Stem cell treatment reverses MS in study group

There is some very encouraging news in the stem cell newsfront.

In a recent study at Northwestern University in Chicago, patients with multiple sclerosis received treatement with their own stem cells, and
Reversed their disability.

This procedure did not use the controversial, embryonic stem cells, but instead gathered stem cells from the very patient they were later used on.

All 21 patients in the study had the “relapsing-remitting” form of the disease that makes their symptoms alternately flare up and recede. Three years after being treated, on average, 17 of the patients had improved on tests of their symptoms, 16 had experienced no relapse and none had deteriorated, the study found.

“This is the first study to actually show reversal of disability,” said Richard Burt, an associate professor in the division of immunotherapy at Northwestern, and the lead author of the study published Thursday in the British journal, the Lancet Neurology. “Some people had complete disappearance of all symptoms.”

This is great news, indeed. Let’s hope this success sparks further research and innovation.

On paydays and light bulbs

I’ve been working with a group of kids now for a period of roughly two months. Most of what I’ve been doing is teaching them how to use the JAWS screen reader, although I know there are many other fine points I’m overlooking if I say that’s all I’ve been doing with them. I have also demonstrated for each of them what the Victor Reader Stream is, and how this versatile media player can assist them in day-to-day activities. I’ve also introduced them to DVS movies and computer games for the blind, mostly those from Jim Kitchens’
Kitchensinc
Web Site.

There is more to come and I'm learning as well as the kids are. I am learning the keystroke commands for Serotek's
System Access Mobile
screen reader so that I can teach them how to use this as well. As the students turn in their application forms, they are getting their own jump drive versions of the System Access Mobile screen reader as part of Serotek's Keys for K-12 program.

The experience of teaching and empowering these young minds is incredible. I don’t think the students realize just how much they give back to me, but they pay me in denominations beyond words or anything of monetary value. It is so beautiful when the lesson we’ve been working on comes together for the student and that light bulb clicks for them. It just warms my heart each time this happens and I’ve been getting warm-hearted a lot lately. Its like the assistive technology professional I work with tells me, Today was payday and you just got paid.”

I was working with one of my elementary school boys yesterday on a lesson involving editing a document. He was learning where to place the curser to insert a letter in a word. Instead of putting it on the letter in front of which he wanted to insert the text, he would put the cursor on the letter he wanted the text to follow. Needless to say, he was getting a little frustrated. He was undaunted though, and kept trudging through the lesson, putting the pieces into place and finally finished the document just like it needed to be. It was beautiful to see that whole process happen.

While he was doing this, I was sitting back, coaching him, just grinning ear-to-ear as I witnessed learning in action. I told him that he was learning what to do as well as what not to do and attempted to illustrate with the story of Thomas Edison. I asked him if he knew who Edison was and he replied, Isn’t he the man who invented electricity, or was that Ben Franklin?” Then he went back to editing his document.

I grinned and then shared the story about how many times Edison had to work at inventing the light bulb. When a reporter asked Edison how it felt to fail so many different times, his reply to the reporter was, “ I didn’t fail those times. I just learned that many ways that the bulb didn’t work, which led me to figure out how to make it the right way.” (I wasn’t sure of the exact quote, but was paraphrasing in an attempt to illustrate the learning aspect for my student.)

Then, this boy told me, “Yeah, but he was just inventing the light bulb. He wasn’t trying to write a document like I am.”

Ka-ching! I just got paid again.

If you can’t tell, I love this job.

Blind Bargains 2009 Access Awards voting underway-- go vote

For those who don’t know about
Blind Bargains,
The regularly updated and very useful web site list daily deals of interest to those of us who are blind and into technology. I receive their daily email update, but they also offer an RSS feed to keep readers updated of the latest deals.

Besides just listing great deals on tech-related issues, last year the Blind Bargains folks began awarding the Access Awards. They kicked it off by first asking for reader input on a variety of categories regarding blind technology and access. The categories included best software, hardware, web site, blog, and others.

Well, that was last year and the sophomore nomination process is over. It is now time for the voting round in the second annual Blind BargainsAccess Awards.

I am very humbled and proud to find Access Ability nominated for best blindness-related blog. I would sincerely appreciate it if you would go to the
Voting Round page
And cast your vote for Access Ability as the best blog.

The other nominated blogs are almost all names which regular readers have seen referenced as sources of information here on Access Ability. They are blogs that I read regularly and whose authors I regard with utmost esteem. So, it is truly an honor to be grouped with these blogs which are very well respected within the blind community. I am proud to be mentioned worthy of hanging with these guys:

Blind Access Journal,

Fred’s Head Companion,

Mobile Space,

and
The Ranger Station.

And, aside from just voting for the best blog, please take the time to cast your vote for the other categories as well.

Guided by Love-- A Seeing Eye dog owner recounts her first

Everybody who knows me knows that I travel with a Seeing Eye dog. Hence, I have a good understanding and great compassion for these wonderful animals, as well as the legal aspects that ensure our access in the United States.

With that in mind, I want to share an article with you. In
Guided by love: A reporter recalls life with Bates, a Seeing Eye dog,
Liz Campbell recalls her first dog from The Seeing Eye. She describes in heartfelt detail, what the process was like for her to initially decide to get a guide dog, her years with her golden retriever Bates, and transitioning through the decision making process involved to get her new dog.

I tried to keep a normal routine that day — doing errands before work and walking to a restaurant for lunch. But my day was filled with tears. It was especially hard when friends came to my desk to tell Bates goodbye.

It was also, though, a day full of anticipation. I was getting a new dog soon. In fact, the next day, I was leaving for the Seeing Eye training facility, in Morristown, N.J.

I thought about a new dog and what he might be like. Could I trust him to guide me safely, as did Bates? Could I ever love him as much as I love Bates?

Liz is a government affairs reporter for the Fort Worth Star-Telegram. I first heard of her when she made a presentation at the state convention of the National Federation of the Blind several years ago. I listened as she gave a recount of what life was like for a journalism student who was blind attending Baylor University back in the days before word processors. I clearly recall the incident where she described the time when she turned in a lengthy article that numbered several typed pages, right at deadline,, only to be told that all the pages were blank. What had happened was that her typewriter’s ink ribbon had run out and, being blind, she didn’t notice that important detail.

I also met Liz a couple of years ago at the
Come Walk in Our Shoes
event, which I reported on here on Access Ability. Liz was there demonstrating the original KNFB Reader.

On apersonal note, I just recently found out that Liz was in class with my friend
Wayne Merritt,
When she was in Morristown training with her second Seeing Eye dog.

Anybody who has experienced the wonders and emotions involved in the process of getting a guide dog can certainly appreciate the tale, or should that be “tail,” of Bates. Liz’s professional talents for reporting shine through in good form as she candidly shares the feelings, thoughts, and even doubts that come to mind when pondering this process. Go back and click the link to read her entire article.

Or, if you prefer, there is also the
full version of the article,
with accompanying video and audio files that supplement her written words.

Google engineer Raman addressing blind accessibility on touch screen phones

I’ve previously railed here about the inaccessibility of the iPhone, due to the whizbang Apple product’s touch screen not having any features that make the much-ballyhooed gadget usable by blind folks. Maybe my approach to touch screen phones was all wrong. Instead of knocking the innovation, I should’ve embraced it.

At least, that’s what
T. V. Raman has done.

From the New York Times article linked above:

Some of Mr. Raman’s innovations may help make electronic gadgets and Web services more user-friendly for everyone. Instead of asking how something should work if a person cannot see, he says he prefers to ask, “How should something work when the user is not looking at the screen?”

With no buttons to guide the fingers on its glassy surface, the touch-screen cellphone may seem a particularly daunting challenge. But Mr. Raman said that with the right tweaks, touch-screen phones — many of which already come equipped with GPS technology and a compass — could help blind people navigate the world.

So then, the question comes to mind, if he can’t see the touch screen, then how does he know where to correctly touch it to make a call?

Since he cannot precisely hit a button on a touch screen, Mr. Raman created a dialer that works based on relative positions. It interprets any place where he first touches the screen as a 5, the center of a regular telephone dial pad. To dial any other number, he simply slides his finger in its direction — up and to the left for 1, down and to the right for 9, and so on. If he makes a mistake, he can erase a digit simply by shaking the phone, which can detect motion.

He and Mr. Chen are testing several other input methods. None of these technologies have been rolled out, but Mr. Raman, who is already using the G1 as his primary cellphone, hopes to make them freely available soon.

(Few screen readers are available for smartphones today, and they can often cost as much as a phone itself.)

This is truly the insight that needs to be applied to touch screen phones, and should have applications that can be carried over to other touch screen devices that are ubiquitous and becoming more and more commonplace around households and businesses everyday.

Those in the blind technology circles might know who T. V. Raman is, but many don’t. For those of you who don’t, let me shed a bit of light. Mr. Raman is a computer scientist and engineer at
Google.
He is also blind due to glaucoma and And is behind several aspects of accessibility at the online search and advertising behemoth. He has a history of creating accessibility in existing products, including pdf documents for Adobe Acrobat.

I’ve read a good bit about Mr. Raman over the past few years, but this is, by far, the most interesting news to me. The reason why is the ondslaught of touch screens coming down the pike in the future of our everyday lives. If they can innovate and make this aspect of daily living more accessible, which I see becoming more and more integrated into our lives, then I’m all for it.

Ginger Spell on Disability 411

Several years ago, I read a passage that has stuck with me and become my own day-to-day mantra: “There are no mistakes in life, only lessons. It is only when we fail to learn the lesson that a mistake occurs.”

That thought also echoes the adage of, “If you always do what you always did, you always get what you always got.”

With those ideas in mind, let me ask a question. What do we learn from proofreading with a spellchecker? When we use most spellcheckers, we get the screen popping up the correct spelling of words, one word at a time, with no real feedback on what we’re doing wrong. If we’re not learning from our mistakes, er lessons, then we are destined to repeat them.

So, how about a spellchecker designed not to look at just the single word and be a preventative measure, like most are today, but instead, looks at the whole sentence and contextual use of the word, and seeks to teach the user where he is making errors?
And, what if this novel idea worked as a plug in for Microsoft Word, easily the most-used word processing program?
And, best yet, what if it were free?

If this sounds like an interesting tool, then check out the latest episode of the
Disability 411 podcast.
In Episode 58, Beth interviews Miki Feldman-Simon of
Ginger Software,
The company which has developed Ginger Spell, the very spellchecker that I just described above. It is marketed for being a “new technology for people with dyslexia.”

It doesn’t correct just spelling mistakes. It also corrects misused words, basically words that are spelled correctly but not in that context. How we do it is we look at the context of the sentence. The software uses breakthrough technology that looks at the context of each sentence and works out what the writer or the user was trying to write according to the context.

At the moment we correct spelling and misused words, but in the beginning of next year we’ll also be correcting grammatical errors which will make a huge difference to people making not just spelling mistakes but say, people for whom English is a second language who make a lot of grammatical errors.

What the software also does by correcting the whole sentence, it’s making the whole way people work a lot more efficient. Instead of going back and looking word by word, it is much faster to correct full sentences. So, if it takes someone an hour to write, and this is the feedback we’re getting from users right now, instead of it taking them a half an hour or an hour to write a few sentences before, it’s very quick and very efficient. you click one button and it corrects all of the mistakes within that sentence. You click another button, it corrects all the misused words and you just continue working.

It’s just a much better way to use the time and the accuracy is a lot higher than any other spell checker. If you really have difficulty writing and you make unusual spelling mistakes, which a lot of people who have learning difficulties or who have dyslexia do, normal spell checkers can’t correct the unusual mistakes that they make. Our software, because it looks at the context of the sentence can correct these unusual mistakes at the sentence level. It’s much more accurate and it’s much faster and easier to use.

The learning of lessons comes in reports that Ginger Spell will generate. This is where Ginger Spell is different by offering lessons, not mistakes. The user can learn where and how he is creating errors and, once these areas are identified, can work to fix these in the future.

To use the Ginger Spell plug in, the user will need to set up a log in account. That lets the program generate the individual report for that particular user, which can make this a very useful tool for university writing labs, or even for student computers operated by the DSO.

Does this sound like an interesting tool? Check out the link above for the D411 show for more of the interview with Miki. Also, go to the Ginger Software page to download and try out Ginger Spell for yourself.

And, remember…, no more mistakes, only lessons.

Developers of WebAnywhere screen reader recognized for technology collaboration

Hopefully, the following recognition will allow insight to continue.

The 3rd annual Mellon Awards for Technology Collaboration (MATC) recognized the great work going on at the University of Washington on
WebAnywhere,
The cross-platform, cross-browser, web-based screen reader on the go.

The MATC recognition provides a $50,000 award to the university, which will hopefully be used for the continued work on this insightful, open source software.

If you’re interested in trying out this innovative and evolving assistive technology , go to the official
WebAnywhere home page.

And, in case you missed it, a few months ago, I interviewed
Jefferey Bigham,
the contact person for WebAnywhere, several months ago here on Access Ability.

Personal update

Sorry about the lack of posts of late. Aside from the Thanksgiving week break, during which I was gone for a 6-day cruise with my family, I’m also working on a couple of projects. Both of these undertakings are similar in that they involve me teaching assistive technology.

First, I have recently begun working with a local school district to teach their blind and visually impaired students how to use the JAWS screen reader and some other assistive technologies in which I’m well versed in. I’m so impressed with the range of skills the students possess, not to mention their desire to learn. I’m doing this a couple of days a week with students from elementary to high school age. The teachers and administrators keep thanking me for doing this, but I keep feeling that I should thank me for being able to contribute to the education of these kids. Maybe I’m idealistic, but what I teach them might be the very skill that helps them excel in college or land that job they want. Only time will tell what dividends are realized out of my time investment with these students.

The second undertaking I’ve been working on is a structured curriculum for teaching VI professionals on how to teach their students how to use JAWS. I was contacted a couple of weeks ago by a VI professional from another school district. He asked if I could teach him and a fellow colleague on how to instruct their students on this. He said that they have to know several different technologies to fit a variety of skill sets and visual acuities, but doing this usually means being a jack of all trades and master of none. To teach JAWS, though, one must have more of a skill level than what they have and he said that the practical experience I have is a very sought after skill.

Doing both of these teaching projects has sparked an inspired fire within me. Using JAWS and other assistive technologies are skills I’ve learned out of necessity, but mastering these and staying up to date on latest innovations in assistive technology was a self serving method for me to maximize my experience and abilities. However, I’ve realized that I have become a resource on using various technologies that many of my friends who are also users of these turn to when they need help or looking at purchasing new equipment. It is that realization mixed with a desire to help that have pushed me to embark on my latest efforts.

The down side of all this is that I’m winding up with less time to write here on Access Ability. Don’t worry, though. I’m still here and will be tending this fire as well. It may be a bit less frequent, but writing here will definitely be something I continue. After all, it was a passion to share resources that drove me to begin this blog in the first place, and that fire still burns.

I just feel that I needed to let regular readers of this blog understand why I’ve been a bit absent of late.

More soon…

Leader Dogs giving away Trekker Breeze

How would you like a chance to win a Trekker Breeze?

In an effort to promote its Trekker Breeze training initiative, which incorporates the functionality of GPS with orientation and mobility skills,

Leader Dogs for the Blind,
Is giving away a Trekker Breeze.


In addition to the contest, Leader Dogs is also featuring both trainer and student blogs where the writers will chronicle their Trekker Breeze experiences on the Rochester, Minnesota guide dog school's web site.

The drawing is open to everybody, not just Leader Dog students. There is also a brief survey to inquire what drew participants to the post. To enter, go to the official
contest web site.
The drawing will take place on Dec. 19, 2008 and the winner will be notified by email.

For the uninformed, the Trekker Breeze is a lite version of Trekker, the powerful accessible GPS navigation system, manufactured and solde by the assistive technology company
Humanware.

Trekker Breeze offers the important benefits of GPS orientation tools. It enhances independence and confidence in travelling. Users can record routes as they walk them with sighted assistance. Routes can then be previewed and activated for future use. As they walk by, users receive audible information such as street names, intersections and reference landmarks. In case they are lost, they can retrace their steps. They can also reach favorite destinations with turn by turn instructions from their current position. The product makes it easier to travel alone and allows people to discover and enjoy their surroundings.

When I trained with Boise, my current dog from
The Seeing Eye,
my training partner was a big user of various assistive technologies. He traveled to Morristown with two suitcases, one of which was nothing but his gadget bag. One of these gadgets was the original Trekker, which he insisted I check out on one of our walks in town.

The information Trekker provided was incredible. It told me of so many different shops and street demarkations that I never knew about, even with the robust information provided by several trainers on the same route. If the Trekker Breeze gives the same user feedback with as much eas of use, it will be a great prize to whomever wins it. Hopefully, that will be me!

Blind Planet aims to be one-stop blindness resource

If you’re interested in news, products, and information specific to blindness, you might want to bookmark the
Blind Planet
Web site, which bills itself as, “The best blind community on the net,.”

“Our mission is to provide the world with a one-stop resource for blindness-related information, podcasts, tutorials, mailing lists, web sites, and almost anything else that would be useful to the blind community.”

Welcome to The Blind Planet! The Blind Planet is a rapidly-growing web site that offers a lot of valuable information for the blind community, and / or for those people who are interested in learning about blindness and how blind people go about their daily lives. Regardless of whether you are blind, sighted, a novice or a professional at technology, or are just searching for help and / or information on a particular topic, you will definitely find the Blind Planet to be one of your favorite web sites very quickly.

I first learned about the site because somebody read a blog post here by clicking on a link originating on the Blind Planet site. Intrigued and curious, I checked it out. After perusing the site and its
News Aggregator
I added it to my own RSS feeds.

Besides my own blog feed, the Blind Planet News Aggregator includes feeds from several of my regular favorites, including
Blind Bargains,
Blind Cool Tech Podcast,
Fred’s Head Companion,
The Ranger Station,
Top Tech Tidbits for Thursday,
And
Wayne’s blog.

For me, the News Aggregator does meet its intended mission of being that one-stop resource, at least for reading my favorite blindness related blogs and web sites.
See if it does the same for you.

AccessApps offers free assistive technology applications to run on USB jump drive

(Thanks to the
Fred’s Head Companion
for the following assistive technology resource.)

AccessApps
is a site that has more than 50 assistive technology and learning applications. The beauty of this site is that these titles will all run on any computer, directly from a USB jump drive with no need to install software on the host computer.

The site, based in Scotland, will allow you to select the various software applications and download them in one suite. There are even step-by-step tutorials and video guides on the site’s “Help” page to get you up and running.

AccessApps is an initiative developed by the Scottish JISC Regional Support Centres in cooperation with
JISC TechDis
. It consists of over 50 open source and freeware assistive technology applications which can be entirely used from a USB stick on a Windows computer (

here is a full list of applications on offer).

AccessApps will run without needing to install anything on a computer and provide a range of e-learning solutions to support writing, reading and planning as well as visual and mobility difficulties.

What are you waiting for? Go get ‘em!

Interview on No Limits 2 Learning Live

Pardon me, but its time for a little self promotion.

On Wednesday, I was interviewed by my friend Lon Thornburg
On his
No Limits 2 Learning Live
BlogCastRadio program If you enter on the link above, the webcast will stream, but there is also an option to download the program if you prefer to listen to it later.)

On this program, Lon asks me about a variety of issues from personal adjustment to blindness to what it takes for a blind student to prepare for college. I get to discuss some of the issues most important to me, most particularly planning, self advocacy, and accessible texts.

I first met Lon through a comment left here on the Access Ability blog and we’ve gotten to know each other through email correspondence since then, but this is the first time we’ve actually talked to one another. I hope its not the last! Lon is a well qualified assistive technology expert in Oregon whose passion for helping shines through in everything he does. I’m truly proud to call him my friend.

Be sure to keep up with Lon's regular writings and reflections on his
No Limits 2 Learning
Blog. He writes on a variety of assistive technology matters and ties in some of the most important and compelling aspects of working with students.

Brain Computer Interface continues to evolve

I’ve previously posted about the research involving technologies which allow the Brain to interface with a Computer. One link I provided was the work that Hitachi has made with its
Brain-machine-interface,
As well as the
Project Epoch,
A brain computer interface that lets computer gamers interact using only thoughts and facial expressions.

The programs that allow a person the ability to operate a computer by thought are complex applications that execute computer commands using only normal, human thought processes. This research offers great hope for people who have limited or no motor function, as well as tons of potential for future variations of what it can do.

Now, here’s the latest update on this technology.

If you missed it this past Sunday, the CBS news magazine
60 Minutes
had a report on the latest innovations in this revolutionary technology. When that web page loads, do as the Aerosmith song of a few years back instructed, and “Just Push Play.”

In the video, Scott Pelley reports on two people who use brain interactions with a computer to interact and communicate. The first person we meet is Scott Mackler, a husband, father, and neuroscientist who was diagnosed with ALS nine years ago. Mackler uses an external cap of electrodes to operate the computer and engage the Brain Computer Interface to respond to Pelley’s questions during the interview.

The other person shown in the sequence is Cathy Hutchinson, who was paralyzed after a stroke some years ago. She has a different variation on her interaction with the computer, though. While Mackler was connected via the cap of electrode arrays on the outside of his head, she is directly connected to the computer with electrodes that have been implanted in the motor cortex of her brain. She uses a plug on her head to connect to the Braingate system on the computer. She makes the computer respond to her commands just as if she were operating a mouse with her hand. She has even operated a wheelchair using the Braingate.

Click on the link above and watch the video. It is truly fascinating. This shows what can be done when we push the limits of what is possible. The advances this technology is creating remind me that the potential for mankind to succeed is virtually unlimited.

As a final note, a tip of the hat also goes to CBS for showing great insight to providing accessible material. For those who are deaf or hearing impaired, or just prefer to read the text instead of watching the awe-inspiring video, the network also offers a
text transcript.

On beautiful homes, cars, and wildflowers

On a recent evening, I was talking with my father-in-law, who was telling me about a new neighbor who had recently visited their home for the first time. The neighbor commented, “This is just beautiful in here, its like a museum. From the outside, people would never know just how beautiful it is in here. You should invite people in and let them see just what a beautiful home you have.”

It immediately dawned on me that that man’s words apply just as well to people. From the outside, strangers don’t know what lies inside. If they are not invited to come inside, they’ll never come to know what beauty lurks just out of view.

I think of my group of friends and how each one is such a unique person, with his or her own, distinct attributes, and how easily these would be overlooked by anybody who does not take a moment to get to know the individual. Several of my friends have various disabilities and I know how socially isolating having a disability can be, which only serves to magnify the matter of being closed off from the outside world.

Too often, life is like the world is a car speeding down the highway and not noticing the pretty, lone wildflower idly sitting there. The world will never notice if it doesn’t slow down and look.

But, maybe if there were a flagman signaling the car to stop and directing the world’s attention to that bloom, then the world might notice it.

While that wildflower doesn’t have a flagman to bring attention to it, we as people do. We can let people know who we are just by inviting them into our world.

Because the important thing to note here is that, in actuality, you are that wildflower.

Open the door to your life and say hello to people. Let them know who you are. Let the world see the beauty that lies within, the museum of who you are.

I don’t mean that you have to be an open book and talk to every person you meet, but when presented with the opportunity to have a conversation, don’t be afraid to be the person to initiate it. People are social beings and we thrive in the company of others. Its lonely without outside interaction.

Open your personal doors, invite your neighbors in, and let them see just how beautiful your home is.

Two Resources for Writing College Papers

Here are two useful web sites which should serve as great resources for any student needing to write college papers. Thanks to the fine folks at
Fred’s Head Companion
for these links.

Punctuation Made Simple

First, there’s a great writing tool for all, particularly any student with a writing or cognitive disability, at
Punctuation Made Simple.

The site, hosted by The College of Arts & Sciences at Illinois State University, has links specific to using colons, semicolons, commas, and dashes.

Big Dog's Grammar

The second resource is
Big Dog’s Grammar,
which touts itself as, "Basic English grammar with interactive exercises."

The site has links for MLA style, pronoun use, active/passive voice, and various forms of modifiers, as well as some other nuggets of wisdom.

It also has an option to read the web site in Spanish, an alternative I think would be a great asset for Spanish speakers who are taking English classes.

Call to advocacy for accessible information

I just received the following in an email from The Victor Reader Stream Newswire and felt it needed to be shared. It is a call for users and providers to raise your voice and be heard by contacting your country's representative to the WIPO. Hurry, though, as they will meet in ten days!

******
Message from the DAISY Consortium...

Dear DAISY Members and Friends,

The World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) will be considering a copyright treaty proposed by the World Blind Union (WBU) at the WIPO November 3 Standing Committee Meeting. The treaty, called "WIPO Treaty for Improved Access for Blind, Visually Impaired and other Reading Disabled Persons" is available online at:

http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/tvi/tvi_en.html

We are asking all of you to contact your country's representative who will
be attending the WIPO Standing Committee meeting and advocate in favor of this draft treaty. We need you to act now, because the meeting will take place in ten days.

Information and links to supporting documents are provided immediately below in this email. We also offer some guidance on who to contact in your country and some assistance finding the right person.

On the front page of the DAISY Website under "Recent News" is the link to an article that provides further detail. It also contains links to the draft treaty in HTML, DAISY 2.02, and in DAISY 3. DAISY home page:

http://www.daisy.org

Direct link to the news entry:

http://www.daisy.org/news/news_detail.shtml?NewsId=458

The WIPO Standing Committee will be meeting November 3-7, 2008 and the WBU proposed treaty is the first substantive item on the agenda. The agenda can be found at:

http://www.wipo.int/meetings/en/doc_details.jsp?doc_id=108373

DAISY Members and Friends should send their email letter in support of the proposed treaty to the department/minister that is going to represent their government in the SCCR/WIPO meeting. This information can normally be found within the department of foreign affairs and education in your country. If anybody has difficulties finding their SCCR representative we have provided names of those who attended the last meeting. This can be found at:

http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/tvi/wipo_delegates_sccr16.html#toc17

If you are unable to find the name of the representative in your country at the link provided above, please contact Judit Rius Sanjuan
judit.rius@keionline.org

and/or Thiru Balasubramaniam
thiru@keionline.org

The treaty proposal put forward by the WBU is an extremely important document which addresses information access on an international level. We suggest you familiarize yourself with the proposal, and ask that each of you contact the government representative in your country who will attend the SCCR/WIPO meeting. Background and talking points are available at:

http://www.keionline.org/misc-docs/tvi/tvi_memo_en.html

Best

George Kerscher, Secretary General, DAISY Consortium
George Kerscher Ph.D.
Access to information is a fundamental human right in our Information Age.

Senior Officer, Accessible Information
Recording For the Blind & Dyslexic (RFB&D)
http://www.rfbd.org

Secretary General, DAISY Consortium
http://www.daisy.org

Co-chair Web Accessibility Initiative (WAI), a division of the W3C
http://www.w3c.org/wai

Board Representative to the International Digital Publishing Forum (IDPF)
http://www.idpf.org

Hybrid Assistive Limb is a lifestyle changer

Its not quite the Six Million Dollar Man, but we’re getting there.

There is a new exoskeleton called the
Hybrid Assistive Limb,
or HAL, which uses censors on the skin connected to electric motors to increase the user’s strength tenfold.

It works by using sensors applied to the skin that detect the faint electrical currents sent by the brain through the nervous system when it commands a particular activity. These sensors are connected to a computer that interprets the signal and then sends its own command to electric leg and arm braces. Upon detection of the appropriate electrical nerve signal, HAL moves a split-second before the leg muscle itself.

The exoskeleton is being marketed and leased as a rehabilitation tool. That’s a great start, but the ability to add strength times ten to limbs which are not usually cabable of normal power just screams out to me that this would be a lifestyle changer to many. Just think about the difference this can make to people with limited motor strength or to people who are weakened by aging. I’d bet they would think this product was worth six million dollars.

One question I might have concerns the HAL's use with people who have central nervous disorders. Being it relies on nerve impulses, I would think that this might preclude its use for that population. However, despite that one holdback, HAL still fits a broad category of people who would probably find it a great difference maker in their lives.

Blind Sight: A camera for visually impaired people

In the time before I became blind, I always had a camera around. Since my accident, that hasn’t changed. These later cameras were usually for capturing images that could be later shared with those of the light-dependent persuasion, but it was also a method for grabbing some memories for myself. The thing was, the pictures were always only as good to me as the descriptive abilities of the person telling me about them.

In my experience, most blind people tend to use cameras, which I do think is interesting. Even though we can’t see the photos, we do like to have them to capture special moments and share with family and friends.

Somebody else has taken note of that and worked to create
Touch Sight: a camera for the blind.

I originally learned about this product through an email, but looked it up online. Here’s some information from the web site.

“Touch Sight is a revolutionary digital camera designed for visually impaired people. Simple features make it easy to use, including a unique feature which records sound for three seconds after pressing the shutter button. The user can then use the sound as reference when reviewing and managing the photos.
Touch Sight does not have an LCD but instead has a lightweight, flexible Braille display sheet which displays a 3D image by embossing the surface, allowing the user to touch their photo. The sound file and picture document combine to become a touchable photo that is saved in the device and can be uploaded to share with others–and downloaded to other Touch Sight cameras.”

One interesting aspect discovered by Chueh in his research is that holding the camera to the forehead is the optimal position for this device. He discovered that “at the Beit Ha’iver (Center for the Blind) in Herzliya, Israel, the instructor who teaches a photography course for the visually impaired discovered that holding the camera to the forehead, like a third eye, is the best way for them to stabilize and aim the camera. The instructor also found the visually impaired have no problems estimating distances, since their sense of hearing is especially sharp. Every rustle of wind in the trees catches their attention and can be used to judge distances. Other senses come into play as well. The heat of the sun or a lamp in a living room, for example, signals a direct source of light. They regularly use their non-visual senses to feel the world and manifest it into a mental photograph.”

After reading that information, there are some thoughts that occur to me about this camera.

*The sound recording is a good idea to give a contextual reference to the picture. I’m not sure that three seconds gives enough time to say much, but I’m certain that can be tweaked in future revisions of the product. And, the recorder being activated with the shutter means the person taking the picture needs to think about what to say before engaging the shutter.

*I like the ability to share the files. It might mean uploading the files for others to share, but wouldn’t it be great if it included BlueTooth by design?

*The display with refreshable Braille makes me think this will not be cheap. Given the cost of existing Braille displays for electronics, I shudder to think what this will mean for the price of this device.

*And, being that cameras take only two-dimensional photos, I’m supposing there will be some limitations of the pictures that this camera can render and display in Braille. Unless the Braille display gives some depth in the height of the cells, there will be no depth perception, but only a raised line drawing.

Still, this is a big leap in a direction that might seem contrary to most folks. Then again, most folks haven’t been around gatherings of blind people such as annual conventions of the national blindness advocacy groups or at classes at the various guide dog schools. If so, they would know that blind people often have and use cameras, even if they can’t see the pictures they take. That might be history as this product evolves.

Happy Rebirth Day; A matter of attitude

Okay, I’ve already acknowledged today’s date in my first post. For anybody who doesn’t know me, today is personally significant to me. It was this date, 15 years ago, that changed my life forever. It is the reason I’m writing this blog today. It is the day I was involved in an auto accident that blinded me and caused a ripple of events in my life that changed the way I do so many things.

Today is also the day I mark as my rebirth day. I was reborn that day in almost every aspect, short of a trip down the birth canal. I had to learn to walk and talk again after a two-month coma. I had to learn how to eat again, only this time I couldn’t look at my food as I got it onto the fork or spoon—a real feat when eating jello for the first time! I also had the chance to rethink my education and career choices. It was a freedom to start all over again and that is how I saw the events in my life, a real opportunity.

I truly believe it is that attitude of seeing that change in my life as an opportunity, not a curse, that has led me to find the level of fulfillment and success in life that I have. I’ve had many academic and personal achievements, but the best thing I’ve done is to find my wife of almost ten years as the result of that fateful day.

I am very happily married to a darling woman and we have the best 6-year-old son anybody could hope to have. I might add that I never would have met my wife if I hadn’t been through the changes of 15 years ago. I was speaking at a youth conference and talking about making good choices following my accident, and she came up to me afterward to follow up on something I had said about learning how to cook while blind. She is a high school Foods teacher and had a 10th grade student who was blind and wanting to learn how to cook. On that day, more than 11 years ago, we began a strong friendship that is the foundation for our marriage today.

The day of my accident, October 9, 1993, isn’t only significant to me. It was also the same day that
Marcus Engel,
A young Missouri man in his first semester of college,was also involved in an auto accident. Marcus went through more surgeries in the next year and a half, most of these above the neck, repairing the effects of a drunk driver when he struck the vehicle Marcus was traveling in.

No matter how good those surgeons were, though, they couldn’t save Marcus’ sight. Yes, that’s correct…he was blinded in an auto accident on the very same night I was. We were in accidents separated by a couple of states and about three hours, but our fates were joined on that same date.

And, continuing down that idea of fated pathways, we met about a year and a half later, when we were both at
The Seeing Eye,
In Morristown, New Jersey, getting our first guide dogs together.

We became friends and created a bond there that has kept us in touch with each other in many ways since then and I continue to count Marcus as a good friend. We have both also progressed a long way from those early days of adjusting to the blindness and the changes in our lives. We are both now married and have created well-balanced lives that I don’t think either of us could have ever foreseen 15 years ago.

In my life before that auto accident, back when I was a Texas prison supervisor, I used to tell my staff at shift briefing that the quality of their day will very likely be the result of their individual attitude. I believed that statement then, and believe it even more so today. Life really is all about attitude.

I don’t know what your plans for today are, but I will go out with my wife and son this evening and celebrate today. For me, it is special, but, then again, that is just my attitude.

Getting back into the groove

Today is October 9, exactly one full month since I made a regular, non-hurricane post here. To regular readers, I say, “I’m sorry about that prolonged absence.”

I’ve been out of sorts here. First, there was a water pipe which burst inside the guest room closet of our home that upset the apple cart. That took about a week and a half to get things situated, preparing for the repairs to the sheetrock, baseboards, and carpet. Then, this hurricane appeared and smashed that apple cart, leaving way too much in its aftermath. The hurricane set off the house repairs to our home for a few weeks, and only last week did we get our final repairs finished when the carpet company installed the new flooring.

My problem is that I am a creature of habit and work great within structure. I thrive in a routine and that’s exactly what has been lacking around here of late.

I suppose, though, since my son went back to school last Monday, and the home repairs are all finished, that it is time to get back to business here at Access Ability. So, I’ll be working to post more diligently in the coming days. I sometimes take a little effort to get going once I fall out of my routine and a month off is a long time. Bear with me, though, and we’ll get there.