Dear AccessWorld Editor,

This letter is in response to Scott Davert's July article, Scratch That: A Review of Scratchpad, the New Notetaking Feature on the Focus Fifth Generation Braille Displays.

I recently purchased the Focus 14 5th Generation after reading about it in AccessWorld. I bought the Focus 14 because I wanted a compact, ergonomic, and efficient mechanism for typing in braille input mode on my mobile devices. I liked the ergonomic layout and found it more comfortable than the Orbit and Humanware Brailliant 14.

One major drawback with this device is that the?Focus 5th generation loses the Bluetooth connection with the iPhone after five minutes in Airplane mode.?This happens each time. I do not have this problem when using the Humanware Brailliant. I reported the error to VFO and hope they will fix this issue.

Sincerely,

Mary Wilson

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

This letter is in response to Deborah Kendrick's July article, Book Review: Writing Your Way: Composing and Editing on an iPhone or iPad, by Judy Dixon.

I'm sold. I'm going to order this book on Monday.

Best,

Mary Hiland

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

This letter is in response to Jamie Pauls' February 2017 article, Easier-to-Use Cell Phone Options for People with Vision Loss.

Thank you for this article. It was a big help, as I have been searching for a smartphone my daughter can use. She has very low vision due to retinitis pigmentosa.

This article in AccessWorld is the best I have found in all my research. I appreciate your taking the time to compare the companies and phones. I will be reaching out to Verizon for help in choosing a phone for my daughter.

Before I read the article, I didn't think I should have the features I wanted in mind. I would just go into a store and ask what features the phones had, relying on the salesperson to know my needs.

Thank you for a great article.

Gail Vespie

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I struggle with YouTube. I'd like to see AccessWorld publish an article on how to navigate it.

Here are the problems I have:

  1. Channels: how do I find the home page for a particular channel? And when I do, and I select a video from that channel, then another, how do I get back to its home page?
    Seems like every YouTube page has links to videos that it thinks are related, but aren't actually part of the channel set I want to watch. What does "subscribing" to a channel mean? Is there a way I can keep YouTube from showing me links to videos that aren't what I'm interested in?
  2. Search results: the same thing happens. I search for a topic, but YouTube starts showing me links to random things that aren't part of my search. How do I get it to stick with showing my search results?
  3. Pause, Rewind, and Fast-Forward: sometimes these buttons are easy to find and sometimes not. What is a reliable way to move through the video?
  4. Saving a link to a video: besides using Web favorites or bookmarks, is there a way I can easily store links to videos I want to watch again, for example an exercise or music video I will repeatedly play?
  5. Clutter: there is just so much of it on YouTube pages, it is hard to find the author's description of the video and visitor comments. How can I read the information relevant to the video I'm currently watching without all the other unrelated stuff?

Thanks for your time,

Debbie Armstrong

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

This letter is in response to Deborah Kendrick's October 2016 article, Orbit Reader 20 Review.

Though this article was written two years ago, I agree with it. I just purchased an Orbit Reader 20 and have been using it now these last four months or so. It's wonderful! I'm almost ready to bid adieu to bulky paper braille.

Thanks again for this fine article.

Best,

Duncan Holmes

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Letters to the Editor