Anniversaries, Braille, and the Holidays

Today would have marked the fourth anniversary of Sueanne and my being wed. Unfortunately due to choices last year this is not the case today, but I am filled with sorrow at what was lost, particularly as I listen to this. I keep thinking things will get better, and they gradually are, but there is still a long way to go. I ended up taking a personal day at work, as when I got up I gathered quickly that I was in no state to deal with tax payers, whether on the phone or otherwise, so thought it best to have a down day. This has proven to be a good choice, as I have used the time to heal up a bit and recharge the batteries.

Yesterday was Louis Braille's birthday. He would have been 202. I cannot express what a difference Braille has made in my life, from labeling items around the house, to using it at work and at play, Braille has enriched my life as a blind person. I have to thank the NFB in general and the CCB and Tom Anderson in particular for giving me the drive to complete the learning that was done in high school with Sara Henry. The Warden got me started and the CCB completed a skill set I use every day to my benefit and enjoyment. Celebrating Braille's birthday in this context makes alot of sense, and I hope you will join me in doing so, if belatedly. :)

Finally a quick update. During the holidays I went to Colorado Springs and saw tons of family- reconnecting with my step brother Tim and his delightful soon-to-be wife and song was a particular highlight. I trust now that he and his family are back in Colorado we might see a bit more of each other. Overall Christmas was most enjoyable, and I survived the subsequent week at work with little dmage.

New Year's Eve was enjoyable, thought less so. My local supplier of adult beverages apparently took the week off, so I was left with a bottle of cherry wine to entertain my guests. Then the gods of weather diecded that making Denver into a frozen wasteland the day of New Year's Eve was a good choice. So a party that was supposed to be anywhere from 5-15 people was reduced to myself and the Bald God. Fortunately we had a good time of it, and I am eagerly looking forward to my upcoming birthday party.

Wishing all a happy new year.

Braille Readers Are Leaders

The time for the Braille Readers Are Leaders contest is quickly approaching, and once again I will be involved. The adult contest is a really cool fature that I am glad they are continuing this year. Anyone interested in joining me for a team should e-mail me.

Work continues a pace. On my new schedule, which is okay time wise, but is kicking me from here to next week with the actual being on the floor part. Thank God for the holy brew and gin in the evening. I trust this will get better, and in the meantime I have this ginormous Braille display to use while at work. Got a flu shot today, so am hoping it might leave me with a little more sick leave then otherwise. Here's hoping.

Trying to learn all the ins and outs of my Alva BC640 before the start of the contest, as I'd like to use it. Really a great display, but I very much look forward to the day when electronic Braille is more affordable. Hoping the Braille Wizard by NBP will be a solid step towards affordable electronic Braille, just like the Perkins Braille displays have been.

The National Federation of the Blind

Braille For Everyone

White Cane Safety Day Proclamation

As those who speak with me for more then two minutes about politics knows I have huge disagreements with Obama about everything from economics to civil rights matters. Having said this I have always been most impressed by his White Cane Day proclamations, and felt it important to reprint it here.

The focus on the white cane as a symbol of freedom and independence, as well as the mention of the importance of Braille as literacy, are major points and should not be overlooked. Regardless of whether a given day is a travel easy day or one where I am veering all over the place, the fact that I can navigate independently is so important, and can be overlooked when not compared with the fairly recent past.

Additionally, the ability to read is extremely important. Although I don't read as quickly as I would like, the ability to use Braille, no matter how slowly, is a blessing. I know of those who can make it with just sound, but I question if their life is really enhanced by this lack.

October 15, 2010
BY THE PRESIDENT OF THE UNITED STATES OF AMERICA A PROCLAMATION

The white cane, in addition to being a practical mobility tool, serves as a symbol of dignity, freedom, and independence for individuals who are blind or
visually impaired. On White Cane Safety Day, our Nation celebrates the immeasurable contributions the Americans who use canes have made as valued members
of our diverse country. We also examine our progress and recommit to full integration, equality, education, and opportunity for Americans with visual impairments.

Today, students with disabilities are reaching achievements considered unattainable just a few decades ago. Many gains have been realized throughout our
educational system, but we must accomplish more so that America's technological advances and assistive tools are available for the benefit of all students.
My Administration is committed to ensuring that electronic readers and other electronic equipment used by schools, including postsecondary institutions,
are accessible to individuals who are blind or visually impaired. We are also providing guidance and technical assistance to help colleges and universities
fully comply with the legal requirements to use emerging technology that is accessible to all students in the classroom. Blindness and visual impairments
are not impediments to obtaining knowledge, and we must highlight the availability of existing tools to facilitate communication and work to improve access
to them. Additionally, the Braille code opens doors of literacy and learning to countless individuals with visual impairments across our country and around
the world, and we must work with advocates and leaders throughout our society to promote and improve Braille literacy among our students.

Americans with disabilities are Americans first and foremost, entitled to both full participation in our society and full opportunity in our economy. My
Administration is working to increase information access so Americans who are blind or visually impaired can fully participate in our increasingly interconnected
world. To expand career options for people with disabilities in the Federal Government, I signed an Executive Order directing executive departments and
agencies to design strategies to increase recruitment and hiring of these valued public servants. I was also pleased to sign the Twenty-First Century Communications
and Video Accessibility Act into law earlier this month to ensure that the jobs of the future are accessible to all. This legislation will make it easier
for people who are deaf, blind, or live with a visual impairment to use the technology our 21st-century economy depends on, from navigating digital menus
on a television to sending emails on a smart phone.

As we observe the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act this year, my Administration reaffirms our national commitment to creating access
to employment, education, and social, political, and economic opportunities for Americans with disabilities. Together with individuals who are blind or
visually impaired, service providers, educators, and employers, we will uphold our country as an inclusive, welcoming place for blind or visually impaired
people to work, learn, play, and live.

By joint resolution approved on October 6, 1964 (Public Law 88-628, as amended), the Congress designated October 15 of each year as White Cane Safety Day
to recognize the contributions of Americans who are blind or have low vision.

NOW, THEREFORE, I, BARACK OBAMA, President of the United States of America, do hereby proclaim October 15, 2010, as White Cane Safety Day. I call upon all
public officials, business and community leaders, educators, librarians, and Americans to observe this day with appropriate ceremonies, activities, and
programs.

IN WITNESS WHEREOF, I have hereunto set my hand this fifteenth day of October, in the year of our two thousand ten, and of the Independence of the United
States of America the two hundred and thirty-fifth.

BARACK OBAMA 

Full Page Display in Wired

For those of you who share my longing for a full page refreshable Braille display the day may indeed soon be near, as sited in this Wired magazine article.

The work referenced is one of the projects of the Center for Braille Innovation, which I contribute to on a monthly basis. I believe the advent of affordable electronic Braille for the common blind person will be revolutionary when it comes to real literacy. I wish the researchers of this project great and swift success.

A Full Page Braille Display?

I found this article extremely exciting and thought I'd share. Hope you enjoy. For more information please go here.

Imagine if your computer only allowed you to see one line at a time, no matter what you were doing—reading e-mail, looking at a Web site, doing research. That's the challenge facing blind computer users today. But new research from North Carolina State University is moving us closer to the development of a display system that would allow the blind to take full advantage of the Web and other computer applications.

"Right now, electronic Braille displays typically only show one line of text at a time. And they're very expensive," says Dr. Neil Di Spigna, a research assistant professor at NC State and co-author of a paper describing the research. In order to develop a more functional, and affordable, tool that would allow the blind to interface with their computers, Di Spigna and his colleagues are working to develop a full-page, refreshable Braille display. Braille uses a series of raised dots to represent letters and numbers, allowing blind people to read.

Such a display would also translate images into tactile displays, effectively mapping pixels in an image and allowing the full-page Braille display to represent the images as raised dots.

The researchers have developed a concept called a "hydraulic and latching mechanism," which would allow the development of such a display system. The mechanism would be made of an electroactive polymer that is very resilient and inexpensive, when compared to current Braille display technologies. "This material will allow us to raise dots to the correct height, so they can be read," says Dr. Peichun Yang, a postdoctoral research associate at NC State and co-author of the paper. "Once the dots are raised, a latching mechanism would support the weight being applied by a person's fingers as the dots are read. The material also responds quickly, allowing a reader to scroll through a document or Web site quickly."

Earlier this month, the researchers presented their findings on the hydraulic component of the mechanism, showing that it is a viable technology. The next step is to demonstrate a proof-of-concept model of the latching mechanism. "We hope to have a fully functioning prototype of the mechanism within a year," Di Spigna says, "and that could serve as the functional building block of a full-screen refreshable display."

"Reading Braille is essential to allowing blind people to find employment," says Yang, who is blind. "We're optimistic that this technology will give the blind additional opportunities in this area."

"The last 20 years of computer technology have been relatively inaccessible—and today's common mobile computing devices, from smart-phones to digital navigators and iPads, have been completely nonexistent—to blind people, because the display technology for the blind has not kept pace," says David Winick, a researcher at NC State and co-author of the paper. "We hope to enable the development of applications that will give the blind more complete access to the internet and other computer resources, such as e-books."

The research, "The integration of novel EAP-based Braille cells for use in a refreshable tactile display," was presented March 8 at the 12th International Conference on Electroactive Polymer Actuators And Devices in San Diego. The work was funded by the National Institute of Disability and Rehabilitation Research, which is part of the U.S. Department of Education. The work was co-authored by Di Spigna, Yang, Winick, Parthasarathi Chakraborti, an NC State graduate student, Dr. Tushar Ghosh, a professor of textile engineering chemistry and science, and Dr. Paul Franzon, a professor of electrical and computer engineering.


The National Federation of the Blind

Braille For Everyone

The Serotek Ultimatum

For those unaware this post from the Serotek Blog is really fantastic, calling on all blind people to throw off the AT chains of the blind ghetto. Can't wait until Braille for Everyone comes to pass. The comments afterward are also workth reading IMO.

Braille Readers Are Leaders

I have joined the Braille Readers Are Leaders Contest and will begin my reading today. I hope to have read at least 150 pages by the end of the contest. If you are interested in forming a team with me please E mail me.

Slates, Macs, and the end of Blind Boot Camp

I find it interesting that a slating bug seems to always inhabit the CCB causing all who come in contact with it to slate as much as possible. If this is not treated with moderate slating, the victim will eventually slate his fingers off in a single event of non stop slating. Regardless I am happy to have been biten, and only hope it will continue with me when I get home. I trust it will, and with my slating pals it should be easy enough.

I have also had the chance to play with a Mac and found it fairly enjoyable. I would not yet use VoiceOver as my primary screen reader, but am pleased with how it is coming along.

Blind Boot Camp ends soon. We send the troops packing on 8-8 (a day I am eagerly awaiting as I am *tired*), and we should be totally done by 8-13. Getting back to real life should be good. I am eager to find a job and start earning a real living. As I read the news and listen to the victim minded among us I feel more and more that the the Sword of Truth, Atlas Shrugged, The Road to Serfdom, and the Cato Institute should be read and viewed more regularly.

I follow with the iced coffee...

10% Read Braille

Although I find the stat itself troubling (if not surprising) I like the positive points put forward about Braille. In particular the focus on the fact that literacy for the blind can only be found in Braille.

I am applying for grants to obtain an Alva BC640 to aid in my own quest for greater Braille literacy. Hopefully it will go well.

Fewer Than 10 Percent Of Blind Americans Read Braille

By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS, March 26, 2009

BALTIMORE (AP) -- Jordan Gilmer has a degenerative condition that
eventually
will leave him completely blind. But as a child, his teachers did not
emphasize Braille, the system of reading in which a series of raised dots
signify letters of the alphabet.

Instead, they insisted he use what little vision he had to read print. By
the third grade, he was falling behind in his schoolwork.

''They gave him Braille instruction, but they didn't tell us how to get
Braille books, and they didn't want him using it during the day,'' said
Jordan's mother, Carrie Gilmer of Minneapolis. Teachers said Braille would
be ''a thing he uses way off in the far distant future, and don't worry
about it.''

That experience is common: Fewer than 10 percent of the 1.3 million
legally
blind people in the United States read Braille, and just 10 percent of
blind
children are learning it, according to a report to be released Thursday
by
the National Federation of the Blind.

By comparison, at the height of its use in the 1950s, more than half the
nation's blind children were learning Braille. Today Braille is considered
by many to be too difficult, too outdated, a last resort.

Instead, teachers ask students to rely on audio texts, voice-recognition
software or other technology. And teachers who know Braille often must
shuttle between schools, resulting in haphazard instruction, the report
says.

''You can find good teachers of the blind in America, but you can't find
good programs,'' said Marc Maurer, the group's president. ''There is not a
commitment to this population that is at all significant almost
anywhere.''

Using technology as a substitute for Braille leaves blind people
illiterate,
the federation said, citing studies that show blind people who know
Braille
are more likely to earn advanced degrees, find good jobs and live
independently.

''It's really sad that so many kids are being shortchanged,'' said Debby
Brackett of Stuart, Fla., who pressured schools to provide capable Braille
teachers for her 12-year-old daughter, Winona.

One study found that 44 percent of participants who grew up reading
Braille
were unemployed, compared with 77 percent for those who relied on print.
Overall, blind adults face 70 percent unemployment.

The federation's report pulled together existing research on Braille
literacy, and its authors acknowledge that not enough research has been
done. The 10 percent figure comes from federal statistics gathered by the
American Printing House for the Blind, a company that develops products
for
the visually impaired.

The federation also did some original research, including a survey of 500
people that found the ability to read Braille correlated with higher
levels
of education, a higher likelihood of employment and higher income.

The report coincides with the 200th birthday of Louis Braille, the
Frenchman
who invented the Braille code as a teenager. Resistance to his system was
immediate; at one point, the director of Braille's school burned the books
he and his classmates had transcribed. The school did not want its blind
students becoming too independent; it made money by selling crafts they
produced.

The system caught on, but began declining in the 1960s along with the
widespread integration of blind children into public schools. It has
continued with the advent of technology that some believe makes Braille
obsolete.

''Back in about 1970 or so, I was heading to college, and somebody said
to
me, 'Now that you've got the tape recorder, everything will be all right.
In
the early 1980s, somebody else said, 'Now that you've got a talking
computer, everything will be all right,''' said Marc Maurer, president of
the federation.

''They were both wrong. And the current technology isn't going to make
everything all right unless I know how to put my hands on a page that has
words on it and read them.''

Audio books are no substitute, said Carlton Walker, an attorney and the
mother of a legally blind girl from McConnellsburg, Pa. Walker once met a
blind teenager who had only listened to audio books; the teen was shocked
to
discover that ''Once upon a time'' was four separate words.

Walker also had to lobby teachers to provide Braille for her 8-year-old
daughter, Anna, instead of just large-print books.

''At 3 years old, Anna could compete with very large letters. When you
get
older, you can't compete,'' Walker said. She once asked a teacher,
'''What
are you going to do when she's reading Dickens?' She said, 'Well, we'll
just
go to audio then.'

''If that were good enough for everybody, why do we spend millions of
dollars teaching people to read?''

Gilmer, now an 18-year-old aspiring lawyer, worked on his Braille in a
summer program when he was in middle school and can now read 125 words a
minute, up from his previously rate, an excruciatingly slow 20 words a
minute.

''Just try it,'' Carrie Gilmer said. ''Go get a paragraph, get a
stopwatch
and try to read 20 words a minute. Try and read that slow and see how
frustrating it is.''

Fluent Braille readers can read 200 words a minute or more, the
federation
says.

Carrie Gilmer is president of a parents' group within the federation for
the
blind. She believes poor or haphazard instruction is largely responsible
for
the decline in Braille literacy, but she says sometimes teachers push
Braille only to meet resistance from parents.

''They're afraid of their child looking blind, not fitting in,'' Gilmer
said.

The report outlines ambitious goals for reversing the trend, including
lobbying all 50 states to require teachers of blind children to be
certified
in Braille instruction by 2015. But its immediate goal is to simply make
people aware that there's no substitute for Braille. It's not just a tool
to
help people function -- it can bring joy, Maurer said.

''The concept of reading Braille for fun is a thing that lots of people
don't know,'' Maurer said. ''And yet I do this every day. I love the
beautiful, orderly lines of words that convey a different idea that can
stimulate me or make me excited or sad. ... This is what we're trying to
convey.''

Colorado Joint Braille Resolution

Below is the joint resolution passed by the Colorado House and Senate on March 26th recognizing Louis Braille in general and the Braille coin in particular. Great stuff. I listened to the readings and adoption via streaming, and it was most moving.

First Regular Session
Sixty-seventh General Assembly
STATE OF COLORADO

REVISED SJR09-031
LLS NO. R09-0962.01 Joel Moore

SENATE SPONSORSHIP
Shaffer B.,

HOUSE SPONSORSHIP
Rice,

Senate Committees House Committees

SENATE JOINT RESOLUTION 09-031
CONCERNING THE CONTINUING IMPORTANCE OF BRAILLE LITERACY
IN THE LIVES OF BLIND CHILDREN AND ADULTS IN COLORADO AND
ACROSS THE NATION, AND, IN CONNECTION THEREWITH,
RECOGNIZING ”NATIONAL BRAILLE READERS ARE LEADERS DAY”.

WHEREAS, Since its invention by Louis Braille, the reading and
writing code for the blind that bears his name has become the accepted
method of reading and writing for the blind the world over; and

WHEREAS, Braille is used to represent not only the alphabets of
most written languages but also mathematical and scientific notation and
the reproduction of musical scores; and

WHEREAS, Braille provides people who are blind with the power
of knowledge, expanding their opportunities and equipping them with the
tools to be productive and imaginative contributors to society; and

WHEREAS, Contrary to popular belief, Braille is not difficult to
learn, nor is reading Braille slower than reading print; and

WHEREAS, While technology has improved the lives of blind
people by facilitating quick access to information, no technology can
replace Braille literacy since literacy is the ability to read and write and
to do both interactively; and

WHEREAS, Despite Braille’s efficiency, versatility, and universal
acceptance by the blind, the rate of Braille literacy in the United States
has declined to the point where only 10 percent of blind children are
learning to read and write Braille; and
WHEREAS, Just as a literacy rate of 10 percent among this
nation’s sighted children would be rightly viewed as a crisis and as cause
for national outrage, the decline in Braille literacy is a crisis, and swift
action must be taken to reverse this dangerous trend; and

WHEREAS, Braille literacy is the key to independence,
productivity, and success for blind people, as evidenced by the fact that,
while 70 percent of the blind are unemployed, 85 percent of those who
are employed use Braille; and

WHEREAS, The United States Congress officially recognized the
importance of Braille by passing the Louis Braille Bicentennial--Braille
Literacy Commemorative Coin Act, authorizing the striking of a United
States silver dollar in commemoration of the two hundredth anniversary
of the birth of Louis Braille; and

WHEREAS, The National Federation of the Blind, the nation’s
oldest and largest organization of blind people and the leading advocate
for Braille literacy, has launched a national ”Braille Readers are Leaders”
campaign to promote awareness of the importance of Braille and the
magnitude of the Braille literacy crisis and to increase the availability of
competent Braille instruction and of Braille reading materials in this
country, with funding for said campaign to come from a portion of the
proceeds of the sale of the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar; and

WHEREAS, The National Federation of the Blind has today
released a comprehensive report, ”The Braille Literacy Crisis in
America--Facing the Truth, Reversing the Trend, Empowering the Blind”,
and the United States Mint has this day released the Louis Braille
Bicentennial Silver Dollar for purchase by the general public; now,
therefore,

Be It Resolved by the Senate of the Sixty-seventh General Assembly
of the State of Colorado, the House of Representatives concurring herein:

(1) That we, the members of the Colorado General Assembly, do
hereby proclaim March 26, 2009, as National Braille Readers are Leaders
Day, to celebrate the hope, opportunity, and power that literacy in Braille
provides to the blind and to our nation; and

(2) That we call upon all public officials, educators, and citizens

-2- 031

throughout Colorado and this nation to recognize the importance of Braille in the lives of blind people and to assist the National Federation of the Blind in its efforts to increase instruction in and use of Braille in Colorado and across the United States.

Be ItFurther Resolved, That copies of this Joint Resolution be sent to Governor Bill Ritter, Jr.; the members of the Colorado Congressional delegation; and Scott C. LaBarre, President, National Federation of the Blind of Colorado.

-3- 031

Braille Coin

Tomorrow the long awaited Louis Braille Coin goes on sale. Planning to buy two or three myself, as it combines two of my favorite things- coins and Braille.

Below is a press release from the NFBCO on the event tomorrow. I am saddened I will not be able to make the festivities, but trust they will be superb anyway.

National Federation of the Blind of Colorado Celebrates
Release of Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar


Denver, Colorado (March 25, 2009): The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) of Colorado will On March 26 celebrate the release of the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar. This historic commemorative coin, the first-ever U.S. coin to contain tactile, readable Braille, will be launched at a special ceremony at the headquarters of the National Federation of the Blind, in Baltimore, beginning at 10:00 a.m. EDT on March 26, 2009.



In Denver, Colorado and under the leadership of Majority Leader, Senator Brendon Shaffer and Representative Joe Rice, the Colorado General Assembly will honor the launch by adopting a Joint Resolution highlighting the release of the coin and emphasizing the Braille literacy program partially funded by the sale of this commemorative coin.



Immediately preceding the assembly's passing of the resolution, the NFB of Colorado will hold a press event at 08:30 am in the Press Room; (room 326 on the third floor in the southwest corner of the Capitol). State Senator Brandon Shaffer and other dignitaries will be in attendance.



Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: "If the blind can read, the blind can achieve. The Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar celebrates the man who gave literacy to the blind and is a unique and beautiful keepsake, but it is also a coin with a mission: to make sure that every blind child and every adult losing vision in our nation has the opportunity to learn Braille. "



Scott LaBarre, president of the Federation's Colorado affiliate said "I am a totally blind attorney operating my own successful law practice. I would not be able to do so without being extremely literate. Braille is fundamental to my level of literacy, without which I

could not practice law. The Louis Braille Coin and its attendant literacy program will bring success and freedom to the generations of tomorrow. We know that the working



age blind face an unemployment rate exceeding seventy percent, yet a substantial majority of the blind who are employed are Braille readers. We salute Senator Shaffer and Representative Rice for demonstrating the leadership to call attention to this literacy crisis and for supporting the program to start fixing the problem."



Senator Shaffer said, "It's unfortunate that we are so quick to forget the invaluable contributions that the sight impaired have made to our society. Helen Keller, Stevie Wonder, Galileo Galilee, Kirby Puckett, Claude Monet, and David Paterson are just a few individuals that have and continue to contribute. Braille is an accessible, efficient mechanism for learning and there is no reason why only 10 percent of blind children are learning it. The sight impaired deserve the same opportunities as all individuals and Colorado is ready to provide that for them."



Regarding the resolution, Representative Rice said, "Literacy is considered by our society to be a fundamental civil right in America today. I applaud the National Federation of the Blind of Colorado as it works through its Braille Readers are Leaders Campaign to provide the right of literacy through Braille to all of America's blind children and adults."



Sales of the Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar, which was authorized by a law passed by Congress and signed by President George W. Bush in 2006, will support the NFB's "Braille Readers are Leaders" campaign. The campaign is a national initiative created to double the number of blind children learning Braille by 2015.



The National Federation of the Blind is asking the American public, through purchasing this stunning silver dollar, to join its campaign to bring literacy, education, opportunity, and success to the blind of America. The Louis Braille Bicentennial Silver Dollar goes on sale to the general public at noon on March 26. Those interested in ordering a coin should visit www.usmint.gov or call 1-800-USA-MINT (872-6468). For more information about the National Federation of the Blind and the Braille Readers are Leaders campaign, visit www.braille.org.



###

Plug and Braille

This development is a very happy thing for me, as I have wondered at the effectivness of the Accessible Anywhere Braille Display petition. This shows me that those of us who love Braille and want it to expand are having an impact. I congratulate Handy Tech on giving tangible evidence that they wish to provide their customers with high quality products that are not limited to their closed platforms, but accessible anywhere.

Plug and Braille with Handy Tech Easy Braille!
On December 11, 2008, Serotek announced via the Serotek blog their endorsement of the Accessibility Anywhere Based Braille Display petition to Braille display manufacturers created and written by George McDermith. This petition urges Braille display manufacturers to do-away with proprietary drivers and instead use standard, mainstream technologies that will drive these devices regardless of the screen reader being used.

As an avid Braille reader myself, I am proud to be a signer of this petition. We at Handy Tech North America support Mr. McDermith's efforts with respect to this matter and in order to demonstrate our commitment to the cause, we are pleased to announce the Handy Tech Plug and Braille initiative with the introduction of Easy Braille with HID support.

HID stands for Human Interface Device and is the open standard for plug and play devices such as keyboards and mice. The HID protocol requires no separate software installations in order for these devices to work. Now Braille readers can simply plug-in their Handy Tech Easy Braille with HID support and gain immediate Braille access regardless of their chosen screen reader.

Although Easy Braille with HID support has been several months in the making prior to Mr. McDermith's petition, his timing is perfect as it affords Handy Tech the opportunity to demonstrate that we are once again on the leading edge when it comes to giving customers the tools they need when they need them.

For over a year now, Handy Tech customers have enjoyed the ability to walk up to one of millions of Apple computers and gain immediate grade two Braille access simply by plugging in their Handy Tech Braille display. Handy Tech is pleased to now offer the same freedom of access on the Microsoft Windows side or on any other platform that supports the HID protocol.

Combine this new Plug and Braille development with the high quality and ergonomic design for which Handy Tech products are known worldwide, and enjoy a flexible and reliable Braille solution for many years to come in the Handy Tech Easy Braille.

"I don't believe that people should be penalized because of the screen reader they use," says Sigi Kipke, Managing Director of Handy Tech GmbH in Horb, Germany, the manufacturers of Handy Tech Braille products. Kipke further stresses the importance of access to portable electronic Braille by stating that Braille products should not be viewed as some obscure technology used by just a few blind people, rather it should be viewed as a progressive and innovative technology that gives Braille readers the same advantages and opportunities as print readers.

Although Easy Braille with HID support is slated for release in May of 2009, Handy Tech representatives from both European and North American offices will be demonstrating this exciting new development at this year's California State University Northridge Center on Disabilities 24th Annual Technology and Persons with Disabilities Conference, otherwise known as CSUN.

Please join us in the exhibit hall at booth 302 of the Marriott LAX hotel where we will be enthusiastically demonstrating the following products:

Easy Braille with new HID support.
The new Handy Tech Braille driver for Nuance Talks which allows for the input of grade two Braille among other things.
The powerful netbook computer and Braille display options available from Handy Tech North America which does away with the out-dated notion that technology for blind people must be based on a closed and proprietary platform.
Last but not least, the latest developments around the exciting Active Tactile Control (ATC) technologies that actually senses the user's fingers on the Braille display and responds accordingly based on reading behaviors. This ground breaking technology is useful for Braille readers of all skill levels.

Some Thoughts on Braille

As I begin to delve more deeply into the AT field, going beyond a hobby to a profession I have found the tendency to disregard Braille displays as a important and necessary part of most blind individuals AT package rather depressing. In the field where Braille is perhaps most exciting and full of possibilities to dramaticly level the playing field between those of us who are blind and those who are not with displays and access to electronic Braille (limiting or all together eliminating Braille's historic space issues) there is a noted coolness towards the code. This is unfortunate to say the least, for one of the best ways to have a full accessible digital lifestyle is to have tactile as well as audible output.

This coolness towards Braille is in part due to the stereotypes stil so easily found about blindness. People wish to be viewed as "normal" and thus they squint and strain at a ten word per minute rate of speed, rather then learn Braille. Even at twenty five or seventy five words per minutes the issue still remains that most can read at one hundred words per minute or more with no strain in Braille. I find a system and indviduals that promote this foolishness of print worship to be misguided at best, and believe they are woefully misinformed on what "normality" consists of (indeed all who have known me for any length of time can atest to my lack there of). I find the fact that in today's environment of openness and change we still have our minorities and stereotypes.

I believe however that if I, who was a anti Braille nutter from high school on, can be converted to the way of Braille there is hope for the most stubbron senior or recalcitrent student out there. I trust that once individuals have a taste of the freedom reading gives one, as opposed to listening all the time to material, they will want more. I hope so at least.

I am planning on wrapping up the display petition in mid to late April. I think this will give it enough time to be signed without transforming from a labor of love to one of pain. I hope it will have some impact on things, though more and more I find myself in the plite of so many geeks, who fall passionately in love with some obscure bit of programming or some sub sub geek culture issue, which when he holds forth to the rest of the world he is stunned to find that the rest of the world doesn't care about his pet project. This has its amusing side to be sure, though I pray it will be many a year before I need the services of a Tech Addicts Anonimus group. Just give me a gallon barrel of straight espresso and some good SAM Net content and I will survive... Hopefully.

Apostle of Light

This clip gives a dramatic depiction of Louis Braille going blind and inventing Braille. Thought considering the celebrations it was a good thing to post.

Happy Birthday Louis Braille

I wish to add a belated but heart felt happy birthday to Mr. Braille, whose bicentennial occured on 1-4 of this year. Celebrations and educational events have already begun and are scheduled to continue throughout the year. I trust and hope this educational push will encourage both the sighted and blind to understand why Braille is not merely important but absolutely necessary for independence.

Happy Birthday Mr. Braille! — $200 discount on our Braille products
Longueuil, January 6th, 2008 — January 4th 2009 marked the two hundredth anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille. Louis Braille is the inventor of the Braille reading and writing system used internationally by people who are blind and visually impaired. It is the only method by which the blind can be truly literate. Statistics show that 85% of employed blind people use Braille to perform part of their job.
HumanWare has been at the forefront of providing award-winning Braille solutions for both students and professionals. HumanWare's BrailleNote note takers are used by thousands of students and professionals who create and access documents and books to be read in Braille. HumanWare offers other Braille solutions from the pocketsize BrailleConnect for use with mobile devices and laptops, several sizes of the Brailliant Braille displays for the workplace, and personal and institutional Braille embossers.

HumanWare will be celebrating this two hundredth anniversary throughout the year with many future announcements. To begin the year with the true spirit, HumanWare is pleased to offer to all of our customers in the Americas a $200 discount on the purchase on any of our Braille products.

HumanWare realizes that much work remains to be done to insure that all blind individuals have an opportunity to learn and use Braille. HumanWare has worked on many initiatives in the past to make Braille more accessible and will vigorously pursue these activities in 2009 and beyond to make illiteracy among the blind a thing of the past.

Campaign tries to teach the benefits of Braille

SUE McMILLIN

January 5, 2009 - 2:38PM

Since its invention in the 1820s, Braille has been the key to literacy - and employment - for blind people, according to the National Federation of the Blind.

It's appalling that only 10 percent of blind children in the United States are learning Braille, said Kevan Worley, president of the federation's Colorado Springs chapter.

Nationally, about 70 percent of blind people are unemployed, Worley said. But, he said, more than 80 percent of blind people who have learned Braille are employed.

The federation has launched a Braille literacy campaign as it celebrates the 200th anniversary of the birth of Louis Braille, the blind Frenchman who invented the Braille alphabet and published it in 1829. Sunday, Worley and other members of the local chapter demonstrated various mechanical and electronic Braille writers at the Barnes & Noble Booksellers on Briargate Boulevard. Similar events took place at about 60 bookstores across the country.

The small Braille machines easily attracted the attention of children visiting the store.

"Kids love to learn about Braille because it's a code," Worley said. Many myths about Braille - that's it's slow and hard to learn or that it can be replaced by audio material - have kept the Braille literacy rate low, he said. Also, there's a shortage of qualified teachers. But perhaps the biggest obstacle is that most blind children have some visual capabilities and are encouraged to use that rather than learn Braille, Worley and others said.

Rene Harrell, who is teaching Braille to her 7-year-old daughter Clare, said: "The default is to use print because people believe it's easier and it's less intimidating."

That might be OK for children's books when there's only a few large-print words on a page, she said, but by the time blind students get to high school they can't keep up with the reading and can't compete for college and jobs.

Harrell said she adopted Clare when she was 4 and at first believed that she could only perceive light. It turned out that Clare has some visual abilities, but they can vary based on the environment and other factors.

"We decided to let Clare use her vision when it's useful and let her learn techniques for when it's not," Harrell said.

Most children learn Braille at about the same rate that seeing children learn to read, Worley said. And it opens a world to them that listening to audio books alone cannot. When he adopted his son, Nijat, from Azerbaijan at age 11, he'd had no Braille training. He was living in a refugee camp and when his sight was lost at age 9, his schooling had stopped.

Nijat said he quickly picked up Braille (and English), learning to read it with Harry Potter books. He graduated last year from Cheyenne Mountain High School and is now a freshman at the University of Colorado in Boulder. Now he teaches his dad how to download the newspaper on the equivalent of a Braille laptop, as well as scanning and downloading his textbooks so that he can read them in Braille.

Contrary to popular belief, adults who lose their sight later in life can learn Braille, too, Worley said.

Rob Lewark, 45, awoke one day in May 2005 and could barely see. His vision was about 80 percent gone, and by January 2006, he was blind because of glaucoma. He'd done a variety of things but in midlife had gone back to school and became an architect. That career was gone, too.

But he learned Braille at the Colorado Center for the Blind in Littleton, and soon was running his own cafe on Peterson Air Force Base.

"There are a lot of things blind people can do," he said. As for the saying "Life's a bitch," Lewark had his comeback tattooed in Braille on his arm: "Let's get this bitch started."

I also have to mention the continuous and tireless work of the National Braille Press. Their quest to provide Braille at prices our sighted counterparts would pay is a praise worthy one.

The Case for Braille

"From the mid-'60s to the present, the percentage of school-aged blind children in this country who use braille as their primary reading medium has dropped from 50 percent to 12 percent, and more than a generation of blind children has been largely allowed to grow up illiterate under the damaging notion that tape recordings and talking computers are sufficient for them."

"This decline in the teaching and learning of braille has occurred not because the value of literacy has in any way diminished. On the contrary, in our democratic society for which a literate public is the cornerstone and in an economy which is increasingly complex and information-driven, the ability to read and write is increasingly crucial. This is all the more true as society's vision of the capacity of blind people to achieve despite their handicap grows, as prejudices against them diminish, as the law supports them in equal employment opportunity, and as opportunities for blind people to produce and contribute are expanding." --Full Article

Couldn't have said it better myself.

I follow with the iced coffee and a Braille book...

Unlocking the Code

Here is a piece of Louis Braille birthday cake, in early celebration of 1-4. Also an excellent short video talking about the importance of Braille. I follow with the iced coffee and a Braille book...

Braille Book Club

Greetings,

A Braille book club is starting on 1-16-09, from 6:45pm-8:00pm. Our first meeting will focus on determining a book for the group. Future meetings will discuss the previous month's book, chat about Braille and adaptive technology, and decide on a book for the following month. Anyone may partisipate (if a sighted person wishes to use print for example), and we will stick to a solid end time to respect partisipants time.

If you have any questions, please e mail or Skype me at george.mcdermith.

When: Friday 1-16-09 6:45pm-8:00pm (MST)
Where: Books and Beyond Room (http://accessibleworld.org/rooms/booksandbeyond.php)
Why: To encourage the use of Braille and a love of literature.

I follow with the iced coffee and a Braille book...

Serotek Supports Braille Displays that are Accessible Anywhere!

A petition has been started by George McDermith at http://www.petitiononline.com/brldis/petition.html asking Braille display manufacturers to base their drivers on the human interface protocol, found on all Windows computers. Such a design philosophy will ensure that users can be certain of having support for their Braille display on any computer, not just one which has been custom-configured for such access, and will eliminate the need to depend on specific screen reader drivers.



The text of the petition reads as follows:



"To: Braille display manufacturers
We, the undersigned, who are Braille display users, friends and family of Braille display users, and teachers of the blind,
*: Believe that accessibility to information for the blind on a par with their sighted piers is a right. Believe that due to this right, and due to the cost of Braille displays, accessing Braille through the use of Braille displays should not be limited by the type of screen reading solution used by the blind.
*: Strongly request that all manufacturers of Braille displays cease basing the drivers of their Braille displays off of particular screen reader drivers, but rather base all Braille display drivers off of the Human User Interface Protocol, which can be found on all Windows computers.
*: This will allow true portability and equal access to information for the blind, as they will be able to use their display with any computer. This will create greater competition in the market for the best Braille display to stand out, grant greater literacy in Braille through greater access to electronic Braille books and other materials, and support the right of all blind people to have accessibility anywhere."



To add your support to this worthy cause, visit the petition web page at

http://www.petitiononline.com/brldis/petition.html



The Serotek Team


To have the support of such a great company for this cause is extremely uplifting and empowering. I urge everyone to sign this petition.

I follow with the iced coffee and a Braille book...

Braille Display Petition

If you are interested in making Braille displays accessible anywhere then please consider signing the Accessible Anywhere Based Braille Displays petition.

This petition asks Braille display manufacturers to base their drivers off of the Human User Interface found on all Windows computers, as opposed to the proprietory drivers they currently use. This would allow much greater Braille display access to all computers, without having to instal and remove drivers, or mess with configurations. This will truely aid in greater Braille literacy through a greater access to electronic Braille and other information on the computer. Please help us change the norm to a consumer friendly format.

I follow with the iced coffee and a Braille book...