Dear AccessWorld readers,
Last month AccessWorld served up some great holiday gift-giving ideas for people with vision loss. In the November issue, Deborah Kendrick provided ideas in her article, AccessWorld 2015 Accessible Holiday Gift Guide: From Free to Extravagant, Something for Everyone on Your List, and Janet Ingber provided information on options to the inconvenience and stress of brick and mortar shopping in her article, Holiday Shopping with Your iOS Device. In this issue, Janet also offers even more holiday gift ideas for the people on your list who experience vision loss.
There is still time to get the shopping done, so if you missed these articles, you can follow the above links or, as always, you can select the "Back Issues" button to check out any past online holiday issue of AccessWorld.
If you happen to be doing some cooking this time of year, you may want to revisit Deborah Kendrick's November 2010 review of the Directions for Me website, Website Evaluation: Directions for Me, a Gift to People Who Can't Read the Box. This article may help take the guesswork out of preparing those holiday meals by having package directions available at your fingertips, and it may even have the manual for that gift you are hoping to get over the holidays.
If you find yourself needing a break from all the pre- or post-holiday festivities, you may want to consider a stop at the local movie theater. As you know, audio description technology in movie theaters is becoming increasingly available. Relying on a friend or family member or imagining what might be happening in the film is no longer necessary. It's now possible to become completely immersed in the theater experience and enjoy films on an entirely new level. So sit back, relax, and take a break from the holiday rush.
A lot has happened in this past year of technology, from smaller changes to hardware and software, to exciting new accessible apps and advances in vision research, to larger events such as the release of the Apple Watch and Windows 10. We here at AccessWorld have done our best to keep you updated and informed in 2015, and the team certainly hopes you have enjoyed reading the publication and have personally benefited from our coverage of the technology most relevant to people with visual impairments.
If you have benefitted from information presented in AccessWorld, we would like to know about it. We would appreciate you sharing how information in AccessWorld has been of benefit to you, your student, or someone you care about. Please send your story to us; we are always excited to receive your feedback.
Also, in this season of giving, as the Editor-in-Chief of AccessWorld, I would like to ask for your support. The American Foundation for the Blind and, in turn, AccessWorld, depend, in large part, on private donations from people just like you.
If you read AccessWorld and are in a position to do so, I would appreciate you considering a gift to AccessWorld. Your donation will help us continue our work on behalf of Americans who are blind or visually impaired.
Each dollar you donate allows us to:
- Review assistive technologies
- Provide technology resources and support for everyone affected by blindness or visual impairment, including senior citizens, parents, families, and friends
- Offer a hub of technology information for professionals in the vision loss field
AccessWorld is here for the millions of Americans living with blindness and low vision because friends like you are here for us. If you would like to make a donation to AccessWorld, please visit the AccessWorld donation page. I ask for your assistance and also ask that you encourage your friends, family, and colleagues to join in our efforts.
The AccessWorld team wishes you a happy and healthy holiday season. We look forward to bringing you the latest in tech news in the coming year!
Best regards,
Lee Huffman, AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
American Foundation for the Blind
