<HTML><HEAD></HEAD>
<BODY dir=ltr>
<DIV dir=ltr>
<DIV style="FONT-FAMILY: 'Calibri'; COLOR: #000000; FONT-SIZE: 12pt">
<H1 class=post-title><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5
face="Times New Roman">Below you’ll find snippets of things I’ve been reading
lately online. Hopefully there will be something of interest to most of
you. Since it’s me, it leans a bit toward the techie side. I’ve
included the first paragraph in most cases.</FONT></H1>
<P><A href="http://hadley.edu/FCE-BusinessDirectory.asp"><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman">Hadley Starts Directory for Visually Impaired Business
Owners</FONT></A><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">The following is a directory of
businesses owned or operated by blind and visually impaired individuals. This
directory is designed to provide current and future business owners with
inspiration and access to the listed businesses, with the goal of initiating
networking opportunities among blind and visually impaired business
owners.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">In order to be included in this
directory, please download the </FONT><A
href="http://hadley.edu/downloads/rtf/business-owners-profile-letter.rtf"><FONT
size=5 face="Times New Roman">Business Profile form</FONT></A><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman">, answer the questions, and email it back to us according
to the instructions. ...</FONT></P>
<DIV class=hasauthor><A
href="http://m.npr.org/story/146812288?url=/blogs/alltechconsidered/2012/02/13/146812288/braille-under-siege-as-blind-turn-to-smartphones"><FONT
size=5 face="Times New Roman">Braille Under Siege As Blind Turn To
Smartphones</FONT></A><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=hasauthor><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Like a lot of
smartphone users, Rolando Terrazas, 19, uses his iPhone for email, text messages
and finding a decent coffee shop. But Terrazas' phone also sometimes serves as
his eyes: When he waves a bill under its camera, for instance, the phone tells
him how much it's worth. ...</FONT></DIV>
<H3 class=post-name><A
href="http://blogs.msdn.com/b/b8/archive/2012/02/14/enabling-accessibility.aspx"><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">Enabling accessibility
in Windows 8</FONT></A><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5
face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></H3>
<DIV class=post-name><I><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Windows 8 is a
product we design for an incredibly broad spectrum of people around the world.
One of the areas where we have worked to deliver an even greater level of
innovation is in ensuring that Windows 8, particularly the new Metro style
experience, is accessible to everyone regardless of their physical abilities. In
this post we will talk about the engineering work that goes into the features we
refer to as “accessibility” – though as you will see, many of these features are
broadly applicable and just make the product better for everyone.
...</FONT></I></DIV>
<H1><A
href="http://m.auburnpub.com/lifestyles/confessions-of-a-frustrated-blind-chick/article_75bff55e-5124-11e1-a035-0019bb2963f4.html"><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">Confessions of a
frustrated blind chick</FONT></A><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5
face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></H1>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">I am sure, if you asked the people that
know me, they would tell you that I have a good attitude regarding my
disability. I don't complain, I am independent and I seek opportunities to serve
others. I have deep gratitude for the blessings in my life, chief of which are
my family and friends. ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A href="http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw130206"><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">Access to Museums and
Parks for Patrons who are Blind or Visually Impaired</FONT></A><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=articletitle><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">People with vision
loss want, and increasingly expect, to experience a museum or park as fully as a
person with normal vision. Museums and parks have made great strides in
accessibility for patrons who are blind or visually impaired. The use of audio
descriptions, GPS devices, and other accessible technologies, along with exhibit
design improvements and better information sharing among cultural and
educational institutions, have made these resources increasingly enjoyable and
accessible to visitors with vision loss. ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=articletitle><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<H3 title="This Weeks Featured Advertisement"><FONT
style="FONT-FAMILY: ; COLOR: "><A
href="http://www.flying-blind.com/articles_2012/articleid_2.html"><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">Are You An Adaptive
Technology Trainer? Flying Blind, LLC Invites You to Join us by Donating 10
Minutes of Your Time</FONT></A><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5
face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></FONT></H3>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Flying Blind, LLC is currently involved
in a number of adaptive technology training initiatives designed to optimize
adaptive technology training service delivery on a national level. It is our
continuing mission at Flying Blind, LLC to provide all vision impaired persons
with the necessary products, information, and services that will make their
adaptech journey as fulfilling as possible.<BR> <BR>We feel strongly that
the only way to do this is to solicit input from those of you who are already
adaptive technology trainers. Only with feedback from those of you who already
provide this exemplary service can we hope to attain the type of direction we
require to move forward on a number of national training projects which are
currently in play. ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><A
href="http://www.spinalcordinjury-paralysis.org/dailydose/2012/01/31/new-college-course-on-assistive-technology"><FONT
size=5 face="Times New Roman">College offers course on assistive
technology</FONT></A><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></DIV><FONT
face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=5><I>Think back to your college days. Did your
university or college offer any classes on assistive technology? I know mine
didn't! In it's sixth season, have a look at a course being offered at Stanford
University in California.</I> </FONT></FONT>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Perspectives in Assistive Technology is
aimed to "explore the broad spectrum of issues surrounding the design,
development, and use of technology that benefits people with disabilities and
seniors." ...</FONT></P>
<H1><A
href="http://coyoteblog.posterous.com/people-with-disabilities-virtual-volunteering"><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">People with
disabilities & virtual volunteering</FONT></A><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></H1>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">I said it back in the 1990s, and I'll
say it again: Online volunteering / virtual volunteering can allow for the
greater participation of people who might find volunteering difficult or
impossible because of a disability. This in turn allows organizations to benefit
from the additional talent and resources of more volunteers, and allows agencies
to further diversify their volunteer talent pool. ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<H1 class="headline title"><A
href="http://lifehacker.com/5883564/how-can-i-talk-to-my-phone-in-public-without-looking-like-a-jerkcreepweirdo"><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">How Can I Talk to My
Phone in Public Without Looking Like a Jerk/Creep/Weirdo?</FONT></A><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></H1>
<DIV class="headline title"><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Having
conversations with and controlling your phone with your voice is great isn't it?
And yet, this new technology can also be quite unsettling or annoying, at least
for eavesdroppers. Although most people could probably guess that you're talking
to Siri when you blurt out at your iPhone "Wake me up at 6:30 am!", just in
case, here are some guidelines for using voice apps in public more appropriately
and comfortably. ...</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class="headline title"><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<H1 class=entry-title><A
href="http://noeyesneeded.com/2012/02/hulu-plus-made-accessible/"><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">Hulu Plus Gets
VoiceOver Support: Discussion on Accessibility of Content Consumption Gains
Ammunition</FONT></A><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5
face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></H1>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Cable and satellite providers ought to be
shaking in their overpriced boots as online content providers continue to gain
steam with consumers. Many would agree that it’s not too unrealistic to ditch
traditional pro content providers for these cheaper alternatives – and have
access to nearly identical content.</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Our family kicked the cable box to the
curb about two months ago, in lieu of Netflix and Hulu. We’re all familiar with
how Netflix continues to ignore requests from the blindness community to make
its mobile application and desktop site accessible, so I was hardly surprised
when I subscribed to Hulu and found its iOS offering to be an accessibility
nightmare. But – the story doesn’t end there. ...</FONT></P>
<P><A
href="http://www.dlactn.org/news-events/61-latest-news/99-news-at-low-vision.html"><FONT
size=5 face="Times New Roman">Libraries Use Assistive Technology to Help Patrons
with Low Vision</FONT></A><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Low vision can impact someone's ability
to cook, take medications, get around safely and read. Assistive Technology (AT)
can help people with vision disabilities and libraries are at the forefront of
using AT to help their patrons with disabilities participate fully.
...</FONT></P>
<H2 class=hasauthor><A class="taggedlink entry-title"
title="The Librarian: Accessibility on iOS: Make an App for Everyone"
href="http://yaccessibilityblog.com/wp/librarian-accessibility-ios.html"
rel=bookmark><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" face="Times New Roman">The
Librarian: Accessibility on iOS: Make an App for Everyone</FONT></A><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></H2>
<DIV class=hasauthor><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Thousands of engineers
have learned how to build </FONT><A class=zem_slink title=IOS
href="http://www.apple.com/ios" rel=homepage><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman">iOS</FONT></A><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">
applications via </FONT><A class=zem_slink title="Stanford University"
href="http://www.stanford.edu/" rel=homepage><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman">Stanford University’s</FONT></A><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman"> iTunesU series “Developing Apps for iOS”. This
comprehensive course is recorded and shared to students around the world. You
not only get the lectures, you can download the slides and </FONT><A
href="http://www.stanford.edu/class/cs193p/cgi-bin/drupal/"><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman">access the homework assignments</FONT></A><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman">....</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=hasauthor><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman"></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV class=hasauthor><A
href="http://www.gpo.gov/fdsys/pkg/FR-2012-02-09/pdf/2012-2795.pdf"><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman">June 8 2012 deadline to send comments to feds on proposed
rules for disability accessible medical equipment</FONT></A><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman">.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV class=hasauthor><I><FONT size=5
face="Times New Roman"></FONT></I> </DIV>
<H1 class=post-title><A title="Post detail page of "
href="http://eye-site-access.blog.co.uk/2012/01/30/ios-voiceover-tip-1-labelling-12576734/"
iOS VoiceOver tip#1 - labelling??><SPAN class=inner><SPAN class=name><FONT
style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5 face="Times New Roman">iOS VoiceOver tip#1 –
Labelling</FONT></SPAN></SPAN></A><FONT style="FONT-WEIGHT: normal" size=5
face="Times New Roman">:</FONT></H1>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">For those using Voiceover on your
iphone/ipad/ipod touch you may come across that frustrating moment when trying
to use the screen reader and the voice just spurts out "button" or makes a
clicking sound! This won't happen within any of Apple's own apps but
unfortunately there are a lot of developers out there that don't think of
Voiceover users! </FONT></P>
<P><FONT face="Times New Roman"><FONT size=5><U>The Solution</U><BR>Apple have
overcome this problem with a great feature within voiceover to self label
buttons, now this may need some sighted assistance if it is an unlabelled
button. Here is how to label your icons and buttons using
voiceover:-</FONT></FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Step 1: Tap on the unlabelled button or
icon (you will hear the voiceover say "button")<BR>Step 2: Double tap with 2
fingers anywhere on the screen and hold down on the last tap, wait a few seconds
and voiceover should say "Alert, text field is editing"<BR>Step 3: type desired
name within text field.<BR>Step 4: Select save. Now you should be able to run
your finger over the button and hear the words you put in. </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Note: If a button or app is already
labelled you can still change it to either abbreviate it or have voiceover say
whatever you want! </FONT></P>
<P><FONT size=5 face="Times New Roman">Also please note you may need to make
sure your iOS is updated to latest version,i believe this feature runs on iOS 4+
let me know if not. </FONT></P></DIV></DIV></BODY></HTML>