Dear AccessWorld Editor,

Do you have plans to do an updated review on the Voice Guide feature of 2015 Samsung models? From what I understand the Voice Guide feature is now available on all of Samsung's J model televisions (as opposed to only being on a couple models of the 2014 TVs). And it sounds as though the Voice Guide features have been expanded to provide more accessibility this year.

Thanks,

Sarah

Response from AccessWorld Editor

Hello Sarah,

Thank you for reading AccessWorld and writing in with your question.

At this time, we are not planning to evaluate the Voice Guide of the 2015 Samsung televisions. However, that can change. I take reader suggestions very seriously, and they help drive content decisions. I will add this to the agenda of the next AccessWorld team meeting.

Best regards,

Lee Huffman

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I was looking in the AccessWorld archives for information about the accessibility of delivery services and didn't find any articles. Specifically I'm looking for information about the Instacart website and IOS app and the Amazon Prime Now IOS app. Has anything been done on these and other services or are there plans to cover them in the future?

Thanks,

Karen

Response from AccessWorld Editor

Hello Karen,

Bill Holton's March 2014 article, Accessibility of the Kindle Fire HDX 8.9″, discusses some aspects of Amazon Prime which you may find helpful, but we have not written about Instacart.

Thank you for reading AccessWorld. The team will discuss further coverage of these items, and we appreciate your input.

Best regards,

Lee Huffman

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I read A Review of the Be My Eyes Remote Sighted Helper App for Apple iOS by Bill Holton in the February 2015 issue of AccessWorld. I have used this app and gotten help with it a few times. Thank you for listening to what readers have to say.

Sincerely,

Roanna Bacchus

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I am writing this message in response to Janet Ingber's A Review of the New ScanJig Pro Scanning Stand in the May 2015 issue.

First, a printed instruction sheet is not accessible. I have been exploring ways to provide a better experience with regard to set-up instructions. You cited the Giraffe reader video approach and I agree this is something that must be done. More immediately, I have posted the instructions online.

You also mentioned the size and weight of the product needs to be reduced. The challenge is to do this and still be able to meet customer requirements to support both iPhones and iPads on one stable platform. Going forward, our goal is to continue to explore ways to make the product more efficient.

Finally, book scanning is another area that we are working on and will let you know when a solution is available for this.

I do appreciate your comprehensive review and would welcome any additional thoughts you may have.

Best Regards

Pat, ScanJig Representative

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

My name is André Filipe Silva and I was born in the USA. However, I come from a Portuguese background.

Are there any articles on the AccessWorld website focusing on accessible games for blind and visually impaired people? Could you give me a list of these articles, please?

All the best,

André

Response from AccessWorld Editor,

Hello André,

Below is a list of articles about accessible games previously published in AccessWorld.

• Choice of Robots from Choice of Games LLC: A Game Review by Jamie Pauls
• The World of Audio Games: A Crash Course by Aaron Preece
• Shall We Play a Game? A Review of Two Accessible Gaming Platforms by J.J. Meddaugh

Thank you for reading AccessWorld, and I hope these articles are helpful.

Best regards,

Lee Huffman

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I read the article in the April 2015 AccessWorld entitled, Banking on a Plan for Inclusion at JP Morgan Chase and the May Letters to the Editor section and have some comments. I am a Chase customer and have banked with them for almost 10 years. I have been using online banking for about half that time. Though their site is not completely 100 percent accessible across the board, I have been able to get around and do what I needed to do on it with no trouble.

Some of this may also depend on the person's level and comfort in navigating more complex websites. For instance, I know that there are some pages on Chase that do not have headings. For the beginning Web user, this can be a problem. Another service that I was able to setup was e-mail and/or text message notifications of when transactions clear my checking account, when my account balance goes below a value that I set, when a charge over a certain amount is made on my debit/credit card, and many other parameters. I was very pleased to see Chase offer this service. It has kept me up to date on times when my account did not have much money, and I have kept a growing archive of messages in Gmail of my transactions that have cleared my checking account. All of this can be configured in the Chase online banking area and one can choose to get all alerts by e-mail or all alerts by text message, or a combination of those.

I did want to bring up another option which I don't know if everyone knows about. Chase does have a very accessible iOS app [that] allows the user to do nearly everything that can be done on its website. I can view balances, view past transactions, make online transfers between accounts, and other things. Last year it added the ability to take a picture of a check and have it automatically deposited in an account. I do not know if that is totally accessible, but other than that, I haven't found anything in the app to be hard for me as a totally blind user to access.

I happened to meet someone that worked in the Chase accessibility area at CSUN this year, and I was impressed by their commitment to access for all. The gentleman asked me, "What has your experience been with Chase online services?" After I gave him my feedback, he said that he always asks that question in order to get people's everyday usage and experiences.

Thanks for a great article and keep up the good work.

Sincerely,

Wayne Merritt

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I just read Janet Ingber's A Review of the New ScanJig Pro Scanning Stand in the May 2015 issue and wanted to comment on the article. The new Fopydo Scanning Stand for the Blind, is a great new concept in stands that is extremely portable, light weight, and easy to set up.

It is made from the same kind of corrugated plastic as the Giraffe Reader, but only costs $12.00 plus $3.00 shipping through Amazon.

It will work with any smart phone or the iPad mini. I don't think its platform will accommodate an iPad.

The creator is very responsive to feedback and is making a secondary device to work with the Fopydo stand that will make scanning books much easier and his hope is to only charge $10.00 for it.

You can write him at info@fopydo.com. His name is Tomek Wardega.

I like the Scanjig, but the Fopydo is a better alternative for people who want to truly have a portable stand.

An AccessWorld Reader

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

Deborah Kendrick's article Out and About: Our Favorite iOS Travel Apps, by Judy Dixon and Doug Wakefield: A Book Review is unbelievably written! I can't wait to give this to my son for his seventeenth birthday. If he will just read your review I know that he would want to read the book.

Thank you,

Grace Minor

Braille on Credit Cards: AccessWorld author Deborah Kendrick responds to Kathy Blackburn's May Letter to the Editor.

For 20 years or more, I have been putting braille on all of my own credit cards. The process is easy enough to do, although a bit tricky the first time. Once you have done it, however, you will be delighted with the freedom it affords you!

Here's how.

The braille numbers should be brailled on Dymo tape. Using the Dymo guide available for Perkins Braillers or a braille slate equipped with Dymo tape slots, I make one long strip with the following:

• Number sign followed by the sixteen digits of your account number.
• Next, with no spaces, use lower cell numbers for the expiration date, two digits slash two digits.
• Finally, use another number sign and write the three- or four-digit security code.

The reason for the lower numbers for the expiration date followed by another number sign and upper numbers for the security code is that it makes differentiating the numbers quick and easy when you need to read them.

To put the tape on the back of the card, you will need to cut it, usually after about the 13th digit of the 16-digit account number. Thus, you will have two lines of tape.

I put it on the signature line of the card, and thus, never sign the back of my cards. Again, I have done this for more than 20 years on countless cards and have almost never had a problem. Occasionally, a merchant will ask to see my photo ID, since the card is not signed, but this has probably happened about five times in maybe a thousand times of using the cards.

The magnetic strip still works just fine for sliding the card through point-of-sale machines, as long as you make sure not to cover any of the magnetic strip with the braille.

Once the braille is on the card, you can pull it out and read the number for yourself whenever you need it, such as when making telephone purchases.

You will probably need sighted help in positioning your two strips of Dymo tape, but cards are usually effective for three to five years, so the few minutes spent is well worth the effort.

Once you have done it, you will have the confidence of independently selecting the correct card whenever you need it!

Envision To Partner With Gimbal, Leaders In Proximity-Based Mobile Engagement

Envision announced that it has formed a new partnership with California-based technology company Gimbal, a leading provider of location and proximity-based mobile engagement. This joint partnership will leverage Gimbal's proximity-based technology to work toward improving accessibility for the visually impaired across mass transit networks nationwide.

The Gimbal platform connects users to more meaningful mobile engagements in the physical world, generating content and messaging based not only on users' physical location, but also on their personal preferences.

Envision and Gimbal will work together in onboarding mobile application developers who are focused on building applications and services for the visually impaired and transportation services. The companies will also work with transit authorities and out-of-home advertising providers to deploy beacon networks.

Partnering with Gimbal is the latest development in Envision's strategy to diversify its business operations to ensure steady streams of revenue for its programs and services.

The AFB Accesible Player: A Free, Accessible Video Player from the American Foundation for the Blind

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has made its new, accessible HTML5 embedded video player available as a free download. The AFB Accessible Player makes it easy for people with vision loss to play videos online, something that can be fraught with accessibility challenges.

"People with vision loss need equal access to online videos for school, work, and entertainment," said Crista Earl, director of AFB Web Services. "People who are blind typically use only a keyboard, but many current video players are designed for mouse only, with no way to interact with the controls via the keyboard, Other video players have buttons with unlabeled images, so people using screen readers and people with low vision can't easily fast forward, pause, or rewind the video."

The AFB Accessible Player leverages HTML 5 and cascading style sheets (CSS) to allow low-vision users to take advantage of websites' high-contrast color schemes to select the font sizes and colors they find easiest to read. The controls are labeled with text, so they work with any kind of assistive technology, such as screen-reading software, braille displays and screen-magnification software, as well as a mouse. The video can be expanded to full screen, which is helpful for users with low vision. It can be used either as an embedded YouTube player or as a standard player, and the custom control layout supports both English and Spanish languages. The player also provides fallback options for older browsers. HTML5 is the standard supported by the World Wide Web Consortium (W3C), which provides enhanced functionality for modern websites and helps make the Internet more accessible.

The AFB websites are designed for accessibility, and AFB Tech, the AFB technology division, regularly helps businesses to make their online presence more user friendly for people with disabilities. Initially, the AFB Accessible Player was developed for visitors to the AFB family of websites, but because so many developers are looking for specific solutions to make their websites accessible, AFB made the decision to share the player online.

"This HTML5 player is unlike anything else currently available, and we feel this is a big leap forward for blind and visually impaired users," added Earl.

"As an organization, we are committed to promoting accessibility for people who are blind or visually impaired," said Carl R. Augusto, AFB president and CEO. "We encourage developers to download and use this video player. With more than 20 million Americans living with vision loss, a lot of people could benefit from wide use of this player."

The AFB Accessible Player is available for download free of charge.

Braille Institute Announces 60 Braille Challenge Finalists from US and Canada

The 15th Annual Braille Challenge, the only national reading and writing contest in braille for students who are blind and visually impaired, announced the 2015 finalists. The full list of finalists is available on the Braille Challenge website. The top-scoring 60 finalists, ages 6 to 19, will gather on June 20 for a day of academic competition, camaraderie, and fun at Braille Institute in Los Angeles

Using a device called a Perkins Brailler, #BrailleChallenge finalists will embark on the daylong competition to showcase their skills in five categories: reading comprehension, spelling, chart and graph reading, proofreading, and speed and accuracy. Following the competition, winners will be announced at an awards ceremony highlighted by musical performances and celebrity attendees honoring the incredible achievements of the 60 finalists.

"Braille is a crucial tool that opens the doors of literacy and drives educational advancement and future employment opportunities," said Peter Mindnich, President of Braille Institute. "We continue to be inspired each year by the passion and commitment of the students who compete in The Braille Challenge. Their achievements can empower others who are affected by sight loss to develop their braille skills as well."

Sponsored by Braille Institute, The Braille Challenge is an academic competition designed to motivate students and emphasize their study of braille, while rewarding their success with fun-filled, challenging events. This year, regional Braille Challenge events were held at 46 different sites in the US and Canada from January through March. Collectively, more than 1,100 students participated in the regional events.

"This challenge has influenced so many families who have a child or children who are blind or visually impaired. For many participants, this is their only opportunity to truly test their skills against others academically," said Nancy Niebrugge, Associate Vice President of National Programs at Braille Institute.

Of all the literacy issues in America, braille literacy is one of the most underrated and overlooked, and advancements in technology have not replaced the need for children who are blind or visually impaired to learn to read using this vital medium. Understanding how essential braille literacy is for success in the sighted world, Braille Institute developed the two-phase, annual competition as a way to encourage children who are blind and visually impaired to fine tune their braille skills and celebrate their accomplishments.

Pamela Jeter, Ph.D, wins the 2015 Envision-Atwell Award for Research in Low Vision for Yoga Study

Dr. Jeter's research abstract, "Yoga Increases the Sensory Contribution to Balance in Visually Impaired Persons at Risk for Falls," summarized her evaluation of the therapeutic benefits of yoga for individuals who experience balance deficits and psychological distress due to vision loss. This is the seventh annual presentation of the award, named for longtime low-vision research supporter Constance Atwell in recognition of her pivotal role in encouraging high-quality low-vision research while on staff at the National Eye Institute. The award is bestowed upon an Association for Research in Vision and Ophthalmology (ARVO) presenter who is currently a student, post-doctoral researcher or junior faculty member with less than five years since earning their last professional degree, and includes both a trophy and a $1,000 stipend. Dr. Jeter received the award May 6 during the annual meeting of the Low Vision Research Group in conjunction with the ARVO annual meeting in Denver. Envision University, the educational arm of Envision, the not-for-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of life of those who are blind and visually impaired, offers year-round and annual programs designed to advance and disseminate knowledge in the field of vision rehabilitation. For more information, visit the Envision University website.

Envision Lifetime Achievement Award in Low Vision Research Presented to Manfred MacKeben, Ph.D.

Dr. MacKeben is a scientist at The Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute in San Francisco. His work focuses on researching facts and developing tools to help with the rehabilitation of people with low vision, especially those with macular vision loss. Envision presents the Lifetime Achievement Award from time-to-time to researchers whose careers have been marked by outstanding, creative and important contributions to low vision research. In presenting the award to Dr. MacKeben, the organization acknowledged his expert work in low vision and eccentric viewing research and macular perimetry tests for assessing binocular visual fields. For more information about the Envision Research Institute, visit the Envision website.

Registration Now Open for Envision Conference 2015

Envision University is pleased to invite you to join us this September 9^th—12th for the 10th Annual Envision Conference, hosted by the Grand Hyatt Denver. Online registration is open.

Register by June 29, 2015, and take advantage of early bird pricing! Full conference registration includes conference sessions, plenary, breakfasts, lunches, exhibits, Thursday evening reception, and Friday night anniversary celebration event.

Earning continuing education credits at our conference is easy. With more than 90 hours of clinical education and research sessions about low vision offered, you can attend the sessions you want and easily earn the CEs you need.

Freedom Scientific Announces a 90-Day JAWS® and MAGic® License

Freedom Scientific announced recently the expansion of the popular JAWS for Windows Screen Reader 90-day license to include MAGic Screen Magnification Software. When you purchase a timed license for JAWS, the MAGic 90-day license will also be available to download and use. The 90-day period begins when the first product is authorized for use, and the same authorization will work for both JAWS Screen Reader and MAGic Screen Magnification.

After purchase, customers will be given the Activation Code for the 90-day license along with instructions for downloading and installing the software from the Freedom Scientific Downloads page. Once the 90-day period has expired, the product can be reordered for another 90-day license, or a full license can be purchased for continued use of the installed software.

The JAWS and MAGic 90-day license (SKU: 340624-001) is available for purchase from your local Freedom Scientific representative. For more information, please visit the Freedom Scientific website or call Freedom Scientific at 1-727-803-8000. Pricing in the U.S. for the 90-day license is $179.00. Outside the U.S., customers should contact their local Distributor for pricing and availability.

If you are a Twitter user with vision loss, this has undoubtedly happened to you: A tweet comes through on your timeline with some provocative text. There is an attached image you suspect will amuse, bewilder, or enrage. If only you knew what was in that image file…

Take heart and read on.

In this article we will introduce you to an exciting new mobile app that will do just that—describe a Twitter pic and recognize any embedded text. First, however, we want to introduce you to the developer competition that is making this and other smartphone, tablet, Web, desktop, and wearable access solutions possible. It's called the AT&T NYU Connect Ability Challenge, and it's going on right now, with teams and individuals vying for both recognition and a share of $100,000 in total prize money.

The Connect Ability Challenge

AT&T frequently partners with educational institutions and government organizations on a variety of initiatives. During the past several years, the company has invested in numerous developer challenges with cash prizes for technology solutions that can offer new and creative solutions to improve the lives of New Yorkers and others around the world. For example, last year the New York Metropolitan Transit Authority teamed with AT&T, Transit Wireless, and the New York University Center for Urban Science and Progress (CUSP), to solicit development of new mobile solutions designed to help improve commutes for millions of subway, bus, and rail riders across the five boroughs. The $10,000 grand-prize winner was YoTrain, an app that automatically notifies NYC subway riders of departing times and destinations as they near the station.

Other 2014 winners included NYC Accessible, an app that lets riders know which stops are ADA accessible and the current working status of elevators and escalators, and Departures NYC, an app that offers transit information displayed using augmented reality.

"This year, in honor of the 25th Anniversary of the American's with Disabilities Act, AT&T is proud to be partnering with New York University's Ability Lab to offer the first ever 'Connect Ability Tech Innovation Challenge,'" says Marissa Shorenstein, AT&T's New York State President. "The Americans with Disabilities Act was landmark legislation aimed at enabling people with disabilities to participate more fully in our society. Twenty-five years later, as advances in technology have allowed us all to connect in ways we never imagined, we believe we can further remove barriers the disability community continues to encounter."

The NYU Ability Lab is an interdisciplinary research center dedicated to the development of various adaptive technologies. The AT&T NYU Connect Ability Challenge combines the resources and expertise available at the lab with those of a quartet of Exemplars, defined by Merriam-Webster as: "An admired person or thing that is considered an example that deserves to be copied."

Throughout the competition, Challenge participants can consult with contest Exemplars to gauge the usefulness of their ideas and brainstorm new features that might make their apps and wearables even more productive.

The Challenge web site features short audio-described videos from each of the four Exemplars, who are:

Gus Chalkias: An assistive technology specialist, career counselor, and college student from Queens who is blind.

Xian Horn: A teacher, speaker and writer from Manhattan who has cerebral palsy, which has an impact on her mobility.

Paul Kotler: A student, blogger, lecturer, and advocate from Philadelphia who has autism. Kotler communicates using computer-assisted technology and struggles with anxiety and impulse control.

Jason DaSilva: A filmmaker from Brooklyn who has Multiple Sclerosis. DaSilva uses a powered wheelchair and has limited upper- and lower-limb use.

Developer teams and individuals can submit their work in any of five categories:

• People with sensory disabilities
• People in need of mobility solutions
• Social and emotional solutions
• Solutions for people with communicative and cognitive disabilities
• Solutions affecting policy and society

As part of the Connect Ability Challenge, this past April, AT&T and NYU sponsored a two-day Hackathon in downtown Brooklyn. All four of the Exemplars were on hand at the event.

"We each gave a presentation, then we spent the rest of the time answering questions and offering advice," says Gus Chalkias. "Participants ran their ideas past us. We told them whether they were on target, if their projects would benefit the disabled community, and why or why not."

According to Chalkias, "Most of the Hackathon participants seemed genuinely interested in learning about accessibility and possibly making a difference; the potential of a cash prize was secondary."

Alt_Text_Bot

Brooklyn developer Cameron Cundiff began his career with an internship working with Adobe's Group Product Manager for Accessibility, Andrew Kirkpatrick. "I've always been interested in structured content and information architecture. That led me to Web standards, and from there it was a short jump to Web accessibility."

Cundiff first heard about the Connect Ability Challenge on Twitter. "I began thinking about Twitter memes, and how so many of them involve images," he recalls. "Almost none of these images have alt tags describing what's going on, and I thought, 'Maybe I can find a way to provide them.'"

When Cundiff spoke with Gus Chalkias about his idea he worried it might seem a bit frivolous. "Most of the other projects involved productivity or navigation," he says. "But Gus agreed—the blind should have the opportunity to enjoy social networks the same as anyone else."

Cundiff began by setting up a Twitter account for his alt_text_bot. service: @alt_text_bot. He then wrote a Ruby application that would scan Twitter for posts that included @alt_text_bot and contained an attached image. The images were forwarded to CloudSite, one of the same image recognition APIs used by TapTapSee. When the recognition results were returned, the Alt Text Bot program replied to the tweet and included the descriptive text.

One of the first images Cundiff forwarded to alt_text_bot showed a woman riding a bike. The image recognition engine returned: alt=woman in black red white blue cycling suit smiling.

"I was really excited and a little surprised at how well it worked right off the bat," he recalls.

Alt_text_bot went on to win the Hackathon's $5,000 First Prize. The $3,500 Second Prize was taken by StenoSpeak, a mobile app that improves upon open-source stenography technology to speed up text translation to a conversational pace for those who cannot use their voices to communicate. The $1,500 Third Prize went to Tranquil Tracker, a bio-sensing system that can predict and prevent anxiety attacks.

Cundiff is using part of his Hackathon prize money to support the alt_text_bot service and pay for image recognition API. He's also working to make improvements, such as a browser plugin to offer real time image description, and he is still eligible for Connect Ability Challenge prizes. "I plan to use a large portion of any prize money to help support the service," he says.

Challenge Information

Individuals and teams have until June 24 to submit their completed Connect Ability Challenge entries. Winners will be selected by a panel of judges including the four exemplars, members of the NYU Ability Lab, and representatives from the Rehabilitation Engineering and Accessibility Society of North America (RESNA.)

Cash prizes totaling $100,000 will be awarded at a banquet in New York City on July 26, the 25^th Anniversary of the date President George H. W. Bush signed the Americans with Disabilities Act into law.

AccessWorld will report on all the winners in an upcoming issue. In the meantime, you can read about many of the projects at the Challenge website, which includes GitHub links to the various applications and several invitations to get an early peek and even help beta test.

You can also follow the latest AT&T NYU Connect Ability Challenge news on Twitter by searching for the hashtag #ConnectAbility.

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It is projected that by the year 2020 there will be 452 million people worldwide with visual impairments that are not correctable by lenses. This is a global crisis, especially since, according to the World Health Organization, nearly 80 percent of blindness is avoidable.

Ninety percent of individuals with visual impairments live in the developing world, where the infectious disease called trachoma and vitamin A deficiency used to be the leading causes of blindness. Improved sanitation and nutritional changes and aid have all but wiped out these conditions, leaving cataracts as the current number one cause of preventable blindness.

HelpMeSee is a nonprofit organization whose mission is to wipe out cataract blindness in the developing world. To date it has facilitated nearly 200,000 successful cataract surgeries, at a cost of just $50 per surgery.

Cataract Treatment in Developing Countries: Why Blindness is Prevalent

The onset of cataracts usually begins in people age forty and older. By the time we reach 80 nearly half of us have developed cataracts. However cataracts are not just confined to the elderly. According to Mohan Thazhathu, cofounder and President/CEO of HelpMeSee, "Between five and seven children in every one hundred thousand are born with congenital cataracts."

Here in the Unites States, the criterion for cataract surgery is usually when vision fades to less than 20/60. "In India and other developing countries, public policies set this number as high as 20/500," says Thazhathu. In the developing world, 51 percent of blindness is due to treatable cataracts, which means there are hundreds of thousands of children and adults who are currently blind but do not need to be."

Thazhathu notes that one of the major obstacles to reducing this backlog of patients is the severe shortage of professionals who are qualified to diagnose cataracts and perform surgery. According to a 2012 RAND report, throughout much of Africa there is currently just a single ophthalmologist for every million people. "Even where there are significantly more doctors, only about half of them are trained in surgical techniques, and their skill levels vary widely. Many are still using archaic surgical techniques, opening the entire eye and then trying to stitch it shut. Their success rate hovers near zero. In fact, today in China, the leading cause of blindness is botched cataract surgeries."

A Solution

HelpMeSee takes a comprehensive approach to eliminating cataract blindness. To date the organization has evaluated and trained 192 partner surgeons spread across India, Nepal, Vietnam, China, Togo, Sierra Leone, and Peru to perform a quick, effective surgery called Manual Small Incision Cataract Surgery (MSICS).

For this technique, adults receive local anesthesia and, children are given general anesthesia. The surgeon begins by making a small, five to six millimeter incision in the sclera (the white of the eye.) The incision is cut at an extremely shallow angle, and after the opening is made, the surgeon removes the clouded-over lens and replaces it with an artificial lens. The eye's natural fluid pressure closes the incision and the overlapping edges of the angled slit do not require a single suture. The eye heals by itself within a day or two, when the bandage is removed. From start to finish, the surgery can take as little as five minutes for an adult, fifteen minutes for a child, which means HelpMeSee-trained surgeons can perform up to 100 operations in a single day with a success rate that rivals outcomes here in the US.

When it comes to children, Thazhathu reports, "In the past, the theory was that if you do not take care of congenital cataracts in the first three years of life, that child will never develop functional vision. Research done at Harvard medical school has proven this is not true, and we have definitely reaffirmed this research. We have been able to restore vision to children as old as 12 and 13."

HelpMeSee is currently completing the planning stage for a training center in Beijing, China, where it will train upwards of 100 new surgical partners every year. This training will be facilitated by a new, high tech tool: a virtual reality, haptic simulator. "Our simulator is all but indistinguishable from a patient's head while you are practicing the surgery. It includes data from all of the surgeries we have done to date, along with a haptic engine so you don't just see an image of what is happening during a simulated operation, you can actually feel everything from the pressure when the scalpel touches the eye to the resistance of the intraocular fluid as the surgeon uses the microscope's x/y control handles to remove the defective lens and replace it with the new plastic lens. The processing power and data mining capabilities we needed to create this soft tissue modeling [were] not possible just five years ago," describes Thazhathu.

HelpMeSee will also assist these new partners to obtain the standardized operating room equipment they will need in order to perform the surgeries—everything from autoclaves for sterilization and surgical microscopes to beds and, where needed, actual brick and mortar construction. To do this the organization has established a revolving capital fund that provides start-up capital of up to $20,000 per practice to assist newly trained MSICS specialists. "This is a micro-loan program, not a grant," notes Thazhathu. "Loan recipients are expected to repay their start-up funds over a period of five years through small deductions from the $50 proceeds of each surgery. This will enable the revolving fund to support establishment of even more practices."

Thirty-five dollars from each operation pays for a standardized surgical kit. These pre-sterilized, single-use kits include everything from anesthesia to an artificial lens. The remaining $15 pays for the surgeon's fee and those of his support staff, and repayment of the micro-finance loan. And if the patient can't afford $50? "We cover the fee," says Thazhathu. "Our priority is to first help those who would not otherwise be able to access or afford care."

Monitoring Results Through Data Mining

HelpMeSee practitioners input data from each surgery from start to finish into a cloud-based data monitoring system. All surgical outcomes are scored for quality, and feedback is provided directly to the surgeon as necessary. "Data mining can help us uncover things like which procedures need to be refined, or if there is a particular surgeon who is slightly off in his or her incisions and would benefit from additional training," says Thazhathu. "We also use this data to improve our simulators and make them even more realistic."

Another source of data is a new GIS (Geographic Information System)-GPS Android app which is enabling local community health workers to more efficiently locate patients, map the incidence of cataract blindness, and connect patients to partner specialists who can provide care. The app uses a voice recorder to input data, since in small, remote communities the outreach workers cannot always read. The collected data can also help define the geographic market for new clinic locations, as well as collecting demographic and epidemiologic information on the prevalence of cataract blindness in that region. "The app is also integrating with our surgical reporting system to help monitor patients and validate successful outcomes," says Thazhathu. "Thanks to these measures and the single-use surgery kits, infections and other postoperative complications are practically nonexistent."

HelpMeSee estimates that if all the patients treated in 2014 go back to work and make their country's minimum wage, they would make more than $140 million over their lifetimes. "Almost all of that would not have been earned if they remained blind," says Thazhathu.

To date, the organization's greatest success is the district of Chitrakoot, India, a city of one million where, after 10,044 surgeries, HelpMeSee was able to eradicate cataract blindness. "Now that we cleared the backlog, we are now transitioning to a market sustaining model," says Thazhathu. "Statistics say that for every one million people, we can expect to do approximately ten thousand new surgeries every year."

"Over the next several years we hope to eliminate cataracts as a cause of blindness in a large majority of the world," says Thazhathu. "We believe this is a goal we can achieve."

Contact Information

HelpMeSee, Inc. is a 501(c)(3) nonprofit tax exempt organization recognized by the IRS, and all donations to Help Me See, Inc. are tax-deductible in accordance with US tax regulations.

HelpMeSee, Inc.
20 West 36th Street, Floor 4
New York, NY 10018-8005
E-mail: info@helpmesee.org
Telephone (toll free): 1-844-HelpMeSee (1-844-435-7637)
US fax number: 212-221-7604

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Due to a lack of tactile features on US currency, difficulty in accurately identifying bills has been, and remains, an issue for Americans who are blind or visually impaired. The Bureau of Engraving and Printing (BEP) will make changes to US currency as a part of the Meaningful Access initiative. The methods, approved in May 2011, will include raised tactile features to identify each denomination by touch, high contrast numbers, and different colors. These new features will be presented in the next currency redesign, a target date for which is still being determined.

Until the enhanced currency becomes available, currency identifiers are being distributed at no cost to eligible blind and visually impaired people by the BEP. Fill out the application on the BEP website to apply for the iBill currency identifier. The iBill identifies all current US dollar bills—$1, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50 and $100—using speech, vibration, and tone patterns. For added convenience and portability, it's small enough to fit on a key ring.

The iBill Currency Identifier

The iBill is a small black device that can easily fit on a keychain. It measures 3 inches long by 1.5 inches wide by .75 inch thick. On the front of the device is a raised tab where a bill can be inserted. There are also two buttons, one on the top and one on the bottom of the device, each marked by a raised box surrounding the button and vertical bar on the top of the button. These buttons are used to activate the device. A key ring is located on the back bottom edge.

Inside the package are two sets of instructions: one is printed in 16-point font and the other is embossed in braille. An audio instruction manual is available on the Orbit Research website.

How the iBill Works

To identify a bill, hold the iBill with the key ring towards the bottom. Then, insert a bill horizontally under the raised tab and press either of the two buttons. Depending on mode, the currency amount will be spoken in a female voice or identified with vibration pulses or audible beeps. Headphones can be plugged into a 2.5mm. jack located on the right bottom edge of the device. Take note, this headphone jack is smaller than the jacks most commonly found on smartphones.

Switching Modes

The iBill has three output modes: vibration, tone, and speech. In each mode there is a corresponding vibration, beep, and speech indicator. They are as follows:

****Currency****

Vibration Mode indicator

Tone Mode indicator

---

$1

1 short pulse

1 low-pitch beep

$2

2 shorts pulses

2 low-pitch beeps

$5

3 short pulses

3 low-pitch beeps

$10

1 long pulse

1 high-pitch beep

$20

2 long pulses

2 high-pitch beeps

$50

3 long pulses

3 high-pitch beeps

$100

4 pulses in short-long-short-long
pattern

4 beeps in low-high-low-high pitch
pattern

Error: three beeps of different pitch or a very long pulse

To switch modes, press and hold either of the buttons, while continuing to hold, press the second button. The iBill will cycle through each mode in order: vibration, tone, speech volume 1, speech volume 2, and speech volume 3. When cycling through modes there is a signal to alert the user to which mode they are in.

Battery Operation

The iBill uses one (1) AAA alkaline battery. The battery compartment is located on the bottom of the device and can be identified by two raised ridges. To insert the battery, remove the compartment lid by pressing down and pulling gently forward. When the battery is low, two short beeps or three very short vibration pulses will follow each denomination announcement.

For additional information about the iBill, please read Deborah Kendrick's December 2012 article, The iBill Second-Generation US Currency Identifier from Orbit Research: A Good Thing Made Better.

Currency Identification Mobile Apps

In addition to this standalone device, advances in technology have made it possible to determine a note's denomination by using mobile devices. The BEP has contributed to the development of two such applications:

EyeNote is a free mobile device application developed by the BEP to assist blind or visually impaired consumers to identify currency. EyeNote uses image recognition technology and the mobile device's integrated camera to recognize a bill and indicate the bill's denomination. Eyenote is built on the Apple iOS platform and is available to download from the Apple App Store.

In 2013, the BEP updated the EyeNote app, originally released in 2010. EyeNote 2.0 also utilizes VoiceOver for vocal and gesture feedback if it is turned on for the target iOS device.

The BEP, in collaboration with the Department of Education, also assisted in the development of the IDEAL Currency Identifier, another free downloadable app that operates on the Android platform. It uses text-to-speech voice and advanced image recognition technology to read a note and provide users with an audible response indicating the bill's denomination. IDEAL works locally on the device and does not rely on connection to the Internet.

An updated version of the App was released in 2014. The new version identifies notes more quickly and recognizes the redesigned $100 bill.

These two apps, as well as many other apps now on the market, provide additional options for the public, who is increasingly using mobile devices, to independently identify currency.

Conclusion

We realize there are people who are blind or visually impaired who do not use smartphones or do not want to use smartphones to identify currency. This is why we want to make sure our readers are aware of the option of a free stand-alone currency identifier. The iBill is an effective device that solves a challenge for visually impaired individuals. It gives people who are blind or visually impaired the option to be confident in knowing what's in their wallet and the ability to count money accurately and independently. The various output modes give privacy without limiting the effectiveness of the device. Features of the iBill make it convenient to carry and use. This device is useful now and will continue to be during the transition period while nontactile and tactile bills are both in circulation.

Make sure to take the opportunity to apply for a free money identifier. Please remember the iBill Currency Identifier and currency identification apps do not distinguish between legitimate and counterfeit currency.

For specific questions or comments about the US Currency Reader Program you may call 844-815-9388 toll-free or e-mail.

Product Information

iBill Talking Banknote Identifier
Manufacturer: Orbit Research
Meaningful Access

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In the first part of this hospitality industry series, we looked at booking rooms on the Marriott and Hyatt websites. In this installment, we'll review iOS apps for Marriott, InterContinental Hotels Group, and Hilton Worldwide. Accessible hotel apps allow someone with a visual impairment independently make hotel reservations from anywhere he or she has cell phone access. For this evaluation, we used VoiceOver on an iPhone 6 running iOS 8.3.

Marriott Mobile App

Version: 4.5

Price: Free

Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, iPod touch and Apple Watch. Requires iOS 8.0 or later.

This app is for use with Marriott and its subsidiaries, such as Courtyard and Residence Inn.

This is the first Marriott app listed in the iTunes App Store. The second app is Marriott Guest Services, which is for those who are members of the Marriott Rewards program

Once the app is installed, VoiceOver will say "Marriott" whenever it is selected. The first time the app is opened, you are presented with a picker to choose pages one through four and a Skip button. No matter which page you select, VoiceOver will not read any text. There is text displayed that provides a tour of the app, but the text is not accessible with VoiceOver.

When the "Skip" button is activated, a new page loads with some form controls. The first is an edit box for your E-mail Rewards Number and the second is for your password. The next control is a "Join" button. When you select the "Join" button, VoiceOver reads the text about the benefits of joining. The final control is a "Skip" button. If this button is activated, a new page loads to start the booking process.

By default, the app assumes you want a room the same day and you want to find a location near your current one. If these defaults are correct, you simply need to navigate down to the "Find" button. The next screen will contain a list of options. This feature is particularly useful if you are stuck at an airport and need a hotel room.

If you need a room for different dates, navigate to and select "More Search Options." When the new page loads, an edit box says, "Current Location." You will have to delete those two words from the edit box prior to entering a destination. Then, flick right and VoiceOver will speak the city if any hotels are in the area. Next, activate the "Done" button in the upper right corner.

On the next page, you pick dates for your stay. This can be difficult because the days of the week are only read at the beginning of each month; they are not repeated as you move through a given month. You may also need to slide your finger around the screen to find the month you're looking for. When you find your arrival date, double tap on it and do the same on your departure date. Then activate the "Find" button on the bottom of the screen. To refine your search further, activate the "More Search Options" button. This page allows you to indicate a variety of options, including specific Marriott subsidiaries and the number of guests, along with information on special rates. Then you can go back to the "Find" button and activate it. The next screen shows your dates and a list of available hotels for those dates. Rate information is provided under each hotel name.

Double tapping on a hotel name brings up a details page with links to information such as the overview, amenities, and transportation options. The page also contains the hotel phone number and address.

To begin the selection process, activate the "Rates" button for the hotel listing. The next screen will contain information about rates and different rooms. Double tap the room you want. Select room preferences—such as type of bed, roll-in shower, room location, and early check-in—on the new page. Then, activate the "Continue" button on the bottom of the screen.

If you are not a Marriott Rewards member, you will complete a registration form on the next step. If you are a member, skip the registration and sign in with your user name and password. The registration form is straightforward: you first enter personal information such as name, address, and e-mail address, then you enter credit card information. On the first part of the credit card form, you choose a credit card type. The picker for this selection and the picker for the expiration date are located at the bottom of the page. Activate the "Continue" button to get to the final part of the reservation process.

When the next page loads, information about the reservation is clearly displayed. At the bottom of the page is a button to cancel the reservation, which will bring you back to the "Find a Hotel" page.

Accessibility Summary

The Marriott app is not completely accessible with VoiceOver. The developers need to make the first four pages accessible so that users with visual impairments can receive the same app tour available to users with sight. In the dates calendar, each month should be easy to locate and VoiceOver should speak each day of the week when using the calendar.

InterContinental Hotels Group

Price: Free

Version: 3.14

Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch Device. Requires iOS 7.0 or later

This app is used for IHG hotels including InterContinental Hotels & Resorts, Holiday Inn, and Crowne Plaza Hotels & Resorts.

When the app is selected VoiceOver says, "IHG Registered Sign." The home screen has text accessible via VoiceOver, and there is a "Homescreen_Find_Hotel" button. After the first time the app is opened, other buttons may appear on the first screen, but they are labeled. You might need to use a rotor character setting just to understand exactly what VoiceOver is saying.

When the "Homescreen" button is activated, the next page has a form for choosing arrival and departure dates. By default the current date is listed. Double tapping on the date loads a new screen similar to the one in the Marriott app. However, this version is easier to read, especially the names of the months. Double-tap on your arrival and departure dates. Next, activate the "Done" button in the upper right corner.

When the new page loads, your arrival and departure dates will appear at the top of the page. There will be other boxes for the number of rooms you'd like and how many guests will be in a room. The boxes are located towards the top, but quantities are selected with pickers at the bottom of the page. Unfortunately, the picker numbers did not transfer accurately to the edit boxes. For example, changing the number of guests from the default of 1 to 2 with the picker resulted in no change in the number entered into box. With sighted assistance, I discovered that, with VoiceOver off, the correct number was indeed entered in the box. The next step is to enter a destination. Possibilities are listed as you type. Double-tap on the destination you want. The next page will display a list of hotels and rates. Double-tap on a hotel listing and the next page will have information about the hotel including address, amenities, and a general overview. It may be necessary to flick around the page, both right and left, to find everything listed. At the bottom of the hotel's first page is a link to book a room.

The page for choosing a room had significant accessibility issues. The text describing each kind of room was clear but not accessible with VoiceOver. For example, the text said "Room 1," but VoiceOver couldn't read the description on the page. Activating the unlabeled button for that page did bring up a description for the room. It was necessary to activate all the buttons to determine what was available. Once a room was chosen, another page loaded with a description and what appeared to be a series of buttons with letters. For example, "IVANI" was what VoiceOver read, but there was text that VoiceOver couldn't read that described the function of the button. One button was for a special rate with a nonrefundable deposit. Another was for a points upgrade. The only way to determine what each button said was to activate each one, and even then, all information was not clear. Once I selected the appropriate button, I couldn't find where to indicate that it was my final choice. With sighted assistance I learned that there were options to sign in or continue as a guest, but VoiceOver could not read this text. I flicked around and double tapped on the word, "name." This brought me to a guest information form. All edit boxes were labeled. Credit card type and expiration date were done with pickers at the bottom of the page. The "Done" button is at the bottom right of the screen.

The rest of the information was accessible.

Accessibility Summary

This app is not accessible with VoiceOver. Although some limitations may be excusable, such as the calendar (which as with the other two apps reviewed here, does not read the day of the week as you move through the dates), so much of the app is inaccessible that sighted assistance is required to use it. The developers need to do a major overhaul, including fixing the pickers for choosing number of rooms and guests, and appropriately labeling buttons so VoiceOver and provide accurate information to the user with a visual impairment. This app is definitely not an option for voiceover users.

Hilton (Hilton Worldwide Inc.)

Price: Free

Version: 2.1.3

Compatibility: iPhone, iPad, and iPod Touch. Requires iOS 7.0 or later

This app covers additional hotels including DoubleTree and Embassy Suites.

When the app is selected, VoiceOver says, "Hilton.".

When the app launches, there are four options on the screen: Find a Hotel, Reservations, Account, and Call Us. These options can be read by flicking with one finger. There is a "Join" button in the upper left corner that can be read by tapping that location. In the upper right corner there is a button labeled "Menu Icon." As with the "Join" button, it is necessary to place your finger on the screen to get VoiceOver to read it. This "Menu Icon" menu gives information about privacy and cookies.

When the "Find a Hotel" option is selected, the next screen has options to Sign In or Join. Underneath these two options there is an option labeled "Hotels Near Me." This is actually an edit box. Under the words "Hotels Near Me" is a button labeled "Icon ClearText." Once the button is activated, you are prompted to enter the name of a city, airport, attraction, etc. If you do want to find a hotel near your location, flick down to the edit boxes for entering information such as dates of stay, number of rooms, and guests.

As you add letters in the edit box, results are listed. Double-tap on the one you want. When the new page loads there will be a form for entering dates of stay, number of rooms, and number of guests.

The current date is selected by default. Change the date by double tapping on the current date. A calendar, similar to the ones in the Marriott and InterContinental apps, will open. Flicking and scrolling do work to navigate the calendar, but at certain points in between months, VoiceOver may not speak when you flick your finger. Keep going and VoiceOver will again start speaking. Double tap on your arrival and departure dates and then activate the "Done" button in the upper right corner.

When the new screen loads, arrival and departure days are clearly displayed. Below the departure date is an option for selecting the number of rooms and number of guests in each room. Double-tap on the option.

The next screen says "Room 1." The number of adults and children who will be in the room is selected by pickers at the bottom of the page. These pickers do work with VoiceOver. Add another room by activating the "Add Room" option. Once your selections are made, activate the "Back" button in the upper left corner.

The next screen has your dates and room information. There is an option to use points or enter a special rate code. Next is a "Find Hotels" button and a "Cancel" button.

The next screen will have the travel dates, number of rooms, and number of guests, followed by a list of hotels. Each listing includes the lowest rate and the number of points needed to book. At the bottom of the screen are three options: Sort, Map, and Filter. By default, only Hilton hotels are listed in the search result, but this can be changed to "all hotels by price" in the sort option. This means that other Hilton brands such as DoubleTree and Embassy Suites will be included. The "Filter" button provides options including "filter by brands" and "filter by amenities." Double-tap on your hotel selection.

The next screen gives descriptions of the selected hotel and room. There is also a button to call the hotel directly. In the upper right corner is a button for adding additional requests including special rates, accessible rooms, and cancellation policies. Once you make your selections, activate the "Apply" button in the lower right corner. Then double-tap on the room you want and a new reservations page will load. There will be options to sign in or continue as a guest.

The reservation page uses edit boxes and pickers to complete the form. There are a couple of occasions where the edit box will say, "Type." Go to the bottom of the screen and use the picker to select the type of e-mail address and phone number you are using on the form. When filling out this form, instead of saying each individual letter, VoiceOver says the individual letters as a word.

After you enter credit card information, there is an option for requests, including traveling with a service dog. There is also an edit box labeled, "Anything else we need to know?" The "Done" button in the upper right corner returns to the reservation form. Once the "Book Now" button activated, a confirmation e-mail is sent immediately.

Accessibility Summary

This was by far the most accessible app of the three reviewed here. One improvement would be to make it easier to find the months with VoiceOver and to have VoiceOver read the day of the week as you flick past each date.

The Bottom Line

It's unfortunate that people who are blind don't have the same access to some hotel iOS apps as sighted customers do. Making the Marriott and InterContinental apps accessible with VoiceOver would not be a major project, and, for major corporations like these, the resources required to do so are relatively inconsequential. The app from Hilton is by far the most accessible. The calendar could use some modification, which would make it easier to use. However, it is quite accessible and the Call Us feature is a nice addition.

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Every person who is blind or visually impaired and reading AccessWorld would probably be more than willing to attest to the importance of technology in their daily lives. An accessible computer plays a prominent role in reading books, dealing with mail, managing finances, and completing job-related projects. Advancements in mobile technology from the smartphone to the Apple Watch have only increased the power and freedom of the blind and low vision community. It's not uncommon to find people who are blind comparing notes on how many screen readers are installed on their systems, or lamenting the fact that 800 words per minute is just not quite fast enough to skim through all the documentation that needs to be read in one day.

But what about those who, through motor or neurological impairment, find it difficult to quickly navigate a computer keyboard or remember a large number of screen reader commands? What options are available to the newly blinded veteran who is in the process of adjusting to significant injury, or the senior citizen who finds herself quickly losing her vision with no prior computing experience to rely on at all? In this article, we will take a look at Dolphin Guide, hereafter referred to simply as Guide, a screen reading solution from Dolphin Computer Access that seeks to meet the needs of those who might find traditional mainstream and access technology to be difficult to master.

What Is Guide?

More than just a screen reader, Guide is a suite of applications intended to help users with visual impairments who are brand new to computers, or who are unable to complete complex, multistep tasks. The application strives to meet the needs of someone who has never touched a computer, while providing the flexibility for that person to improve his computing skills in order to move on to fairly advanced computing tasks such as managing files, taking care of finances, and engaging in leisure activities such as making Skype calls and enjoying movies and music. While providing as much flexibility as possible, the developers of Guide have been careful to break all tasks down into simplified steps, and to provide clear, consistent feedback about what is happening on the computer screen at all times. When evaluating Guide, it is important to remember that the software has been developed for three types of user:

1. Someone who has no prior computing experience whatsoever.
2. Someone with a motor impairment who would find it difficult to carry out a series of keystrokes.
3. Someone with a neurological impairment who would have difficulty remembering keystrokes and/or multistep actions.

How Guide Presents Information

Guide presents all tasks as numbered menu items. At the main menu, for example, you will hear instructions such as "Press 1 for E-mail; Press 2 to write a letter or document…" It is possible to access these menus using the Arrow keys or by directly typing the appropriate number on the keyboard. There are nine items on the main menu, with submenus under the main items, so all choices are easily available via direct number access.

Installing Guide

I installed the 30-day demonstration of Guide, available from the Dolphin Website. As is typical of most programs, there is a simple install along with the option to customize the installation if you're comfortable with that kind of thing. I chose the simple installation option and followed the prompts with no difficulty. Guide provided a recurring "please wait" message as files were being installed. NVDA was running during the Guide install, so I had the benefit of NVDA's progress beeps as well as Guide's prompts. I instructed Guide not to load at start-up. Guide loaded with Nuance's familiar Vocalizer Tom voice after I rebooted my computer following initial installation, but did not load on subsequent reboots, which was my preference. Guide can be started at any time with CTRL + Shift + G. The program can be shut down by pressing the ESC key until a menu is reached which allows the user to either shut down Guide and leave the computer running, or shut down the software and turn off the computer. A chime and message announce the launch and exit of Guide.

Using E-mail with Guide

It is almost impossible to think about using a computer without considering e-mail. Guide handles e-mail in a straightforward manner that also allows for some flexibility. A Gmail account is recommended, although other providers may work as well. It is possible to use a wizard—which will provide step-by-step assistance—to set up e-mail, or customize settings as needed. Guide announces the number of the message that is being downloaded, and reads the entire message on request. The F8 key starts document reading if Guide's automatic reading has been interrupted, and F9 stops reading. Standard Arrow key navigation and text selection is possible, but Guide provides an interesting alternative to traditional document navigation. The F4 key moves back one word at a time in the document, while F5 moves forward one word at a time. The F3 key moves back a sentence at a time while F6 moves forward through the document by sentence. This key placement allows for an identifiable gap between the backward navigation keys and the forward navigation keys. The F1 key can be pressed at any time when using Guide for help. If the user doesn't remember how to work with a message, F1 will provide a comprehensive set of commands for working with messages.

While Guide's e-mail client might not appeal to the power user who reads hundreds of messages per day, the beginning or more novice user who simply wishes to communicate with friends and family will find it more than adequate. It is possible to act on several messages at once by selecting them with the spacebar. They can be deleted, moved to folders for later action, and pretty much anything else one would expect.

Working with Documents in Guide

If e-mail is important to every computer user, working with documents has to tie for first place. Whether it's writing a letter, making a grocery list, or blogging, we all spend quite a bit of time using our word processor of choice. Guide covers the bases where this is concerned as well. Guide provides a letter-writing wizard that will make sure the document is properly formatted. If you've already entered addresses into Guide's address book, it is simple to fill in all of the pertinent information for the recipient of the letter from there, or the address can be typed manually. Once the letter has been written, Guide will assist with printing the letter as well as addressing and printing an envelope. While working with documents, a press of the ESC key shows all the actions that can be performed on the document. If more information is needed, the F1 key brings up help.

A dictionary, thesaurus, and spell checker are also available, along with a friendly duck quack sound to let you know that a misspelled word has been detected. Finally, Guide provides ascending and descending tones as one moves through a document with the Up and Down Arrow keys. The lower the tone, the farther down you are in the document. It is possible to select text and apply formatting such as bold, italics, underlining, etc. In short, I found document creation to be quite satisfactory with Guide.

Surfing the Web with Guide

Using a computer without being connected to the Internet is hard to imagine these days. The Internet continues to expand and provide an enormous amount of information from trivia to the latest world news. Guide provides its own Web browser that can be operated in text-only mode, or as a more traditional browser showing both text and images on a webpage. I chose to use the more traditional mode, and found the browser to be quite useable. By default, Guide loads a homepage that provides a description of how to surf the Web with Guide. In addition to entering a URL from the address bar, you can search the Web from there as well. Additionally, you can perform commands from the address bar such as typing the word "close" to exit the browser, and "links" to show a list of links on a webpage. Guide's browser is optimized for those who will surf the Web using the Arrow keys, although other keys such as the Tab key and the letter H to move from heading to heading are also available. I found that while I was able to move between headings on a webpage with the letter H, Guide did not announce heading levels as most screen readers do.

I did not browse the Web extensively with guide, but I was able to navigate the Fox News site with no issues. This site is rather large, with a lot of links on the front page. Guide loaded the page quickly and performed all tasks as I would have expected.

Scanning and Reading Documents with Guide

Guide offers a full-featured scanning and reading solution for those who want to read a good paperback novel or check the day's mail. As with everything else I explored using the program, I found Guide's step-by-step instructions for scanning and reading documents to be straightforward and easy to understand. Using Guide, it is possible to scan and read a single page, scan pages for later reading, and scan multiple pages while reading previously scanned material. Guide handles the reading of PDF files as well.

Reading Books and News Articles with Guide

Although a scanner is still a very useful tool in the blind computer user's arsenal, there is no question that online publications have made reading books, news headlines, and magazine articles much easier for our community. There are a variety of options available to the Guide user. I browsed Bookshare with guide, downloading a book and reading articles from a local newspaper. It is possible to move from section to section in an article with Guide, or to simply read from the beginning. I found Guide's search functions and its handling of downloaded books to be quite speedy and easy to work with.

Accessing Music, Movies, and Podcasts with Guide

As important as it is to be productive with our computers, it is nice to be able to enjoy leisure activities as well. Guide facilitates the playing of music in digital format or from a CD. It is possible to rip CDs to your computer for later listening as well. One area where Guide stood out from the crowd for me was when I played a DVD of the Michael Jackson documentary "This Is It." When I played the DVD on my Mac, there was a lot of information on the DVD that was difficult to wade through in order to get to the actual program. Guide was able to skip all of those unwanted extras and jump straight to the beginning of the program. It is also possible to move through a DVD by chapter or title. Guide's Help function even told me that DVD chapters are often divided into five or ten minute increments, something of which I was not previously aware.

In addition to listening to music and movies, it is possible to subscribe to podcasts with Guide. Several podcasts are available by default, including CNN Hourly News and Reuters Top News. Guide provides feedback as podcasts download, and the media player is very simple to operate. Finally, Guide provides several Internet Radio stations to round out the audio entertainment experience.

Other Guide Features

Guide's address book was mentioned earlier in this article, but it is worth stating that adding addresses is quite easy to do. The only thing that I found a bit disconcerting was the fact that there are four lines for address details simply labeled as "line 1, line 2, line 3, and line 4." I was expecting labels such as city, state, and zip code. This is probably due to the fact that I live in the United States and tend to think in those terms. Not all users are from the US and addresses are handled differently in other countries.

Guide's finance management options are very basic, taking a "money in and money out" approach. It is possible to view a summary of financial transactions within a range of dates as well. A calculator is also available from within Guide, and works as expected.

A basic appointment scheduler comes with Guide. I set an appointment and was given the option to be reminded five minutes beforehand if I desired. There was no chime, but only a verbal confirmation.

For the user with low vision, it is possible to scan handwritten text. It is also possible to make color or black-and-white photocopies of documents with Guide.

Very basic Skype functionality exists from within Guide, but it is not possible to view a list of contacts. It is, however, possible to enter a Skype username or dial a phone number if you have Skype credit.

There are several games included with Guide, including an anagram game and Hangman. Also, a typing tutor allows for improving your keyboarding skills. It is estimated that it takes between 12 and 20 hours to work through all the provided lessons.

No two people use their computers in exactly the same way, and Guide allows various settings to be changed including various low vision options and voice rate, pitch, etc.

Overall Impressions of Dolphin Guide

Guide contains an array of programs and utilities for someone who is not an experienced computer user or who, for various reasons, may not be able to complete complex computing tasks. Guide provides simple, step-by-step instructions for completing projects in a safe, uncluttered environment.

I found that Guide did not sacrifice functionality for simplicity. Users of the product should be able to learn and gain confidence while completing tasks from the most basic keyboarding to more advanced actions such as creating folders, moving files, and working with multiple e-mail messages at once. Along with Guide's aforementioned help facilities, remote assistance is possible if needed. Also, a user manual can be downloaded from the Dolphin website.

I would like to have received a bit more feedback when installing Guide, such as the percentage of the installation completed and possibly what components of the program were being installed. I would also like to have heard a chime of some sort when my appointment reminder came due. If the developers of Guide were able to provide a simple interface for Facebook, I believe that would be a real benefit to Guide users, but I realize this ball may be in Facebook's court and not in the hands of the Guide development team. Finally, a basic Twitter client would also be beneficial to Guide users.

Overall, I was impressed with Guide's consistent interface and attention to detail in every area. I would definitely recommend this product for anyone who needs assistance with basic computing skills, and who may not become a "power user" for any of the reasons mentioned previously in this article.

Product Information

Dolphin Guide from Dolphin Computer Access
Price: $795
Phone: 866-797-5921
Email: info@dolphinusa.com

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It's been ten years since Apple released OS X version 10.4, Tiger, which featured the world's first full-function screen reader, VoiceOver, built directly into the operating system. In 2009 Apple launched the Third Generation iPod Shuffle, the first music player which spoke right out of the box, announcing song and album titles, artist and playlist names and contents—all available in 29 different languages.

However when Steve Jobs unveiled the very first iPhone at Macworld on January 9, 2007, the blind community more or less went into panic mode. If touch screen interfaces were the future, were we going to be left out in the dark? Sure, there were a few touch screen devices that boasted screen reading capabilities, but they either used overlays to guide the sight impaired to specific screen positions, or rewrote the screen into quadrants, and remapped commands to offer at least limited functionality. But neither of these solutions would work on this new touch screen smartphone. The multi-touch interface was simply too fluid and complex.

Then, in June of 2009, Apple announced what may have seemed to the rest of the world like "Just one more thing," but to the blind became a milestone advancement in accessibility: VoiceOver for iOS.

Apple's Mac computers were available a full quarter century before they included the built-in VoiceOver screen reader. For iPods eight years passed before they were accessible by the blind, and for Apple's flagship product, the iPhone, it took two years. When the iPad was released in 2010 accessibility was built-into the very first model. And this year, the new Apple Watch also "talks" with no sighted setup assistance required.

As you can see, it may have taken awhile to make its products accessible with screen readers and low-vision accessibility features, but these days Apple's commitment to accessibility is second to none. This is why this June 18, at a special gala in New York City, AFB will award Apple with its prestigious Helen Keller Achievement Award for its notable breakthroughs in accessible technology.

"We are thrilled to honor Apple for its trailblazing engineering and unwavering commitment to accessibility," said AFB President & CEO Carl R. Augusto. "Apple's products are intuitive and accessible right out of the box. Apple is truly in a league of its own."

Apple is proud of its commitment to accessibility. "Too often people with disabilities are left in the shadow of technological advances," says Greg "Joz" Joswiak, Apple's vice president of iPhone and iOS Product Marketing. "AFB is committed to removing barriers, extending solutions and expanding possibilities for those who are visually impaired, and we view this award as an acknowledgement of how aligned Apple is to that same commitment."

Many iOS and OS X users praise Apple for making them feel equal to all their other customers, from their first visit to an Apple store to a telephone session with customer support. "At Apple we build tools," says Joswiak. "For Apple, accessibility is another tool to make our users' lives more productive and more fun."

Apple's commitment to accessibility goes both ways: to its users, and also to company employees. "From the day I showed up for my first interview with Apple I was assured that my blindness was not going to be an issue," says Shane Jackson, who worked in a Birmingham, Alabama Apple retail store as a sales associate and iPhone specialist from 2009 until 2014, when he left to pursue a career in law. "They were right. I never felt like the blind guy working at Apple; I was the guy at Apple who happened to have this condition called blindness. My colleagues never made a big deal about accommodations; they just went ahead and made them, like braille dots under the display tables so I could learn the store layout, and making sure the EasyPay system worked with VoiceOver."

According to Joswiak, "One of Apple's unique strengths in providing accessibility is its integrated approach. Since we control the hardware, software and key services," says Joswiak, "when we create solutions we try to ensure that they are truly integrated into our products, and by that I mean that if the hardware has to change to accommodate the software, we can do that. If the software has to accommodate the hardware, we can do that, too. Without that system-wide integration accessibility solutions generally do feel like they are bolted on. They can be kludgy, and often break easily."

Apple does not stand alone. "We strive to include iOS and OS X app developers in our accessibility mission in every way possible—from highlighting useful apps for Global Accessibility Awareness Day to continuing to improve and enhance our products," Joswiak says.

"Apple has made it so easy to make apps accessible there's really not much for developers to do for most apps, says George Cox, lead developer of the popular Downcast podcast app. "Most applications are reasonably accessible with no additional developer effort. Any user control that has a title is automatically accessible and any of those same controls that are visually represented by an icon only are easily made accessible by setting the control's accessibility label. This is something that takes a couple of seconds to do. These days, there's simply no excuse for not making an app accessible. Sure, certain apps that are heavily visual may be extremely difficult or impossible to make accessible, but the vast majority of applications use standard controls that can be made accessible with minimal effort. I'd give Apple most of the credit for that. It is continually improving accessibility APIs used to customize accessibility and always seems to address these changes in WWDC sessions each year."

Indeed, at the recent Worldwide Developers Conference (WWDC) Apple hosted accessibility-specific developer sessions for both iOS and Apple Watch. The conference also included an accessibility lab where company engineers offered developers one-on-one help making their iOS, WatchKit and OS X apps more accessible.

"For me it was a very exciting moment at WWDC to honor for the first time at our Apple Design Awards an app for accessibility," says Joswiak. This first annual Accessibility Award went to the Workflow app, in honor of its outstanding use of iOS accessibility features, in particular an outstanding implementation for VoiceOver, with clearly labeled items, thoughtful hints, and drag/drop announcements, making the app usable and quickly accessible to those who are blind or have low-vision.

"Once we heard from the blind community they were interested in using our app, if it could be made to work with VoiceOver, we made the necessary changes," says Workflow's lead developer, Ari Weinstein. "Everything we needed to know was in the Apple accessibility documentation."

One of the new WatchOS 2 features announced at WWDC is the ability for developers to control the haptic engine directly from inside their apps. "We feel this will align nicely with the ability to create accessibility solutions," states Joswiak. One developer who will doubtless be taking quick advantage of this new feature is Ilkka Pirttimaa, developer of the essential BlindSquare navigation app, which was reviewed in the July 2014 issue of AccessWorld.

"For Apple, accessibility has just become part of the company's DNA," he says. "The latest example of this is the Apple Watch, where the first model is accessible out of the box, just like all of its other products. Some people say that Apple is not as innovative as other companies. However, Apple uses new technologies, refines them and creates products that just work, and for that reason are more successful than similar products of its competitors. A good example is iBeacons. The technology has been developed by Nokia, but Apple has enhanced the product and is successful at promoting it for use cases in very different scenarios (retail shops, museums). Apple refined and made available everything I needed to create accessible indoor navigation."

BlindSquare version 3.0 offers indoor navigation for venues equipped with iBeacon Positioning Systems (BPS). When a BlindSquare user enters the range of a specific iBeacon, a message associated with that beacon is played on his or her iOS device. Currently, the number of iBeacon-equipped venues is limited, but if you have navigated a shopping mall, sports arena, airport terminal, or another building using BlindSquare we'd love to hear from you.

Apple realized early that providing accessibility was one thing, but if users couldn't figure out how to configure and use VoiceOver and the other accessibility features its efforts would be less than successful. To address this problem the company set up an accessibility help desk, which users can reach either via email at accessibility@apple.com or by phone at 877-204-3930. Store employees are also trained to help users of Apple's various accessibility features at Apple retail stores across the country and around the world.

As for the future of Apple's accessibility initiatives, the company's philosophy and commitment were best summed up by Apple CEO Tim Cook in a speech to his alma mater, Auburn University:

People with disabilities often find themselves in a struggle to have their human dignity acknowledged; they frequently are left in the shadows of technological advancements that are a source of empowerment and attainment for others, but Apple's engineers push back against this unacceptable reality, they go to extraordinary lengths to make our products accessible to people with various disabilities from blindness and deafness to various muscular disorders.
I found in Apple a company that deeply believed in advancing humanity through its products and the equality of its employees. These values which are at the very heart of our company remain the same. These values guide us to make our products accessible for everyone.
We design our products to surprise and delight everyone who uses them, and we never, ever analyze the return on investment. We do it because it is just and right, and that is what respect for human dignity requires, and it's a part of Apple I'm especially proud of.

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More from this author:

• A Review of the Be My Eyes Remote Sighted Helper App for Apple iOS
• Accessible Mobile Money Management: Evaluating Mint, Check, and MoneyWiz iOS Apps
• BlindSquare App for iOS: A Solution for Accessible Navigation