by Sharon Lovering
The announcement of new products and services in this column should not be considered an endorsement of those products and services by the American Council of the Blind, its staff or elected officials. Products and services are listed free of charge for the benefit of our readers. “The Braille Forum” cannot be responsible for the reliability of products or services mentioned.
Correction
The USA Connection for the Blind is an audio magazine accessible by touch-tone telephone. It contains interviews of blind individuals, information about adaptive technology, entertainment, audio book reviews, and much more. There is also a free classified ad section if you want to sell services or merchandise used by people who are blind. All you need to do to join is call (918) 365-5655. There is no subscription fee, just the usual long-distance charges.
Item Needed
Do you have a medical terminology dictionary that you’re not using? Would you consider giving it to someone who needs it? Contact Debra at (703) 322-1644 or write to her at 4218 Penner Lane, Fairfax, VA 22033.
Countdown
The countdown to the Paralympics has begun. We Media will be offering coverage of the Paralympic Games from Sydney this October in a unique broadcast package comprised of CBS Sports, Fox Sports Net, and Pax TV. We Media will be broadcasting the games via the world wide web. Live webcast coverage will run from October 18-29 at http://www.wemedia.com. Fox Sports Net will present half-hour recap programs in the late morning (Eastern time, exact time TBA) on October 18-20 and 23-27 from Sydney, highlighting each day’s competitions. Productions from Pax TV will be feature-oriented half-hours shown at midnight Eastern and Pacific, 11 p.m. Central and Mountain. These features will focus on the athletes who are competing, and will run October 18-29. CBS Sports will present a two-hour special on December 31 taking viewers back to the games and telling the stories of competition, courage and dedication.
Rick Gentile will serve as executive producer for all of We Media’s broadcast and webcast coverage of the games. Gentile is a 10-time Emmy winner who, in addition to many major sports events, produced three Winter Olympic Games for CBS and the network’s coverage of the 1996 Paralympic Games in Atlanta.
Nominations
Nominations are now being sought for the third annual James H. (Jim) Veale Humanitarian Award, which recognizes the contributions of sighted individuals to the well-being of blind people. The award was established by Veale, a long-time reader of “The Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind,” when he suggested to the Ziegler Foundation that recognition should be given to sighted individuals who have been especially helpful to a blind person(s). The first winner of the award was Marjorie Pierce of Raleigh, N.C., in 1998; the 1999 winner was Elizabeth Klein of Joliet, Ill.
Nominations for the year 2000 award should include the candidate’s name and address, and describe the ways in which he or she has been especially helpful to a blind person or persons. Names submitted in previous years may be submitted again. People outside the United States are eligible. The deadline for nominations is October 31, 2000. Print or braille nominations should be sent to: Veale Humanitarian Award, c/o Ziegler Magazine, 80 8th Ave., Room 1304, New York, NY 10011. You may also fax your nominations to (212) 633-1601 or e-mail them to blind@bellatlantic.net.
Soundaround
Soundaround has a 90-minute interactive cassette program for visually impaired people. It has segments created by the listeners and edited by a blind person; there is also an open forum for discussion of any issue, a people locator and friendship area where long-lost friends can be located and contact established and maintained with those with common interests; and much more. The tape is free and is mailed from the United Kingdom free of charge under international postal agreements. To be included on the mailing list, call 011 44 0800 917 6008 or 011 44 0208 741 3332; visit the web site, http://www.adsuk.com/soundaround; or send e-mail to soundaround2000@netscapeonline.co.uk.
Talking Pager
CPR Technology has a talking numeric pager available. It displays the number and has both vibration and audio alert tones. It can repeat any message stored in its memory, as well as read the message number, time and day received, and so forth. Its built-in audio dialer will dial any number in memory. A talking clock is built right in. It requires one AAA battery (not included) and comes with a one-year warranty. You must purchase paging services for the device to be operational. Paging service is available in all 50 states, Canada, Mexico, South and Central America. Contact CPR Technology, 640 Dean St., Brooklyn, NY 11238; phone toll-free (877) 277-5237, or visit http://www.talkingpager.com.
Babies & Toddlers
The U.S. Department of Education recently launched a new web site to help American infants and preschoolers with disabilities and their families. It is located at http://www.fed-icc.org; it provides a variety of information for parents of children with disabilities. Information relates to infants, toddlers and preschoolers, birth through age 5, who receive services under the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act and other federally funded programs such as health care, child care and social services.
Braille Transcription
Do you need something brailled? The Louisiana Council of the Blind can help! The Louisiana Council charges by sheet of paper, and for entry, editing and formatting. The organization can work with documents on disk in WordPerfect 5.0 for DOS, Corel 8 or MS Word 97. Material can also be scanned for entry, or be entered directly via keyboard. E-mail and faxes are also acceptable; however, because faxes are often inferior in quality, hard copy should be sent whenever possible.
Binding is done with plastic spines for 19-hole paper, and posterboard front and back covers. Infrequently used documents under 25 sheets will be stapled at the top and bottom of the left- hand tractor-feed strip.
Entry, editing and formatting cost $16 per hour. Embossing costs vary according to the size of your order: For 1-3 copies, $ .30/sheet; 4-10, $ .25/sheet; 11-30 copies, $ .22/sheet; and 31 or more, $ .20/sheet. Binding is done at the rate of 50 cents to $2 per copy, depending on the size of the document to be bound and whether labels are needed. For more information, contact the Louisiana Council of the Blind, 1894 Dallas Dr., Baton Rouge, LA 70806; phone (504) 925-1635.
New Videotape
The Association for Retinopathy of Prematurity and Related Diseases (ROPARD) recently announced the availability of a new videotape, “Retinopathy of Prematurity for Parents, Educators and Nurses.” This 90-minute tape addresses a variety of topics, including a historical overview of RLF/ROP, the stages, zones and clock hours of ROP, treatment modalities, long-term considerations and research. It is geared for both the non-medical professional and family members, and contains slides that illustrate the stages of ROP, medical procedures used, and explains the more complex and technical aspects of ROP and its treatment. It costs $25 payable by check or credit card (sorry, no purchase orders). Michigan residents must add 6 percent sales tax. For shipping outside the United States, add $5. For more information, write to ROPARD, P.O. Box 250425, Franklin, MI 48025; phone (800) 788-2020, or e-mail ropard@yahoo.com.
Special Offer
If you want to learn how to use a computer, now’s your chance. If you’re serious about learning and are willing to listen to seven audio cassettes in your talking book machine to learn the basic steps for using a DOS-based 386 or 486 computer, the time is now. There is a $30 charge to cover packing, shipping and replacement parts. Then you can receive a CPU, monitor and keyboard. This will let you write, edit, save and retrieve letters, as well as create files that can save tax information, recipes, and your family history information. Included in the 50 computer programs will be a daily calendar, dictionary, reference material, games, and a bookkeeping and/or checkbook system. It will also have a copy of JAWS for DOS that can be used with a voice synthesizer to read the computer screen. The screen reader program is a gift from Henter-Joyce; however, no technical assistance will be provided. There is an instructional manual included; you will need to purchase your own synthesizer. If you wish to enlarge the words on the monitor, there are programs available from $75 to $600 which will magnify the print from two to 10 times, depending upon price. Contact Bob Langford at (214) 340-6328.
Japanese
Henter-Joyce and IBM Japan recently announced a joint development effort to produce a Japanese-language version of JAWS for Windows. This development is set to take place at IBM’s Accessibility Center in Japan. The product may be released around the end of this year. Stay tuned for further developments!
News from AFB
The American Foundation for the Blind recently received the Apollo Award at the American Optometric Association’s 103rd Congress in Las Vegas. The Apollo Award is AOA’s highest honor, given to recognize distinguished service to the visual welfare of others by a person, group, or organization outside optometry. AFB was recognized for its assistance in expanding the choices and opportunities for thousands of people with visual impairments.
Paul Schroeder, the vice president of AFB’s governmental relations unit, was recently named one of Access Living’s “20 leaders of the disability rights movement.” He received the award at Access Living’s 20th Anniversary Celebration at Chicago’s Navy Pier on June 19. The 20 leaders so honored have devoted their lives to working toward significant social change. Several of them, including Schroeder, were crucial to the enactment of the Americans with Disabilities Act.
And remember the essay contest announced in this space several months ago regarding a trip to Provence? The three lucky winners of L’Occitane and AFB’s essay contest, based on the Helen Keller quote, “The nose is as complex as the eye or the ear, and as well equipped for the acquisition of knowledge,” are: Zunaira Wasif, Mahwah, N.J.; Terra Zagone, Edgewood, N.M.; and Jamie Taylor, Maplewood, Minn. All flights and accommodations for the students were funded by L’Occitane.
Also, AFB has remade its humorous instructional video “What Do You Do When You See a Blind Person?”, to create a more realistic, modern portrayal of people who are blind or visually impaired. The new version follows the same story line as the original 1971 production: two men, one sighted and one blind, meet on a city street corner. When asked to provide assistance, the character stumbles through with all the trepidation that comes with anyone’s first sighted guide experience. It is available from AFB Press in VHS and PAL formats, as well as with audio description and open captioning. All versions cost $39.95 plus $6 shipping and handling. Call (212) 502-7600.
Speaking of awardees, Gil Johnson, director of the AFB West office in San Francisco, was awarded the John H. McAulay Award by the Association for Education and Rehabilitation of the Blind and Visually Impaired. This award honors “professionals who have contributed outstanding efforts and achievements leading to the placement of people with visual impairments in productive employment.” And Frances Mary D’Andrea and Diane P. Wormsley received AER’s C. Warren Bledsoe Award for their book “Instructional Strategies for Braille Literacy.”
And AFB is also seeking nominations for its 2001 Access Awards. Access Awards honor individuals, corporations and organizations that are eliminating or substantially reducing inequities faced by blind and visually impaired people. Nominations should illustrate an exceptional and innovative effort that has improved the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired by enhancing access to information, the environment, technology, education, or employment, including making mainstream products and services accessible. The effort should be one that has a national impact or can be a model for replication on a national level. A letter of nomination in print, braille, on audio cassette or via e-mail which addresses these criteria should be sent to: AFB 2001 Access Awards Committee, Attn: Jay Leventhal, 11 Penn Plaza, Suite 300, New York, NY 10001; e-mail jaylev@afb.net. Nominations must be received no later than October 2, 2000.
Talking Typing Teacher
Are you a new computer user just learning how to type? Or are you an experienced computer user who wants to improve your typing ability? I Can See Books now has available a computer program called “Talking Typing Teacher.” It is designed to help you learn to type and increase your typing speed. The program has built-in speech, and it guides you through the menus, prompts you to type drills, asks questions and informs you of everything on screen with “Eager Eddie” — the voice on the program. In many cases, you don’t need a sound card. “Talking Typing Teacher” consists of 10 main menu items and 20 sub-menu items, which are arranged with the easiest first and the hardest last. Under each menu, the program presents you with a series of choices designed to take the repetition out of typing. One such choice is “learn the keyboard.” It also includes very basic, basic, and harder typing drills; math and spelling menus; and games. The program requires an IBM-compatible 386 or higher, 2.5 megabytes of free hard disk space, MS-DOS 4.0 or higher, and a 16-bit sound card (optional). If you don’t have a sound card in your computer and want to know whether TTT’s built-in speech will play adequately on your internal PC speaker, call the company at (250) 753-3096. “Talking Typing Teacher” comes with a comprehensive disk and print manual and your choice of either a braille or cassette version of the manual. To order your copy, write to I Can See Books, 88 Captain Morgans Blvd., Nanaimo, British Columbia V9R 6R1, Canada. Each copy costs $49.95 Canadian.
I Can See Books also has released “Delicious Desserts,” the company’s first cookbook. It includes a variety of dessert recipes ranging from simple drinks such as banana cream drink to complex rolling and cutting operations like animal crackers and Nanaimo bars. It is available in braille and on disk, and costs $13.95 (US), $19.95 (Canadian). To order, contact the number above.
Blind Novel-Tees
Blind-Novel-Tees is now open! This is a gift shop for the blind and visually impaired featuring T-shirts with attitude. Designs include: “Blind People Feel Better” (black with white lettering), “Braille It All” (black with white lettering), and “Ears Work Eyes Don’t” (black with white lettering). All shirts are manufactured by Volunteer Blind Industries. Keychains and other items are also available. Some items are limited; shop now. T-shirts cost $17.95 plus $5 shipping and handling in the United States. Non-US orders contact BlindLady@communicomm.com.
All T-shirts are extra-large. Send your order, along with a check or money order, to: Blind-Novel-Tees, PO Box 460, New Tazewell, TN 37824. Tennessee residents add sales tax. Braille orders welcome. You may also check the company out at http://www.blindnoveltees.homestead.com/blindnovel.html.
News Flash
HotKey Systems has published Sonic Foundry’s Sound Forge manual in braille. Orders began shipping August 7. The manual costs $85; shipping and handling, $20. American Express, MasterCard and Visa are accepted, as are checks and money orders. Contact HotKey Systems, 63-24 Fitchett St., Rego Park, NY 11374; phone (718) 335-1788, or e-mail hotkey@pobox.com.
Ski for Light 2001
The 2001 Ski for Light event will be held in Green Bay, Wis. January 21-28. It is a week-long cross-country skiing event that features a race/rally that includes a five-kilometer and a 10-kilometer course. To receive an application, call Judy Wilkinson at (212) 662-9593 or e-mail her at judyw@sfl.org. The applications are also available on the web site, http://www.sfl.org. Applications for skiers must be returned by November 1. If you’re interested in being a guide, contact Brenda Seeger at (507) 274- 5502 or e-mail her at brenda@sfl.org. The deadline for guide applications is December 15.
Looking Glass
Are you a blind or visually impaired parent raising a teenager? Through the Looking Glass, a national non-profit organization serving parents with disabilities and their families, is seeking help from parents who are blind or visually impaired and their adolescent children (ages 11 to 17) for the purpose of designing a national survey of such families. You would be asked to participate in a brief (15 to 30 minutes) telephone interview. Through the Looking Glass is offering to pay $10 for your time; your teen would also be offered $10 for participating. To find out more about the project, contact Connie Conley-Jung at (800) 644- 2666 extension 130, or e-mail her at connie_jung@lookingglass.org.
Big Waves at PC Expo
Ai Squared unveiled a new screen magnifier at the PC Expo in New York City. The new software, called BIGSHOT Screen Magnifier, is designed to help the wave of aging baby boomers, seniors and those who suffer from computer eyestrain. It received quite a response at the show.
Bigshot provides magnification levels of one and two, with 20 sizes in that range. It also provides all-color smoothing and uses less space in the system than other methods. It costs $99; a free 30-day trial is already available. For more information, visit http://www.bigshotmagnifier.com.
Braille Greeting Cards
Shadows in the Dark offers a selection of braille pictured greeting cards and poetry cards (poetry by Poetic Expressions). The company offers the following holiday cards: Christmas, Valentine’s Day, Easter, St. Patrick’s Day, Mother’s Day, Father’s Day, Mardi Gras, as well as birthday, thank you, congratulations, sympathy, teacher, friendship, anniversary, and get well cards. Regular message cards cost $1.75 each; a set of 10 costs $15; and a set of 20, $25. Braille poetry message cards cost $3 each; a set of 10, $25; and a set of 20, $40. Braille invitations are also available; a set of 10 costs $7.50, a set of 20 costs $12. The gift catalog costs $5. To order, or request a copy of the catalog, contact Shadows in the Dark, 4600 Pine Hill Rd., Shreveport, LA 71107-2716; phone (318) 459-2233, or visit the web site, http://www.shadowsinthedark.com.
Narrators Awarded
The American Foundation for the Blind recently named the winners of its Alexander Scourby Narrator of the Year Awards. In the fiction category, the winner is Graci Ragsdale, a narrator at Insight for the Blind in Fort Lauderdale, Fla. She has recorded a wide variety of books, including fiction, non-fiction, children’s literature, poetry and plays. In the non-fiction category, the winner is James DeLotel, a narrator at the American Printing House for the Blind in Louisville, Ky. He has recorded nearly 350 books in the past 22 years, including “Ben-Hur,” “Brave New World” and “You Can’t Go Home Again.” The winner in the classical fiction category is Tom Martin, a narrator at AFB’s Talking Books studios since 1970. He has recorded such titles as “Lady Chatterley’s Lover,” “Kidnapped” and “Silas Marner.” And a special lifetime achievement award was presented to Ray Hagen, a narrator at the National Library Services Studios in Washington, D.C. He has narrated more than 400 titles since 1973, and has compiled two dictionaries for narrators, “Say How?: A Pronunciation Guide to Names of Public Figures” and “The ABC Book: Acronyms, Brand Names, and Corporations.”
CareerMosaic
CareerMosaic recently announced its partnership with Ability magazine to promote Ability Awareness’ JobAccess web site, http://www.jobaccess.org, the first large-scale Internet site dedicated to the employment of people with disabilities. Under the multi-year agreement, Ability magazine will help develop the creative content for the page; CareerMosaic will host and maintain the site and actively promote it as the premiere place on the Internet for people with disabilities and companies looking to hire people from this labor pool.
New Magazine
Disabled Christian Tape Fellowship is a monthly Christian tape magazine. It is a forum for sharing information and asking questions. You can share your favorite (Christian) web sites, libraries, magazines or other resources. Or you may share prayer requests or a testimony. If you would like to try DCTF, write to Disabled Christian Tape Fellowship, 610 B Ave., Vinton, IA 52349, or e-mail your name and address to disabledchristian@juno.com.
ALA Editions
ALA Editions, the publishing imprint of the American Library Association, is offering the entire text (with HTML coding) of “Adaptive Technology for the Internet: Making Electronic Resources Available to All” free on its web site, http://www.ala.org/editions/openstacks.
Walking Aid
Capodarco Elettronica Coop. of Rome, together with Enea, has developed a new electronic travel aid for blind and visually impaired people called Walk Assistant. It provides information on the surrounding environment, alerts people to the existence of possible dangers, signals pedestrian crossings, traffic lightsþ states, informs people of the services offered within the area covered by the system, bus departure and arrival times, and more. In Rome, the Pantheon-Trevi route is covered, as is a path from the train station to Giardini Margherita, and several others. For more information, e-mail capoele@tiscalinet.it, or visit http://www.sitespa.it.
Finding Wheels
Anne L. Corn and L. Penny Rosenblum have written a curriculum for adolescents and young adults with visual impairments who need to learn how to find transportation to life’s necessities and events. The curriculum, “Finding Wheels,” was developed for use by parents, teachers, and O&M specialists, and is available from Pro Ed for a cost of $34. Call (800) 897-3202, or visit the web site at http://www.proedinc.com.
Research Study
Have you become a non-driver because of a visual impairment? Have you found ways to maximize your independence as an adult non-driver? Have you felt frustrated with being an adult non-driver? Your input is needed for a research study. If you are 60 or older and have a visual impairment that prevents you from driving, please consider participating in this study.
Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum of the University of Arizona and Dr. Anne Corn of Vanderbilt University’s Peabody College want your input about your experiences as a non-driver. They are asking people to complete an in-person or telephone survey which gathers information about you and your experiences. If you wish to participate, contact one of the researchers with your name, address and telephone number, as well as your preferred reading medium; a letter and permission form will be sent to you.
Dr. L. Penny Rosenblum may be reached at the University of Arizona, Department of Special Education, Rehabilitation and School Psychology, PO Box 210069, Tucson, AZ 85721-0069; phone (520) 621-1223, or via e-mail at rosenblu@u.arizona.edu. Dr. Anne Corn may be reached at Peabody College of Vanderbilt University, PO Box 328, Nashville, TN 37203; phone (615) 322-2249, or via e-mail at Anne.Corn@vanderbilt.edu.