[nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
Chris Nusbaum
dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
Wed Jan 4 00:48:24 UTC 2012
Again, I think the Federation should take this on.
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: "Ashley Bramlett" <bookwormahb at earthlink.net
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Tue, 3 Jan 2012 08:53:42 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
Carley,
Right; as I said, when they changed their name to be so called
inclusive,
they took the name blind out and from their actions seem less
blind focussed
than they used to be. Yes they served blind people for years,
that is how
they started. Perhaps with some polite advocacy, they will
change their site
and make once again more blind friendly. I believe they still
have some
blind staff.
-----Original Message-----
From: Carly
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 7:48 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list ;
National
Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
Good morning Josh, Ashley and any other interesteds,
It is my strong belief that, removing all reference to blind,
from
the name might serve to parallel the difficulties wwe are now
having
accessing this supposed, ally! It is another charade that is
meant to
appear inclusive, but really isn't. How unfortunate is it that
the
initial population RFB was meant to serve, now is rendered
decisively, removed from anything resembling blind peoples'
alliance!
Carly
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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