[Nfbv-historic-fredericksburg] FW: Historic Fredericsburg Crier

[Holly Frisch]

From: NFBV-Historic-Fredericksburg <nfbv-historic-fredericksburg-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Richard Byrne via NFBV-Historic-Fredericksburg
Sent: Sunday, March 10, 2019 3:06 PM
To: nfbv-historic-fredericksburg at nfbnet.org
Subject: [Nfbv-historic-fredericksburg] Historic Fredericsburg Crier


    Welcome to the Historic Fredericksburg Crier. Sue and I will put the Crier out to update members about meeting minutes, upcoming events, NFB news, chapter news, technology, and websites and blogs that you might find useful. The format is a work in process and will likely change a bit in response to reader input. Please let us know if there are ways to improve that can be incorperated.

FEBRUARY MEETING NOTES – Meeting opened with election of officers as follows:  President – Holly Frisch;  Vice President – Brittany Ingram; Secretary – Sue Byrne; Treasurer – Dick Byrne; Board Members – Chris Erman and Jessica Reed; State Delegates to state Board of Directors – Brittany Ingram and Alternate – Holly Frisch.

Guest Speaker, Claudia Soper from Mobility Options discussed use of FRED and forms needed to obtain half-price fare for disabled persons and waiver to request pickup at home when too far to access regular bus stop.  Also discussed use of Mobility Options services.

Meeting turned over to Brittany for report of areas addressed at leadership seminar.  Areas included online banking  and support of Governor’s budget proposal for DBVI. Membership problems brought up.  Holly has lined up a speaker for next meeting to share ideas on increasing membership.  A discussion about partnering with other organizations to have them attend our meeting or our attending one of their meetings to discuss membership and related issues we have in common followed.

Brittany suggested we look into the best, most common way to run chapter meetings efficiently.

She also mentioned the Chapter Facebook page is up and running  and a line has been set up and is ready for conference call meetings.

Dick passed out a sheet about available aps and websites for the BVI community.

UPCOMING EVENTS- March 16th Chapter meeting, April 13th White Cane Walk, National Convention in Las Vegas in July

TECHNOLOGY / BOSE released sunglasses with Bluetooth. The review I heard was from Blind Abilities. The reviewer is an iPhone user and VoiceOver worked well and the sound was great. The review did not try other phones. BOSE is never cheap but $200. Is not too bad. I use EarPods and like them but these might be less intrusive.

Another FREE piece of technology is BeMyEYES. This is an APP that allows a blind person to contact a sighted volunteer and by using the camera on your phone they will assist you when you are alone and need sighted help. There are thousands of volunteers who speak many languages and you are connected to one who speaks yours. There is also special connection to the Apple Help desk and/or the Microsoft help desk when you need computer software help.

I have used the APP when Sue was gone and I needed help with a medication. A very useful APP.

One other FREE APP is Microsoft SEEING AI. It reads short text, entire pages, identifies currency, and  more. Very useful.

WEBSITES- BLINDABILITIES.com – A great site. It is from Minnesota and the State Services for the Blind. It has several sections that deal with a myriad of subjects. Some subjects deal with jobs or school or work or technology or just daily life. There is even a series on learning how to use all the accessible features of the iPhone. Most of the info comes as podcasts. If you have an Amazon ECHO device you can enable BlindAbilities and play any of the hundreds of podcasts from the most current back to the first when they were just learning how to do a podcast. They also have an APP that allows you to listen to the podcasts.

     I am Dick Byrne. My phone number is 804-238-5608. I know a little about technology. I use a Windows computer with ZoomText. I also use an iPhone and iPad and use VoiceOver. If I can help you with a question or problem, feel free to call me and I will try to answer your question or help you find the answer.


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