Dear AccessWorld readers,
Last month, AccessWorld celebrated Disability Employment Awareness Month. We took the opportunity to focus on employment and provide information about employment resources, strategies, and insider perspectives for getting the most from vocational rehabilitation services. We hope you enjoyed the spotlight on the working world, where we highlighted the career of New York State Assistant District Attorney and Deputy Bureau Chief, Rackets Division, Celeste Lopes.
We also hope you enjoyed "An Introduction to Twitter," from J.J. Meddaugh, and the third installment of our series on illuminated magnifiers, "Lighting Up Your World: A Closer Look at Illuminated Magnifiers, Part 3," from Morgan Blubaugh.
As you know, there is now a chill in the air, and the days of fall are well upon us. It is time to start thinking about the holiday gift giving season. I know, I know...I can't believe it, either; summer completely passed me by. Ready or not, the shopping season is just around the corner, and the AccessWorld team wants you to be ready with gift ideas for those in your life who have experienced vision loss. In addition to in-depth product reviews of the Kindle 3 and the Haven cell phone offered from Verizon, we are focusing the November issue on helping you to shop for young and old alike with vision loss.
In this issue, Bradley Hodges provides great gift ideas ranging from low-tech household items to high-tech productivity tools; some ideas are "high-dollar," whereas others are "priceless." J.J. Meddaugh walks us through the toy store and provides a great run-down on accessible toys and games for the young-at-heart on your shopping list. Janet Ingber takes us on a virtual tour of popular online shopping sites and provides advice, tips, and tricks to get the most from your online holiday shopping experience.
Speaking of shopping, in this issue, Deborah Kendrick reviews the Directions for Me website, an accessible online resource for package information and directions on how to use thousands of products, from cake mixes to vacuum cleaners. Can't read the package information? Directions for Me can help. If you find it difficult to get reliable transportation to and from the store, or if lugging heavy bottles of laundry detergent and household products on the bus weighs you down, check out the review of Soap.com from Bradley Hodges. This online store offers free telephone orders and free shipping on orders of $25 or more.
We at AccessWorld hope this issue will give you ideas and inspiration for finding just the right gift for anyone on your holiday gift list with vision loss. If, however, e-greeting cards are more your style, read Marc Grossman's review of popular e-card sites.
The AccessWorld team wishes you and yours health, happiness, and prosperity as we enter the holiday season.
Sincerely,
Lee Huffman
AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
