Dear AccessWorld Editor,
In the May Letters to the Editor Marvin Eisenberg writes, "Pictures and videos for blind and visually impaired are a particularly unwelcome 'improvement.'" I respectfully disagree. We want the magazine to invite our sighted friends, family, and colleagues to learn about our needs, and what better way than to provide visual interest. I appreciated the detailed image descriptions and could imagine them easily. I have never seen before, but find that knowing about the visual elements in reading material brings me a much richer experience.
Michael Guajardo also had a letter published in the May issue. His thoughts about virtual reality reminded me how binaural sound, frequently now found in iOS games, could be used to teach O&M skills like crossing streets safely in a way that could engage blind children or newly-blinded adults before they had to tackle real intersections. Imagine dying and being reincarnated in a game that pitted you against horn-blaring tractor-trailers trying to run you over, on a virtual six-lane crossing. You could progress from easy neighborhood streets to expressways, from quiet, rural roads where trucks come suddenly out of nowhere to the discord of a large city. The game could quiz you on cardinal directions (go to the southeast corner of 4th and Main) or confuse you with inept pedestrians: "It's over there."
Sincerely,
Deborah Armstrong
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This letter is in response to Bill Holton's May article entitled, Speaking of Amazon: An Update on Amazon Accessibility and Using the NVDA Screen Reader with Kindle for PC.
I'm wondering, because I didn't read about this in the article, if [NVDA can override] books that are locked by the publisher to keep the text-to-speech mode from working…?
Sincerely,
N.J. Brand
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This letter is in response to Bill Holton's May article, Accessible Reading: A Review of The Abundant Bookshelf by Judith Dixon and A First Look at Downpour, a New Source for Audiobooks.
In addition to Downpour, a new audio book service I've been enjoying is libro.fm. Their app is very accessible and so is their site for creating and maintaining your wish list and account. If you sign up through your local independent bookstore you can get five free books for trying them out, and the bookstore staff can assist you in setting up the account.
The app is free on iOS.
Another honorable mention is an app simply called audiobooks from audiobooks.com, a site that is reasonably but not fully accessible. They also offer good pricing and several free books to try.
Sincerely,
Deborah Armstrong
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This is a webinar I'd like to take, or an article I'd like to read in AccessWorld.
I'd like to know how to best work with a sighted person as a JAWS user. Here are the typical sighted people one works with:
- An in-house trainer who wants to show you some aspect of software you don't understand.
- A co-worker who is helping you find some information on a webpage or showing you how to fill in a form.
- A family member you are assisting with confusing software or a webpage.
- A tech support rep controlling your PC remotely who is wanting to watch you perform the steps that lead to the problem.
Here are the problems one encounters, stated in the sighted person's words:
"You have to click on the green arrow."
"I don't see what you're reading on the webpage."
"It's down on the lower right."
"Click the button on the left."
"Scroll down some more."
Our sightling doesn't know screen readers and the JAWS user can't work with visual or geographic references. How then do you communicate in terms you both can understand?
This of course also applies to Narrator, WindowEyes, NVDA, Cobra, SystemAccess Supernova, and all other screen readers.
Some questions I'd ask:
- What words can I use to clue the sighted person in to the information I need?
- What kind of descriptions of the screen will best help me?
- What JAWS features will help the sighted person visualize what I see?
When learning a new application, or a new feature in software we already know, there is not always the funding or the luxury of an access technology trainer at one's disposal. As blind folk, we need to learn to work better with sighted trainers and helpers who may not know a screen reader from an e-reader!
Thanks for your time.
Deborah Armstrong
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This letter is in response to an article from the November 2016 issue of AccessWorld entitled, What's New in watchOS 3 for the Apple Watch, by Janet Ingber.
I bought an Apple Watch a few days ago, and I was excited about the emergency feature, as it can come in handy. However, so far it has made about 3 or 4 calls to the cops without informing me.
I eventually had to turn the emergency services off. I found [this] article [from cydiageeks.com] to be useful?.
I suggest adding it to AccessWorld in case anyone needs to know how to turn the emergency services off.
Regards,
Hawon Nguyen
