[nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

Tue Jan 3 23:48:40 UTC 2012

Just curious; why Scott LaBarre? I'm contacting Dr.  Maurer!

Chris

"The real problem of blindness is not the loss of eyesight.  The 
real problem is the misunderstanding and lack of education that 
exists.  If a blind person has the proper training and 
opportunity, blindness can be reduced to a mere physical 
nuisance."
-- Kenneth Jernigan

 ----- Original Message -----
From: Joshua Lester <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 22:34:53 -0600
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

Ashley, why not start this discussion on the NFB-Talk list.
I'd even contact Scott LaBarr about this.
Blessings, Joshua

On 1/2/12, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
 Joshua,
 I use the cd player too.  The new victor reader strattus allows 
you to play
 daisy cds as well as  a USB slot for downloaded books and I 
think a sd card.
 I have a vr stream, but like you I find it hard to figure out.

 I've also heard of other blind people having problems with the 
learning ally
 downloads.  Sadly, they are not really much an ally to the blind 
now.  They
 took blind out of their name and as I said, I feel their 
website, including
 the download features, is not very user friendly.  For instance 
before in
 your book search results you could press H to see each book 
title and
 information underneath it.  Now they are tables and you only see 
the book in
 a link.  And they have pictures of each book cover.  Notice jaws 
saying
 graphic a million times; that is because they added pictures to 
the book
 catalog.  And with more links and clutter, you cannot find the 
text as
 easily.

 Ashley

 -----Original Message-----
 From: Joshua Lester
 Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012 9:02 PM
 To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
 Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

 Wow!
 I still use the CD player for my classes.
 I hate the Victor Stream, because I can't figure it out!
 Blessings, Joshua

 On 1/2/12, Ashley Bramlett <bookwormahb at earthlink.net> wrote:
 Antonio,
 What are the problems? Do you use jaws? I've tried to figure out 
the
 download; it took me a while to learn the old way, and now they 
changed
 it.
 I'm not the most patient with technology, keep in mind.  If you 
have a cd
 player, you still can order daisy cds, but now that humanware no 
longer
 offers the little daisy players; vr wave, vr vibe and vr 
classic,  more
 probably will download.  I still have my old vr wave and 
thankfully it
 works!
 Since as you said downloading is not friendly and a Daisy cd 
player is IMO
 easy to use and simple.

 Humanware recently released a new victor reader player, vr 
strattus, which
 both plays those daisy cds and downloadable books from many 
places like
 nls
 and learning ally.

 I encourage you to write learning ally.  Many are disappointed.  
With
 changing
 their name, it seems they changed their mission to focus on 
learning
 disabilities without identifying them as disabled, for 
politically correct
 purposes.  Tell them to still include blind people and that 
blind people
 have
 depended on them for over 30 years since they started.  Don't 
let them
 forget
 us and be specific as to your accessibility challenges.  Stating 
something
 is
 not accessible won't help.

 Also IMo, their site is more hard to navigate.  More images and 
complex
 organization.  Like no longer can you see the book catalog from 
the main
 page
 and when you search books you cannot read the edition/publisher 
anymore
 without clicking on something extra.  So I see like ten books 
with the same
 or similar name and it takes longer to figure out what to pick.
 frustrated,
 Ashley

 -----Original Message-----
 From: Antonio Guimaraes
 Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012 8:35 PM
 To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
 Subject: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally

 Dear NABS members,

 It is more than obvious to me that the new Learning Ally 
download
 features fall short of offering blind screen reader users the 
services
 we've come to know in previous years.

 Today I experienced at least an hour of frustrations trying to 
use their
 new and improved program for downloads.  I have listened to 
their You
 Tube video explaining the process, and then reached out to 
people like
 you for some feedback.

 There are several reports that blind readers can not use 
Learning Ally's
 download features.

 I am not a happy scholar.  I am writing to find out if you too 
have come
 up against issues with the download service.

 The NABS division and its membership should not accept lack of 
access
 from an organization that has long been at the forefront in 
providing
 access to recorded texts for blind users.

 Your experience will only help confirm some of the reported 
issues, and
 hopefully result in rectifying what must certainly be an 
oversight on
 Learning Ally's part.

 Sincerely,

 Antonio Guimaraes

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