Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This letter is in response to Janet Ingber's October 2012 article entitled "What's on this Page: A Review of the SayText, Prizmo, and TextDetective iOS Reading Apps." This article was well researched, and because of the review, I intend on purchasing [TextDetective], which seems to be more promising as a scan and read software for the iPhone. Thanks to the author of this article and much continued success in delivering this insightful information to the public.
Respectfully,
Brendan
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
ZoomText has been provided to me at work for years, and I use it on a daily basis. I have a sort of love/hate relationship with it. When it works properly, it's great. Unfortunately, it's buggy, memory-hogging software ,which frequently bogs down the computer, freezes, jumps unexpectedly, and does other things it's not supposed to do. It's the DocReader feature more than anything else that keeps me from wanting to switch to some other screen magnifier program. Nothing else on the market seems to be really comparable.
I was just upgraded from ZT 9.1 to ZT 10 last week, and I can already tell its problems haven't been fixed. If anything, they may be worse. The new features seem to have bloated it, causing it to perform more sluggishly on my computer. I've had to shut it down and restart it several times. Today, I was trying to work in the MS Access Forms Designer, and the way the screen kept jumping when I was trying to drag a field into position had me just about ready to throw the computer out the window.
I don't know just what is wrong with ZoomText's inner workings, but to use programmer jargon (I'm a programmer), I suspect it has memory leaks, threading conflicts, or some other such issue. I'll continue to use it, but I really wish either Ai Squared would clean it up, or some other company would come out with something better, perhaps with something such as the DocReader included!
Regards,
Laura
Response from AccessWorld Editor
Hello Laura,
Thank you for reading AccessWorld and writing in with your comments on October's ZoomText article.
I want to make sure you are aware of Ai Squared's tech support services. On the Ai Squared website, you can find information to diagnose problems you're having, contact then with questions, learn more about the software, and take advantage of their remote services. Technicians can remotely access your computer to change settings to make ZoomText work most efficiently with your particular computer.
I would recommend contacting them to see if they can offer any suggestions.
Sincerely,
Lee Huffman
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This is great information.
I have just read the article in AccessWorld written by the Career Connect Program Manager, Joe Strechay. I was wondering if he could share some resources for high school and college students related to internships available through the federal government.
One young person we worked with had two internships with agencies of the federal government, and they really helped her develop self-confidence and experience.
For people with limited paid work experience, an internship or a volunteer position with responsibilities helps provide work experience.
Thanks,
Mary Beth
Response from AccessWorld author Joe Strechay
Hello Mary Beth,
Listed below are a few internship opportunities that may match your interests.
- Student Programs: U.S. Department of State Student Experience and Pathways Programs. The U.S. Department of State offers two programs for high school, undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate students who are interested in interning in a foreign affairs environment.
- The White House Fellows Program. For people interested in interning in the Presidential administration.
- Disaboom.com. Internship opportunities available through the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD).
The federal government is one way to go, but I strongly suggest getting as many internships as possible. I know they were beneficial to me. Any opportunity to get your foot in the door, create connections, and prove your work ethic is an asset.
Many large corporations offer internship programs, and some even offer programs specific to people with disabilities. In this blog post I wrote for NY Creative Interns, you can find some of my tips and advice on interning with a visual impairment.
Sincerely,
Joe Strechay
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
I just read Joe Strechay's October article entitled "The Impact of the Popular Media on Public Perception of People with Disabilities." What a great article. I have a son who is blind from ROP [Retinopathy of Prematurity]. He is now 16 years old. When he was in pre-school, I wrote to PBS/Sesame Street suggesting that they might want to include visually impaired kids on the program for the very reasons you point out: to "develop a level of comfort and promote some understanding in viewers." It would also let kids like my son "see" that there are lots of other people just like him. When that happens, it makes us feel better about ourselves.
PBS wrote a nice letter back, thanking me for my input, but I don't think it did much good. To this day, they have kids with Down syndrome, kids in wheelchairs, and kids with hearing impairments on the show but very few kids who are blind or visually impaired. The inclusion of all those kids helps generate disability awareness as you pointed out, but I think we in the blind community need to push harder at public relations.
Sincerely,
Deborah
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
I really appreciated reading Mark Richert's hard hitting article on the failure of the federal government to enforce Section 508 of the Rehabilitation Act. I'm grateful that he used his legal and analytic talents to read the report and to present the findings in an easily digestible manner. While the topic is not humorous, his levity allows the reader to digest the material with little effort.
This is a crucial issue if we want to improve employment and promotion possibilities, and it is likely to grow in importance over time. Thank you, Mark Richert, for bringing it to the attention of AccessWorld readers.
Best regards,
Bonnie
