[nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
Chris Nusbaum
dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
Fri Jan 6 20:49:30 UTC 2012
Hi everyone,
I agree with you, Ashley! Actually, it seems as though although
they changed their site, it's the download manager software
that's inaccessible, not the Web site itself. As I was scanning
my email after downloading it last night, I saw two messages
pertaining to Learning Ally: one which was sent by Learning Ally
to all their customers, of which I am one, with the subject "a
message from Learning Ally's CEO," and the second from Joshua
Lester to the NABS list with a subject having something to do
with Learning Ally's CEO; I think it was a forward of Learning
Ally's email. I will be sure to read those emails and see what
Learning Ally's officials have to say before forming any opinions
as to whether they care about us or not and as to whether to
still write the letter to them and/or contact Dr. Maurer. At
this point, I personally am not making any assumptions about
RFBD's officials and their collective caring or lack thereof
about us and our access to the material they provide, and am
taking Antonio's word for it, as he seems to know people at RFBD
and has reason to support his assertion that they "have our best
interest in mind."
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: Wed, 4 Jan 2012 15:16:23 -0500
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
Hi Joshua,
Actually, I think they still do good in some areas; nice customer
service
reps and they braille the cd sleeves so you know what book is
inside.
I think they will redo their site if someone tells them.
And I don't know an organization that has more textbooks than
learning ally.
Now with the daisy format, you can jump to particular pages and
peruse a
book faster than before. I remember the days of four track
tapes. Also, I
know what its like to use readers, having them not show up and
getting
behind in your work or having a reader quit mid semester. So
while they are flawed, IMO its better than before.
And how can you say they don't care? Have you talked to them
about it and
gotten a response?
I doubt it. We cannot make assumptions about them without some
statement
from them. I do agree it does not seem like their an ally now.
Can you have
a sighted person help you navigate the screen till they get it
fixed? You
can still use them
Unfortunately, accessibility when you are a minority is an after
thought. No
it should not be that way, but sadly it is.
Ashley
-----Original Message-----
From: Joshua Lester
Sent: Wednesday, January 04, 2012 12:06 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
They are only an ally to those with dislexia.
They don't care about us, anymore.
Bookshare may be our only option, now, if only they start doing
textbooks, which I doubt will happen.
Blessings, Joshua
On 1/3/12, Carly Mihalakis <carlymih at earthlink.net> wrote:
Hi, Josh, and other interesteds,
Ally?
How can they call themselves something so ridiculous as Learning
Ally? Really? Some ally. We really are without friends, if
that's
what they consider as such.
Car
Torcolini at Home <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> wrote:
Yes, but, sometimes, you have to just take what you can get,
especially once
you get into college.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Chris Nusbaum" <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Sent: Tuesday, January 03, 2012 3:48 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
I personally don't want to have the synthesized voice on the
Stream
read
a
book to me, especially a novel or textbook, and would go the RFBD
route
whenever possible.
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: "Nicole B. Torcolini at Home" <ntorcolini at wavecable.com
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Mon, 2 Jan 2012 20:10:14 -0800
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
You don't have to have a book. It also plays MP3 files and
reads TXT
files.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Joshua Lester" <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu
To: "National Association of Blind Students mailing list"
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Sent: Monday, January 02, 2012 6:45 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] Seems we lost an ally
I was shwon one, at convention, 2 years ago.
I have one, but I'm not sure about working it.
I don't have any books for it, now.
I'll save your address, and E-mail you when I get a book.
Blessings, Joshua
On 1/2/12, Patrick Molloy <ptrck.molloy at gmail.com> wrote:
Joshua,
E-mail me off list and I can help you figure out the Stream.
It's
really quite simple.
Patrick
On 1/2/12, Joshua Lester <jlester8462 at students.pccua.edu> wrote:
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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