Blind Access Journal

Everything that happens in the world is ultimately a result of the sum total of all the choices made by each person on the planet.

Darrell Shandrow

Check out this informal comparison between the Fortuna Slim 3 and Globalsat BT-338 GPS receivers for use with Destinator and StreetTalk. While the Globalsat is slightly more accurate, the Fortuna receiver features a real on/off switch, making it more accessible for totally blind users.

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This text based tutorial represents the step by step instructions necessary to connect your Nokia Series 60 based Symbian cell phone with your PAC Mate for the purpose of establishing Internet access through T-Mobile Internet. An audio presentation of this information was released on ACB Radio’s Main Menu technology program in early July.

Requirements

The following equipment is required:

• Nokia 3650, 6620 or other similar Series 60 Symbian based cell phone.
• A screen reader on your cell phone such as Mobile Speak or Talks.
• Subscription to your cellular provider’s data service. T-Mobile Internet is specifically demonstrated in this tutorial.
• A Freedom Scientific PAC Mate BX or QX product.
• A Bluetooth Compact Flash card inserted into the PAC Mate. The Socket Communications Bluetooth Connection Kit is highly recommended.

Preparing the Phone to Connect to the PAC Mate Using Bluetooth

Complete the following steps to make sure Bluetooth is enabled on your phone and that it is discoverable:

1. Press the menu key.
2. Down arrow to Connectivity.
3. Press Select.
4. Bluetooth is already highlighted. Press Select.
5. Listen for the words “Bluetooth on”. Press Select if you hear “Bluetooth off”.
6. Press down arrow once. Make sure you hear “my phone’s visibility shown to all”. If it says “hidden”, press Select once to make the phone discoverable.
7. Optionally, down arrow and press select to rename your phone. This step is not required.
8. Press Key 2 twice to exit the menus.

The phone has now been prepared to accept a Bluetooth connection from the PAC Mate.

Establish Bluetooth Bonding Between the PAC Mate and the Phone

Most of these procedures are conducted on the PAC Mate. Entry of the Bluetooth passkey must be entered on both devices. This will be made clear in the procedures below:

1. Make sure your PAC Mate is focused on the “Today” window.
2. Press JAWS key+f11 on the PAC Mate.
3. Press enter on “Bluetooth Transmitting”.
4. Down arrow to “Get Connected” and press enter.
5. Press enter on the Next button.
6. Use the up and down arrow keys to select the model of your cell phone: for example, Nokia 7650/3650.
7. Press enter.
8. Press enter on the Next button.
9. A reminder of the need to make your phone discoverable is heard. Following these procedures, this has already been accomplished. Press enter on the Next button to proceed.
10. The name of your cell phone should now be heard. If there are multiple devices found, use the up and down arrows to select your phone from the list.
11. Tab to the Select button and press enter.
12. Press enter on the Next button.
13. Press enter again on another Next button.
14. Press enter on the Finish button.
15. Return to the “Today” window if you are not taken there automatically.
16. Press JAWS key+f11.
17. Press enter on “Bluetooth Transmitting”.
18. Down arrow to “Advanced Features” and press enter.
19. Down arrow to “Bluetooth Devices” and press enter.
20. Down arrow to the name of your cell phone and press the Context key. This is the fourth key to the right of the space bar.
21. Press enter on “Bond”.
22. Press enter on the Next button.
23. The name of your cell phone is heard and you are reminded to make sure its Bluetooth capability is turned on and discoverable. Press enter on the Next button.
24. Enter a passkey as prompted. This should consist of four numbers.
25. Tab to the Reply button and press enter.
26. On your phone, enter the same passkey as prompted then press Key 1 within 30 seconds or less to complete the bonding process.
27. Press enter to choose the Finish button on your PAC Mate.
28. Press escape to return to the “Today” window.

Connecting the Phone to the Internet

These procedures assume you are using the T-Mobile Internet service. Feel free to substitute the details with information supplied by your cellular data service provider as needed. Follow these steps on the phone:

1. Press the Menu key.
2. Down arrow to Tools and press Select.
3. The Settings menu is highlighted; press Select to open the menu.
4. Down arrow to Connection and press Select.
5. The Access Points option is highlighted; press Select to open the menu.
6. Press Key 1.
7. Down arrow to the “New Access Point” submenu and press Select.
8. The “Use Default Settings” option is highlighted; press Select to continue.
9. Enter the following information in the fields as prompted:

• Connection name: Enter anything you like. The contents of this field are all up to you.
• Data Bearer: GPRS
• Access point name: internet2.voicestream.com
• User name: none
• Prompt password: no
• Password: Skip this field; do not enter anything here!
• Authentication: Secure
• Gateway IP address: 216.155.165.50
• Home page: http://wap.myvoicestream.com
• Connection security: off
• Session mode: permanent

10. Press Key 2 when entry of all settings has been completed.
11. Press Key 2 several times until all menus have been closed.

The phone is now ready to be utilized as a device for establishing an Internet connection from the PAC Mate.

Establishing the Dial-Up Connection on the PAC Mate

Follow these steps to establish a dial-up connection from the PAC Mate through your phone:

1. Press the Start key on the PAC Mate.
2. Down arrow to Settings and press enter.
3. Press control+tab twice to reach the “Connections” page.
4. Down arrow to Connections and press enter.
5. Tab to New and press enter.
6. Enter a name for the connection as prompted.
7. Tab to the “Select a Modem” field.
8. Make sure “Bluetooth Phone” is selected.
9. Tab to the Next button and press enter.
10. Enter *99# as the number to be dialed.
11. Tab to the Next button and press enter.
12. Tab to the Advanced button and press enter, leaving the username, password and domain fields blank.
13. In the “Baud Rate” list, down arrow to 57600.
14. Tab to the “wait for dial tone before dialing” check box and press the space bar to turn this feature off.
15. Tab to the “extra dial-string modem commands” edit box and enter the following text exactly: +CGDCONT=1,,”internet2.voicestream.com”
16. Tab over to the “general tab” and press enter.
17. Tab to the Finish button and press enter.

You have now established a dial-up connection that uses your PAC Mate to connect with T-Mobile Internet through your cell phone. Completion of these procedures has left you focused on the Modem tab of the Connections settings. Press escape to leave this window.

Establishing and Using the New Connection

It is now time to establish your first successful mobile Internet connection. Follow these steps to get underway:

1. Make sure your cell phone is turned on.
2. Press the Start key on your PAC Mate.
3. Press s to reach the Settings menu quickly.
4. Press control+tab twice to reach the Connections page.
5. Down arrow to Connections if it is not already focused and press enter to open this window.
6. Down arrow to “Manage Existing Connections” and press enter.
7. Your new connection should be focused. If it is not, press down arrow until it has been selected from the list. You may safely ignore the check box to the left of its name.
8. Press the Context key to right click the connection.
9. Down arrow to Connect and press enter.
10. Make sure the username and password fields are both totally blank. Remove any asterisks that may be present in the password field.
11. Tab to the “save password” check box and press the space bar to activate it.
12. Tab to OK and press enter.

The PAC Mate will initiate the connection process. If all goes well, you will be connected to the Internet in less than a minute. No dialogue box will confirm this successful connection; focus will simply be returned to the list of possible dial-up connections. Simply begin using programs such as AOL Instant Messenger, Internet Explorer and MSN Messenger.

I hope this tutorial helped to expand your connectivity beyond the home, office or wireless hotspot into new realms where Internet access is typically unavailable. Please feel free to provide constructive feedback by way of a comment to this article, an e-mail message to editor@blindaccessjournal.com, or a call to the comment line at 206-350-6925.

I sent the following letter to the quality assurance manager of Dial-A-Ride following a conversation he had with Karen this afternoon.

Hi Andrew,

Karen and I just spoke at length regarding the telephone discussion the two of you had this afternoon. First, please understand that Karen and I appreciate your taking some ownership of yesterday’s incident and doing your best to make some adjustments. We really do appreciate that. Second, we both fully understand that Dial-A-Ride is a shared ride service, that it (like all other systems in the known universe) is imperfect and that, from time to time, there are bound to be problems. When problems do arise, all we ask is that your organization’s staff hold themselves accountable, take ownership and make real, sincere, reasonable best efforts at resolving the issues. As in just about any other business, we expect representatives to take ownership and responsibility of all matters from start to finish. The following basic steps would go a very, very long way toward resolving any issues:

1. When there is an error, acknowledge it right away.
2. Sincerely apologize.
3. Expedite any adjustments as needed to reduce the negative consequences.
4. When adjustments just can’t be made, provide a free trip or send some tickets.
5. Investigate and provide real answers.

That’s all there is to it. We just would like you guys to do your best to follow those basic five steps. We feel they are pretty much universally good practices across all aspects of life. You mentioned your feeling that the number of e-mails we send and telephone calls we make concerning issues are “excessive” and that we need to understand that “we are not the only passengers”. Karen is in the hospitality industry and I am in the technical customer support industry. Under no circumstances are we permitted to make statements like these when dealing with customer service issues. It would be, at a minimum, considered highly unprofessional. Our supervisors would certainly be speaking with us. We would most certainly be written up or, worse yet, fired for repeated incidents. Please understand that you and other members of your staff will receive fewer e-mails and telephone calls from us when we observe practices of greater accountability,
professionalism, responsibility and taking ownership of issues.

Best regards,

Darrell

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Listen as I discuss StreetTalk, the U.S. space program, this morning’s role up of some of the London terrorists and more.

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Rose and Denise,

Karen called yesterday asking if she could change her pick up and return trips for Friday to an earlier time. She wanted a 5:45 AM pick up and a 5:30 or so return. Karen spoke with Marcus at around 11:00. He said that he would check with Terri later in the afternoon and someone would call back later. After no follow up call by 4:30, Karen called back. Alecia told her there was no 5:45 AM pick up available so they agreed to leave things alone. What happened? A driver showed up this morning at 5:45! Karen wasn’t ready to leave at 5:45; she needed to have gotten up about half an hour earlier! If reservations are being changed for any reason, there absolutely must be communication with the customer. No changes should be made without confirmation that the loop has really been closed. Common sense! Nobody bothered to call Karen back to tell her the changes would be made after all! Worse, the driver went back to the van, talked with Rocky on the radio, then just simply left, without walking back to the house to properly explain the situation to Karen. This action makes the matter worse and is highly disrespectful and unprofessional. As is almost always the case, it was up to Karen to call, speak with Rocky and straighten things out! Gary is supposedly coming back at around 6:15; Karen had better not be late to work this morning!!!

This problem was caused by a breakdown in communication and a lack of follow through on the part of your reservationists. It is just that clear and simple. You guys wonder why we’re always so stressed out and hard on you. Reasons like this clearly illustrate the problems; your staff continuously shows they are not to be trusted. Please, show some character, conscience and personal fortitude by taking this situation seriously and actually addressing it promptly! Call Karen this morning. Oh, man! I still just can’t believe you guys did this. Now that this pick up has been rerouted, I hope it does not result in a second incident this morning where you make her late to work, too! Do not, for a second, think we’re just going to allow this issue to be swept under the rug without action; we expect that phone call!

Thank you,

Darrell Shandrow

Fortunately, Karen was not late to work. She got the “express ride”, arriving at around 7:00 AM. Nevertheless, the communication breakdown, inattention to detail and lack of follow up are unprofessional and represent signs of disrespect for people with disabilities and the elderly by an organization whose mission is specifically to provide service to these populations in our community! This behavior is harmful, stressful and completely unacceptable.

As I was reading today’s Mountain Wings daily inspirational e-mail, I noticed a link next to an explanation for their not being any printable text sermons available. The link pointed to a frequently asked questions document containing the following language:

Q: Is a printed version available?

A: We thoroughly understand that many have hearing problems or don’t have computers with sound or environments conducive to listening. The problem is simply resources. We don’t have the available time (or energy) to transcribe each sermon, format it properly, link it and upload it. It’s all that we can do to get the spoken versions edited and uploaded for TheOnLineWord and the many parts of VirtualChurch.com. Although thousands listen regularly, very very few donate to help and it takes resources (money) to do things and transcribing sermons and the many associated tasks with putting written sermons on the web are some of those things. Once we begin “Closed Captioning” on our television broadcasts, and we won’t do that until the FCC requires it for our broadcasts, then we may have printed versions available.

The very last sentence struck me immediately! Closed captioning won’t be provided until it is required by the FCC. Sadly, this sort of thinking is all too common when it comes to accessibility. Companies don’t want new laws requiring that they spend additional resources to become accessible. Industry groups tell us that they understand accessibility is the right thing to do, and promise that, over time, they will become more and more accessible. At the same time, most people simply don’t seem to feel obligated to do something or, for that matter, to stop doing something, unless they are compeled by one or more laws. Only if there are going to be serious negative consequences will they make the choice to tow the line, comply and simply do whatever the law requires. Most people falling into this category are similar to the “not my jobbers” I wrote about yesterday. While most of the world around us is largely inaccessible, there are small exceptions. Is the reason for this state of affairs related to the differences between the plain Jane average person and those who decide to excel, going way above average? Are the above average people in this world more likely to design their products and services so that they are accessible? Is the ultimate answer to accessibility advocacy simply the passage of more and more laws to which we can simply force the average people to comply so they will avoid facing the punishment for not doing so? This is just more food for thought for a quiet Thursday evening. Anyone have any ideas?

This article represents my own editorializing. Though it does cover serious issues, please, take it as it is intended: my commentary on the way in which the average person chooses to conduct, or fail to conduct, themselves on the job, how it may negatively impact those of us with disabilities and how we must make sure we rise above average. All constructive comments, positive or negative, are always welcome to any blog post, as an e-mail to editor@blindaccessjournal.com, or as an audio message left on the comment line at 206-350-6925.

Due to staffing needs, Karen’s employer has asked her to begin her shift 30 minutes earlier, at 7:30 AM. After experiencing a number of recent errors in data entry on the part of several Dial-A-Ride reservationists and, owing to the critical need for accuracy in the adjustment of this important appointment time, she wrote a quick note to the customer advocate asking that the necessary changes be made so that she could arrive at work on time to start the 7:30 shift beginning next Monday. She received the following answer.

Karen—

I am in receipt of your email below. I cannot make changes in customer ride times. Please call the reservation department to request any changes you are in need of. The reservationists will be glad to assist you with your request.

Thank You Rose

Karen wrote the following in response to this unhelpful answer.

Hi Rose,

I will be more then happy to speak to the Reservationists to make the changes. However, I wanted you & Denise to be aware of the shift change since, as we all know, there have been issues of me arriving on time or, somehow, the pick up time or appointment times have been incorrect in your system. So, if management knows, there should be no excuses for me being late if all the data is entered in the computer correctly. After I call & make the changes, can you look to see if it is correct? Why can you not do this request? Thank you for replying to this message. If you think I should speak to Andrew , what is his extention / E-mail?

Thank you!

Karen

After learning of Rose’s unwillingness to simply step up to the plate and help Karen, I wrote the following in response.

Hi Rose,

In the past couple of weeks, we have spoken with reservationists about scheduling specific appointment times and canceling trips in advance. In a number of such cases now, appointment times and other data were incorrectly entered into your systems and your drivers have shown up to pick up Karen on days when we have canceled. It is becoming apparent that, especially in critical situations such as this, the reservationists are not to be trusted. Obviously, this shift change request involves an adjustment to Karen’s standing reservations. It is critical this get completed correctly. There are negative consequences only for Karen if this is done improperly, as your office rarely takes ownership responsibility for any errors made. We need these changes made correctly and promptly. Karen could be made late to work again. Do we need to go through another incident like the ones that took place at the beginning of this month? Karen wrote this message several hours ago. We don’t believe that, as customer advocate, you are not allowed to make these adjustments. In the past, under the old Atlantic Paratrans, it has been necessary and preferred to make critical changes like this with the customer advocate’s help. Yes. We do typically book trips with the reservationists. But, sometimes, when a serious issue like possibly being late to work is at stake, it would seem it is the responsibility of the customer advocate to help the customer, take ownership of the request for assistance, make sure it is completed and initiate additional communications as necessary to close the matter, rather than just stall and force it onto someone else’s plate. There’s a reason Karen wrote you and Denise, rather than going through the reservationists. Please, be proactive; give Karen a call this afternoon and step up to the plate to facilitate getting these changes made properly!

Thanks.

This situation is just one example of a very disconcerting, increasing trend I call the “not my job” mentality. Rose is saying that booking trips is not her job. Technically, she is correct. As customer advocate, however, she is responsible for taking complaints, resolving issues and accomplishing related tasks to insure the delivery of a quality service to the customer. Rose didn’t book the trip. She didn’t even hand off the information to a reservationist and insure its correct entry. She simply decided she didn’t want to help at all. It is always easier to avoid taking responsibility for anything that isn’t exactly part of one’s job description, to pass the buck on to someone else without even giving the matter a second thought. Sadly, this is exactly the mentality of the average, plain Jane person. Overall laziness and the “not my job” mentality are all over the place; we see it all around us. We thought that Rose was a decent customer advocate, that she just didn’t have enough power to make some of the positive changes we seek to insure the operation of Dial-A-Ride in a manner that avoids negative consequences to those of us with disabilities. Sadly, it seems we have been proven wrong yet again. She’s just average.

Despite the stereotypes and perceived limitations of blind people that are still largely believed by the majority of the average, general public, the “not my jobbers”, blind people like Karen, myself and many others excel! Karen is a member of her employer’s Distinguished Service Team and I was recognized as Employee of the Month for June. Why? The reasons are clear. We are most certainly not a member of the “not my jobbers” club. We operate with precision, pay attention to details and go above and beyond all calls of duty to do the absolute best possible job! We always strive to perform well above average, comparing our accomplishments only to those we have made in the past rather than to those of others around us. We compete with ourselves first, before competing with anyone else. We are thus extremely angered and frustrated when we must suffer the artificially imposed limitations and negative consequences caused by problems that could have been avoided had someone just decided to spend the time to listen to us completely, take us seriously and simply do the right things! I thus issue the following challenge: always be your best, go above and beyond the call of duty, take ownership of issues and take responsibility for your actions rather than simply passing the buck. Comments welcome as always.

At approximately 5:00 in the evening on July 6, I wrote the following message to info@podcastalley.com requesting assistance with registration as prompted next to the visual verification on their web site.

Hi,

Please tell me how I can complete the registration process when I am unable to see the visual verification code? The link to e-mail you is appreciated,
but what happens now? Please advise.

Thanks,

It is now three weeks later on July 27, and I have yet to receive any assistance with the registration process! While a sighted person is permitted to register in five minutes or less, I am still waiting after three weeks. I’m just not sure how better to clearly illustrate the problems inherent in this type of accessibility solution. The “customer service” approach to the accessibility of visual verification represents the replacement of an automated process with a manual one requiring human intervention. It is clear that, in the vast majority of cases, this approach to the issue is little better than simply providing no accessibility at all. Service by a 24×7 customer support center is the only way this approach could ultimately be considered an acceptable solution.