[stylist] KNFB reader and tools for jotting thoughts/ideas

Sun Mar 4 21:14:33 UTC 2012

Eve,
Commissions for the blind lack in services; if they were good, they would 
inform their clients what is out there. As people lose vision and come to 
them, they have no clue what is there or what to even ask. Ours will show 
you some technology although not enough and they will contract with trainers 
for training if you beg for it.
For instance they paid someone six hours to teach me the braille note.
To learn about technology, read the Braille Monitor. Go on vendor's sites 
such as Freedom Scientific and GW Micro and humanware.
They explain their products there.
Also, surprisingly no one mentions the nfb meetings. Aren't you all members? 
If so, ask members of your federation chapter.

Another resource is hadley school for the blind, a distance ed school; they 
have courses and seminars on technology and all these are free.
Go to www.hadley.edu and click on seminars to read what seminars they have.
If anyone is in the MA or New England area, go to Carroll center for the 
blind; no they don't share nfb philosophy, but Carroll has lots of 
technology.
They have open houses where you can see the technology and probably would 
set up a free appointment for a demonstration if you asked.
If you need or want training, you have to pay for it though or your vr 
agency does.
Go to www.carroll.org to see their services including technology or to see 
their distance ed classes which you pay for go to www.carolltech.org.

Eve, if you want to jot down notes, the best tools are these IMO:
1. a brailler.
2. a digital or tape recorder.
and
3. a portable computer like a laptop.

If you have some vision and can read your writing, use bold line paper and a 
20/20 pen and that should be dark enough for you to read your writing; both 
things are available through APH.
Ashley

-----Original Message----- 
From: Eve Sanchez
Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 10:26 PM
To: Writer's Division Mailing List
Subject: Re: [stylist] KNFB reader and tools for jotting thoughts/ideas

Ashley, I do not have the funds to travel around the country and I have
been to our state conventions, but the technology fair is sorely lacking.
The tech fair at nationals is great, but who has the time to have a
thourough lesson in everything they see much less even have time to figure
out all of what is worth taking time for? As I said, I wish I had a way of
learning what there is available. I read the alert from National about the
Michigan Commision being threatened due to many complaints of poor
instruction and what have and can not believe that they are worse than
Idaho. This is one of the reasons I appreciate learning from the members.
Besides, who knows better than the people who are actually using the
technology? Diolch, Eve

On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 5:41 PM, Ashley Bramlett
<bookwormahb at earthlink.net>wrote:

> Eve,
> If you want to learn and see a demo of technology to write and help
> organize information there are several ways.
> Visit a lighthouse for the blind. Go to your nfb state convention where
> hopefully you will see vendors of products; we have that at ours.
> Also, if you visit the national center for nfb, the technology center has
> lots of technology there and a knowledgable staff to answer questions.
>
> -----Original Message----- From: Eve Sanchez
> Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2012 6:22 PM
> To: bjnite at windstream.net ; Writer's Division Mailing List
> Subject: Re: [stylist] KNFB reader and tools for jotting thoughts/ideas
>
>
> Thanks for the info. Is this something available through the NFB? I wish I
> had access to learn about all the different tools available. I know there
> are things out there to help, but ... Maybe that would be a good monthly
> discussion group sometimes; "Tools for Blind Writers". Diolch, Ev
>
> On Sat, Mar 3, 2012 at 1:10 PM, Brenda <bjnite at windstream.net> wrote:
>
>  Eve, TheKNFB reader is a software package that goes on certain cell
>> phones.  You snap a picture and it will read back the text.  There are
>> apps
>> for the iphone but I think they aren't as accurate or take longer to
>> process. The KNFB reader is still the best portable reader out there.
>>  There are also software programs for scanners like Kurzweil (spelling)
>> but
>> they are not portable.  The KNFB reader and required cell phone are
>> expensive but used models aren't as bad.  Not sure about scanner software
>> programs.
>>
>> I like to keep a variety of tools in my arsenal, hence I'm learning
>> Braille.  I still compose in my head and never get it down on the
>> computer.
>>  I thought I'd do better keeping my Penfriend close at hand, but the
>> chemistry wasn't there.  I didn't want people to hear me writing down my
>> thoughts.  The cell phone the KNFB Reader is on also has a recorder which
>> I
>> don't make use of.  I'm hoping Braille will be a breakthrough tool for me
>> for writing down ideas.  Like you I could bearly read what I wrote 
>> growing
>> up.  I have a whole journal that I no longer have access to because no 
>> one
>> can read what I wrote and I really don't want to share it with them
>> anyway.
>> Brenda
>>
>> Brenda
>>
>>
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