[blindlaw] Notetakers

Tue Jul 19 13:40:12 UTC 2011

Good morning,

I am a third year law student and a student attorney here in Texas.

I use the IPhone and the RefreshaBraille 18 18 cell Braille display as my "Note Taker".  The advantages include the following:

1. The IPhone is not a blindy product so you have some freedom and choice as to your software and there are loads of them.  Fast Case (a package to look up the law) free by the way, Pages a word processor application ($10.00), a color identifier, OCR, as well as Omoby which is a program that will identify cans of food and other products to you (free by the way) turns your IPhone into a product that will not only serve you in your professional life, but also in your personal independence as well.  Oh, go to www.applevis.com to find the loads of software you can use. You name it, chances are the IPhone can help you with it.

2. The IPhone with the RefreshaBraille 18 is a small package.  For me, having everything in a small package so that there is little to take into class, client meetings, or court is a must.  I can take notes, take phone calls, and research on Westlaw's mobile site using the same bit of equipment.

3. The IPhone upgrades when you do and the cost is much less.  My Pac Mate was about 6,500 with the 40 cell Braille display, and I've heard other Note Takers are about the same.  The IPhone was $299.00 with two year agreement, and $1,700 for the Refreshabraille 18 and when I get a newer model of IPhone my Braille display goes with me.

Hope this information helps.

Good luck, times they are a changen.

Robert

Robert D. Dittman
Student Attorney
St. Mary's University, Center for Legal and Social Justice (Civil Clinic)
2507 N.W. 36th Street
San Antonio, TX  78228-3918
Phone: (210) 431-5760  fax: (210) 431-5700
Email: rdittman at mail.stmarytx.edu

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-----Original Message-----
From: blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:blindlaw-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Gilmore
Sent: Tuesday, July 19, 2011 6:58 AM
To: NFBnet Blind Law Mailing List
Subject: Re: [blindlaw] Notetakers

I've used the Braillenote and Pac Mate. In law school, I used the Braillenote and continue to for my own personal use. I find it very easy to use and it gets the job done for taking notes. I've never surfed the net with it, however. It's easy to type on, too. (I use the version that is set up like a Perkins rather than a laptop style. I find I can type faster in braille taking notes and can do a lot of shorthand--especailly since we don't spell out words.) Working for the Federal government, I use the Pac Mate. Again, I use the Perkins style rather than the laptop style. It's a little difficult to type on it because the keys are a little flatter than the BrailleNote and you can't type as fast on it. A lot of typos tend to be made. I would recommend the BrailleNote for personal use (home, school, etc.) As far as work, it depends on what your place of employment will purchase. Some places have a cap and won't buy the more expensive notetakers. That's why I have the Pac Mate at work. It was either that or the Braillesense (and I'm not a big fan of GW Micro. Used to be but switched to JAWS and became a Freedom Scientific guy as far as screen readers go. For notetakers and other stuff, I'm a Humanware guy.)

Hope this helps.

--- On Mon, 7/18/11, John Gardner <j_gardner09 at yahoo.com> wrote:

From: John Gardner <j_gardner09 at yahoo.com>
Subject: [blindlaw] Notetakers
To: "blindlaw at nfbnet.org" <blindlaw at nfbnet.org>
Date: Monday, July 18, 2011, 7:49 PM

I am a criminal justice student planning on going into law. I was wondering what type of notetakers do you guys use for law school and work? What type did you guys use in law school? Is it better to have a notetaker like the apex or is it better to have like an iPhone or iPad with a Braille display via Bluetooth? Thanks for reading this. I hope to get many good ideas. Thanks for your time. I look forward to hearing from many of you.
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