[nabs-l] Reasonable technology requests from Rehab andsomeothercollege questions

Anmol Bhatia anmolpbhatia at yahoo.com
Wed Apr 27 02:49:44 UTC 2011 

Yahoo has worked just fine for me. I have to press the disable all updates on my laptop since I am still using Jaws 8.0, but in the computer lab where they use Jaws 11.0 I don't have to do that. I have not had ny problem with Yahoomail.
Anmol
I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me sad. Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.
Hellen Keller


--- On Tue, 4/26/11, Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com> wrote:

> From: Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reasonable technology requests from Rehab andsomeothercollege questions
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Tuesday, April 26, 2011, 3:20 PM
> Hi, Anmol.
> 
> Just curious.  I saw you have a Yahoo email
> address.  I thought Yahoo was totally inaccessible to
> screen readers, and I used to have it with JAWS. 
> Totally inaccessible! Then I found out that Gmail was the
> most accessible, so I got it.  However, Yahoo is
> accessible to VoiceOver if you get email on an iDevice, like
> an iPhone or iTouch.  We tried it out on my mom's
> iTouch.  But it didn't say it was sent from any
> iDevice.  So, what do you use for your email?
> 
> Chris Nusbaum
> 
> "A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities
> motto)
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Anmol Bhatia <anmolpbhatia at yahoo.com
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Mon, 25 Apr 2011 09:12:03 -0700 (PDT)
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reasonable technology requests from
> Rehab andsomeothercollege questions
> 
> Good points Arielle.
> The only thing I would add is to keep consideration that
> our technology is expensive and I would hate for any of it
> to come up missing or stolen.  So maybe at first unless
> you know someone and can trust that person get a single room
> until you get there and get to know others and have made
> friends.  Maybe second semester or second year
> you can get a roommate with someone you know.
> Anmol
> I seldom think about my limitations, and they never make me
> sad.  Perhaps there is just a touch of yearning at
> times; but it is vague, like a breeze among flowers.
> Hellen Keller
> 
> 
> --- On Mon, 4/25/11, Arielle Silverman <nabs.president at gmail.com>
> wrote:
> 
> From: Arielle Silverman <nabs.president at gmail.com
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reasonable technology requests from
> Rehab andsomeother college questions
> To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date: Monday, April 25, 2011, 12:24 AM
> Hi Jordan and all,
> 
> When I applied to college, because of advice from my DSS
> counselor and
> encouragement from my parents, I disclosed on the housing
> application
> that I was blind.  I was assigned a single room, and
> initially I was
> assigned a handicapped-accessible room.  I fought to
> get a
> non-handicapped room, but decided to keep the single
> because I feared
> that my technology would crowd out a roommate.  As it
> turned
> out, I
> brought a Braille printer that I didn't ever use.  If
> I
> could do it
> over again, I would never have told housing that I had a
> "disability"
> or requested a single.  I made an effort to socialize
> with
> my
> floormates, but still I felt I didn't quite click with the
> other girls
> on my floor and I really think if I'd have had a roommate
> it would
> have been a lot easier to get in the social swing.
> Nowadays, most
> college students come with a computer of some sort and I
> think many
> also bring a printer.  You can get a scanner that's
> integrated into
> your printer, so if you have a scanner/printer, a computer
> and
> screen-reading software, you really have no more equipment
> than your
> sighted dorm-mates will have.  Even if you splurge and
> also
> get a
> Braille Note, Pac Mate or other portable notetaker, it can
> easily fit
> on your desk, and if you bring a laptop or netbook, your
> equipment is
> even more compact.  So don't worry about any special
> housing
> accommodations, unless perhaps if you have a guide dog.
> 
> Arielle
> 
> On 4/24/11, Nicole B.  Torcolini at Home <ntorcolini at wavecable.com
> wrote:
>      I just want to make a few
> points.
> 
> The notetakers are definitely catching up on the
> technology, but there are
> still things that you can and will need to do on a
> computer that you cannot
> do on a notetaker.  One of these things is
> formatting.
> Teachers in secondary
> school tend to be much more relaxed about formatting,
> but, in college, what
> passed in secondary school probably will not pass in
> college.  I hardly ever
> turn any thing in directly from my BrailleNote.
> 
>      I don't think that the person
> was using the Braille display *instead* of
> VoiceOver.  I don't know how it works on Apple
> products, but I know that, on
> windows computers, you have to have a screen reader to
> act as a driver for a
> Braille display.
> 
>      To answer the question of why
> you would need both speech and Braille,
> some things are easier/faster to do listening and some
> are better done with
> Braille.  For example, I would find it very hard to
> listen to math.  On the
> other hand, I can understand JAWS talking a lot faster
> than I can read, so I
> listen to things for which it is not critical that I
> know every little
> punctuation mark.
> 
>      One last comment about
> emailing work.  In college, most things are not in
> a format that can be read on the BrailleNote.  Most
> professors use PDF.  Some
> use PowerPoint.  Very few use word documents. 
> Even if
> they do, most use docx
> files and/or files with formatting that the bn does
> not support.
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Chris Nusbaum" <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
> To: <davidb521 at gmail.com>;
> "National Association of Blind Students mailing
> list" <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 8:26 PM
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reasonable technology requests
> from Rehab andsomeother
> college questions
> 
> 
> Hi, guys.
> 
> Just a few thoughts on David's suggestions. 
> I agree with your comment
> about the laptop vs the notetaker.  With the
> newer versions of the
> notetakers like the Braille-Note Apex that I have,
> you can do most
> anything that you could on a computer with your
> notetaker as it's all
> computer technology now instead of PDA
> technology.  However, if you're
> doing a Internet research project or something,
> the more tools in your
> toolbox, the better.  I know that some sites
> are accessible to screen
> readers but not to notetakers, and vice
> versa.  So I would reccomend
> definitely seeing if you can get both.  Now
> keep in mind, as I said
> before, rehab probably isn't going to get all the
> technology you need for
> you, but you never know.  You might need
> another funding source, like a
> Lions club or another foundation like the I CAN
> Foundation that I
> mentioned in the last email to you.  On the
> display vs notetaker and
> Braille embosser topics, I would suggest a
> notetaker over a Braille
> display for its portability and convenience. 
> I would reccomend a
> Braille-Note Apex over the Braille-Sense, based on
> what I've heard about
> the Braille-Sense.  However, one of the NFB
> executives was showing me a
> Braille display called RefreshaBraille from APH,
> which he uses for his
> iPod instead of VoiceOver.  It really doesn't
> matter, in my opinion,
> whether you get a screen reader for your computer
> or a Braille display.
> It really serves the same purpose.  If you
> have a screen reader, it's
> already reading the screen, so why would you need
> a Braille display, and
> vice versa? On the Braille embosser, it all comes
> down to individual
> preference.  I used to love hardcopy Braille
> until I got the Apex.  Now my
> 
> teachers email homework or classwork to me and I
> detach it right onto my
> Braille-Note.  I also email my teachers
> homework as attachments to emails
> instead of printing them out and labeling them in
> Braille, which saves a
> lot of time.  I also use the good old thumb
> drive all the time in school.
> What's awesome about that is that in the middle of
> class, my teacher will
> say "Chris, I need your thumb drive to put a paper
> on it for today." If
> he/she has an electronic copy in their computer of
> the worksheet, they can
> 
> stick it on my thumb drive and I can import it
> into the notetaker.  It's a
> 
> life saver! But if you prefer hardcopy Braille,
> it's a louder process and
> you'll use a lot more paper, but it's whatever you
> prefer.  If you have
> any more questions, let me and the list
> know.  Good luck!
> 
> Chris Nusbaum
> 
> "A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp
> Abilities motto)
> 
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: David <davidb521 at gmail.com
> To: "'National Association of Blind Students
> mailing list'"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org
> Date sent: Sun, 24 Apr 2011 20:38:29 -0500
> Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Reasonable technology
> requests from Rehab and
> someother college questions
> 
> Hi, Jordyn.  Here are some things to keep in
> mind.  Definitely try to get
> a
> laptop with a screen reader.  I know that
> some agencies may not purchase
> computers, but rather the adaptive devices like
> screen readers,
> notetakers,
> etc.  But there are always exceptions, it
> seems.  You'll want a powerful
> computer with quite a bit of ram and processing
> speed, as well as a
> decently
> sized hard drive.  As for OCR, if you're
> reasonably good with computers,
> look
> in to OmniPage, which is a mainstream OCR solution
> with excellent OCR
> accuracy.  I believe that it might be better
> than Kurzweil and OpenBook,
> and
> you should be able to get it for less than
> $200.  Be aware that OmniPage
> is
> not quite as easy to learn as OpenBook and
> Kurzweil, but if you are a
> decent
> computer user, you'll have little trouble with
> it.  As for the Braille
> display and notetaker, I would personally
> recommend a notetaker with
> Braille
> output, since it's very portable, and you can just
> open it and take notes
> immediately, rather than waiting for the laptop to
> boot up.  I'd get the
> notetaker before the Braille display, since most
> notetakers can act as
> Braille displays.  However, I don't think
> it's as convenient as a
> dedicated
> Braille display.  Maybe they'll get you
> both.  A Braille embosser would be
> nice, but they can be loud depending on the model,
> and that may be a
> problem
> in a dorm setting.  But if you really like
> using hard-copy Braille, then
> do
> try getting one.  It would be preferable than
> having to schedule time to
> use
> the university's.  Those are my thoughts.
> David
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org
> [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org]
> On
> Behalf
> Of Jordyn Castor
> Sent: Sunday, April 24, 2011 7:09 PM
> To: National Association of Blind Students mailing
> list
> Subject: [nabs-l] Reasonable technology requests
> from Rehab and some other
> college questions
> 
> Hi again guys!
> I'm going to college in the fall, as I already
> said yesterday.  This is
> why I have so many questions! I just want to be
> sure I'm doing
> everything right, and what better way to do this
> then asking other blind
> students? :) So, thanks for all your great advice
> on everything!
> My other question is, what are reasonable things
> to ask Rehab for in the
> way of technology?
> I'm thinking a laptop, 40 cell braille display,
> Window Eyes, and a
> printer scanner combo thinggy with software like
> OpenBook or Kurzweil.  I
> don't know if I'd get a notetaker though as these
> are super expensive.
> lol Any suggestions or other things you'd ask for?
> What are you all
> using as far as technology in college?
> My college also has a place where I can, I think,
> borrow technology like
> an embosser or Braille Display.  Should I use
> that rather than asking
> rehab for some of the things like the display and
> the printer? I think
> it would be awesome to have a printer in my dorm
> though lol!
> Oh, speaking of dorms, do most of you have a
> roommate or a single room?
> A lot of my blind friends seem to have single
> rooms because of the
> expensive technology, but, I want a roommate, I
> think.  lol Thoughts?
> Anyway, I'll stop rambling! :)
> Thanks again,
> Jordyn
> 
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> 
> 
> --
> Arielle Silverman
> President, National Association of Blind Students
> Phone:  602-502-2255
> Email:
> nabs.president at gmail.com
> Website:
> www.nabslink.org
> 
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