[NFB-DB] Convention Advice

Wed May 1 19:28:59 UTC 2019

Maurice and Scott,

It will be great to see you there.

Scott, my husband, who does blind adaptive tech here in Oregon, is kind of a fanboy of yours. He reads your articles all the time. I do not have the adaptive tech chops he does, but I pick up a lot through osmosis. I have been frustrated with the braille display companies seeming to forget about DB people in terms of making their devices have more functionality for us. I have been using HIMS chat with iPhone and Braille Display, but HIMS chat has not been updated for years and I guess there aren’t plans to. I tried a polaris, and besides being very buggy, it only lets me read and type in 8 dot braille when I use an external keyboard, and then there is no functioning “chat” app to use in person. It seems like the tech is nearly there, and with some work could make a huge difference. I am thinking of putting together some kind of letter to encourage them to prioritize DB people and functionality in their apps, and get as many people and organizations to sign it as I can. 

Maurice, good job learning ASL. It is hard for me to learn without a 1:1 person sitting right there next to me doing tactile sign. The Protactile Movement might be an interesting topic for a paper. Look it up and check out a free set of webinars about it at Western Oregon State University.

Scott, do you know the schedule of the DB events? On what days? Thanks!

Lisa Ferris

Sent from my iPad

> On May 1, 2019, at 12:18 PM, maurice mines via NFB-DB <nfb-db at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> 
> Hi, this is cool. I’ll definitely be there.
> 
> My circumstance is similar but a tiny bit different I think, I’ve spent this past semester taking ASL. Now I’m having to write the paper. I’m wondering does anyone have any good current deaf blind topics that might be good to write a paper room? Because the things that I thought I might want to write the paper on I can’t find enough good information that talked about what I think the instructor one to read about. I’d like to focus on deaf blindness. I’m contemplating ready about the importance ofHknc both the death and blind communities. But outside of the Helen Keller national centers website I can’t find much does anyone have any good suggestions that might make some sense to research this topic.
> 
> I’m looking forward to getting some signing practice in at convention. Since the college that I’m attending does not offer ASL to during the summer but I will take a cell to in the fall.
> 
> Sincerely Maurice Mines.
> Amateur callsign kd0iko.
> VP national Federation of the blind of California Bakersfield chapter.
> 
> 
> 
> On 1 May 2019, at 8:31, Scott Davert via NFB-DB wrote:
> 
> Hi Lisa.
> As of now, I'm planning to be at convention and give a presentation at the NFB DB meeting. i'm in a similar situation as you are, in that I'm always advocating for better braille access. I'm not quite sure who all  is going, but if you'd like to meet at convention, feel free to contact me offlist. I still need to confirm with Marsha about my presentation, but I am planning to be in Vegas regardless.
> As for a face to face communication option, there is no all in one device on the market here in America that allows you to communicate with a sighted and hearing counterpart. A  Dutch developer created the Screen Braille Communicator back in the 90's and they can still be ordered if you live in the EU. Which isn't helpful to us, but there have been issues with this device. If you happened to get one, you'd have to send it back to the Netherlands for repair. Anyway, about the best you can do for portable use is to pair a braille display and tooth keyboard to an iOS or Android device and give the person you are trying to communicate with the keyboard.
> As for losing hearing on top of being blind, I find it's an adjustment that is almost always in progress for me. I have very very basic signing skills myself and often rely on the manual alphabet when in noisy situations... such as convention. ALD's help as well, and the NFB does make them available at convention. The amateur radio division used to be in charge of these, though I'm not sure if that's still the case. I have not been to convention since it was in Dallas in 2012. One reason I go to convention is to visit a city I do not regularly get to. Orlando isn't on that list, and my professional career between 2012 and last year didn't easily permit me to attend anyway. I was in Vegas in 2014 for the first International DB expo, but that was the only time. Medical circumstances prevented me from enjoying it fully. I'm looking forward to this year's convention!
> 
> Hope to catch you there,
> Scott
> 
> Sent from my iPhone
> 
>> On May 1, 2019, at 4:54 AM, Heather via NFB-DB <nfb-db at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> 
>> I am in the same boat, not sure if I can attend the convention. I do not travel out much because of my hearing loss and kind of afraid to travel alone as I cant hear my surroundings. I can connect only gave me a braille display with no training and I cant get any other services from DARS.  I hope you have a wonderful time up there. Cheers Heather  
>>  
>> "Blindness is a characteristic, not a handicap!" Dr. Kenneth Jernigan 
>> e-mail:
>> kd5cbl at gmail.com
>> sites:
>> National Federation of The Blind:
>> www.nfb.org
>> An Accessible Online Library:
>> www.bookshare.org
>>  
>> From: Lisa Ferris via NFB-DB
>> Sent: Wednesday, May 1, 2019 3:52 AM
>> To: NFB Deaf-Blind Division Mailing List
>> Cc: Lisa Ferris
>> Subject: [NFB-DB] Convention Advice
>>  
>> Hello!
>>  
>> I will be attending the NFB convention in Las Vegas for the first time as a DB person. I did attend once before in the early 90s (New Orleans) but I was only mildly hearing impaired then and really only identified as blind.
>>  
>> One of my goals is to meet as many of you in the DB division as possible and see what the division does, because I don’t really know. I have been more active in my state with DB folks, but they come from an ASL Deaf Cultural perspective. This has been wonderfully interesting to learn about, and I have appreciated getting to know them. My ASL is very basic at best, I am in a period of transition, trying to figure out how to go from blind to DB, while many of them who have Ushers are comfortable with Deafness but trying to figure out how to be blind. I am wondering if the NFB DB division comes from more of a blind perspective?
>>  
>> I’m not saying one is better than the other, just learning here and strive to be all inclusive. But one thing I would like to work on is better access to Braille, via better, more robust displays and devices to better communication solutions for the DB. (Using braille for in person communication or telephone communication.) But my Oregon DB peeps are largely unfamiliar with braille at all, and many struggle with written English, so it isn’t a solution they are very enthusiastic about.
>>  
>> Anyway, I just wanted to give a shout out to anyone that will be at the convention, and also am interested in DB events and ways to deal with the convention as a DB person. So, I would welcome any information or advice you might have, and hope to be able to meet some of you there.
>>  
>> Lisa Ferris
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>>  
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