Every person who is blind and regularly uses a computer most likely has a favorite screen reader. That screen reader provides a sizable array of commands for accomplishing common computer tasks, such as those related to word processing and Web browsing. After a while, the practiced screen reader user barely considers how many keystrokes it takes to complete a task, or which features of the screen reader are rarely, if ever, used.

How does the beginner cope with all the options available in today's advanced screen reading packages? How does the advanced user deal with the myriad key combinations needed to finish a day's worth of computing? What if there were a tool available that could not only guide the new computer user through basic tasks, but also provide the power user with more efficient ways to perform computer tasks? For anyone using JAWS 14 or above, Hartgen Consultancy has a package worth considering.

For years, Brian Hartgen has been producing some of the best JAWS scripts around. Anyone with a visual impairment who has used iTunes on the Windows platform for any length of time at all has probably heard of Hartgen's J-tunes. J-say, also from Hartgen, brings the power of JAWS and Dragon Dictate together in a way that allows the power user to control a computer using their voice. Leasey, Hartgen's latest offering, harnesses the power of JAWS scripting in a way that appeals to computer users of all experience levels.

Leasey: JAWS Scripts for More Efficient Computing for People with Visual Impairments

Leasey stands for Learn, Enable, Advance—So Easy! Leasey is a set of JAWS scripts that provide everything from a menu of basic computing tasks for beginners to tools for the advanced user, without getting in the way of traditional computing techniques. In all written documentation and recorded training materials, Leasey is referred to as "she." When used in basic mode, Leasey features human voice prompts recorded by Brian's wife, Louise Hartgen.

How to Obtain and Learn About Leasey

Visit the Leasey website to obtain a free demonstration copy of the program that will run for 15 restarts of JAWS. At the site, you can read the Leasey documentation, check out the Leasey blog, find out what programs are recommended for best use with Leasey, and join an e-mail list of other Leasey users in order to share tips and tricks for getting the most out of the product.

The Leasey Total Package can be purchased for $235 and contains human voice prompts for menus, human narrated help from within Leasey, and a five-hour DAISY guide for anyone who is brand new to computing. For $155, you can purchase LeaseyAdvanced, which does not feature human voice prompts in menus, does not include human narrated help, and does not contain the DAISY guide. A payment plan is available for those who wish to purchase Leasey over the course of one year.

Anyone familiar with products produced by Hartgen Consultancy knows that all user guide and help documentation is extremely thorough and well written. I found this to be the case with all of the Leasey documentation I reviewed for this article including the DAISY Getting Started Guide for beginning computer users.

Setting Up and Configuring Leasey

Leasey Total Package was evaluated for this article.

Before installing Leasey, I recommend that you read the section of the user guide that deals with configuring your computer for best results with Leasey. In particular, it is important that the Windows Explorer title bar displays the full path of files and folders. You can store this path information and quickly retrieve it when, for example, you need to tell your audio editing program exactly where to find your latest podcast masterpiece. Simply let Leasey store the path information and then paste it into the appropriate dialog box when needed. Also included in the user guide are suggestions for configuring Microsoft Word, and Foobar 2000, Leasey's audio player of choice.

After you have configured your computer, the installation of Leasey is very straightforward. After installation, you will be given the opportunity to tell her what programs you will be using on your computer. For example, I used Word 2013, Outlook 2013, Internet Explorer, and Foobar 2000. I could have used Mozilla Firefox, Mozilla Thunderbird, and Winamp if I had chosen to do so.

How to Navigate Within Leasey

Leasey makes use of the set of three keys just to the right of F12 on a standard PC keyboard. These keys are the Print Screen, Scroll Lock, and Pause/Break keys. The far left of these three keys becomes the Leasey Menu key. Pressing it presents Leasey's main menu of options, including managing documents, reading books, listening to music tracks, browsing radio stations, working with Skype, and accessing Spotify.

The second in the group of three keys becomes the Leasey Context Menu key. When using Spotify, this key presents options for working with individual music tracks and playlists. When editing a Word document, this key provides options for formatting and spell-checking. There are hotkeys for performing many Leasey functions as well, but the menus are always there for your convenience.

The far right of this group of three keys is the Leasey Help key.

In addition to the three keys mentioned above, Leasey also uses a layered command structure that will be familiar to experienced JAWS users. The Grave Accent key, just to the left of the 1 key on the main area of the keyboard, becomes the Leasey key. To give just a few examples of how this command structure works, in order to restart your computer at any time, press the Leasey key and your computer will say "Leasey." Then, press Alt+Shift+R to restart your computer. You can shut down your computer entirely by pressing the Leasey key, then Alt+Shift+S. The Leasey Key followed by H brings up a list of hotkeys that can be used in Leasey, a less-verbose option than pressing the Leasey Help key.

When using Leasey in Basic mode, the main menu of options is available when you first start your computer or exit out of an application. This menu is spoken in Leasey's human voice. When in Leasey Advanced mode, Leasey stays out of the way unless you activate the menu or issue another command with one of Leasey's hotkeys such as Leasey key followed by the Comma key to begin highlighting text for manipulation, or Leasey key followed by the Period key to stop selecting a block of text for manipulation. You can toggle between Leasey's basic and advanced modes by pressing Control + Leasey key.

I briefly used Leasey Basic as I reviewed the product, but most of my review was conducted using Leasey Advanced. There is no way to cover every aspect of Leasey in this article, so let's take a look at what I consider to be some of her most notable features.

Word Processing with Leasey

Leasey really takes the novice computer user into account when it comes to word processing. For example, if you choose "Write a Document or Letter" from Leasey's main menu, you must provide a title for the new document before you can start typing. When you are finished, all you need do is press the Escape key to exit your word processor; Leasey automatically saves the document. Also, Leasey can help you properly format a letter. When used in conjunction with LeaseyConnect, Leasey's contact management program, it is a straightforward process to choose your personal address as well as the address of the recipient when formatting your document. Leasey saves your documents in a special location so that only the documents you have created when using "LeaseyWord" are displayed when you next wish to view your list of documents. Keep in mind that you can use your word processor of choice without these shortcuts when running Leasey Advanced. It is possible that you might wish to switch between LeaseyWord and traditional word processing depending on the task at hand.

Surfing the Web with Leasey

Using webpages on the Internet is a must for anyone using a computer. It is not surprising that Leasey has a number of options available to make this task easier. One of the more interesting features of Leasey is the ability to set alerts so that JAWS will go to a specific part of a webpage each time that page is loaded. Many JAWS users will be familiar with "flexible Web" in JAWS. Leasey harnesses the power of this feature in a way that makes setting alerts on webpages quite easy to do.

Listening to Music with Leasey

Local Media and Radio Stations

You can listen to music stored on your computer using Leasey with Foobar 2000. LeaseyTags allow you to act on files in a variety of ways, whether it be adding songs to a playlist or copying files to a flash drive. Leasey maintains a directory of radio stations that can be listened to while you do your work. Whether you are listening to your personal music collection or one of Leasey's featured radio stations, global hotkeys allow you to change the volume, skip to previous and next tracks, and stop music playback at any time, no matter what program you are working in.

Finally, Leasey provides increased access to iTunes on the PC. Using Leasey, iTunes controls are labeled appropriately, and areas of the screen that are not normally readable with the JAWS cursor are made available thanks to Hartgen's scripting prowess.

Using Spotify with Leasey

Millions of people around the world enjoy streaming music using Spotify. People who are blind using mobile devices have found Spotify to be quite useable, but Spotify on the PC has been a real challenge. Leasey tackles this problem head on with a host of commands to make Spotify work with JAWS. Leasey's documentation is very transparent about the fact that Spotify support is definitely a work in progress. I certainly found this to be the case. Any issues I encountered were made less difficult by the extremely thorough approach Hartgen took when it came to writing this portion of Leasey's user guide. By highlighting known issues and giving work-arounds for common problems, Leasey makes Spotify quite useable on the PC. I am certain that improvements will be made over the next updates of Leasey and Spotify.

Using Facebook with Leasey

Program development is often a moving target, and nowhere is this more evident than with Facebook. The developers of Leasey have taken great care to make Facebook as accessible as possible. Leasey opens a blank document for typing status updates and then offers commands to ensure that your status has been posted to Facebook. Keystrokes also exist for moving around in the Facebook app itself. As the Leasey team has been hard at work making Facebook as accessible as possible, Facebook has added some accessibility features of its own. It is now possible to use many hotkeys from within Facebook, making the site easier to use. It will be interesting to see if time and effort continues to be put into making Leasey work with Facebook, or if the Facebook accessibility team will make this third-party support unnecessary in the future.

Searching for Books with Leasey

Leasey adds to the power of sites such as Audible and NLS BARD by providing convenient methods for searching by title, author, and keyword. When it's time to download a title, Leasey takes you to the necessary page for completing your task. This is just one area where Leasey focuses as much on increased productivity as increased accessibility, and it is but one reason many power users should consider this product even if they have been using a computer for a long time.

Staying On Schedule with Leasey

Leasey provides a very simple appointment calendar that allows you to keep track of tasks that are due over the course of one year. Along with keeping track of upcoming appointments, Leasey allows you to stay aware of the time throughout the day by playing Westminster Chimes at predefined intervals such as every quarter hour, every half hour, or every hour.

The Bottom Line

Leasey does much more than this article is able to cover. Whether it is storing blocks of text for later retrieval to use in an e-mail signature, highlighting and working with large blocks of text, or setting bookmarks or "LeaseyPoints" in a document, the developers of the product have been careful to make tasks easy for novice users while allowing experienced users to work without being encumbered by Leasey features they don't want to use at the time.

All written and recorded training materials are thorough and professional. I was especially impressed with the DAISY Getting Started tutorial that comes with the Leasey Total Package. As I listened to the tutorial, I found myself on more than one occasion thinking about how much I would have benefitted from such a training program when I acquired my first computer. In addition, remote training is available for those who need one-on-one human assistance.

I found working with Facebook using Leasey to require a lot of keystrokes, and I wonder if Facebook's improved accessibility efforts will render Leasey support less necessary in the future. As rudimentary as Spotify accessibility is at present, I was very impressed with my success at using the program with Leasey's documentation and keystrokes. I am confident that Spotify accessibility will improve in the coming months.

I would love to see access to the Netflix player on the PC become more accessible, especially with regard to accessing audio described content. Perhaps the developers of Leasey could tackle this project in the future. I'm sure others could find ways for Leasey to make their lives easier as well—the team at Hartgen Consultancy is always willing to listen!

For anyone who owns JAWS for Windows (versions 14 and above) who needs extra assistance with learning to use their computer, I would highly recommend Leasey. For the experienced computer user who simply would like to have yet another accessibility tool in their arsenal, I would highly recommend that they give Leasey a serious test drive. It will be very exciting to see what Hartgen Consultancy adds to Leasey in the future. I expect that Leasey will be with us for a very long time.

Product Information

Leasey (Learn, Enable, Advance - So Easy!)
Cost: Leasey Total Package: $235; Leasey Advanced: $155; 12-month payment plan available

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The recent update to the Google TalkBack screen reader (version 4.2) includes several updated features and enhancements. Among the most significant of these is the ability to show local and global context menus in list views, instead of having to explore a circle of options by touch. Also, you can now toggle TalkBack off and on by pressing and holding both volume buttons simultaneously. Samsung beat the TalkBack development team to the punch, however. Like Amazon before them, the company has developed their own, device-specific version of TalkBack. It's called Galaxy TalkBack, and for now it comes preinstalled on both the Samsung Galaxy S6 and the Galaxy S6 Edge.

I spent several weeks testing this new version of TalkBack using a Sprint Galaxy S6 (GS6). The Edge model differs from the standard S6 only in that it has an edge display sighted users can check even when the main screen is not visible.

Physical Description of the Spring Galaxy S6

To put it most succinctly, the S6 resembles nothing so much as an iPhone 6. With a glass front and back wrapped in a metal bezel, identically placed volume buttons and a lock button just a bit more centered than that on Apple's flagship model, the Galaxy S6 represents a new form factor for Samsung. There are differences. The Galaxy S6 Home button/fingerprint reader is raised and rectangular; the device lacks a dedicated mute button; and the rear-facing camera is surrounded by a dime-size extension that is larger than the one on the iPhone 6. It's also slightly wider and a few millimeters longer than the iPhone 6, but I found it just as comfortable and well-balanced in my hand as my iPhone 6. Indeed, with both phones sitting beside one another on my desk, I often picked up one when I meant to grab the other.

This new form factor does not allow for a user replaceable battery. Nor does the S6 include an SD card slot. Describing their preference for Android over iOS, many Android users cite these very features—expandable memory and user switchable batteries—as major reasons they enjoy the Android experience. I don't know how these form factor changes will affect their loyalty, if other new Android models follow suit, but as for me, after using the Galaxy S6 I found myself enjoying the Android experience more than ever. Specification junkies can get the full hardware rundown here.

As for my personal experience, the Sprint GS6 is without doubt the snappiest, most responsive Android phone I have ever tested. I also enjoyed using Galaxy TalkBack more than the standard Google TalkBack.

Galaxy TalkBack

The physical form factor is not the only resemblance between the GS6 and iPhone 6. The GS6 comes with its own version of triple-click Home to toggle the screen reader on and off. This setting is enabled by default, so starting Galaxy TalkBack on a new device is a simple matter. Unless, of course, as happened to me, the review unit you have been sent was previously used, and triple-click Home and the two-finger spread startup gesture were both disabled. Performing a factory reset re-enabled the triple-tap speak at startup feature, however.

The preloaded GS6 voices, one male and one female, were roughly equivalent to the stock TalkBack voice. You can download free, high-quality Samsung English and Spanish voices if you like. I found these enhanced-quality voices excellent in both tone and comprehensibility, and they did not seem to slow down the phone's performance at all.

As with Google TalkBack, the first time you start the screen reader you are given the opportunity to learn and practice the various touch gestures. You can repeat this tutorial at any time via the phone's Accessibility Settings menu. Many of the basic gestures are the same as the ones you may already know for Google TalkBack. For example, swiping to the left or right advances you one unit. Double tapping activates the focused element, and a two-finger slide up or down scrolls you through a list.

As is also the case with Google TalkBack, a two-finger swipe in either direction advances you one page left or right. Use three fingers, however, and you begin to rotor your way through several options unique to Galaxy TalkBack, including:

• Punctuation
• Speech Rate
• Media Volume
• Notifications
• Large Cursor

Perform a one-finger swipe up or down to adjust any of these settings. For example, three-finger swipe in either direction until you reach the Punctuation option, then one-finger swipe up or down to toggle punctuation off or back on. Swipe to the Notifications option, then perform a one-finger swipe in either direction to summon an extensive notifications screen. The list includes a direct link to Galaxy TalkBack settings, though sometimes a double tap would not activate the menu. When that happened, closing and reopening the notifications screen corrected the problem.

Apple iOS users may compare the three-finger swipe gesture to the VoiceOver two-finger rotor gesture, which also determines what happens when you one-finger swipe up or down. The VoiceOver rotor contains many more options, such as reading by letter, word, link, etc. Galaxy TalkBack also offers these options, and as we will demonstrate, many of these controls act more like VoiceOver commands than those in Google TalkBack.

Gone is the swipe up and then left gesture to call up the local context menu, where you can set reading granularity to character, word, Web element, and the like. Galaxy TalkBack uses a simple three-finger swipe up or down to rotor through these granularity choices, which is a more elegant way to accomplish this, in my opinion, than using either Google TalkBack or VoiceOver.

Likewise the down and right Google TalkBack Global Context menu has also been done away with in the Galaxy version. Double tap with three fingers to read from the current item; triple tap with the same three fingers to spell the last utterance. Other gesture commands that will already be familiar to VoiceOver users are the two-finger single touch to pause and resume speech playback (the proximity sensor still also works,) and the two-finger double tap to stop and restart media playback.

I found text editing much easier on the SG6 than on other Android phones. The default keyboard includes a number row across the top, so mixed text entry is much swifter. I did experience a few annoying bugs typing on the GS6, however. When attempting to enter my Google credentials, the second L in Bill refused to voice when I pressed the key. This happened on most double letter entries, though most times the letter was entered, only instead of speaking the typed letter Galaxy TalkBack voiced "End." Also, often when I was entering my e-mail address into a login text field, if I tried to edit my entry "character" was not available as a granularity option. Instead, I had to backspace to my mistake and retype from there.

Entering text selection mode was a simple matter using the double- tap and hold gesture. I could then change the granularity and swipe left or right to select the desired block of text. Notice in the table below that Galaxy TalkBack offers touch commands for cut, copy, paste and select all. Unfortunately, for me at least, the two-finger swipe left to right paste command did not work in the tutorial, but it did work when composing an e-mail or text message.

Here is a complete list of Galaxy TalkBack touch gestures.

---

Action

1 finger

2 fingers

3 fingers

---

Tap

speak item under finger

Pause/resume speech

read from top

double tap

activate the selected focus;
active edit mode (focus on
editable text)

Start/stop action

read from next item

triple tap

zoom

information center

spell last utterance

double tap and hold

move or drag an icon;
view more options for
selected items

selection mode

label control

left swipe

move to previous/next
item

copy

context meu settings

right swipe

move to previous/next
item

paste

context meu settings

up swipe

move using selected
option of context menu

cut

context menu granular

down swipe

move using selected
option of context menu

select all

context menu granular

left then right swipe

scroll up/down page

right then left swipe

scroll up/down page

up then down swipe

move to first/last item on
page; move cursor to
beginning or end of edit
field

down then up swipe

move to first/last item on
page; move cursor to
beginning or end of edit
field

---

As a long-time iOS user, in general I found the Galaxy touch gestures made more sense to me than those used by Google TalkBack. I particularly enjoyed not losing my place whenever I needed to use a two-step gesture to invoke a context menu. Long time Android phone users may already have too much muscle memory invested in the current Google TalkBack gestures. If this is the case, you can still use the GS6. Google TalkBack can be run alongside Galaxy TalkBack and hot swapped on demand. Opening one version causes the other to close automatically.

The accessibility "Direct Access" option allows you to add one or more features to the triple-tap Home menu. Along with both versions of TalkBack, you can also add one or more low vision features, including a magnifier window, negative colors, grayscale, and a link to the full slate of accessibility settings.

Another pair of accessibility features unique to Galaxy TalkBack are listed as "Status Bar Information" and "Recent/Back Feedback." Turn this latter feature on and instead of activating as soon as they are touched, the Recent Apps and Back buttons will announce their names when touched; you must then perform a double tap to invoke the command. This is useful if you often accidentally touch one of these controls by mistake and lose your place.

The Status Bar Information option offers a checkbox list of all the information that can be spoken when you tap the Status Bar, including:

• Time
• Signal Strength
• Bluetooth
• Missed Events
• Battery

Check and uncheck items to create your desired level of verbosity.

A Few Opportunities Missed

Unfortunately, there does not seem to be a good deal of communication and integration between the Samsung accessibility team and the rest of the software and hardware developers. Technical support is also woefully unaware of their products' accessibility features.

The stock Samsung camera app can be set to open with a double tap of the Home button. The app also offers several useful voice commands. Say "Cheese," "Smile," "Capture," "Shoot," or "Record video" and after two seconds the camera snaps a photo or begins video recording. Unfortunately, the rest of the app is extremely screen reader unfriendly. You can't use swipe gestures to locate the camera controls or settings menus. Many of these buttons and icons remained quite elusive, even using explore by touch.

The Samsung Play Store offers OCR and navigation apps, along with a Samsung TV Remote Control app. Again, none of these apps offers a pleasant Galaxy or Google TalkBack experience. Using the OCR app I was unable to recognize any text, and as for the navigation app—let's just say I am not about to delete APH's excellent Nearby Explorer.

The TV Remote app presented a few unlabeled graphics, and did not provide an accessible way to reach the channel buttons and other controls. This was surprising, considering all of the recent advances Samsung has made in developing an accessible TV.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I consider the Sprint Galaxy S6 a well-designed, responsive Android phone, among the best I have ever used. Of course the caveat to this is the fact that I am a longtime iPhone user, so naturally I feel more comfortable and confident with a device that already feels familiar. With its more iOS-like touch commands, Galaxy TalkBack also felt more familiar and useable. It is still a bit buggy in places, so I do appreciate the ability to hot swap between the Galaxy and Google versions of TalkBack.

Currently, Galaxy TalkBack is only available on the S6 and S6 Edge. Samsung has not announced if or when it will be made available for legacy Samsung phones and tablets. Even if a Samsung phone or tablet is not in your immediate future, however, this new touch screen reader should be viewed as an exciting development in mobile accessibility. Consider the amount of competition and feature cross-pollination that has occurred over the past several years between Google TalkBack and VoiceOver. (Amazon's TalkBack version, called Screen Reader, is not known for innovation.) Good ideas are good ideas, wherever they originate, and when it comes to enhanced mobile accessibility, a rising tide will definitely lift all ships.

Product Availability

For this review the 32 GB Sprint Galaxy 6 was evaluated. It is available free for qualified new or existing individuals on the Sprint Unlimited Plus plan, or family members on the Sprint Family Share plan.

To learn more about the Galaxy S6 and other accessible phones visit the Sprint Accessibility Store.

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Talking Books from the Library of Congress National Library Service have changed format several times since the first recordings back in 1931, from recorded disks to cassette tapes to digital flash cartridges that could be played with a free NLS player. Along the way NLS licensed the makers of several devices, most notably the Victor Reader Stream and the APH BookPort, to enable direct download of titles and Talking Book playback. With the advent of accessible mobile devices, however, many NLS patrons found themselves having to cart around two devices—their mobile phone or tablet to stay in touch, read Audible and Bookshare titles, navigate with GPS, and other essential tasks—and a second device to play their Talking Books. This state of affairs was cumbersome and, for many, reason enough to begin relying on other resources for reading matter.

In September of 2013 NLS released version 1.0 of the BARD Mobile app for iOS, which ran on iPhones, iPads, and iPod touches. Using this app, NLS patrons could quickly scan newly added books and magazines, download them to their devices, then listen to, bookmark, and navigate their way through the entire NLS digital collection. As an iPhone and iPad user, I was thrilled. Android users still had to use a separate device to play Talking Books, but finally, with the recent release of the BARD Mobile for Android app, they, too, now have a single-device reading solution.

BARD Mobile for Android is available from Google Play for devices running Android version 4.1 Jelly Bean or later. The app is free, but in order to download and listen to BARD books and magazines you must first be registered with your local braille and talking-book library or call 1-800-NLS-READ to apply for service.

Once registered, you will be provided with a login and password, which you will use the first time you sign into the BARD Mobile app.

Exploring the BARD Mobile for Android App

Both the Android and iOS apps feature navigation bars with Bookshelf, Get Books, and Now Reading, tabs running across the bottom for iOS and the top for Android. The iOS version includes a Settings tab. The Android version places app settings in the More Options menu, where you will also find controls specific to the task at hand, along with context-sensitive help and a link to your device's accessibility settings.

The features and functionality of BARD Mobile for Android and iOS are quite similar. Below, we'll take a tour of the Android app, pressing the "Pause" button on occasion to point out a difference or two between it and the iOS version.

Get Books

The Get Books tab offers four options:

• Browse Wish List
• Recently Added Books
• Recently Added Magazines
• Browse BARD

BARD Mobile for iOS includes two additional options here: Braille Books and Braille Magazines. I was told by an NLS representative that they are waiting for a few necessary BrailleBack feature updates before they can provide a workable braille reading solution.

Wish List

When you find a book you wish to read using either the NLS desktop website or the Browse BARD control we will discuss soon, you are offered the choice to either download the title or add it to your wish list. Access the app's Wish List control to display and download these books and magazines to your phone or tablet. As you will see, this is often my preferred way of adding books to my Android device.

Recently Added Titles

The Recently Added Books and Magazines option summons a chronological list of new titles available in the NLS collection, along with older books that have recently been made available in digital format. Long pressing any title calls up the annotation, and a double tap prompts you to select the folder into which the book will be downloaded. This is an extremely useful feature. The size of Digital Talking Book (DTB) files can be several hundred megabytes. Placing your titles on an SD card allows you to download dozens of books without using critical device memory.

The iOS app adds dates to the title lists, such as "Today," "Thursday," or "June 1." The Android app does not include dates, which can make it difficult to know how far down to scan if you are like me and prefer checking in just once or twice a week to see what's new. Also, neither app uses heading or link elements, so you can't change TalkBack granularity to facilitate quick navigation. More often than not, I find it much easier to visit the BARD website and browse books there. I can use my screen reader's headings quick navigation key to move rapidly through the Recently Added Books and Magazines pages, add books that pique my interest to my Wish List, then download them to my device from there.

Browse BARD

This last option opens a Web view of your regional library's website, which is the primary point of contact for NLS patrons. Here you can set TalkBack granularity to Web Controls, Lists and Sections, which, in my experience, makes browsing titles using the app considerably easier than using the Recent Books and Magazines controls.

Using the Browse BARD option, you can accomplish all but one of the same tasks that you can on the BARD desktop site, including searching for books by title or author, browsing recent additions to the NLS collection, browsing the most popular titles, and accessing a list of titles you have previously downloaded. You can't download books and magazines directly from the Browse Bard tab, however. Instead, add them to your wish list and then download them to your device as described above.

Bookshelf

The BARD Mobile Bookshelf tab offers options to access downloaded audio books and magazines, along with a comprehensive User Guide for the app itself. The HTML text is well formatted with headings and lists; it was easy to locate and review information about topics of interest. You can also access the app documentation on the BARD website.

The Audio Books and Magazine controls each provide a count of the number of titles currently on the device. Double tap a title to begin playback; long press to call up the annotation screen, which also includes a "Play Now" button.

The Bookshelf's downloaded book and magazine screens each include a "More options menu button. Here you can sort titles by name, date, or recent activity. You can create new subfolders, rename them, and move titles between them. This is a handy way to archive books you have finished but may wish to consult from time to time. This feature is not available on the iOS version.

Titles can be side loaded, but they must be placed into the same folder as the rest of your BARD device library. The current app version does not allow the BARD library folder to be changed without resetting the app and losing all of your current content.

Double tap the "Delete" button and you are presented with a checkbox list of titles and folders you can remove from your device. "Settings" and "Help" buttons round out the selections.

Currently Reading

As mentioned above, when you open a book or magazine from the Bookshelf tab, the book begins to play automatically. You are placed into the Now Playing screen, where touch controls emulate the hardware playback controls on the Digital Talking Book Player.

As with the current iOS app, BARD Mobile for Android's primary playback controls are positioned in three rows of three buttons each. Here's a quick summary of their functions, starting at the bottom row and moving up.

• At the bottom center, just above the device's home button, a button toggles between "Speed" and "Tone." Select either of these options and the buttons to the left and right will "Decrease Speed/Tone" or "Increase Speed/Tone," depending on how the toggle is set. There are 10 tone settings, but on the devices I tested, the differences between settings 1 and 10 were not extremely pronounced. The variable speed options range from 50 percent to 300 percent, and the speech was quite understandable, even at higher settings.
• The second row includes "Rewind," Play/Stop," and "Fast Forward." Double tap "Rewind" or "Fast Forward" to advance five seconds in the desired direction; do this twice to move ten seconds. A long press moves in larger increments, with announcements at various points, such as five minutes or one hour. The "Play/Stop" button is located in the row's center. Playback will continue, even if you move to another BARD Mobile tab, return to the device Home screen, open another app, or after the screen dims and/or locks. Here, the iOS app has a definite advantage over the Android version. Using iOS, I can two-finger double tap to stop playback, then repeat the gesture to restart playback. I was unable to do this using the Android version, which made it more awkward listening to a book when, for example, I was walking my dog and needed to stop playback for a minute or two at a busy intersection. Some versions of Android place media controls on the Notification Bar, but they are still not as easy to access as the iOS two-finger double tap. There is no sleep timer.
• The third row of buttons from the bottom, "Previous," "Jump By," and "Next," enable quick navigation in the desired direction. The "Jump By" options differ, depending on how the title is organized, but usually include "Section," "Bookmark," and "Phrase."

The center buttons for each of these rows is larger than the ones to the left and right. The "Speed/Tone" and "Jump By" toggles are blue; the "Play/Stop" button toggles from green to red, depending on which state the player is in. Buttons also have different shapes, square for the decrease and increase speed buttons, for example, and outward pointing arrows for "Rewind" and "Fast Forward." These elements will be useful to many low vision users.

Additional app controls include Navigation and Bookmark, which are located above the nine primary playback controls. The Navigation button summons and displays a list of sections, with titles where available, that you can use to advance immediately to the desired chapter or section. You can also advance to any of the time stamped bookmarks, which are created by pressing the "Bookmark" button, located just above the "Next" button.

The top half of the Now Playing screen also displays time elapsed/total time information, along with the percentage of the title completed. Finally, at the very top of the Now Playing screen, the app displays the current title being read, and the current chapter or article name.

Both swipe gestures and explore by touch work well to navigate the Now Playing screen. My only complaint is that I wish the "Play/Stop" button were much larger, especially since I can't use the two-finger double tap to pause and resume playback.

Final Thoughts

All in all, I found accessing and playing BARD content on my Android devices a pleasurable experience. My biggest complaints—the lack of a sleep timer and of a play/pause gesture—are both current Android accessibility limitations. If I were a devoted braille user, I would also lament the current inability to download and read braille titles.

There is another major app feature lacking on both platforms, and which is not a current accessibility limitation. Both Audible and Kindle synch downloads, bookmarks, and last-played positions between and among various devices logged into the same account. With the release of BARD Mobile for Android, it's now more likely than ever that NLS patrons will wish to play content on more than one phone or tablet. This capability is not included in the latest iOS app beta version, however, so it may be quite a while before listening to Talking Books becomes a truly mobile experience.

Comment on this article.

More articles from this author:

Help Me See: The Organization Dedicated to Eliminating Cataract Blindness Globally

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For most everyone, summertime conjures up images of grilling hot dogs, swimming in the pool, and spending quiet evenings with friends and family. For some of us, even as we make the most of the summer months, we are already beginning to think about autumn. As the temperatures cool down and the air becomes crisp in the early morning, many will be heading to college. Some will be leaving home for the first time, preparing to make their way in a whole new world, jumping headlong into studies of one sort or another. Others of us will teach in front of a group of new students who are eager to learn about music, sociology, history, or a host of other subjects. Students will move belongings into dorm rooms and purchase books, while instructors will revise the syllabi, update study guides, and prepare exams for the semester.

Historically students with visual impairments have had to figure out where to obtain accessible textbooks, and determine in which formats they were available. Some students had exams provided in braille, but most needed someone to read exam questions aloud and possibly write down their responses. Instructors with visual impairments had their own issues to deal with. When I first began teaching a music appreciation class at a local community college in 1993, I prepared my class notes using a Perkins Brailler, and wrote exams using an electric typewriter. Over the past 20 years, the landscape has changed a lot. Books are now available in electronic format, and exams are often administered online. For blind people, the changes mentioned above are both a blessing and a curse. Many services are barely accessible with screen reading technology, and many institutions don't even know what accessibility means for a visually impaired person.

In this article, we will take a look at Blackboard, a Web service used by many colleges to provide course materials, send out announcements, post grades, and administer tests. We will look at Blackboard from the perspectives of two students and one instructor, all of whom are blind. The perspectives consider what works and what needs improvement. If you are a student or teacher reading this article, perhaps you will gain some understanding of what Blackboard is, and what questions you need to ask your college or university in order to make your experience using Blackboard as rewarding as possible.

Blackboard from the Student Perspective

Ali Krage has matriculated in August of 2013. At the first school she attended, her experience with Blackboard was not positive. JAWS, her screen reader of choice, lost focus a lot and she found it difficult to use the Blackboard website. At the College of DuPage, a community college in Glen Ellyn, Illinois, where she is working toward a degree in Criminal Justice, Krage's experience with Blackboard has been quite different.

She is now able to view course materials such as the class syllabus with no problems. Announcements from her professors go to her e-mail inbox as well the Blackboard website. Quizzes and exams administered through Blackboard have proven to be a bit more problematic. Sometimes, it is necessary to physically drag the mouse in order to choose an answer to a test question. Krage's instructors allow her to read exam questions on Blackboard, and write the correct answers in a Microsoft Word document. Since she uses JAWS at the default speaking rate, timed exams are a challenge as well.

Krage did not receive specialized training in the use of Blackboard, but she feels that knowledge of the navigation commands built into her screen reader are all she needs to find her way around the service. Her college understands that she sometimes has difficulty using Blackboard, and provides alternate methods for her to complete assignments when extra assistance is required.

Paras Shaw has been in college for five years. He is currently taking online classes, and hopes to someday work as a vocational rehabilitation counselor. His experience with Blackboard has been generally very positive. Like Krage, Shaw has not had training on the use of Blackboard with a screen reader, but he also feels that a good grasp of screen reader navigation commands is generally sufficient to successfully use the service. That said, he does believe that specific documentation regarding the use of the Blackboard service with a screen reader would be a good thing. Shaw generally uses JAWS for Windows when using Blackboard, and believes that JAWS provides the best experience (NVDA works fairly well, but not as well as JAWS). Shaw is surprised at this, since the Web is often considered one of NVDA's strong points. Safari on the Mac works pretty well with Blackboard, but not as well as JAWS and NVDA.

Using Blackboard, Shaw is able to participate in discussion forums and take exams, and was even able to read alt text descriptions of pictures associated with an art class he recently took. The one area where he has difficulty is in viewing class grades after his instructors post them to the site. Shaw feels that the more familiar an instructor is with Blackboard and the accessibility challenges encountered by blind students, the better the Blackboard experience will ultimately be for that student. Good communication between student and instructor is essential.

Blackboard from the Instructor Perspective

As mentioned earlier in this article, I have been teaching a music appreciation class at North Central Missouri College. A couple of years ago, when I learned that all instructors at the college would be required to use Blackboard as a part of classroom instruction, I was both excited and apprehensive. If all went well, I could pretty much do away with hard copy course materials. If not, I wasn't sure how I would effectively continue to teach the class. The director of the IT department at our college was an invaluable asset to me. He wrote several short, step-by-step documents on how to accomplish tasks such as adding grades to the grade center, posting announcements to Blackboard, and the like. Although he was not using a screen reader, he went as far as to use the keyboard and tell me how many presses of the Tab key were required to get to certain parts of the site and what my screen reader should announce when I got there.

I purchased a couple electronic books on using Blackboard, but I found that they were not particularly helpful. Many of the screen shots were not well labeled, and Blackboard changes from institution to institution, depending on how the college, and individual instructors, choose to configure it. I found that Googling very specific questions helped me accomplish tasks as needed. The IT director helped me set up my first class, and I was able to look at his example and figure out how to accomplish the same task in the future. Although JAWS read the website with few errors, I found that navigating Blackboard was a bit like navigating Amazon. It was doable, but painstakingly slow until I became familiar with the site. When entering grades into the Grade Center area of the site, I found an option to "turn screen reader mode on." This caused previously unusable tables to read as they should. Neither Krage nor Shaw were aware of any screen reader mode option being present on the student side of their Blackboard environments. Perhaps it was unavailable to them, or maybe they simply weren't aware of its existence. Ironically, one area of Blackboard that gave me some real trouble was the checkbox needed to make the course available to my students once I got it configured the way I wanted it. None of the four screen readers I tried read the radio buttons in any order that made sense to me, and I had to resort to asking my colleague in IT to make the class available to students for me. I continue to provide study guides and exams to students in traditional hard copy format, so I have no experience with submitting and grading assignments on Blackboard.

The Bottom Line

In our discussions, Krage, Shaw, and I all agreed that Blackboard was definitely accessible to blind users. Because there is a lot of configurability in the Blackboard service, no two experiences will be exactly the same. All three of us required assistance from our institutions in using various aspects of Blackboard. Several screen readers were tested and all were able to provide varying levels of access to the site. The three of us all found that JAWS had a bit of an edge over other screen readers, whether it was in setting place markers in various parts of the Blackboard site, properly announcing whether menus were collapsed or expanded, or reading tables correctly.

If you are a student who needs to use Blackboard for your studies, or if you are an instructor who is about to teach a class using Blackboard, be prepared to spend some time learning the service. Don't give up, and by all means, ask for help from your institution if you run into trouble.

Blackboard has an accessibility page that talks about the developer's commitment to accessibility. Included are a set of audio demonstrations of students and instructors performing specific tasks on Blackboard with JAWS for Windows. These demos only provide audio feedback from JAWS as the tasks are performed, but do not contain any audio commentary on how to actually perform the task. Finally, when visiting the Blackboard help page, do a search for the word "accessibility" in order to view a list of keyboard commands for use with Blackboard and to gain an understanding of how headings are used to make navigation of the site easier with a screen reader.

Although there is bound to be room for improvement, it appears that Blackboard is committed to accessibility for screen reader users, and I, as a college instructor, applaud their efforts.

Product Information

Blackboard

www.blackboard.com

Comment on this article.

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Dear AccessWorld readers,

I know the students out there don't want to hear these words, but it's time to think about the start of a new school year.

New classes, new instructors, class projects, presentations, tests, new people, and maybe even a new school or moving away to college bring about uncertainty and new challenges. Uncertainty is not necessarily a bad thing. This time of year can be exciting, too, especially if you prepare in advance.

Pursuing an education can be difficult under the best of circumstances, and doing so as a person with vision loss can increase the challenge.

For the students in our readership: you must take personal responsibility for your education, and you must be your own advocate. It is very important to prepare in advance, speak to instructors, and tell those you'll be working with exactly what types of accommodations will best meet your needs. Your education will have a tremendous impact on every aspect of the rest of your life, so it's crucial that you do everything you can to get the most out of your studies.

Good planning prevents poor performance! It's never too early to begin planning for the next school term, whether you're in elementary school or graduate school. Acquiring and learning to use the mainstream and access technology that best suits your situation, registering as early as possible for classes, obtaining reading lists, and searching out alternative formats should be done as soon as you can. Waiting until the last minute is a recipe for disaster.

It has become an AccessWorld tradition that the July issue be our "Back to School" issue. Thus, the AccessWorld team once again focuses on providing valuable information and resources for students, parents, teachers, and professionals in the vision loss field to help make educational pursuits less stressful and more enjoyable. We are excited to bring you the information in this issue, and we sincerely hope you will find it useful.

As more and more classroom material is going online and the use of Blackboard software is becoming ever-present, new accessibility challenges abound for for students who are blind or visually impaired. In this issue, Jamie Pauls takes a look at the accessibility and usability of Blackboard from both student and instructor perspectives. Whether you are a student or a working professional, everyone needs tools to increase productivity. In this issue, Jamie Pauls also reviews Leasey. Leasey is an access tool for anyone who owns JAWS for Windows (versions 14 and above) who needs extra assistance with learning to use their computer as well as for the experienced computer user who simply would like to have another accessibility tool in their arsenal. Learn how Leasey could be of use to you.

Those students who are looking for a new smartphone to stay connected as they head back to school will want to read Bill Holton's review of the Sprint Galaxy S6 running Galaxy Talkback. If you have been reluctant to try Android, Bill considers the Sprint Galaxy S6 to be "a well-designed, responsive Android phone." Speaking of Android, Bill Holton also reviews the new BARD mobile app for Android, a tool for reading school material as well as books and magazines for pleasure.

Please be sure to check out past "Back to School" issues from AccessWorld. The July issues of 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2014 all contain information that is still pertinent today. When reading these past "Back to School" issues, I encourage you to start with a 2010 article I co-authored, Educational Resources and Tips from AFB's Information and Referral Center.

In this vein, you may also want to check out an article from the 2013 "Back to School" issue, Deborah Kendrick's review of iOS Success: Making the iPad Accessible: A Guide for Teachers and Parents (National Braille Press).

We on the AccessWorld team wish you good luck and good planning as you head back to school!

Sincerely,
Lee Huffman
AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief
American Foundation for the Blind

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

In response to Jamie Pauls' Dolphin Guide from Dolphin Computer Access: A Suite of Access Programs that Simplify Computer Use:

I have been using JAWS since 1988, and many times I still struggle remembering commands, which makes navigation a bit slow and cumbersome.

I love the fact that I have so many voice choices with synthesizers provided. I have used JAWS for so many years (27 now), and I have yet to find a better system, but Guide demands exploring! Without having yet tried it, I can say now that Tom and the synthesizer you mentioned are not a satisfactory synthesized voice for me, although I use it on my Victor Stream reader, as the other choice (female) is worse!

Bottom line, I will probably try the free trial version of Guide. I wish it were available with more voice choices, and I wish it had been available in 1988! Note: I love your technology evaluation articles.

Keep them coming…

Thanks,

James O. Theall

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

In response to Bill Holton's Help Me See: The Organization Dedicated to Eliminating Cataract Blindness Globally:

I like the idea of the system being funded in these countries so that doctors by repaying start-up loans feed the cycle for more doctors to come into place. I wonder if a doctor simply decided not to repay, what might happen.

I visited the website, but I don't find it as easy to use as others. Because I was born with cataracts, I thought about sending a one-time $50 donation, but I dislike having to give so much information. Can't a first name, e-mail address, and a PayPal payment work?

I'm glad that children as old as 12 can benefit from this surgery. I had always thought, as your article disproved, that by age three it was too late. I think that idea was based on an experiment using kittens that had been kept in the dark since birth.

Thank you,

David in Louisiana

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I recently heard about this app called Be My Eyes. I haven't used it yet but I have downloaded it and it seems accessible. If a blind person needs help identifying what something is then the app puts the person who is blind and a person who is sighted together via a live video/audio connection where the sighted person can tell the blind person what they see through the camera. I think it would be cool if you could publish an article about it to inform other blind people.

Thanks,

Brittany Breen

Response from AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief, Lee Huffman

Dear Brittany,

Please read Bill Holton's A Review of the Be My Eyes Remote Sighted Helper App for Apple iOS.

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I am writing to you from Colombia. I am a blind clinical psychologist who reads with a great deal of interest every issue of Access World. Let me congratulate you and thank you for your great job as editor of this publication.

Recently I came across a program that really is changing my professional life for the better. This program is Dragon Natural Speaking. As you might be aware, this program allows the user to dictate text directly to the computer. Recently Brian Hargen, from Hartgen Consultancy in the UK developed a set of scripts that he calls JDictate that makes Dragon a very friendly app to be used in conjunction with JAWS.

It would be nice if AccessWorld could publish an article regarding Dragon and how this app can be used with JAWS. I am sure that many people who are blind could benefit greatly from this app now that Brian has made it very accessible to Jaws users.

Kind regards,

Luis Eduardo Peña

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

In response to the article The Free iBill Money Identifier from the US Bureau of Engraving and Printing, by Breonna Patterson and Lee Huffman:

Most of the time when trying to use the iBill, I get an error. Unless the bill is very new, it doesn't seem to read it, and if the bill has been folded or the corners are a little ragged, it won't read.

Barb Lombardi

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

In response to Bill Holton's Apple Receives AFB's Prestigious Helen Keller Achievement Award:

Like you, I respect and appreciate Apple's work on accessibility technology. VoiceOver was a dramatic advance, and the company may be commended for its efforts overall.

That said, one area of continued disappointment is the fact that VoiceOver does not support accessible (tagged) PDF documents.

Although VoiceOver is capable of "scraping" content from PDF pages, it is incapable of providing the logical ordering, table, list, and heading structures, alternative text, and other features that responsible authors include in PDF documents to make them accessible.

PDF documents are ubiquitous, and frequently contain key information such as banking data, insurance adjustments, airline tickets, and so on. Apple would do a great service—and continue to lead the way in accessibility technology—if VoiceOver was extended to provide support for tagged PDF, including for PDF/UA, the ISO standard for accessible PDF.

Sincerely,

Duff Johnson

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

In response to Bill Holton's Apple Receives AFB's Prestigious Helen Keller Achievement Award:

It's true that Apple has done a somewhat better job than Microsoft in accessibility. But I almost threw up at the unstinting, uncritical praise of Apple's commitment to accessibility in the article. If Apple is so committed to accessibility, why doesn't Apple insist that all apps that are non-visually-oriented (such as, say, the Amazon Echo app), be totally VoiceOver friendly before being accepted into the App Store?

Why are functions of Apple's implementation of Word still not accessible? And why does it seem that each release of iOS breaks some accessibility features?

Your article made me want to throw up. It is also my understanding that the only reason Apple bothered to deal with accessibility was the result of a couple of lawsuit threats.

I'm really disappointed in AFB's choice for awarding the Helen Keller award and for the way you wrote the article.

One of the worst articles I've ever read in AccessWorld.

John Riehl

Dear AccessWorld Editor,

I would like to see AccessWorld and AFB mobilize readers and supporters to contact Consumer Union and its magazine, Consumer Reports, to urge them to add accessibility to the product ratings. Not only would this make it much easier for consumers with disabilities to evaluate products before making a purchase, I believe that having a powerful ally such as Consumers Union would spur manufacturers to design with an eye to universal accessibility.

Sincerely,

W. Greg Austin

AFB Awards Scholarships to 11 Outstanding Students with Vision Loss

The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) has awarded its 2015 scholarships to 11 outstanding students who are blind or visually impaired and who are pursuing their studies at institutions of higher education. The grants support one of AFB's most important goals: expanding access to education for students with vision loss.

The awardees are as follows:

The Delta Gamma Foundation Florence Margaret Harvey Memorial Scholarship: One scholarship of $1,000 to an undergraduate or graduate student in the field of rehabilitation or education of persons who are blind or visually impaired.

Jessica G. Laurie has a Bachelor's degree in Health Policy and Management from Providence College in Rhode Island, and will begin studies at the Assumption College in Massachusetts this fall for her Master's degree in Rehabilitation Counseling. She has a strong interest in advocacy, and is active in the area of disability rights.

The Rudolph Dillman Memorial Scholarship: Four scholarships of $2,500 each to undergraduates or graduates who are studying full time in the field of rehabilitation or education of persons who are blind and/or visually impaired.

Alexandra Futty is enrolled at Northern Illinois University, pursuing her Master's degree in Special Education. She's received a Fulbright Grant from the US Department of State to conduct research in the Caribbean. Alexandra volunteers with TAILS Humane Society to rehabilitate abused and neglected dogs.

Samantha Smolka is working toward her Bachelor's degree in Special Education at Northern Illinois University. She is an accomplished athlete and has trained with the US Paralympic track and field team. Samantha hopes to represent the United States in the Paralympics in the future.

Henry Bryce Wedler is pursuing his PhD in Chemistry at the University of California, and plans to become a chemistry professor. He looks forward to teaching science to students with vision loss. Henry has founded a nonprofit organization, Accessible Science, to encourage children with disabilities to go into the fields of science and math.

Thomas Patrick Wolf attends the University of Utah and is working toward his PhD in Rehabilitation Science. He has experience working in the fields of orientation and mobility, vision rehabilitation, and low vision therapy. Thomas is an accomplished artist and a competitive snowboarder.

The Paul and Ellen Ruckes Scholarship: Two scholarships of $2,000 each to a full-time undergraduate or graduate student in the field of engineering or in computer, physical, or life sciences.

Miriam Lozneanu attends Clemson University in South Carolina and is pursuing her Bachelor's degree in Computer Science. Miriam, who is deaf and visually impaired, hopes to work on computer applications aimed at people who have hearing or visual impairments.

Elaine Phillips will begin working toward her Bachelor's degree in Mechanical Engineering at Massachusetts Institute of Technology this fall. In addition to being visually impaired, Elaine was born without one hand, and has developed electronic devices for both people with vision loss and those who can benefit from prostheses. She wants to continue working on engineering projects to assist people with disabilities.

The R.L. Gillette Scholarship: Two scholarships of $1,000 each to women who are enrolled in a full-time four-year undergraduate degree program in literature or music.

Savanah Baker is a student at Concordia University in Nebraska working toward her Bachelor's degree in English, with a minor in Psychology. She serves as managing editor on her school newspaper and works as a sports announcer for her school athletic teams.

Melissa Carney will attend Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts this fall, pursuing her Bachelor's degree in English. Melissa is a singer and was recently chosen to perform in the Eastern National Choir. She is also an avid horseback rider and skier.

The Gladys C. Anderson Memorial Scholarship: One scholarship of $1,000 given to a female undergraduate or graduate student studying classical or religious music.

Sharon Hastings will begin work toward her Bachelor's degree in Music Education this fall at the California State University. She has received a number of awards from her school for her abilities as a musician and for her academic achievements.

The Karen D. Carsel Memorial Scholarship: one scholarship of $500 to a full-time graduate student.

Teri Stroschein will attend George Fox University in Oregon this fall, working toward her Master's degree in School Counseling. She was an esteemed teacher of mathematics before losing her sight, and has since decided that she'd like to pursue being a counselor. Teri worked as a volunteer for the Jesuit Volunteer Corps in Alaska and assisted in the Hurricane Katrina relief effort in New Orleans.

AccessNote for iOS has been updated to version 1.3!

• Keystrokes on Bluetooth keyboards now use the Command or Windows key instead of the Option or Alt key to activate and can be used anywhere within a note
• AccessNote now runs natively on iPad
• The old icons have been replaced with new, high resolution assets
• The settings screen has been simplified

And, of course, AccessNote is still FREE. Be sure to check out the new version.

Registration for IAAP Access 2015 is now open!

IAAP Access 2015 will be held October 21–23, 2015 at The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa in Henderson, Nevada located near the Las Vegas strip. Prepare to join your accessibility colleagues and experts in the field for IAAP's inaugural educational conference.

Register for IAAP Access 2015 by September 18, 2015 to take advantage of the Early Bird Registration rates. If you need any assistance with registration, please call IAAP at 202-367-1133.

You may book your hotel reservation now at The Westin Lake Las Vegas Resort & Spa. For those for whom the link is not accessible, please contact The Westin Lake Las Vegas reservation team directly at 1-800-937-8461 to speak with someone and confirm your reservation. You may also contact IAAP directly at 202-367-1133 or info@accessibilityassociation.org to indicate your needs, and they will be happy to assist you. For more information, visit the IAAP Access 2015 Accommodations & Travel webpage.

Information on rates and registration, sponsorship opportunities, exhibitor information, conference schedule, accommodations and travel and more can be found on the IAAP Access 2015 webpage.

SciPlus: Scientific Calculators for the Visually Impaired

Sight Enhancement Systems (SES) recently announced the arrival of the new SciPlus-2500, which joins the popular SciPlus series of scientific calculators for people who are visually impaired. Like all SciPlus models, it provides:

• Large tactile keys
• A large multi-line display with adjustable contrast
• Adjustable display backlight
• A full range of scientific functions

SciPlus-2500 also offers:

• English/Spanish speech output, with more languages coming soon
• Evaluate and GRAPH mathematical expressions

For more information on the SciPlus-2500, or to find a representative near you, visit the website. You can also contact the sales team directly at sales@sightenhancement.com.

HelpMeSee Wins Three Awards at the 34th Annual New England Direct Marketing Association Awards for Creative Excellence Show

HelpMeSee, a global campaign to end cataract blindness, was recognized with three awards at the 34th Annual NEDMA (New England Direct Marketing Association) Award Show this month in Boston, MA. HelpMeSee's awards included a Gold and Silver Award for donor acquisition campaigns and a Gold Award for donor renewal.

The NEDMA Awards event honors creative excellence and innovation in categories that include print ads, direct mail, catalogs, interactive, integrated media campaigns and direct marketing on a shoestring. Over 150 industry leaders attended the celebration, which was held June 17, 2015 at Boston Common Hotel & Conference Center in Boston.

Award winners, selected from a pool of over 280 submissions, are judged on the creative elements as well as results.

"We're thrilled to accept this recognition for the work of our team and development partners," said Matt Kupec, Vice President for Development and Marketing at HelpMeSee. "Creative marketing is an invaluable part of our campaign to raise awareness of this global health need."

HelpMeSee's campaigns, done in partnership with RobbinsKerstenDirect, focused on the importance of cataract surgery and the dramatic impact it has on the lives of patients in the developing world. The affordable procedure is considered one of the most cost-effective healthcare interventions.

For additional information read Bill Holton's recent AccessWorld article, Help Me See: The Organization Dedicated to Eliminating Cataract Blindness Globally.

Although I don't recall the first television program I ever listened to using audio description, I do recall the thrill of hearing a narrator describe actions, scenery, and characters in the program as I watched. Being an avid reader, it felt to me almost like I was reading a book and watching a movie at the same time. Back in the late 80s, when I first began enjoying audio-described content, it was a simple matter of flipping a switch on my old television so that I could access the secondary audio program (SAP) channel on my local PBS station. Shortly thereafter, I began purchasing VHS movies and borrowing them from my local NLS lending library.

Over the years, cable and satellite providers have done away with the traditional SAP channel as we knew it back in the good old days. DVDs replaced VHS cassettes, and blind people began to experience the ever-increasing frustration of on-screen menus that were barely accessible or not accessible at all. Audio-described content on television began to increase, as did that of the newest movie releases. The blind community began to explore ways of getting at audio tracks that contained the coveted description. Some titles were released that contained talking menus, but these were few in number. Playing DVDs on the computer helped, as it was often possible to choose the audio description track that way.

In 1997, a new service called Netflix was founded as a subscription-based DVD rental company. In 2007, Netflix made it possible to watch streaming movies and television programs online. It seemed only right that the blind community should be able to enjoy streaming content with audio description made available in an accessible manner. For a while, there were rumors that Netflix was going to make audio description available, but no fruit ever seemed to appear on the tree. Meanwhile, other companies tried to make audio description available for movies and television programs. Most notable of these was a company called Solo DX that sold only the audio description track, which was intended to be synchronized with the movie or television program being watched. Unfortunately, the company ceased production of content fairly soon after it began. In addition to services such as Solo DX, people in the United Kingdom were able to listen to audio-described content online using the BBC iPlayer. When Apple released version 8.0 of its iOS operating system, there was a checkbox in the accessibility settings to "prefer video description." Unfortunately, few people were able to find any content that took advantage of this new setting.

Things reached a tipping point when Netflix announced that it would be releasing a new series called "Marvel's Daredevil." The main character in the show is a blind superhero. Was it possible that Netflix would release a show featuring a blind man without providing audio description of the program to the blind community? Netflix indicated that it would, in fact, provide audio description for the show, but when it was released in April 2015, description was not available. One week later, however, "Daredevil" became the first show available on Netflix that contained an audio-description track. Some claimed that Netflix caved to pressure from the blind community and the mainstream media after "Daredevil" was released without audio description, while others pointed out that one week wasn't enough time to write, record, and release audio description for an entire first series. Netflix must have been working on audio description before the release of the show, but for some reason the inclusion of the extra audio track was not made available initially.

On Twitter, the talk wasn't so much about when Netflix released audio description, but more about how to access this new feature. Apple TV users had almost no trouble at all, since a press and hold of the "Play" button once an episode started playing exposed the audio description option. Along with many others, I was able to access the audio description track on my iPhone by swiping to and double-tapping the Language option once the first episode of the show began to play. At first, many people, myself included, had to log out of Netflix and log back in again before the desired option appeared. Audio description is listed as a separate language along with English, French, Italian, etc., rather than being listed under English as a subtitle like Closed Captioning. After a few days, the process of choosing Audio description became more reliable. I was pleasantly surprised to find that, once I had enabled audio description on my Apple TV and iPhone, I was able to hear that same description on my Mac without having to do anything. Blind Bargains soon published an article on how to enable Netflix's audio description setting on iPhone, Apple TV, and Android devices. Although some PC users claimed to be able to access the desired content from the Web, most found it quite difficult to do. Using the NVDA screen reader, a user must use the physical mouse to locate and then click the appropriate area of the screen in order to enable the desired feature. An article was published on AppleVis describing how to toggle audio description on Netflix using Chrome on the Mac.

Though in the press release announcing the addition of audio description to "Daredevil "Netflix promised more audio-described content on the horizon, some wondered if they would make good on the promise. It didn't take long to find out that the answer to the question was a resounding "Yes!"

At the time of this writing, there are currently 87 programs available with audio description on Netflix including "House of Cards," "Orange Is the New Black," "Family Guy," "I'll Be Home for Christmas," and "Criminal Minds." Many in the blind community, myself included, have regularly posted the addition of new audio-described content from Netflix on Twitter. I was ecstatic when one of my favorite programs, "Criminal Minds," made the list. After I shared the good news with my Twitter followers, I found myself in a lively discussion about the show. I have also engaged in conversation with others about various aspects of "House of Cards" and "Daredevil" as well.

Now that Netflix has broken the ice, will other providers like Amazon bring audio-described content to their services? It is already possible to view some ABC shows on Apple TV with audio description. Perhaps we are seeing the approach of a time when mainstream access to television programs and movies providing audio-described tracks will be no more difficult for people who are blind than accessing traditional content is for people who are sighted.

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It's been more than a decade since I reviewed the first GPS (global positioning system) product designed for users with visual impairments. Walking through an unfamiliar neighborhood and hearing the names of the businesses I passed and the intersections I approached seemed nothing short of miraculous 10 or 15 years ago. Today, however, it's rare to find a person, blind or sighted, who doesn't own at least one way-finding device or tool for mapping directions from one point to another.

Sighted people always had the ability to look around to get their bearings, noting familiar landmarks and reading signs. For people with visual impairments, however, the concept of "looking around" was, and is, somewhat astonishing.

With a reliable GPS with braille or audio output, you can map directions for the friend giving you a lift somewhere, or access more detailed set directions for navigating new turf on foot.

For such navigation tools to work, however, your device of choice, be it a smart phone or specialty device, needs to be able to connect to satellites. You can navigate to the hotel, the doctor's office, or the shopping mall, but once inside, devices often lose contact with satellites. A solution for indoor navigation has been on the wish list of many of us for years.

Dan Roberts, founder and president of MD Support (the MD stands for macular degeneration, the disease that compromised Roberts' own eyesight 20 years ago), built a 1,000-page Internet-based support resource for people who are blind and who have low vision. He noticed that smart, competent people with vision loss would struggle for orientation information in short-term settings like conferences and seminars. Consequently, he began researching to find a solution to the indoor navigation problem.

Indoo.rs

Roberts discovered that a solution for indoor navigation had been developed and installed in train stations and other venues in some European countries. Finding your way around an enormous venue like a cruise ship, a hospital, or an Ikea store is, after all, by no means a challenge unique to blindness. In such large and complicated venues, sighted people struggle with how to find a desired destination or, for that matter, their rooms or an exit.

Indoo.rs, a mainstream way-finding company, is headquartered in Vienna, Austria, with offices in the United States and elsewhere. The company has installed a number of indoor way-finding systems. Its efforts to date, however, have focused on permanent installations that establish an indoor navigation system in a specific facility with the intention of that system being used by many over a long period of time.

On behalf of MD support, Dan Roberts approached Indoo.rs with the idea of developing a "white label" app for iPhone users with visual impairments. His primary challenge was to persuade this company to allow him to take this "technological ball" and run with it in another direction, namely installations of a temporary nature, providing indoor navigation in venues where conferences, seminars, and other special events are held that attract a number of blind and low vision people.

By no means the first attempt at developing an audio indoor navigation system for people who have visual or cognitive disabilities, LowViz Guide, the app eventually developed by Indoo.rs and MD Support, is unique in that it takes advantage of equipment many people already possess: an Apple iPhone or other iOS device.

How LowViz Guide Works

Small iBeacons, about the size of a D-cell battery, are mounted on all points to be identified within an indoor environment. Your iOS device can recognize these iBeacons via Bluetooth.

In a conference hotel, iBeacons may identify the names of meeting rooms, men's and women's rest rooms, coffee stations, ATM machines, the hotel's registration desk, and the like.

In order to identify the points that should carry iBeacons, Dan Roberts downloads a map of the venue, finds the important landmarks in advance, and records a message for each iBeacon.

After installing the LowViz Guide app on your phone, and traveling to a destination where iBeacons have been installed, you can navigate to these points. Every screen of the LowViz app has three tabs at the bottom: Map View, Categories, and Search.

If you select the Search tab, the keypad appears, including the Dictate button as in any other app. You can then type or use dictation to search for, say, "Chicago Room."

If the Chicago Room is one of the landmarks included in the mapping of this particular venue, you will then hear spoken directions, giving you a step-by-step road map for finding your desired location.

As you move toward your desired location, the phone will emit a tone, getting lower in pitch as you move closer to your destination.

Free Installations During the Pilot Phase

Although Dan Roberts says that the cost of an installation is extremely high, MD Support has received generous grants to cover all costs for initial installations. In its pilot phase, MD Support will install LowViz Guide entirely free to conferences and seminars whose organizers request it.

Its first appearance was in Atlanta, Georgia in April 2015, at a disability rights symposium. There were only about 20 people with visual impairments at this particular event, which Roberts says was ideal since the small number enabled him to work with each participant individually.

The results were more than satisfactory. Participants could stand in one location, identify a destination (even on the other side of a wall), and then use the LowViz Guide app to walk there safely and independently.

How to Test Drive the LowViz Guide App

At this writing, MD Support has made commitments to install LowViz Guide at the American Council of the Blind convention to be held in July 2015 in Dallas, Texas, and at the Guide Dogs for the Blind reunion to be held in September 2015, in Portland, Oregon.

To use the app in a venue that has a LowViz Guide installed, participants need to have an iPhone or other iOS device with the free app downloaded.

Any blind person who travels knows well the frustration and time that can go into figuring out the layout of an enormous hotel or other conference venue. The idea that we, as blind people, might now have an opportunity to show sighted participants the way to the exhibits is more than a little exhilarating.

Time and experience will tell how well this new system really works, but kudos are definitely in order to MD Support and Indoo.rs for the effort.

To request LowViz Guide at a conference or seminar for blind and visually impaired participants or to learn more about the project, go to the MD Support website or e-mail Dan Roberts.

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