Transitioning from high school to college; the LAMP model

I want to thank Tanesha Antoine the Special Populations Coordinator at
San Jacinto College (South Campus)
for inviting me to meet yesterday with a group of
Clear Creek ISD
high school students who are blind and visually impaired, and are considering college after graduation.

So the group could understand what qualifies me to speak with them, I began by giving them some background on myself. I described my personal history before blindness, the adventitious blindness, and my decision to go to college as a first step in doing something meaningful.

I emphasized that I had more than 13 years of great working experience that nobody could ever take away from me, but that this was not going to be enough for me to be seriously looked at for employment. I needed something to go with this experience, something else that, once earned, could not be taken away. That was an education.

I highlighted that my first contact at the college was at the DSO at the community college near my parents’ home, where I lived after the accident. I also highlighted to them how soon it became clear how important that office was going to be in my educational experience.

I continued by talking about my educational journey that took me On to the upper level university path and had me picking up two necessary classes, right there at San Jac South. I filled in about my three years as a Graduate Assistant experience in the university DSO and how it taught me so much more than just the student experience of disability services, which was augmented by the time I spent as a DSO Coordinator. I let them know I knew the experience from both sides of the disability service window-- both as a student receiving services and as a coordinator providing these services.

I strongly emphasized the importance of understanding the difference between students receiving services at the high school level and when going to college, outlining the laws governing these two domains. I really wanted them to understand how the onus was going to be on them for gaining accommodations when in college.

I’m one who finds acronyms a simple method of remembering more broad concepts. I also find that these make it an easy way to pass along information when speaking as well. After writing down the basics of what I wanted to discuss, I looked at the central idea of each point and created the LAMP model. Below are the basics of that model.

Limitations - Understand which limitations you truly have and do not set false ones for yourself.
If you cannot see to drive, then it is a true limitation that you cannot drive. However, do not use this as a cop-out and say, “I can’t drive, so I can’t get somewhere.” I illustrated this point by explaining the one-hour drive I had made that morning to meet with them. As another example, I pointed out that just because you’re unable to see doesn’t mean you can’t do algebra.

Advocacy - Self-advocacy is one of your greatest tools.
Nobody can speak up for you better than you about what resources you have at your disposal and what your accommodation needs are. Resources are not only the adaptive or assistive technology you have, but are also your skills, such as Braille or computer access with assistive technology, as well as your network of contacts. You know what works best for you and it is up to you to communicate these to your DSO Coordinator, professors, and classmates.

Meeting - Meet with your professors as soon as possible to discuss your accommodation needs.
This is critical for both the student and the professor. Meet with them in person, over the phone, or by email, but make it a point to meet with your professors as soon as possible. Do this before the semester starts, if at all possible. If you get that nasty old professor “Staff,” or otherwise do not know who your professor will be before the first class day, then by all means, stay after class that day and meet with him/her. Most professors are in this profession because they want to teach, but don’t always know what you need to learn. If you make the effort to learn and show them what you need, then most often you will develop a good working relationship with the professor. I emphasized that there will be some who might resist some specific accommodations, like recording lectures, but stand firm and call on the DSO Coordinator as your facilitator.

Planning - Planning to be successful means you must be successful at planning.
Planning has to do with everything from O&M to books, to how you’re going to address things like notetaking, projects, and any specifics of the class. You will need to learn the routes to class before the semester starts so that you can be at class on time starting that very first week. Communicate with your professors before the semester starts to learn which books are required so that you can, in turn, coordinate your needs with the DSO Coordinator so that accessible formats of the books can be gathered.


There was a good Q&A session following my presentation where a few final items were discussed. These subjects varied, but included the importance of registering with the DSO, advocating for your technology needs with the Texas Department of Assistive and Rehabilitive Services, owning your assistive technology versus using loaners provided by the DSO, and some aspects of the Criss Cole Rehabilitation Center, located in Austin. During this time, I also got to beam when demonstrating my Victor Reader Stream and showing some of the great features of this powerful piece of assistive technology.

BlogCarnival.com says they don't allow blind people and they don't care if that's offensive

I’m putting on my advocacy hat today. I’m steamed, so that cap might be riding a little cockeyed right now.

Any regular reader knows that a royal thorn in my side is inaccessible CAPTCHA. That is initially what this post is about, but moreover, it is about web sites that turn their nose at providing accessibility.

I recently posted about the
Assistive Technology Blog Carnival,
Which at first used a widget to allow user submissions via a site called
Blog Carnival.
(That site hereafter is referred to as BC).

However, it was soon discovered that to submit a post via the BC site, users were required to complete a CAPTCHA with no accessibility feature. Lon, the host of the Assistive Technology Carnival, promptly removed that widget as soon as he learned about the inaccessibility of the BC site. Users can still submit to the carnival through comments on the AT Carnival site linked above, or via an email to Lon, whose email address is posted on the page.

Lon, myself and a few others have taken the issue up with the BC site and written letters asking for the site to consider using accessible CAPTCHA technology which would allow blind users to access their site. These letters have included suggestions of accessible CAPTCHA solutions such as
RECAPTCHA.
Unfortunately, nobody has received a response. Until today, when I read that T. Reid, of the
Reid My Mind blog
Wrote about the response he got from BC.

I’ve taken the liberty of copying the text of the infuriatingly smug letter from a woman named Denise at the BC site. (See below).

After reading her letter, please make a choice and do something proactive on behalf of people with disabilities. Write an email to the BC site and express concern for providing an accessible web environment for all. The email address for contacting Denise is:
Support@BlogCarnival.com
If you’ve written a letter to BC already, then write again. Let them hear from you that the stance BC is officially taking is just wrong.

I coined a phrase several years ago: “If you’re not including somebody, then you are excluding them.” From the letter Denise wrote, it is very ovvious that BC is making a choice to exclude members of the blind community.

Here is the letter he received:
From: "BlogCarnival Support"
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 3:12 PM
Subject: Re: Blog Carnival Refuses to admit the blind community

Thomas -

Thanks for your email about CAPTCHA and about the visually impaired community.

Unfortunately, Blog Carnival doesn’t have plans at this time to implement CAPTCHA. We are considering redesigns of the site, but we do not have a timeline for that. We will keep CAPTCHA in mind as we look at redesign options.

Good luck with your efforts to make the web a better place!

Yours,

Denise
Support@BlogCarnival.com


His response was:

—– Original Message —–
To: "BlogCarnival Support"
Sent: Sunday, May 04, 2008 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: Blog Carnival Refuses to admit the blind community

Denise,

Thanks for the response.

You said,"Unfortunately, Blog Carnival doesn’t have plans at this time to implement CAPTCHA."

By this I am assuming you mean no plans to introduce alternative CAPTCHA solutions. That’s really too bad. Blog Carnival is missing out on an opportunity to make a statement not only to those with visual impairments, but the entire disability community. The statement, "Your participation is important to us."

I guess there is the possibility of an alternative statement based on the future redesign.

Based on this response, I personally will forgo from participating in carnivals that use BC. I will continue to make others aware of the official statement.

Feel free to let me know if there are any changes in Blog Carnival’s position on visual only CAPTCHA.

Respectfully,
T.Reid


What are you waiting for? Go send that email to Denise at BlogCarnival.com!

ATHEN seeking survey input about Information Technology and accessibility

The information below is initially targeted to those of you who work in the DSO at postsecondary institutions, but will also involve other departments on your campus. It is interdepartmental, but the results will be most impacting to your department, so it is up to you to do the legwork and bring the other departments onboard.

The Access Technology Higher Education Network
(ATHEN) is conducting a survey regarding higher education institutions' practices, procedures, and policies for addressing information technology accessibility needs of students.

The deadline for participating in the survey is Friday, May 16.

Results will be published in the upcoming ATHEN e-Journal, and will be announced first in a pre-conference session at the AHEAD Conference 0n July 14 in Reno, NV. The session is titled "Creating Intersections that Connect Students with Disabilities and High-Tech Careers". This is an all-dayCapacity Building Institute, and there will be plenty of opportunities to discuss the implications of the survey results.

For details of the ATHEN survey, its six component sections, and which departmental official they are seeking to complete each section, click the link above to go to the ATHEN blog site.

However, if you are already familiar with who is best suited to complete each section on your campus, then the survey is located at:
http://www.athenpro.org/survey/

Man's finger is regenerated, including the nail and fingerprint

In February of last year,I reported on a substance manufactured from an extract of dried pig’s bladder that was used to
Regenerate a man’s fingertip.

Here’s an update on that item.

Fox News shares an
Associated Press article
Discussing how a man’s fingertip was regrown in only four weeks, to include fingernail and fingerprint, with the aid of this dried porcine bladder extract (which the man calls “pixie dust.”)

Now, I don't know if the man in the Fox News story is the same man mentioned in the article I had previously reported about. The Fox News report does include the extent to which the finger regenerated, which is fantastic to even conceive and why I'm writing about it today.

What else can I say? Science continues to impress and amaze me.

The iPhone now has some accessibility...sort of

Well, the iPhone is coming along in providing accessibility to customers with disabilities.

Maybe that should actually read that AT&T, the exclusive provider of voice and data plans for the popular Apple product, has finally made a jump to address some specific
accessibility concerns on the iPhone.

While the news article linked above is an umbrella announcement about accessibility, what it offers is more specifically AT&T providing a plan for internet and messaging for iPhone customers who are "deaf, hard of hearing, have a speech disability and/or hearing loss."

This really is great news for this group of customers and I applaud AT&T for doing the right thing. After all, why should customers have to pay for a voice plan that is of limited use or value to them?

The text Accessibility Plan for iPhone
is a $40 a month flat-rate feature and will allow customers who have a qualifying disability to have unlimited access to web browsing, email, and text messaging.

But didn’t AT&T promise a plan like this some time ago, like, um, back in December? I suppose almost six months late is better than never.

It appears that AT&T used that announcement to demonstrate their sincerity in making the iPhone accessible to even more customers with disabilities. That announcement also included information about the use of a mobile magnifier to help people with limited vision see their screens. This would be good news, if true, and another great step forward in providing accessibility.

But, I have to ask what magnifier program that might be? Is this the same Mobile Magnifier by Code Factory that AT&T has been selling for use on phones running the Windows Mobile or Symbian operating systems? Is that same application now Apple compatible?

Finally, the article also said that an option will also be for the Mobile Speak screen reader (also manufactured by Code Factory) to announce the menu options. This one has me scratching my head. Unless there is some voice command aspect, how will a person who can not touch the correct spot on the touch screen make the Mobile Speak software work? Unless there has been some change in the physical build of the iPhone, there are no buttons on it and the sole input is via the touch screen, which, without modification, would make navigation by the blind completely impossible.

And, I have to ask again, can the Mobile Speak program now run on the Apple operating system?

Maybe I just missed the press release announcing Code Factory products now working across the competing Windows and Apple operating systems.
Or maybe not.
Check out the official Code Factory list of supported products.

Good work on getting some accessibility options rolling, AT&T, but I think maybe there’s a hole in that umbrella.

ESPN The Magazine article examines prosthetics and athletics

It had to happen.

With the continuing evolution of the quality and durability of prosthetics, and the on-going understanding and improvements of bionics, these facets of disability would come to impact the domain of competitive athletics. Has it come down to the point where an athlete with a disability is seen as actually having an unfair advantage over his non-disabled competitors?

The current edition of
ESPN The Magazine
Has an article examining this very topic. ESPN thought it was important enough to deserve the front cover, so I believe it merits attention here as well.

That article includes photos and presents a good, thorough discussion about the pending battles in athletics. These battles are for meetings among the ruling athletic authorities, and the outcomes won't all be decided on the playing field.

While the tide has already begun, with the International Olympic Committee ruling against a runner who runs with prosthetic legs, saying the Cheetah Flex-Foot legs gave him an unfair advantage, there is much more to examine. In coming months and years, officials will have a lot more to consider . There are so many factors to be discussed and ruled upon on this subject. Athletic organizations, both amateur and professional will need to address this as time moves forward. Technological advances do not diminish, they only continue to improve. And, with that improvement will come more people using the enhancements to excel at their chosen sports.

The following information is from the article’s news release:

The prosthetic-enhanced athlete will be able to run faster, jump higher and pitch harder than mere mortals…this brave new world is just around the corner and the cover story for this week’s issue of ESPN The Magazine, on newsstands Wednesday, April 23. From an idea lab at MIT to a prosthetic design company in Iceland to amputees who see no limits to what their bodies can attain with prosthetics, ESPN The Magazine’s Eric Adelson, in “Let ‘em Play”, takes readers
into the lives of athletes who represent the future of sports and prosthetics, and demonstrates that new ideas and technology will change the way we think about what is possible for the human body to achieve.

“In many ways, we are facing the advent of the bionic man,” says MLS commissioner Don Garber. “It’s something that our industry has to start thinking about.”

Bioethicist Andy Miah predicts: “I suspect it will become an imperative and the responsible course of action to reinforce one’s body through prosthesis when competing at an elite level.”

This issue showcases split covers featuring Iraq War veteran Jerrod Fields of Chula Vista, Calif., who uses a leg prosthetic to play basketball, and Anthony Burruto of Orlando, Fla., whose double leg prosthetic keeps him excelling on the baseball field.

Next edition of the Assistive Technology Blog Carnival hits the web

“Ladies and Gentlemen, the barker announced in his resonant, commanding tone. “Step right up and enjoy the carnival!”

Yes, this means that the latest edition of
The Assistive Technology Blog Carnival
is now up and running.

There is a collection of twelve posts gathered there on a variety of subjects. These run from using AT to play computer games to using both audio and eTexts for accessing textbooks. There’s even a piece about a virtual world that was created for people with autism in the Second Life realm.

Go read the carnival and leave a personal favorite in the comments. Also, give some thought to becoming a member of this growing community and submitting a post for the next installment.

Some Q&A on WebAnywhere - a screen reader on the go

Last week, I read a post on
Fred’s Head Companion,
about a new and innovative screen reader being developed at the University of Washington.

After reading that, I was interested enough to visit the official
WebAnywhere – a screen reader on the go
site to learn more about this forward-looking web-based application.

Here is the initial information presented on the site:

“WebAnywhere is a web-based screen reader. It requires no special software to be installed on the client machine and, therefore, enables blind people to access the web from any computer they happen to have access to that has a sound card. No $1000 software program required!”

“WebAnywhere runs on any machine regardless of what operating system it is running and regardless of what browsers are installed. This is its advantage over existing products like SA-to-Go. “

The launch date for this ambitious project is late May, 2008. Keep watching the product’s site for the official release.

Additionally, there is a link on the home page to a Youtube video demonstrating the product in use by a blind student. Alternatively, one can also download the file and play it on your own computer.

Okay, as a screen reader user for over 10 years and having a keen interest in assistive technology, I’ll admit that after reading that on the home page and checking out the video, I was even more intrigued by the promise of what they were presenting. I had a few questions I wanted answered and emailed Jeffery Bigham, a graduate student with WebAnywhere who is listed as the project’s contact person to find some answers. Below is our dialogue.


Q: This is a web-based application that serves as a screen reader. Do I understand correctly that it is only in the web browser that this application speaks, not in any other application?
If this is true, are there plans to make it more functional in future generations, so that it might also read email in pop3 clients or documents in .doc, .pdf, or even .txt formats?

A: WebAnywhere speaks only the web, but the web is becoming a platform on which all the other applications on your desktop will be running in the coming months and years. Only having web access would not be sufficient now, but web trends indicate that it may enable access to almost everything users want to do in the near future. Currently, you can already access your email, PDF files, etc. using various available web applications.


Q: This appears to be cross platform, as I do not see a specific web browser mentioned. Is this correct, or is it maximized to work better in one browser over another?


A: Our goal is to make a screen reader available on any computer or device that would provide a sighted person web access. WebAnywhere is entirely web-based and will work on any web-enabled platform using any web browser. That means it will run on the Linux, Windows, Mac operating systems and in Internet Explorer, Firefox, Safari, Opera, etc. And, not only on full computers, but also on mobile devices like smartphones and PDAs.

One current problem with screen readers is that they're always playing catchup. A new physical device is released and screen reader users have to wait until someone comes along to write a screen reader for that device before they can use it. With WebAnywhere, access is immediate on any web-enabled device.


Q: I assume your team is familiar with the recent announcement of the Accessibility Is a Right (AIR) Foundation, which provides the System Access To Go screen reader by Serotek free of charge to any blind computer user with a web-enabled computer. What sets your application apart from the SAToGO software?

A: The SAToGo software is a great development and for some people it may be most appropriate. But, SAToGo will only run on Windows from Internet Explorer, and SAToGo won't run on locked-down public terminals because it requires permission to run new software. SAToGo takes 3-4 minutes to download, compared to almost instantaneous loading for WebAnywhere. WebAnywhere is also open source, which means that anyone out in the community can improve it.

All of that said, in cases where users can run SAToGo in the short term it might be more appropriate for them.

Our initial goal is to provide a base level of accessibility to the web on ANY computer or device that is available. As we move forward, we'll work to improve this interface to make it even better.


Q: I don't recall reading anything regarding cost for using the WebAnywhere application. Will it be offered free to the public or will there be a cost involved?

A: The short answer is that WebAnywhere was designed from the start to be free. We've also released it with a minimally-restrictive open source license, which means that anyone that wants to use it, modify it, or host it, can do so.

But, the devil is in the details, and we're still sorting some of them out. For example, we don't yet know how we'll actually support a public version of WebAnywhere if it becomes popular. The costs of such a system are relatively low per user when compared with other systems, but, depending on how popular the service becomes, it could still require a lot of resources. This isn't to say that it's impractical - popular existing services like YouTube, MySpace, Gmail, etc. also require a lot of resources. They, however, are fortunate enough to be supported by large companies with many servers. We've been actively talking to a number of companies and organizations who have expressed interest in trying to get this off the ground. Nothing is final as of yet.

Q: Will there be any registration process?

A: Initially there will not be a registration process, but, as the system matures, we might move in that direction. Many of the components used in the system could be used for both good and bad purposes. Without a registration process, it's difficult to control which purpose are using it for. One of the traditional ways of getting past this is to use a CAPTCHA - we'll obviously not do that.
Registration also has benefits in preserving users preferences regardless of what computer they're accessing their information from.
Registration would not, however, affect the cost of the system (it would still be free), and we hope to always make some version of the system available for free.

Q: Realizing that WebAnywhere is being built with the trend towards the future use of web apps, will it work on release with any of the already available web-based apps, such as Google docs or Google Spreadsheets?

A: WebAnywhere does not yet support Google documents or Google spreadsheets, but it's definitely one of the things (among many) that we're working hard to support. One of the advantages of WebAnywhere being a web application is that in many ways it's easier for it to interact directly with other web applications.

One of the reasons why we made the project open source is to hopefully attract other developers to the project.

Q: I think the work you are doing is definitely worth sharing. I would like to publish a post about WebAnyWhere and include some information from the answers you've shared on my blog and in email correspondence with both my professional and blind peers. Would that be all right.

A: Feel free to share my responses with whoever you want. To make the project really successful, we need to get the word out and hopefully get some people to contribute to its development!

My sincere thanks to Jeff for taking the time to answer my questions, even when in the middle of a trip to China.

So, do you have any questions I haven’t covered here? In one of my next few posts, I’ll share my initial thoughts on the on the go accessibility that WebAnywhere promises to bring.

Also, please share this with anybody you know interested in assistive technology in general, or screen readers specifically.

Freedom Scientific updates thumb drive version to JAWS 9.0

Freedom Scientific has finally updated the portability of JAWS. Yes, I’m talking about the USB thumb drive version that allows blind users to run JAWS on any computer that has the video intercept file installed. I loved it when they originally released this, but that was JFW version 7.0, and the computer world has evolved a good bit since then.

First, JAWS itself has evolved two full upgrades since then, and there is now even an update for JFW 9 toJFW 9.0.2152. Also, since that first portable version of JAWS, Internet Explorer 7 launched with lots of new features, and Microsoft launched the Windows Vista operating system.

For my own use, I still use Windows XP and have come to love the tab browsing features of Internet Explorer 7, but when on a public computer with IE 7, the portable version of JFW 7 doesn’t work with the tab browsing. Now, that’s all about to change.

If you would like to download the portable version of JFW 9, and the necessary video intercept file, you can find that information, as well as the latest improvements in JFW on the following link.

http://www.freedomscientific.com/fs_products/software_jaws90fea.asp

Freedom Scientific also offers the following notes on the USB thumb drives:

The JAWS 9.0 and MAGic 11.0 thumb drive releases run on Windows Vista, Windows XP, and Windows 2000. However, when using the thumb drive version on a Windows Vista computer, keep the following in mind.

It is recommended that you disable User Account Control (UAC) by opening the Control Panel and selecting User Accounts. The thumb drive version works when UAC is enabled, but speech and tracking are limited for elevated programs.

The Microsoft Ease of Access Center loads when you start the thumb drive release on a Windows Vista computer. Once JAWS or MAGic loads you can close the Ease of Access Center window by clicking the Close button or pressing ALT+F4.

Disability 411 podcast is back with new episode

One of my favorite disability service professionals is back in her podcast groove.

Beth Case, of the
Disability 411 podcast
Recently surfaced with her latest D411 episode.

There was a hiatus for a while, but if you’ve unsubscribed or quit checking for a new episode, go back and grab it. There is no guest, just Beth updating her listeners of what is going on.

If you’ve not heard her podcasts before, check her out. Beth is a sign language interpreter, as well as a long-time provider of disability services and has been active in the professional DS field in many capacities.

I understand that it isn't what puts money in the bank, but I'm sure glad to see D411 back up and running, Beth.

Are we all Web 2.0 crazy?: A blog that is more than it appears

I’ve found another good blog to share with you. This blog's author's name will be familiar if you've read recent comments left back and forth between Ruth and myself.

While it is relatively new and the blog’s title does not indicate that it deals with assistive technology, don’t let it fool you.
Are we all Web 2.0 crazy?
Has recently Jumped feet first into the quest for web accessibility.

Ruth is a librarian at Oxford University…yes, that Oxford…and works with students with disabilities. She has a keen interest in assistive technology and web accessibility. Though sighted, she has recently tackled a few well-known web pages with JAWS to see just how accessible they are with a screen reader.

Check out Ruth’s blog and share feedback on her findings. If you’ve got a site that you’d like Ruth to check out, drop her a comment. I’m sure she’d love to hear from you.

While this blog may be new, I find Ruth’s insightful writing fresh and interesting. I’ve got her in my personal RSS feeds so I can keep up with her writing. You can also find her blog on my blogroll on the side.