Dear AccessWorld readers,

That's right, we are listening to your comments on articles, reflecting on your questions about both mainstream and access technology, and hearing your thoughts and opinions on the future of braille and braille technology; video description; conference coverage; television programming access; accessible gaming; frustrating and inaccessible apps and feature phones; employment related articles: interviews; and all the good, the bad, and the ugly with all things Windows, Apple, and Android; and much, much more.

The AccessWorld staff enjoys and, more importantly, very much appreciates hearing from all of you. Quite often a comment or question from a reader turns into an article that, in turn, provides information to the tens of thousands of readers who visit AccessWorld each month. Bill Holton’s April article, AW Asks the Experts: YouTube Accessibility, is such an example.

As you now likely know, AFB has discontinued support for the AccessWorld app. It has moved to a more mobile-friendly website which, we hope, will provide readers with an improved experience. We have heard both positive and negative comments thus far.

I want to make sure readers know that the AccessWorld section of the newly redesigned AFB website remains in transition. While it has transitioned, temporarily, to follow the form of the rest of AFB's website, in the next few months, AccessWorld will have its own unique look, feel, and features. In these coming months, the staff and I will rely increasingly on your feedback to drive design and content decisions we make for AccessWorld. We have received more letters to the editor in the month of April, than in the past three months combined.

My question to each of you is, "How would you like to have AccessWorld’s design and content expand or change?" Please be thinking about this over the coming weeks and give us your feedback. The best way to provide feedback is to send a letter to the editor.

In addition to thoughts for the future, we are also looking for both quantitative and qualitative feedback on current articles. Right now, I encourage you to use the "Comment on this article" link at the very bottom of each article to provide feedback, positive comments, and, yes, constructive criticism, for our team. You can also use that link to ask specific questions about each article. If you prefer, you can also send an e-mail directly to me. When you write in, remember that we may choose to publish your letter in the "Letters to the Editor" section of AccessWorld. The staff and I also believe it is important to know who says what. To that end, both first and last names (when available) are published in the "Letters to the Editor" section. If you do not want your name published, just let us know when you write in and we'll refrain from publishing your comments.

This is your opportunity to have your voice heard, so speak up! The AccessWorld staff is listening!

Sincerely,

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

Bill Holton

If it’s true the eyes are the windows to the soul, then the corneas are the windowpanes. Unfortunately, these tiny disks of transparent tissue are not always clear as glass. Injuries, burns, birth defects, and diseases can cause corneas to turn opaque or damage them beyond repair.

Injuries and diseases affecting the cornea are a major cause of blindness worldwide, second only to cataracts. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 2 million new cases are reported each year. Over 50 million people in the world are blind in one or both eyes from corneal damage.

In this article I will describe two recent breakthroughs that could lead to significant improvements in the treatment of corneal injuries, defects, and disease.

Clearing Things Up

First let's take a quick anatomy lesson.

The cornea consists of several different layers, including the outermost epithelium, an underlying stroma, and the innermost endothelium. Briefly, the epithelium is a watertight barrier that protects the eye from the outside environment, whereas the stroma provides structural support and gives the cornea its curved shape. The endothelium, serves as a mediator to the passage of water and nutrients between the corneal stroma and the intraocular fluid.

So how does the healthy cornea remain transparent?

The cornea is one of two tissue types in the body that do not depend on tissue-clouding blood and vessels to supply nourishment (cartilage is the other). On the contrary, the cornea actually inhibits the growth of blood vessels because, according to recent research, of the presence of large amounts of the protein VEGFR-3 (vascular endothelial growth factor receptor-3) on the epithelial layer of normal, healthy corneas.

VEGFR-3 halts angiogenesis (blood vessel growth) by acting as a "sink" to bind or neutralize the growth factors sent by the body to stimulate the production of new vessels. This also happens in the retina, and it’s the breakdown of these processes that leads to the unchecked vessel growth associated with diabetic retinopathy, AMD, and other sight-destroying conditions.

Corneal cells, like most other cells in the body, need to be replenished and replaced. In the corneal epithelium, this turnover is a fundamental process made necessary due to the constant loss of cells caused by normal eye movement and blinking. The generation of new epithelial cells depends on the slow and constant proliferation of corneal epithelial stem cells, a self-renewing, immature cell type unique to this tissue.

Because corneal stem cells cannot be carried where they are needed by blood vessels, the cornea instead holds a reservoir of these immature cells in a well-defined region near the outer edges of the cornea known as the limbal stem cell niche. From there, the stem cells can migrate and mature into differentiated epithelial cells, and thus keep this layer of the cornea intact.

When the cornea is scratched, burned or otherwise injured this same process takes place on an accelerated scale. Unless, of course, the injury is so severe the stem cells never get the chance to create and replace the damaged tissue. This is why some serious corneal injuries simply will not heal and also may contribute to the failure of some corneal transplants.

Repairing the Damage

In these cases have these corneal stem cells actually been destroyed? “Not necessarily,” says Dr. Ricardo Gouveia, New Harvest Research Fellow and postdoctoral scientist at Newcastle University in the UK. Using living corneal tissue Gouveia and associates simulated the injuries caused by acid attacks and other chemical damage. “The stem cells in the niche did not always die. Instead, the cells differentiated in place, which is to say they changed into mature epithelial cells and lost their ability to proliferate before they could help heal the damage.”

Studying the effect even closer, Gouveia discovered what he believes is the cause of this early differentiation. “Normally, the tissue underlying stem cells in the limbus is considerably softer and more flexible than the tissue in the center of the cornea,” he describes. “We discovered that, when burned, the limbus becomes significantly stiffer, and this stiffening actually prompts the stem cell differentiation.”

Unwanted stiffening is common with ageing and also occurs in other tissue damage, such as fibrotic scarring after surgery, and contractures: a tightening or shortening of muscles that leads to joint pain and stiffness. Contractures can be treated with an enzyme formulation called collagenase, which cleaves connective tissue and makes it more elastic. Using small, localized doses of collagenase to restore the limbus tissue, the researchers made the burned areas of the cornea more pliable and able to support stem cells in their undifferentiated, proliferative state and once again promote healing.

“This is an exciting development in the field of corneal biology, and allows us to better understand how the eye works,” says Gouveia. “Even more importantly, it provides us with a new set of strategies to treat eye conditions which were until now inoperable. We show that the topical application of collagenase is safe and effective in restoring the normal softness of the limbus and enhances tissue regeneration by preventing the premature differentiation and loss of adult stem cells after such injuries.”

The collagenase would need to be administered in acute cases, because it only takes a few days for the stem cells to change in response to the stiffening of their niche. However this new knowledge may also help in the transplantation of stem cells from the still healthy eye, or even increase the success rate for donor corneal transplants.

New Hope for Corneal Melting

One of the lesser-discussed complications of rheumatoid arthritis is the possible development of necrotising keratitis, also known as corneal melting. The condition begins with corneal ulceration, but can lead to corneal perforation, even sight loss. Lupus and Stevens-Johnson syndrome can also lead to corneal melting, as can sterile infections of the eye, chemical burns, and even cataract removal or LASIK surgery.

“Basically, corneal melting is caused by a variety of hyperactive immune system responses,” says Kyung Jae Jeong, Assistant Professor at the College of Engineering and Physical Sciences at the University of New Hampshire. The disease occurs due to the uncontrolled production of certain zinc-dependent enzymes called matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs). These enzymes are found throughout the body, and are responsible for degrading and remodeling extracellular matrices, which offer structure and biochemical assistance to various cell types. When a hyperactive immune response is triggered, the production of these epithelial-destroying enzymes can grow out of control. They can destroy cell structure faster than it can be replaced, leading to ulceration, perforation, and, eventually, vision loss.

Normally, the body inhibits the over production of MMPs with natural protease inhibitors. Manmade inhibitors generally contain a chelating group that binds to the zinc ions, making this essential part of the enzyme from participating in the runaway MMP production.

“Most of the current MMP inhibitors used to treat corneal melting work by binding to the zinc ions within the MMPs," says Jeong. "However, once injected into the body, the MMP inhibitors travel through the blood stream into the entire body and can cause severe side effects because they are binding with and deactivating the zinc ions in other body tissue as well as the cornea."

Jeong and his research associate, Jung-Jae Lee, Assistant Professor of Chemistry at the University of Colorado, Denver, believe they have found a better way to deactivate the MMPs.

Instead of a protease inhibitor they use a molecule called dipicolylamine (DPA), which binds to zinc ions, steals them from the MMPs, and deactivates them.

The delivery method is also different. Instead of a pill or injection, the DPA can be built-into a hydrogel lens. Hydrogels are special water-permeable polymers that can hold up to 90 percent water. Extended wear contact lenses are made from hydrogels.

“Wearing a contact lens itself is known to be beneficial to corneal melting patients,” says Jeong. “The added benefit of incorporating DPA within the hydrogel is that this molecule will not be released into our body. Therefore, the therapeutic effect can be localized, and if the patient happens to have any side effects because of this contact lens, they can simply remove it.”

To date, DPA-infused hydrogels have only been tested on animal tissue, where the results demonstrated significant delay in corneal melting. As to the post-lab future of this potential breakthrough, the University of New Hampshire has a pending patent and will be placing the research in UNHInnovation, where outside companies can license the research and hopefully develop it into commercially available treatments and products.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

Comment on this article.

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Deborah Kendrick

Chances are you have heard the story of Roselle, the amazing Labrador retriever guide dog, who on September 11, 2001, patiently guided her blind handler down 78 flights of stairs to life and safety, away from the crumbling World Trade Center. That handler, Michael Hingson, has told the story many times—at conventions and conferences, churches and Kiwanis clubs, and all audiences have found the story compelling. The story was also told in the book, Thunder Dog, written by Susy Flory. The story is, as Hingson says, evergreen. Again and again, it inspires audiences with the example of partnership and faith that it represents. But the story can be celebrated for yet another reason by those of us who read or write for AccessWorld. The man, Michael Hingson, who descended those 78 flights to life and safety with his beloved guide dog, Roselle, was totally blind and fully employed. In his role at the time as regional sales manager, he was among the 30 percent of all blind people who are gainfully employed. That Tuesday morning was a routine work morning for Michael Hingson, who was preparing for a sales presentation in his office at the World Trade Center. As regional sales manager and head of operations for the New York office of Quantum/ATL, the Fortune 500 company that had relocated him from the west coast to New York City, Hingson was about to print the list of expected guests for that morning's sales seminar when the North Tower abruptly tilted southwest. The rest of that spellbinding story can be read elsewhere. (The book Thunder Dog is available on NLS BARD and Bookshare in accessible formats.) The subject of this article is Michael Hingson’s history of employment and the expertise he can share with other people who have visual impairments who wish to become or remain employed.

Early Years

When Michael Hingson was four months old, his parents learned that he was completely blind. The cause was retrolental fibroplasia (today known as retinopathy of prematurity), resulting from excess oxygen administered to babies born prematurely. His blindness was irreversible, and in 1950 Chicago, a doctor's advice was that the Hingsons find an institution to house their son. His parents dismissed that advice and, he says, never exposed him to the brand of negativity it represented. The attitudes they conveyed were always ones of positive assumptions that he could do anything he put his energy and intellect into doing.

In Chicago, he went to kindergarten where there was a resource classroom for blind children and began to learn braille. When his father's job relocated the family from Chicago to Palmdale, California, however, Michael was required to repeat kindergarten, this time as the only blind child in his class. His learning was completely aural until, at age nine, he was again introduced to braille and learned to read and write.

As the kid who was blind and needed teachers and other students to read texts or tests to him, Hingson says he knew his blindness made him somewhat different, but never felt that it made him in any way inferior. His parents expected him to do the same things his older brother did — albeit with sometimes different techniques.

Michael and his brother were rewarded for A's in school, and when either one of them could recite the multiplication tables from 1 times 1 to 12 times 12 without error, their dad would give them 50 cents. You might say that demonstrating that math and memory ability and being paid for it was his very first job!

Imagining a Career

Hingson reflects today that, if he thought about his future as a teenager, he probably expected that he would teach. He loved science, so teaching it seemed an obvious enough path for him. In his freshman year of high school, a teacher noticed that he was bored and had him placed in a physics class for seniors, where he thrived. Although he did not have traditional training with a white cane as a child, he could get around his neighborhood well enough on foot and on his bike, and at age 14, he was accepted for training at Guide Dogs for the Blind in San Rafael. He has traveled with guide dogs from GDB ever since, including Roselle, the one who guided him down all those stairs in 2001, and Alimo, his current guide who he received one year ago.

While earning his bachelor's and master's degrees in physics from the University of California at Irvine, he discovered the National Federation of the Blind and became involved with advocacy for blind people. Through that connection, he was hired for his first official job — training others to use the then brand-new Kurzweil Reading Machine.

When Ray Kurzweil introduced that first reading machine—similar in size to a dishwasher or small washing machine of today and selling for over $50,000—a partnership was immediately formed to promote this groundbreaking technology. Michael Hingson was one of many individuals hired to train others on using the product. When it became clear that too many people had been hired, several were let go. In Hingson's case, the choice was either lose the job altogether or move over into Kurzweil sales. He chose the latter and, as he puts it, he has been selling ever since. He took the Dale Carnegie 10-week course and picked up some valuable life skills for becoming more persuasive, and then just followed the career path that felt natural to him.

Teaching, Selling, and Philosophy

Hingson worked in Kurzweil sales for six years. After that, he had jobs selling computer-related products — in some instances, products that he personally could never use due to accessibility issues, yet he was successful in selling them to sighted customers, and teaching those customers to use them.

"Selling is actually a form of teaching," he believes, adding that a salesperson good at his or her job will never advise a customer to buy a product that does not fit their needs. As blind people, he believes, we have to sell ourselves constantly in order to survive.

To illustrate the point, he cites an example of a cover letter that landed him a job in 1989. In those days, his wife often read job listings to him from the newspaper, and together they had identified one that seemed a perfect fit. As he worked to craft the best possible cover letter to accompany his resume, the ever-present dilemma of whether or not to disclose his blindness loomed.

Advice from his wife pointed him in a direction that he has maintained ever since. He had learned in the Carnegie course the value of turning one’s liabilities into assets. Blindness is perceived by many as a serious liability. Michael Hingson decided to take another approach. In the last two paragraphs of his job-seeking letter, he wrote that he happened to be blind. He went on to say, however, that his blindness had, by necessity, fostered sales skills all his life. “I told them that, as a blind person, I had to sell every day to go into a store, buy a house, get on an airplane," he recounts. He got the job.

“I strongly believe that that same approach could work for any blind person getting a job today,” he says.

After September 11

Not long after his harrowing escape from the World Trade Center along with his heroic dog, Hingson moved back to California and went to work for Guide Dogs for the Blind, speaking and fundraising all over the country as the school’s director of public affairs. In 2008, he launched the Michael Hingson Group, his own company, through which he arranged speaking engagements, presentations, and co-authored the book Thunder Dog with Susy Flory.

In 2015, when a new service called AIRA was just getting off the ground, Hingson was invited to join the company’s advisory board. One test of the AIRA glasses with an agent directing him through an airport, and he was hooked. Before long, he was working for the company, selling and demonstrating the power of this new technology to blind people throughout the US and beyond. Recently he shifted into a new role, as CEO for AIRA’s newly formed Do More Foundation.

The focus of the foundation is to raise funds that will lead to free availability of AIRA in cities. Hingson’s own hope is that through the efforts of Do More, the power of AIRA will eventually be available to blind students everywhere.

Paying It Forward: Essential Tools for Blind People

For nearly five decades, Michael Hingson, totally blind since birth, has worked full-time in a variety of professional capacities. At its core, his work has always centered on sales, but he has sold computer parts, computer services, access technology, the value of various specific nonprofits and, most importantly, the belief that blindness need not stand in the way of achieving one’s dreams.

Asked to offer three essential tools blind people should acquire in order to be successful, he responded without hesitation.

Braille

“First,” he said, “it is important to learn to read and write braille. If you lose sight as an older person, you may not ever become fluent, but braille can make such a huge difference in efficiency and confidence, even if it is only used for labeling items or making brief notes.”

White Cane

His second essential tool would be the use of the white cane. “You can learn it in five minutes,” he says, but the confidence required to use it and travel with ease is going to take a bit longer.”

Believing in Blind People

The third essential tool he lists is more complex. It might be summed up as believing in blindness and blind people.

“You need to meet other blind people who are successful,” he says, “and read as much literature written by blind people as you can.” He recommends going to conferences and conventions of blind people, and visiting the offices of consumer organizations.

“If you are blind,” Hingson says, “you need always to know that you have a choice. You have a choice to live a full and independent life, but you have to make that choice for yourself.” He cites as examples Chris Downey, the California architect who lost his sight as an adult, and recognized almost immediately that he could choose to continue to live a full life, continue to be an architect, or not. Another example he cites is Christine Ha, who became blind at 17 and went on to earn national recognition as the first blind contestant and subsequent winner of MasterChef in its 2012 season.

“Both of these people lost their sight as adults, and they both realized quickly that blindness does not make us inferior,” he says. “We need to believe in ourselves in order to persuade others that we are competent, equal, and can do the job.”

As he said in that powerfully successful cover letter in 1989, we have to sell ourselves as blind people. The formula has worked well for Hingson, and he passionately believes it can work for you, too.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Bill Holton

There is a new player in the optical character recognition (OCR) space, and it comes from an old friend: Winston Chen, the developer of Voice Dream Reader and Voice Dream Writer, both of which we’ve reviewed in past issues of AccessWorld. In this article we’ll start out with a brief conversation with Chen. Then we’ll take a look at the developer’s latest offering: Voice Dream Scanner. Spoiler alert—it will probably be the best $5.99 you’ll ever spend on a text recognition app!

AccessWorld readers who use their phones to audibly read e-Pub books, PDFs or Bookshare titles are likely already familiar with Voice Dream Reader. It works so well with VoiceOver and TalkBack, it’s hard to believe it wasn’t developed specifically for the access market. But according to Chen, “I just wanted to build a pocket reader I could use to store all my books and files so I could listen to them on the go. No one was more surprised than me when I began receiving feedback from dyslexic and blind users describing how helpful Voice Dream Reader was for their needs and making some simple suggestions to improve the app’s accessibility.”

Chen’s second offering, Voice Dream Writer, was also directed at the mainstream market. “Sometimes it’s easier to proofread your document by listening to it instead of simply rereading the text,” says Chen. At the time, Apple’s VoiceOver cut and paste features and other block text manipulation capabilities were,shall we say, not quite what they are today? The innovative way Chen handled these functions made Voice Dream Writer equally useful to users with visual impairments.

Reinventing the OCR Engine

“I’ve been wanting to add OCR to Voice Dream Reader for a few years now,” says Chen. “It would be useful for reading protected PDF’s and handouts and memos from school and work.”

The hurdle Chen kept encountering was finding a useable OCR engine. “There are some free, open source engines, but they don’t work well enough for my purposes,” he says. “The ones that do work well are quite expensive, either as a one-time license purchase with each app sold or with ongoing pay-by-the-use options. Either of these would have raised the price I have to charge too much for my value proposition.”

Last year, however, Chen began experimenting with Apple’s artificial intelligence (AI), called Vision Framework, that’s built into the latest iOS versions, along with Google’s Tesseract, TensorFlow Lite, and ML Kit.

“Instead of using a single standard OCR engine, I combined the best aspects of each of these freely available tools, and I was pleasantly surprised by the results.”

Instead of making OCR a Voice Dream Reader feature, Chen decided to incorporate his discovery into a separate app called Voice Dream Scanner. “I considered turning it into an in-app purchase, only there are a lot of schools that use Reader and they aren’t allowed to make in-app purchases,” he says. As to why he didn’t simply make it a new Reader feature, he smiles, “I do have a family to feed.”

Chen has been careful to integrate the new Voice Dream Scanner functionality into VD Reader, however. For example, if you load a protected PDF file into the app and open it, the Documents tab now offers a recognition feature. You can now also add to your Voice Dream Reader Library not only from Dropbox, Google Drive, and other sources, including Bookshare, but using your device’s camera as well.

To take advantage of this integration you’ll need both Voice Dream Reader and Voice Dream Scanner. Both can be purchased from the iOS App Store. VD Reader is also available for Android, but currently VD Scanner is iOS only.

Of course you don’t have to have VD Reader to enjoy the benefits of the new Voice Dream Scanner.

A Voice Dream Scanner Snapshot

The app installs quickly and easily, and displays with the icon name “Scanner” on your iOS device. Aim the camera toward a page of text. The app displays a real-time video image preview which is also the “Capture Image” button. Double tap this button, the camera clicks, and the image is converted to text almost immediately. You are placed on the “Play” button, give a quick double tap and the text is spoken using either a purchased VD Reader voice or your chosen iOS voice. Note: You can instruct Scanner to speak recognized text automatically in the Settings Menu.

From the very first beta version of this app I tested, I was amazed by the speed and accuracy of the recognition. The app is amazingly forgiving as far as camera position and lighting. Envelopes read the return addresses, postmarks and addresses. Entire pages of text voiced without a single mistake. Scanner even did an excellent job with a bag of potato chips, even after it was crumpled and uncrumpled several times. Despite the fact there is no OCR engine to download, and the recognition is done locally, a network connection is not required. I used the app with equal success even with Airplane mode turned on.

After each scan you are offered the choice to swipe left once to reach the Discard button, twice to reach the Save button. Note: the VoiceOver two-finger scrub gesture also deletes the current text.

Scanner does not save your work automatically. You have the choice to save it as a text file, a PDF, or to send it directly to Voice Dream Reader. You probably wouldn’t send a single page to Reader, but the app comes with a batch mode. Use this mode to scan several pages at once and then save them together: perfect for that 10-page print report your boss dropped on your desk, or maybe the short story a creative writing classmate passed out for review.

Other Scanner features of interest to those with visual impairments are edge detection and a beta version of auto capture.

Edge detection plays a tone that grows increasingly steady until all four edges are visible, at which time it becomes a solid tone. Auto-capture does just that, but since the AI currently detects any number of squares where there is no text this feature is only available in beta. However, if you're using a scanner stand it will move along quite nicely, nearly as fast as you can rearrange the pages.

You can also import an image to be recognized. Unfortunately, as of now, this feature is limited to pictures in your photo library. There is currently no way to send an e-mail or file image to Scanner. Look for this to change in an upcoming version.

The benefits of Voice Dream Scanner are by no means limited to the blindness community. Chen developed the app to be used as a pocket player for documents and other printed material he wishes to scan and keep. Low vision users can do the same, then use either iOS magnification or another text-magnification app to review documents. It doesn’t matter in which direction the material is scanned. Even upside-down documents are saved right-side up. Performance is improved by the “Image Enhancement” feature, which attempts to locate the edges of scanned documents and save them more or less as pages.

The Bottom Line

I never thought I’d see the day when I would move KNFB-Reader off my iPhone’s Home screen. Microsoft’s Seeing AI gave it a good run for its money and until now I kept them both on my Home screen. But I have now moved KNFB-Reader to a back screen and given that honored spot to Voice Dream Scanner.

Most of my phone scanning is done when I sort through the mail. Seeing AI’s “Short Text” feature does a decent job helping me sort out which envelopes to keep and which to toss into my hardware recycle bin. But Scanner is just as accurate as any OCR-engine based app, and so quick, the confirmation announcement of the Play button often voices after the scanned document has begun to read.

This is the initial release. Chen himself says there is still work to be done. “Column recognition is not yet what I hope it will be,” he says. “I’d also like to improve auto-capture and maybe offer users the choice to use the volume buttons to initiate a scan.

Stay tuned.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

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Janet Ingber

In the April 2019 issue of AccessWorld, I reviewed the iOS apps for Indeed.com and Monster.com. Although neither app was completely accessible, Indeed was significantly better.

For this article, I reviewed the CareerBuilder and SimplyHired iOS apps. As with the previous job-searching article, an iPhone X was used for these evaluations.

CareerBuilder Job Search

The CareerBuilder app is free to download and Requires iOS 10.0 or later. The app is Available for iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch.

The first line of the CareerBuilder Job Search entry in the iOS app Store states, “Your job hunt just got easier with CareerBuilder’s Job Search app: Search and apply for the most up-to-date job postings. Use augmented reality to literally see job postings all around you. All at your fingertips.”

Getting Help

CareerBuilder does not offer live help. There is a "Contact Customer Service" link in the introductory email that you will receive once you sign up. This link brings you to their online Help Center. Along with a list of help topics, there is an accessible email form. In my opinion, it is misleading to call it customer service if there is no live help via phone or chat.

Getting Started

Once the CareerBuilder app is downloaded, it will be called “Job Search” on your phone not "CareerBuilder. When you first open it, it will ask you whether CareerBuilder can send you notifications and whether it can use your location. On the next screen are edit boxes for entering information. The first edit box is labeled Job Title, Skills, or Military Occupational Code. The next box is for entering your city, state, or zip code. The next box is a button labeled “Begin your search.”

Beneath this button is a heading to find jobs near you. Then there are instructions to “Tap the map to view jobs near your current location,” but the map is an unlabeled graphic. Beneath the map is an option to view job categories including Jobs Near Me and Work From Home. These jobs are not necessarily related to the job you typed in the edit box.

The Jobs Tab

At the bottom of the next screen are four tabs: Jobs, Résumés, Profile, and Settings. By default, the Jobs tab is selected. The form described above is repeated in the Jobs tab.

The Profile Tab

If you want to post your résumé or apply for a job through the CareerBuilder app, you must first sign up and get an account.

Go to the Profile tab and activate the Sign In button. You will be taken to what looks like a webpage, but is actually within the app. You can sign up with Google or Facebook or create an account.

I chose to create a new account. Whether you sign in with Google or Facebook or create a new account, you will need to enter a job title, commute distance, and salary. Pickers are used to indicate commuting distance and salary.

You can edit your profile at any time, though there is no edit button on the Profile screen. Double tap on the Job title edit box and you will then be able to make changes to any of the profile answers including job title and salary.

Once I signed up, I started receiving emails from CareerBuilder that listed available jobs. As with Indeed and Monster, most of the jobs were not in my field or licensed area. I got many for speech therapist and occupational therapist though I was looking for a position as a music therapist. CareerBuilder did send me a general email about how to improve résumés. This email contained many article links. I read several articles and they were accessible in Safari. The articles contained a great deal of information that is especially useful for a beginner.

The Résumés Tab

Having your résumé with any job search site will help you get recommendations. Be aware that not all recommendations are relevant. As I stated in the previous article, in addition to writing for AccessWorld, I am a board certified music therapist and New York State licensed creative arts therapist. I did get job results for occupational therapists, massage therapists, and physical therapists.

Go to the Résumés tab. CareerBuilder lets you post up to three résumés. Begin by activating the Add button from within the Résumés tab. There will be options to upload, build, or capture a résumé.

If you already have a résumé on your device, you can upload it. I put mine in iCloud Drive for quick access. The Building a Résumé option requires you to fill out a form with the necessary information including contact information and work experience. Capture a Résumé lets you take a photo of a print résumé and then upload it. Personally, I recommend writing the résumé on your device and then uploading it. This is easier than filling out forms. You will need to select the box to make your résumé public so employers can view it.

Settings

Within this tab you can manage app settings including modifying notification and location settings and profile contact information. You can also leave feedback and rate the app.

Searching for Jobs

To search for jobs, go to the Jobs tab. The same form that was on the app’s main screen is the main screen in the Jobs tab. Your selected job title and location should appear in the form’s edit boxes. You can change this information if you wish. I changed my information to Activities Therapist because I was not getting many results with my original job title. Activate the Begin Your Search button.

A new screen loads with results. At the top of the screen is the number of results matching your criteria. The only way to review results is by flicking through them. At the top right of the screen is a Filter button. Activating this button brings up a list of sorting options including by relevance, date posted, and distance.

Each result contains the job title, company, location, hours, and when the job was posted. Beneath the result are options to save or share it. Selecting a result loads a new screen with specific information about the job, including agency information, job duties, and experience and education requirements. At the top of the listing are the same options to save and share.

Beneath the listing is a "Similar Jobs" heading. In my case, the similar jobs were not related to my qualifications. At the bottom of the screen is an Apply Now button.

When you save or apply to a job, more information will appear in the Jobs tab under the heading “Your Jobs And Activity.” The only way to get to the heading is to flick right. Underneath the heading are several options: Recommended Jobs, Applied Jobs, Saved Jobs, and Recent Searches. Double tapping on any of these options will load a new screen with your information.

Conclusion

As with Indeed and Monster, there is no way to get live help. There is an email form and a “Help Center." Though CareerBuilder’s app is uncluttered, unfortunately, the only way to navigate most of it is by flicking. If you have headings set up in the VoiceOver Rotor, this option will appear on many screens but does not work.

I found only two results using my search criteria. I found many results that didn't match my criteria, including many for jobs that I am not licensed to perform.

SimplyHired

Job Search - SimplyHired is available for free and requires iOS 9.0 or later. The app is compatible with iPhone, iPad and iPod touch.

The first lines in SimplyHired’s app store entry are: “Find your dream job on SimplyHired’s top-rated job and career search app for your iPhone or iPad. You can job search within a network of 100+ boards all in one convenient place.”

Getting Help

SimplyHired has a Contact Us link on their website. This link brings you to a form for asking a question. They do not have any kind of knowledge base or live help.

Getting Started

Once the app is downloaded to your device, VoiceOver says “SimplyHired,” when the app is selected. You are never asked to allow SimplyHired to use your location or send notifications. When launching the app, you are immediately placed on the app’s home screen.

There is a search form on the screen consisting of two edit boxes and a Search Jobs button. The easiest way to navigate it is to set the VoiceOver Rotor to Forms. The first edit box is for entering a job title, skills, or company. The second edit box is for your location. My location was already in that edit box. The Back button for getting back to a previous screen is on the bottom left.

In the upper left corner of the screen is a button labeled, “Button Collapsed, double tap to expand.” Unfortunately, the only way to tell if anything happened with the button is to review the screen by flicking and using form controls. The button does not say whether it has been expanded. Sometimes you may need to double-tap the button several times to activate it.

Back on the Home screen, underneath the search form is an option to create a résumé. I activated the Create Résumé link, and nothing happened.

I went back to the button in the upper left corner and activated it. Using forms Rotor navigation, I located a search form at the top of the page. It was similar to the first form except the first edit box asked for keywords and the button for executing the search was labeled Search. Flicking right from the end of the search form is a link for Job Tools. It cannot be found using the link option in the VoiceOver Rotor. Activating this link brings up two options: Local Jobs and Salary Estimator. Activating the Local Jobs link brings up a list of jobs in your area. They are not career specific. There is a Sort and Filter button at the top of the screen where you can choose options such as full time, part time, or commission.

The Salary Estimator link loads a new screen that has a form where you can enter a job title and location and then review the salary information for people in the area with the same job. SimplyHired gave me some results not directly related to my criteria. Below the search form was a Salary Search option. With this search option, activate the link for the minimum salary you want and a list of any job will appear.

Below the Job Tools link is a link to Stay Connected. The only way to get to it is by flicking. Once the link is activated, the next screen has options to view SimplyHired’s blog and to follow the company on social media including Facebook and Twitter. The Back button in the lower left is dimmed. Get out of this page by activating the New Search button in the lower right of the screen. This will bring you back to the app’s home screen. I activated the button in the upper left to go back to the page with the Stay Connected link. After numerous unsuccessful attempts to go, I closed and then reopened the app. This did not solve my problem. Then I took the app out of the app switcher and reopened the app, which worked.

Below the Stay Connected link is a link to Sign In. Activating this link brought me back to the main screen. I could not find anything about signing in or creating an account. With sighted assistance, I learned that there was information about signing in or creating an account on the screen; it was unreadable by VoiceOver. This makes the app unusable, but there is a work around described below. You will have an opportunity to create an account and add a résumé if you choose to apply for a job.

Checking Jobs

It is possible to view jobs without creating an account or submitting a résumé. Enter your search criteria on the main screen or on the second screen’s search form. A new screen will load with jobs. Selecting a result brings up a job listing that includes job qualifications and a description of the employer. Some listings want you to fax a résumé, while many let you apply through the app. Your job title search will then appear on the home screen once you have executed the search.

I decided to apply for a job and was then brought to a page where I could build a résumé or sign in. I signed in with my email address and was told that my résumé was already associated with an Indeed account. I did many job checks and each time I learned that the job was listed on Indeed. I did several different job title searches including special education teacher and music therapist.

Conclusion

This app's accessibility issues make it a poor choice for job searching. Its difficult navigation, nonfunctional controls, and inaccessibility with VoiceOver make it unacceptable. It is much easier to use Indeed.

The Bottom Line

None of the four apps I reviewed—Indeed, Monster, CareerBuilder, and SimplyHired— offers live help. When I apply for a job, I want to get my application in as soon as possible. I don’t want to wait for someone to email me days or weeks later or not at all.

Each app had some navigation and accessibility issues. Indeed had the fewest and CareerBuilder came in second. Monster had many issues and SimplyHired had the most. All of these apps should be completely accessible, but aren’t. This is not acceptable.

My recommendation is to use Indeed. Of the four apps tested, it definitely worked the best with VoiceOver. Also, Indeed emailed me possible job offerings. My second choice is CareerBuilder. Although it had some issues, it is the next-best option. CareerBuilder sent me some job offerings, but not as many as Indeed. Those two apps have a wide range of job listings and are the most accessible using VoiceOver.

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

Comment on this article.

Related articles:

• Job Hunting with Your iOS Device: A Review of the Indeed and Monster Job Search Apps by Janet Ingber
• 2018 AccessWorld Employment Resources for People with Visual Impairments by Aaron Preece

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Jamie Pauls

I remember getting my first computer back in the early 90s almost like it was yesterday. A friend of mine was receiving regular treatments from a massage therapist who happened to be blind. My friend mentioned that this gentleman used a computer with a screen reader. I was vaguely aware that this technology existed, but I never really considered using a computer myself until that first conversation I had with my friend. I began doing some research, and eventually purchased my first computer with a screen reader and one program included. I'm sure there were a few other programs on that computer, but WordPerfect is the only one I recall today. The vendor from whom I purchased the computer came to my home, helped me get the computer up and running, and gave me about a half-hour of training on how to use the thing. A few books from what is now Learning Ally as well as the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped along with some really late nights were what truly started me on my journey. I sought guidance from a few sighted friends who were more than willing to help, but didn't have any knowledge about assistive technology. There were times when I thought I had wasted a lot of money and time, but I eventually grew to truly enjoy using my computer.

I eventually became aware of a whole community of blind people who used assistive technology. They all had their preferred screen reader, and most people used only one. Screen readers cost a lot of money and hardware-based speech synthesizers increased the cost of owning assistive tech. Unless the user was willing to learn how to write configuration files that made their screen reader work with specific programs they wanted or needed to use, it was important to find out what computer software worked best with one's chosen screen reader. I eventually outgrew that first screen reader, and spent money to switch to others as I learned about them. I have no idea how much money I spent on technology in those early years, and that is probably for the best!

Fast forward 25 years or so, and the landscape is totally different. I have a primary desktop PC and a couple laptop computers all running Windows 10. I have one paid screen reader—JAWS for Windows from Vispero—and I use two free screen-reading solutions—NVDA, from NVAccess and Microsoft's built-in screen reader called Narrator.

I also have a MacBook Pro running the latest version of Apple's Mac operating system that comes with the free VoiceOver screen reader built in. I have access to my wife's iPad if I need to use it, and I own an iPhone 8 Plus. These devices also run VoiceOver. Finally, I own a BrailleNote Touch Plus, HumanWare's Android-based notetaker designed especially for the blind.

Gone are the days when I must limit myself to only one screen reader and one program to get a task accomplished. If a website isn't behaving well using JAWS and Google's Chrome browser, I might try the same site using the Firefox browser. If I don't like the way JAWS is presenting text to me on that website, maybe I'll switch to NVDA. If the desktop version of a website is too cluttered for my liking, I'll often try the mobile version using either Safari on my iPhone, or Chrome on my BrailleNote Touch.

The lines between desktop application and Internet site have blurred to the point that I honestly don't think about it much anymore. It is often possible to use either a computer or a mobile device to conduct banking and purchase goods.

So what makes all this added flexibility and increased choice possible, anyway? In many cases, the actual hardware in use is less expensive than it used to be, although admittedly products such as the BrailleNote Touch are still on the high end of the price spectrum. Along with the availability of more screen readers and magnification solutions than ever before, the cost of most of these solutions has come down greatly. Even companies like Vispero that still sell a screen reader that can cost over a thousand dollars if purchased outright are now offering software-as-a-service options that allow you to pay a yearly fee that provides the latest version of their software complete with updates for as long as you keep your subscription active.

While some may not consider free options such as NVDA or Narrator to be as powerful and flexible as JAWS, they will be perfectly adequate for other people who aren't using a computer on the job complete with specialized software that requires customized screen reader applications to make it work properly. There are those who will rightly point out that free isn't really free. You are in fact purchasing the screen reader when you buy a new computer as is the case with VoiceOver on the Mac. While this may be true, the shock to the pocketbook may not be as noticeable as it would be if you had to plunk down another thousand bucks or so for assistive technology after you had just purchased a new computer.

In addition to the advancements in screen reading technology along with the reduced cost of these products, app and website developers are becoming increasingly educated about the needs of the blind community. I once spoke with a game developer who told me that he played one of his games using VoiceOver on the iPhone for six weeks so he could really get a feel for how the game behaved when played by a blind person. Rather than throwing up their hands in frustration and venting on social media about how sighted developers don't care about the needs of blind people, many in the blind community are respectfully reaching out to developers, educating them about the needs of those who use assistive technology, and giving them well-deserved recognition on social media when they produce a product that is usable by blind and sighted people alike. Also, companies like Microsoft and Apple work to ensure that their screen readers work with the company's own including Safari and Microsoft Edge. Google and Amazon continue to make strides in the area of accessibility as well. Better design and standards make it more likely that multiple screen readers will work well in an increasing number of online and offline scenarios.

You may be someone who is currently comfortable using only one screen reader with one web browser and just a few recommended programs on your computer. You may be thinking that everything you have just read in this article sounds great, but you may be wondering how to actually apply any of it in your life. First, I would say that if you are happy with your current technology then don't feel intimidated by someone else who uses other solutions. That said, I would urge you to keep your screen reading technology up to date as far as is possible. Also, make sure that you are using an Internet browser that is fully supported by the websites you frequently visit. This will ensure that your experience is as fulfilling as it should be. For example, though Microsoft Internet Explorer has been a recommended browser for many years for those using screen access technology due to its accessibility, it is no longer receiving feature updates from Microsoft, and therefore many modern websites will not display properly when viewed using it.

If you think you would like to try new applications and possibly different assistive technology solutions but you don't know where to start, keep reading.

Back when I first started using a computer, I knew of very few resources to which I could turn in order to gain skills in using assistive technology. Today, there are many ebooks, tutorials, webinars, podcasts, and even paid individual training services available for anyone who wishes to expand their knowledge of computers and the like. One excellent resource that has been referenced many times in past issues of AccessWorld is Mystic Access, where you can obtain almost every kind of training mentioned in the previous sentences. Another resource you may recognize is the National Braille Press, which has published many books that provide guidance on using various types of technology. Books from National Braille Press can generally be purchased in both braille or in electronic formats.

There are also many online communities of people with vision loss who use a specific technology. Two of the most well known are AppleVis for users of iOS devices and the Eyes-Free Google Group for users of the Android platform. Both communities are places where new and long time users of these platforms can go to find assistance getting started with the technology or for help troubleshooting issues they may encounter.

While I vividly recall my first experiences as a novice computer user, it is almost impossible for me to imagine actually going back to those days. Today, the landscape is rich and the possibilities are endless for anyone who wishes to join their sighted counterparts in using today's technology. While there are still many hurdles to jump, I am confident that things will only continue to improve as we move forward.

So fear not, intrepid adventurer. Let's explore this exciting world together. In the meantime, happy computing!

This article is made possible in part by generous funding from the James H. and Alice Teubert Charitable Trust, Huntington, West Virginia.

Comment on this article.

Related articles:

• Looking Back on 20 Years of Assistive Technology: Where We've Been and How Far and Fast We've Come by Bill Holton
• Getting the Most out of Sighted Computer Assistance: How to Help the Helpers by Bill Holton

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• Pinterest Takes Steps Toward Accessibility
• A Review of "Stress Less, Browse Happy: Your Guide to More Easily and Effectively Navigating the Internet with a Screen Reader," an audio tutorial from Mystic Access

US Department of Labor Announces Funding Opportunity For New Center For Employer-Focused Disability Policy and Technical Assistance 

The US Department of Labor announced the availability of approximately $2 million in funds for the first year of a cooperative agreement for an employer-focused disability policy development and technical assistance center. The solicitation is a re-competition of an existing cooperative agreement. The deadline to apply is June 24, 2019. Administered by the Department’s Office of Disability Employment Policy (ODEP), the funding opportunity anticipates the availability of approximately $8 million in funds for a 4-year budget period (subject to the availability of federal funds at $2 million per year). Seeking to build upon the prior work of ODEP’s Employer Assistance and Resource Network on Disability Inclusion (EARN), the new center will conduct research; engage with the business community; identify effective policies and practices that support business needs; and provide resources, technical assistance, and training to help public- and private-sector employers (including federal contractors) recruit, hire, retain, and advance individuals with disabilities. “America’s workforce is stronger when all Americans participate,” said Deputy Assistant Secretary of the Office of Disability Employment Policy, Jennifer Sheehy. “Understanding effective policies and practices benefits employers as people with disabilities bring their skills and talents to the workplace.” Visit the ODEP website for more information.

Registration Still Available for the M-Enabling Summit; Discount Available for Private Sector IAAP Members

The 2019 M-Enabling Summit is being held in Washington, DC, June 17-19.  The event will be hosted at the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, Virginia.

A complete agenda for all three days of the Summit can be found on the M-Enabling Agenda webpage. There you can view all the sessions and speakers and start planning which ones you would like to attend.

At the conclusion of the conference, IAAP will also be offering the Web Accessibility Specialist (WAS) and Certified Professional in Accessibility Core Competencies (CPACC) exams on-site. The exams will start at 2:00 pm on Wednesday, June 19. Registration and application information is posted on the IAAP Certification Application page. 

IAAP members in the private sector can take advantage of a $50.00 savings off the private sector registration rate using an IAAP discount code. IAAP members in the government, non-profit, and educational sectors are already eligible for special discount pricing. If you are an IAAP member, you can learn more here.   Conference registration includes admission to all conference sessions, luncheons, the exhibit floor, coffee breaks, keynote presentations, and networking events, as well as the M-Enabling Summit cocktail reception on Tuesday night.    Register online. 

NonVisual Desktop Access Virtual Conference to be Held in August; Conference Organizers Seeking Feedback on Conference Dates

The NonVisual Desktop Access virtual conference (NVDA Con) will be held in August of 2019. NVDA Con is a virtual conference held online each year by the community of users of the NVDA screen reader. The conference presents sessions on various topics related to NVDA, offers spaces where NVDA users can network, and ends with a keynote address from the developers of NVDA. As mentioned, the conference is held virtually using audio conferencing software available on various platforms and is free to attend for all. This year, the organizers of the conference are seeking input from possible attendees on which weekend in August 2019 will allow the most attendees. To determine this, the organizers have provided a survey asking those interested to list which weekends during the month they will be available with the weekend with the most votes being chosen. If you would like to learn more about the conference and listen to sessions from past conferences, visit the NVDA Con website.