Vision WeblettersVision Webletter a potpourri of items of interest to everyone, so feel free to share it with your colleagues or forward it to a friend who can subscribe easily. See the Distribution Note below for details. In This Issue
1. Ding Dong: An Accessible Door Entry System Viking Electronics and the City of San Francisco have taken the lead in developing an apartment door entry system that provides equal access to all apartment visitors. The AES-2000 apartment door entry system incorporates both written and verbal operating instructions, as well as written and verbal tenant directories. The visual display uses one half inch black characters against a back lit green background. Blind users will find the AES-2000 simple to operate and extremely user friendly. The system incorporates the familiar etched tactile diamond shaped EZ Help® system developed by the University of Wisconsin TRACE center. Pressing the diamond button provides easy to understand verbal instructions. The voice instructions are professionally recorded with clear diction and played at an easy to follow cadence. As the user presses each button, the voice announces that particular button's use and operation. Etched tactile up and down buttons allow the user to scroll backwards and forwards through the tenant directory, first by letter of the alphabet, and then by individual tenant name. Each tenant's name is read audibly as the user scrolls. Depending on the building management's policy, the tenant name can be recorded using the building manager's voice, or the tenant's actual voice. This local control ensures that the tenant name is properly pronounced. A separate button is provided to boost or lower volume. Once the correct tenant is located, the user presses the call button and the system dials the tenant's phone. The verbal recording continues to inform the visitor of the call's progress. The AES-2000 is also fully Text TTY compatible. Simply by plugging a portable Text TTY telephone into the AES-2000, the visitor can generate a call to a building tenant and communicate with them via standard TTY keyboard entries. This feature opens a whole new mode of communication for deaf visitors and tenants alike. The AES-2000 follows all ADA (Americans with Disabilities Act) guidelines for physical design and accessibility issues. By following ADA recommended mounting heights, the system is fully accessible to all wheelchair visitors and those with physical challenges. Future upgrades will include remote operation via infrared devices. Note: Viking also manufactures a complete line of ADA compliant elevator, emergency, area of refuge and campus phones. 2. Audio Books You Can Take Anywhere If you've been looking for well recorded audiobooks on the Internet that you could download and then read "on the go" or sitting in your favorite easy chair, you need look no further. Audible.com is definitely for you. At audible.com, you can choose from over 4,500 audiobooks and 14,000 other audio programs, download them to your computer, listen immediately, burn them onto a CD, or transfer them to an AudibleReady Pocket PC or MP3 device to take with you and read wherever you go. Note that these are not text files. They are recordings by well trained readers, many of them in the entertainment and broadcasting fields. The categories include best sellers, fiction, non-fiction, science fiction, arts and leisure, drama and poetry, history, mystery, comedy, self-improvement, business, kids, and the list goes on and on. There are two plans: BasicListener at $14.95 per month and PremiumListener at $19.95 per month. To get all the facts, just go to www.audible.com. When you decide to sign up, please be sure to indicate you were referred by info@visionww.org, (our user name). Vision World Wide will then receive a small commission. Thank you! 3. The Next Generation Mobility Device Recently introduced new technology will revolutionize the way blind and visually impaired people can move around. The Batcane, to be launched in the second quarter of 2003, has been developed by Sound Foresight Limited, in partnership with Cambridge Consultants Limited, using two new types of technology: The first is inspired by the way bats are able to navigate in absolute darkness. The Batcane uses ultrasonic echoes: signals which bounce off objects present in the environment and feed back information to the cane. This covers the areas in front, to either side, and, uniquely, to the head height of the user. It is the first cane which gives reliable information about obstacles at that height, such as low branches and wing mirrors on trucks. The second new technology is tactile feedback designed to access a specific part of the brain used in mapping the surroundings. We move around in a complex environment, and the Batcane enables the visually impaired user to understand the elements present in a way that is much more immediate than has previously been possible. Recently completed trials have shown that these two technologies enable a blind or visually impaired person to feel more confident about moving around, in turn providing wide ranging benefits, from improved posture to increased quality of life. For at least eighteen months, Sound Foresight has been conducting a number of trials in the UK, US, Canada and Germany in conjunction with established bodies such as Guide Dogs for the Blind (UK), the American Council of the Blind (US) and the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. Results of the tests are currently being analyzed and fed into product development. Note: Sound Foresight Limited has just been awarded the 2002 Tomorrow's World Health Innovation Award designed to recognize and celebrate the achievements of people whose inventions help improve the world we live in and which are able to improve quality of life. Contact: Sound Foresight Limited. E-Mail: info@soundforesight.co.uk. Web: www.soundforesight.co.uk. 4. Homeland Security Information Online Detailed information on the NEW Homeland Security Coded Advisory System codes and explanation can be found at www.emergencyemail.org/homeland. A printable version is also available for posting. 5. Mold on Braille Library Books (Reprinted in part from the Star Tribune) Well, Readers, if you borrow Braille books from your library, here is something else to add to your list of things to worry about. One of the largest collections of Braille books in Minnesota is under quarantine after mold spread in and around some books. Workers discovered the nontoxic mold two weeks ago in the basement of the Minnesota Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, where about 25,000 Braille books are housed. Catherine Durivage, the library's program director, said the books make up more than 90 percent of the library's collection, located on the campus of the Minnesota State Academy for the Blind. Dehumidifiers are being used to try to stop the growth of the mold. Then, the library will decide what to do next. After discovering the mold, scientific officials and archival experts advised closing the collection. Preliminary tests indicate that humidity problems involving the heating and cooling systems in the library building, originally constructed in 1959, led to the mold growth. The library has stopped issuing the affected books to its approximately 11,000 patrons but is filling requests through the federal government's National Library Service. Although efforts will be made to clean and save the $1.2 million collection, many of the books may need to be replaced. 6. Pip Squeakers Afford Safety, Practicality & Fun Visually impaired parents are finding the innovative Pip Squeakers baby shoes provide not only an excellent safety feature but fun as well for both the baby and the parents. As the name implies, this unique squeaky footwear - sneakers and scandals - emits audible cues. These sounds delight the baby or toddler and encourages those "first steps." Adults are rewarded with a safety feature that alerts them when the baby is on the move. All styles feature flexible rubber soles and the cotton uppers on sneakers and poly-blend uppers on sandals make them extremely lightweight. With the company offering free gift wrapping and insert cards, these shoes make a great gift, too! Cost: $12.99 a pair. Contact: Peggy Wells. Tel: 908.500.2596. E-Mail: izzie@blast.net. Web: www.pipsqueakers.com/ 7. Free Career Training If you are vision impaired or physically disabled and are looking for employment or a career change, you may be interested in the free 13-week training program in Hospitality Service being offered by the National Statler Center for Careers Classes begin in January, May and August.: The training, funded by local and national foundations, provides an overview of the industry as well as job-specific knowledge. Graduates will be computer-literate, equipped with a thorough knowledge of industry standards, and ready for successful, long-term careers. During its relatively short existence, the Center has boasted an 80% job placement rate. Its graduates have been hired by hotel companies such as Adam's Mark, Sheraton, Marriott, Radisson and Hampton Hotels as well as some smaller properties. Their students have come from all over the nation, including Hawaii, California, Missouri, Michigan, Minnesota, Ohio, New York, New Jersey and North Carolina. Contact: Renee' DiFlavio, Director, The National Statler Center, 1160 Main Street, Buffalo, New York 14209. Tel: 716.882.5690 - Ext. 268. E-Mail: rdiflavio@statlercenter.org. 8. IT Job Market Still Sluggish Since many individuals with vision loss have found Information Technology (IT) a viable employment area, concern is now creeping into prior optimism of future growth. A survey conducted by the Information Technology Association of America and online IT recruitment service Dice Inc. shows that despite a modest increase in the number of IT jobs, the market remains very sluggish. According to the report, 85,000 new IT-sector jobs have been created this year, but this represents only a one percent increase, far short of the rebound many had predicted for the early part of this year. Some in the industry lay the blame for the continued soft market on both the increase of H-1B visas, which allow many IT workers to come and work in the United States, and "offshore programming," where companies outsource IT development to workers in other countries. A report is due out next year from the General Accounting Office concerning the affects of the H-1B visa program on U.S. workers. See the next issue of Vision Enhancement (Vol. 7 No. 3) for a more in-depth discussion of this important issue. 9. Promising Medical Breakthrough Supported by Glaucoma Foundation Grant According to an announcement August 12, 2002, research funded by The Glaucoma Foundation may pave the way for a new drug that could help stop or slow vision loss from glaucoma. Investigators at Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, MO, led by Dr. Arthur H. Neufeld, Ph.D., recently reported that in animal experiments with a drug that curbed the action of NOS-2, an enzyme that makes nitric oxide, the researchers were able to slow down and possibly prevent the loss of retinal ganglion cells (RGCs), the crucial nerve cells so important to sight. Building on earlier Foundation-funded research that identified the nitric oxide-producing enzyme, the researchers have now determined that excessive amounts of nitric oxide in animals with glaucoma can damage RGCs, resulting in the loss of vision. "We are getting closer to finding the answers," said Robert Ritch, M.D., Chairman of the Scientific Advisory Board of The Glaucoma Foundation, when the new research results were announced in August. "Although the current investigations do not yet translate into clinical use, this is the sort of breakthrough research that could eventually lead to stemming vision loss from glaucoma." For the past century, most medical and surgical therapies for glaucoma have attempted to lower pressure in the eye, with the aim of preventing or delaying damage to ganglion cells and preserving vision. But many patients, despite drugs and surgery to lower pressure, continue to lose vision. Suppressing NOS-2 may offer a new option. In these experiments, primary investigator Neufeld and his colleagues raised the pressure levels in the eyes of laboratory rats. Half the rats got aminoguanidine, an experimental drug known to block the enzyme's production of nitric acid. The rest got no treatment. After six months, both sets of rats continued to have elevated eye pressure. However, the untreated rats lost 36% of their ganglion cells, while the treated rats lost only 10% of their nerve cells. The researchers hope this testing will lead to clinical trials with humans in the next several years, so that it may one day be possible to treat patients whose glaucoma does not respond to pressure-lowering drugs or surgery, as well as a subset of patients who have what doctors call normal-pressure low-tension glaucoma. The hope is that protecting the vital nerve cells by inhibiting NOS-2 might preserve vision in those patients who do not respond to current therapies and also could be used along with drugs that lower intraocular pressure. This research has been funded by The Glaucoma Foundation and The National Eye Institute. 10. Vision Loss Is Not A Normal Part of Aging! Contrary to popular belief, vision loss is NOT a normal part of aging. You can now get all the facts online. The Lighthouse International has just published educational materials that outline what age-related changes in vision are normal and what changes are caused by diseases such as macular degeneration, glaucoma, cataracts and diabetic retinopathy. Drawn in part from research funded by the AARP Andrus Foundation, and conducted by the Lighthouse Arlene R. Gordon Research Institute, the information, which you can share with your patients/consumers, is one click away at: www.lighthouse.org/vision_loss/.
11. A Guide To Living With Glaucoma Coping with Glaucoma: A Guide to Living with Glaucoma for You and Your Family, by Edith Marks, (ISBN: 089529804X) describes in plain English and non-medical terms what glaucoma can do to the eyes and the souls of its victims. Recommended reading by The Glaucoma Foundation this 260-page book aids in finding the appropriate balance between medical treatment and holistic approaches to diet and vitamins or to those in need of a quick reference guide to medical procedures or surgeries, medical and homeopathic treatments, and ways in which to cope with the disease on a daily basis. This book is available in braille, audio cassette, and as a computer file from the National Library Service for the Blind & Physically Handicapped (NLS). Order from your regional library. Cost: $11.16 for a print edition from Amazon.com,. Also available at bookstores around the country at a slightly higher price. See Vol. 7 No. 3 of "Vision Enhancement" for an interview with the author. 12. Special Training for O.T.s - October 31, 2002 Lighthouse International has a full-day course providing a comprehensive introduction to the skills occupational therapists need to work with patients with age-related vision loss on Thursday, October 31, 2002, in Dallas, TX. Expand your knowledge base and learn about the strategies and devices that enhance daily living. To register for "Working with Older Adults Who Are Visually Impaired: A Hands-on Approach" (LV24), call 800.829.0500, send an E-Mail message to education@lighthouse.org, or visit their website at www.lighthouse.org/ce/courses.htm# for further information.
13. Pulse Data HumanWare Offers Trade-In Option US and Canadian owners of a Braille 'N Speak, a Braillelite or a Millennium in good working condition and running an up-to-date operating system now has the opportunity to trade it in for a BrailleNote or VoiceNote. For a limited time, customers may take $400 (US$) off the price of a VoiceNote or BrailleNote with the trade-in of a Braille 'N Speak, or $600 (US$) off the price of a BrailleNote with the trade-in of a Braillelite or Millennium. When the units to be traded in are received by Pulse Data HumanWare (PDH), along with a signed declaration of ownership, the company will ship the BrailleNote or VoiceNote. For faster delivery, you can put the full list price of the VoiceNote or BrailleNote on your credit card and when PDH receives your trade-in unit and declaration of ownership your card will be credited for the appropriate amount. Contact your BrailleNote/VoiceNote dealer, or PDH at 888.734.8439, with any questions or to begin the process. This offer is valid until December 31, 2002 and may not be combined with other promotions such as conference specials. 14. Tips for Viewing Web Pages with Window-Eyes Visiting favorite web pages with Window-Eyes can be more enjoyable if we do the following: When the page loads press Ctrl-Shift-S to get an idea of what the page is really like. This will tell you things like how many lines are on the page, how many frames and how many tables. This can be most helpful because the information you usually seek always appears at the same place on the page (for example line 52). So, go down the page, find the info you most often want to see each time you come back and find out what line it begins on by pressing Ctrl-Shift-S again. You will hear what line you are on. Write that number down or remember it. In the future when you go back to that page you can simply press Ctrl-Shift-l, type in that line number, press Enter and you are there. As you get familiar with your favorite page, if they use frames take note of this. If they named the frames this is really cool since Window-Eyes reads the names of frames so well. You can quickly jump between frames in a couple of ways. Ctrl-Tab to go forward through frames, Ctrl-Shift-Tab to go backwards. This is also a really quick way to get around on a page. Also, you will be amazed at the power of the Insert-Tab feature. Try this and tab through the options. You will come to radio buttons which will give you the option of having a list of links, frames or tables. This is a tool that is seldom used but is so very powerful. One final note for those of you who use pages like audible.com. At first glance this page appears horrible. However, you will soon find it is a good site because the webmasters there are very consistent. They always put the info you really want in the bottom table on the page. So, when the page loads just take note of the number of tables on the page and immediately press Ctrl-Alt-Tab to go to the table you want. It makes it really easy to get the info you need. Be sure to check out Appendix F of the Window-Eyes manual and enjoy these great tools. Contact: Clarence Whaley, Director of Sales & Marketing, GW Micro. Direct Voice: 615.383.6248. Direct Fax: 615.269.5288. E-Mail: Clarence@gwmicro.com. Web: www.gwmicro.com. GW Micro's Main Office: Tel: 260.489.3671. 15. A User-Friendly Recipe Organizer Screen reader users report that the unique A2Z Recipe file from A2ZWare is a "must have" for anyone (vision impaired or sighted) interested in keeping recipes gathered from the web in an organized manner and sharing them with others. Key benefits of this software program include the ability to:
The program runs on Windows 95 or later. It includes a Getting Started Help File and sample recipes to show how they look. Download the program easily and try it for free from www.a2zwaresolutions.com. Cost: $15. (Request pricing information for upgrades from earlier versions.) 16. SAL Aids Students Learn Math & Braille The Speech Assisted Learning System, dubbed SAL, is a flat, notebook-sized tool that can help students tackle activities ranging from learning to count to solving difficult calculus problems in Braille, all with limited attention from a teacher. Created by Sally Mangold, a visually impaired educator, this teaching device meets the demands of the 21st century by putting the student in charge of their learning. Students insert a special Braille sheet with a barcode into the device and its computer reads the words and symbols on the page aloud. A student can press a character or symbol and SAL will pronounce it. A second press will spell a word or define what a certain mathematical symbol means. SAL can even describe a picture. Although experts urge its use, Braille has been taught less frequently in recent years as more blind children have been put in regular classrooms and other tools such as audio tapes have become more popular. SAL will allow the teaching of Braille in ways never thought of before. Cost: $4,600. Contact: Freedom Scientific, Freedom Scientific Blind/Low Vision Group, 11800 31st Court North, St. Petersburg, FL 33716-1805. Tel: 800.444.4443 (within US) - 727.803.8000 (worldwide). E-Mail: info@freedomscientific.com. Web: www.freedomscientific.com. 17. Novel T-Shirts & Hats If you are looking for T-Shirts that carry such verbiage as Blind People Feel Better, Ears Work Eyes Don't, Have Cane Will Travel, Have Dog Will Travel, Brain Works Eyes Don't, This is My Braille Shirt, Lack of Sight Does Not Mean Lack of Vision, etc., you will want to check out all the items Blind Novel-Tees has to sell. All shirts come in Medium, Large, extra-Large and 2X and are made of 50% cotton and 50% polyester. All hats are baseball-style hats with an adjustable band and have cording above the brim. Cost: Most items are priced at $12.95 or $16.95. However, depending on the style choice and size, one or two are slightly higher. Contact: Blind-Novel-Tees, Rhonda Brantley, Owner, P.O. Box 460, New Tazewell, TN 37824. Web: www.bntonline.com. 18. Matsushita Develops Hand-Held Terminal for Blind According to a news release in Tokyo on September 25, 2002, Matsushita Industrial Equipment Co. has developed a system that uses a hand-held terminal, smart tags and recorded speech to help the visually impaired distinguish among items they use on a daily basis. Designed to help the visually impaired live a more independent life, the system uses prerecorded words to identify objects in ways that are not possible by touch alone, such as the color of clothing, the contents of canned beverages, and the music on a CD. On a more practical note, the system can also be used to identify different medicines and their dosage instructions, and to record the expiration dates of foods. The smart tags are around the size of a coin and can be attached to objects by using tape or a rubber band. Data about the contents is recorded to the chip imbedded in the tag and read by using the hand-held terminal. The data in the smart tags can be updated any number of times. Matsushita Industrial Equipment developed the system in cooperation with voice-related equipment maker Kyuhoku Electronics Corp. The smart tags were developed in cooperation with Hume pipe maker Hanex Co. The company plans to market the system in March, charging about 50,000 yen (US$408) for a set that includes the hand-held reader and 50 tags. The reader can record information on 200 objects, but with a memory upgrade the number can be increased to 500. Matsushita Industrial Equipment estimates there is potential demand for more than 200,000 units. 19. Read Classic Books Online Free Page by Page books allows you to expand your horizon by reading books online. It offers a wide selection of the best public domain books available, all in an easy to read format that differs from other similar websites. Most sites with online books have the whole book on one page, forcing you to wait while the whole thing downloads. Even worse, if you don't read the whole book in one sitting, how do you keep track of where you are? Do you really want to have to look through thousands of lines to find where you left off? Some sites are better in that they put one chapter per page. Even this is hard. What if you get interrupted in the middle of the chapter? How do you bookmark it? To fill this void, PageByPageBooks.com was created. Read a little or a lot, sneak in a few pages over lunch then read some more after dinner, no matter how much you read at a time, you can bookmark it and come back to exactly the right place. Searching the e-Library is easy by either the book's title or its author. Or, you can simply browse the entire collection. Contact: G. Edward Johnson. E-Mail: contact@pagebypagebooks.com. Web: www.pagebypagebooks.com. 20. Tips for Home Fire Safety As the nation celebrates National Fire Prevention Week October 6 through 12, here are a few safety tips for fall that are often overlooked. Check Your Detectors Check your smoke and carbon monoxide detectors. When you change your clocks, also change the battery in your detectors. Developing this habit is a good way to remember a simple task that can save your life. Space Heaters Space heaters need space, too. As the weather gets cooler, space heaters come out of their summer hiding places. Remember to leave at least 3 feet of space around your heater. Unplug it when not in use. (Note: Per most state Fire Marshal offices, space heaters are not allowed on the campus of most universities. If you have special needs, contact the Fire Prevention Division of the Office of Environment, Health & Safety or other official agency for help.) Clean Your Chimney Make a clean sweep for autumn. Give your fireplace a fall cleaning. Call your local chimney sweep and have your spark arrester checked and your chimney inspected for soot build-up. Do You Have Defensible Space? Fire season is never over. October marks the fifth anniversary of the tragic Oakland Hills fire. It's not too late to make sure that your roof is clear of leaves or pine needles and that there is a clear space of at least 30 feet between your house and the nearest tree. Halloween Fire Safety Tips
Have a safe fall! 21. Great Deals From Amazon.com For the next 3 to 6 months, Amazon.com will pay all shipping charges on orders over $25. This means that with Amazon.com's 30% off books over $15 and Free Super Saver Shipping on orders over $25, there may be reasons to shop in the physical world, but price is not one of them. You will save a significant amount of money when you buy at Amazon.com. Daily and weekly specials are awesome! So, check those holiday gift lists and order books, CDs, videos, DVDs and more. And, since Vision World Wide is one of its affiliates, we will receive a small referral fee if you use our gateway to Amazon.com. Just go to http://www.visionww.org/fundraising.htm#BOOKS, select "3. Amazon Book Store," and press Enter on "link to Amazon" We appreciate your support. 22. Distribution Note You are encouraged to share this Webletter with anyone on your mailing list that you think would find it useful. It is free. Readers wishing to receive future Webletter in their mailboxes should just send an e-mail message to: visionworldwide@yahoo.com, or subscribe directly at http://www.visionww.org/journal.htm. As this is just a mini sampling of the information contained in our comprehensive 72-78 page quarterly journal, Vision Enhancement, you are invited to become a subscriber. More information and prior issues are available for viewing at www.visionww.org/journal.htm.
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