[Diabetes-talk] questions from a fairly new list subscriber

Wed Mar 4 17:03:53 UTC 2009

Dear Mike,
Thanks for replying to my message. I will check out the Braille Monitor. I
subscribed to Voice of the Diabetic about a month ago and haven't received
an issue yet. I opted to receive the publication via email.
The CD I received from Blind Inc., seems to be a few years old since some of
the articles date back to 2004, 2001, and those reprinted from the 90's.
I would like to get connected with diabetes educators who have had
experience working with the blind.
That would be great if Prodigy made a talking pump!
Minimed pumps have software that allows one to make changes to basal rates,
the increment for easy bolis, time and date, and other items that are set
through the pump menus. It would be nice if one could also use the software
to program a bolis that would be delivered as soon as the pump was
disconnected from the computer. For example, I think that the pump has bolis
wizzard--a feature to calculate insulin needed for carbs eaten and high
blood sugars. These calculations can easily be made manually, but I think
the pump also keeps track of active insulin.
I will figure out who I could speak to at Minimed about this or pump
accessibility. I appreciate your efforts to advocate accessibility with the
insulin pump companies.

Chanelle
-----Original Message-----
From: diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org
[mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Freeman
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 9:58 PM
To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-talk] questions from a fairly new list subscriber

Chanelle:

With respect to BLIND, Inc., it's a great rehab center. I know some of 
the personnel who teach there and they're great folks and know what 
they're about. If you go to http://www.nfb.org, thence to the 
"Publications" link and thence to "The Braile Monitor", you can read a 
review and description of the BLIND, Inc. program in a recent issue. 
Just do a search for "Blind, INC." and you'll find it or just peruse the 
tables of contents for the past few issues.

BLIND, Inc. had someone who specialized in diabetes management but don't 
think there's one there now. However, there are a number of persons 
there who have diabetes and who can probably put you in touch with 
blindness-savvy CDEs. Additionally, there's a lot of practical expertise 
on this list.

Insofar as pump accessibility is concerned, I and several others from 
the Diabetes Action Network are working on the problem. However, the 
situation isn't much different than that which you described from an 
article several years ago. Although at first blush it would seem that it 
would be easy to make an insulin pump talk, it isn't quite as simple as 
one might suppose. One has to determine what must be spoken when and in 
what form (for example, if one is using a pump with a CGMS system, often 
the information is graphically displayed, not numerically displayed and 
one must figure out how to convey this verbally). WE have had some 
communication with one pump manufacturer which has showed a bit of 
interest. However, if truth be told, despite what we might think, the 
blind (and yes, I mean the visually impaired also) are a pretty small 
segment of the market so pump manufacturers have to be shown a good 
reason for making the investment in access technology. AS I say, we're 
working on it. I doubt anything is in the immediate offing.

AS to the Clevercheck, I've not seen one but suspect that it is like the 
Prodigy Autocode or the Advocate in that it would speak a bg reading --  
once -- but that all other functions would be inaccessible. But I 
emphasize that I'm going on a hunch, not on knowledge.

We'll keep working on the pump problem, though!

Mike Freeman, President
Diabetes Action Network
National Federation of the Blind

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Chanelle Hill" <chanellemh at gmail.com>
To: <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 03, 2009 1:27 PM
Subject: [Diabetes-talk] questions from a fairly new list subscriber

Dear List Members,

I read an article about insulin pumps that someone from NFB wrote 
several
years ago, and so I thought I would join this list to see if anyone has 
had
improved accessibility with the pump and for other diabetes issues. I am 
a
Type I diabetic, and I have been using the Minimed Paradigm 512 insulin 
pump
and the Prodigy Voice meter. I know that NFB is heavily involved in
advocacy, but what has been done to inform insulin pump companies of the
need for more accessible pumps? Is there any way to become involved in
advocating for better accessibility? It would be wonderful to use the 
new
Minimed Continuous Glucose Monitoring system, but the meter needed to
calibrate the pump doesn't talk. It seems like that could easily be 
fixed
since there are already talking glucometers. I spoke with a rep from 
Minimed
about upgrading my pump and asked if Minimed was working on a pump that
would be more accessible. She thought that the company was, but no one 
has
gotten back to me.

It sounds like someone is having problems with the Prodigy Voice meter 
on
this list? After calling and waiting a few weeks to get some more 
strips, I
found out that Homecare Solutions is no longer carrying the strips for
Prodigy Voice and that they are carrying a new meter that is supposedly 
like
the Prodigy called the Clever Check. Have any of you heard of this new
meter? Hopefully it has all of the audible features and more accessible
software (that's almost too much to ask :-) ).

Finally my last question. I am checking out state rehabilitation centers 
in
Minnesota-one of which is Blind Inc. On the CD that SSB sent me 
containing a
BLIND cyber brochure, a class for diabetes management was mentioned. Do 
you
know if that is still taught? Apart from that, have any of you had
experience with the training programs at Blind Inc.?

Thanks in advance for answering my questions.

Chanelle

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