Dear AccessWorld Editor,
My name is Randee and I am a blind woman from Minneapolis, Minnesota. I just learned of the AccessWorld app no longer being supported on a blind podcast. I am truly upset to learn that it is no longer around. I started using the app because I didn’t have to use a computer to get to the website. I liked the mobile app. I could sit in the comfort of my living room or wherever and access the news. Now, I am forced to go to the site.
This can be cumbersome on a mobile device. Also, I know about blind people who rely solely on their mobile devices. They do not own any type of computer.
I know that I have had my own problems trying to keep a site bookmarked on a mobile device.
I became more engaged in reading the AccessWorld news articles because of the ease of the mobile app. Now, I don’t know what I will do.
In my heart I feel that not staying on a mobile platform is taking a step back in our modern society.
Thank you for reading.
Sincerely,
Randee Boerboom
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
In your June issue Editor's Page you stated: “Jamie’s words demonstrate how being able to switch among screen readers and Internet browsers, for instance, can make a world of difference in whether you achieve access, or you don’t. Being able to move to a mobile version of a website can dramatically simplify browsing that site or purchasing its products or services.”
I have spent hours listening to a tutorial of Goldwave and it has been painful going. I can use Chrome, a bit, but wish I did not need to have to learn several speech software packages, several browsers, several other software packages. I enjoyed learning in the past when I had more support from friends. As I get older, I find the playing field changing so rapidly and support from blind trainers hard to locate, that I dread new tech changes.
David
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
Thanks for Janet Ingber’s June 2019 article about Verizon Fios’s “improved” accessibility.
Is there a way to get a hold of the documentation the author referenced?
While I agree that being able to find a lost remote control and having the ability to turn features such as TTS and SAP on and off through a voice command is a good improvement, there is much that Verizon’s TV offering could do to improve accessibility, starting with making documentation available through its support channels. As the author observed, Verizon’s website and customer support offer no such documentation, and I’d venture to say that the author’s ability to find a representative who was able to find the documentation was a matter of pure good luck.
I have been trying to find the little bit of information Janet published in the article for the past couple of months, escalating my request through their so called disability support line, all the way to their executive relations team, and the best I could get was that an update to their TTS is going to be out in August, presumably of this year.
Other areas where Verizon’s TTS falls short is its inability to read help text, read the Verizon FIOS Home Screen, apps and notifications and the inability to control the speech rate, to name a few. Hopefully some of that will be fixed in the August release, but we will see.
Thanks and keep up the great work.
Zuhair
Dear AccessWorld Editor,
This message is in reference to Deborah Kendrick's August 2014 article, Walt Disney World Provides Accessibility for Blind Guests.
Thank you. I’m getting ready to go in November 2019 and was wondering about the tools available to the visually impaired.
Bev
