprint-Nextel to simply leave it be? Are Sprint-Nextel marketing people pretending about their commitment to customers with disabilities? We should all nurture, advertise, and encourage more social advances like this, not kill them off.  Help Sprint-Nextel executives understand their civic responsibility as public service providers. If only for selfish reasons, one hopes whomever thought he or she could save a few corporate pennies will wake up and realize their own parent or loved one may need this someday. Can you make it your good deed today to send a quick email?

 john.b.taylor@sprint.com  “Sprint Public Policy, Business Continuity Office:”
 michelle.leff@sprint.com   “Sprint Consumer and Business Products and Services:”

Urge these executives to intervene, and “Please do not decommission Voice Command for the blind, elderly, and disabled.” Somebody you love, perhaps even you, will need stuff like this someday. Consider forwarding this email to anybody who may be in the position to help somebody become safer and more independent, should this free and simple service not be thoughtlessly decommissioned on July 1st.

Bill Meyer
meyerw (at) gmail.com