Dear AccessWorld Readers,

Occasionally, we need to take a step back and look at the big picture, so to speak. This is true in our personal lives, professional lives, and even in our relationships with technology. Everyone who experiences vision loss and uses technology certainly has a love-hate relationship with it at times. I know I do. Both mainstream and access technology have changed radically over the past several years. Even the past two or three years have brought about substantial changes and improved access for people with vision loss.

Reading back issues of AccessWorld chronicles this evolution. For example, in the June 2011 Editor's Page devoted to cell phone accessibility, I wrote:

We all know the cell phone commercial where the guy with the glasses asks, 'Can you hear me now?' With the constantly shifting sands of the cell phone industry, including the introduction of new technologies, mergers of cell service carriers, changing rate plans, and the appearance and disappearance of specific cell phone models, a better question for those of us in the vision loss community may be, 'Is it accessible now?'

If you're looking for a cell phone that is completely accessible "out of the box," good luck. At this moment, AccessWorld is aware of two, that's right, two cell phones that provide built-in speech output support for all the phones' features. Those two phones are the Haven, a clamshell-style feature phone offered by Verizon Wireless, and the iPhone, offered by Verizon Wireless and AT&T.

In the rest of the cell phone market, many models do not offer the ability to adjust display font size or to use speech output at all. Others offer adjustable display fonts and partial speech output. However you look at it, real built-in cell phone accessibility is hard to come by.

It's very disappointing and frustrating to me that at this point in time there is such a lack of built-in speech output functionality for mobile devices. By law, telecommunication devices must be accessible to people with disabilities, but in practice most simply are not. When cell phone manufacturers don't include accessibility features in the designs of their products, they are overlooking millions of potential customers. Likewise, when cell service providers sell inaccessible cell phones, they perpetuate this disservice.

That excerpt from June 2011 reads like it was written a lifetime ago, but it wasn't really. At that time, AccessWorld could only identify two accessible cell phones, and now there are numerous choices for those looking for speech output. I don't know of any current cell phone models that do not offer adjustable font size and display options to assist people with low vision, nor do I know of any models without volume enhancements. In 2011 tablets barely existed, so true mobile productivity was almost non-existent for people with visual impairments. Today, whether you choose Apple or Android, there is no question that you can accessibly make and receive calls, use text messaging, send and receive e-mails, surf the Web, check your stocks, check the weather, download and listen to music, read a book, and take a picture and share it with friends or post it to social media. You can make purchases from your phone, check your newsfeed and post to Facebook, tweet, and catch up on the latest political goings on around the world as they happen with your news organization of choice, just to name a few.

So, just think "big picture" for a moment and consider how improvements in technology have literally changed our lives for the better. Technology has increased opportunities in education, employment, and independence, and is helping to create a more interactive, engaged, and inclusive world. Even in this current pandemic, accessible mainstream and access technology, while challenging at times, have made it technically possible for some of us to work from home, learn from home, shop from home, virtually hang out with family and friends, and even have meals delivered right to our door.

As technology changes and evolves, so do the devices we use to access it. Feature phones, for example, with a clamshell design and tactile buttons are now all but gone from store shelves, and it won't be long until they are distant memories. Touchscreen phones and devices with elevated capabilities and means of access are here now, and they are the way of the future.

I know some people, visually impaired and fully sighted alike, who hold tightly to older technologies and form factors. I write this message as a way to encourage these readers to embrace the future of technology and all the possibilities it has in store. Moving away from older, more familiar form factors can be challenging and yes, there is a learning curve, and yes, sometimes the learning curve is quite steep, and yes, you can master it. By doing so you will become more efficient, gain more independence, and reap countless personal, social, and professional benefits.

When you start on your transition to updated technologies, my advice is to plan smart. Make sure you have your data backed up securely. You may need to investigate and invest in some formal training, you may need to find sighted assistance, and you may need to blow off steam when things get frustrating, but the frustration will pass as you gain proficiency. My best advice is to never stop looking for the next best thing and never allow yourself to get too far behind the ball. Technology builds upon itself, so don't allow yourself to get three or four versions behind, or to keep relying solely on devices or technologies that are no longer supported. This will only increase your learning curve and frustration when you're finally forced to use something new. When you wait too long to upgrade your technology, you are, in fact, placing limits upon yourself. Stay current!

If this pandemic has taught us one thing, it is to prepare for the unexpected. This current pandemic will pass, but troubled times will come again, as they have throughout history. The better prepared you are in every way imaginable, the better off you will be on the other side of the trouble. This may mean stocking up your pantry with extra nonperishable food items, it may mean working hard to save some extra cash for a rainy day, and it definitely means arming yourself with the tools of up-to-date technology to keep yourself connected to others and as independent as possible.

In addition to working to stay current with your access technology, it is just as important to have more than one tool in your toolbox. By that, I mean that it is important to have the ability to use more than one technology to access information. DonÕt allow yourself to fall into the rut of only using one screen reader, for example.

As Jamie Pauls described in his May 2019 article, Getting the Job Done with Assistive Technology: It May Be Easier Than You Think:

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.

Jamie's words demonstrate how being able to switch among screen readers and Internet browsers, for instance, can make a world of difference in whether you achieve access, or you don't. Being able to move to a mobile version of a website can dramatically simplify browsing that site or purchasing its products or services.

If you haven't tried Firefox or Chrome, download them, give them a try, and keep them at the ready for when you experience access challenges using your current Internet browser. Likewise, if you have not worked with NVDA, try it! And while you're at it, check out how far Narrator, Windows built-in screen reader has come. The more options you give yourself, the better your results will be.

There will be pitfalls, of course, and unfortunately everything may not always be fully accessible. However, people who are blind or visually impaired have more at their fingertips than ever before, and more access is on the way. Efforts by consumer and grassroots groups, advocacy, and legislative action have all come into play to bring about the access we have today, and these efforts are on-going.

The American Foundation for the Blind and AccessWorld do our best to help keep you informed and up-to-date on information and technologies that will have a positive impact on your life, but it remains your responsibility to seek out the information and to keep learning about technologies, devices, apps, or techniques that will work for you.

I give this advice, because in the past, I too, have fallen into the trap of relying on only one technology or an outdated version of a product, and I have learned my lesson, the hard way, and I have put myself in the position of needing to learn that lesson more than once.

I challenge all AccessWorld readers to seek out, embrace, and use the best in newer technology to the best of your ability, and to join the American Foundation for the Blind in our vision of a world with no limits! At AccessWorld, we know that a world without limits starts with education. We also know that pursuing a good education can be particularly challenging for people with vision loss. In the upcoming July issue, the AccessWorld team will again turn our focus to 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. Be sure to check back in July for our Back to School issue.

With best regards,

Lee Huffman

AccessWorld Editor-in-Chief

American Foundation for the Blind

Deborah Kendrick

Most AccessWorld readers know there are just about as many ways to experience blindness as there are blind people. Some see light. Some see light and shapes. Some see only in darkened spaces, and some see only in bright light. Some can see you when staring straight ahead, and some can see you if they turn their heads. Some use conventional print and some, even if their eyes can see print, are fluent braille readers. Some drive a car occasionally; a few see nothing at all.

And then, to get to the point of this story, some have experienced many of those manifestations of blindness in a relatively short period of time.

Meet Jackie Ouellet

Jackie Ouellet (pronounced wool-it) was only seven years old when her parents discovered that she had uveitis, a condition that prompts swelling and inflammation of the uvea, one of the layers of tissue in the eye. Although its cause is not always known, Ouellet's was attributed to an immune deficiency. Her vision was blurred in one eye, but she functioned well with topical and oral steroids—until she needed glaucoma surgery. That surgery sparked an autoimmune deficiency and, at age eleven, she became blind in one eye.

Vision in her remaining eye was good enough that she read conventional print for high school and college classes, obtained her driver’s license at age sixteen, and more than one successful, exciting career. With her business and fashion degree, she interned with Ralph Lauren in Manhattan and then landed a job in the buying department of Nordstrom near her home in the Washington DC area. Later, after learning from a friend about opportunities in Thailand, she became a teacher of English to children in a full-immersion program in that country.

Noticing that vision in her good eye was blurring, she flew home for an ophthalmic appointment. The complex surgery that was performed turned out to be horrific. Her eye hemorrhaged for three weeks. Eventually, there would be more surgery to reclaim a small amount of residual vision in that eye for a time, but the major development was that, still in her twenties Jackie Ouellet was suddenly blind.

“I was living my good life,” she says, “traveling the world, teaching in Thailand, active.” She’d never known a blind person and had no idea what she could do without sight.

The "Harvard" of Blind Rehab

Eventually, she reached out to the vocational rehabilitation system in Virginia, only to draw the short straw of a counselor who didn’t know what to do with someone young and healthy who was suddenly blind. Suggestions led her to support groups for people in their seventies and eighties with age-related vision loss, or programs for kids with multiple disabilities. “I need the Harvard of vocational rehab for blind people,” she told her counselor. The counselor told her to Google it.

She learned about three programs (in Louisiana, Minnesota, and Colorado) run by the National Federation of the Blind. She called the one in Colorado, had a conversation with the director, and flew to Denver to check it out. She sayshat decision changed her life: “I flew out to Colorado and met all of these energetic and inspiring people my age who couldn’t see! It was wonderful!”

For the next nine months, she would live at the Colorado Center for the Blind, learning the techniques of blindness. From 8 am to 4 pm every day she wore sleepshades and studied braille, cane travel, and how to perform all those tasks of daily living without eyesight. Wanting to do something physically active, she began studying yoga at a studio that was a bus ride, a light rail ride, and a half-mile walk from her CCB apartment. She fell in love with yoga and decided to take the necessary training to become a certified yoga teacher. Every day for nine months, in rain or cold or snow, she finished her CCB lessons for the day and then headed for the yoga studio. On her way to the studio one day, when she found herself in the middle of four lanes of traffic, she realized that the tiny visual cues she had still been able to use to identify her surroundings were gone. She had another emergency surgery, but doctors were not able to restore any of her vision this time.

By now, Ouellet had had a taste of real independence. She knew that she could be blind and still work and still be active, but she also knew she had to map out a game plan for herself.

Finding Employment

After a whirlwind year of training at the Colorado Center for the Blind, planning her east coast wedding, and becoming a certified yoga instructor, Ouellet was at last settled back in Virginia with her husband and ready to work. She had all her new skills and no job! She applied for positions with the federal government, but was only offered a position far below her level of education and experience. She couldn’t get an office job. She couldn’t get a yoga job. She was blind and competent and unemployed.

A lifelong extravert, she found it hard to meet her new neighbors now that she was blind. She began offering yoga classes at her community clubhouse. She was fine-tuning her skills and meeting her neighbors. She joined a tandem cycling club and participated in Ski for Light (a cross-country ski program for blind people.) She needed to figure out a new career plan, one where she knew she could excel and for which she could take charge of her own employment.

Chiropractic medicine caught her interest from a variety of directions, so that it seemed life was propelling her to that path. Her Internet searches uncovered several chiropractors who were blind, and she began reaching out to them for information and advice. Some never answered. A few answered and were not at all helpful. One in her own state of Virginia, Dr. Duane Hudspath, was warm and welcoming and invited her to shadow him at his office. After seeing him work with his patients, she knew this was something she could do and began looking into programs.

Kansas City Here We Come

When her husband’s desire to pursue a Ph.D. led the couple to a move to Lawrence, Kansas, Jackie was thrilled to learn that an excellent chiropractic program was not far away. They moved to Overland Park, to be near Cleveland University Kansas City (formerly Cleveland Chiropractic College.)

In May 2015, the final vestige of her vision fled, and she could no longer see light streaming through the window or the fireworks on the Fourth of July. She had, however, the skills she needed to be an independent, competent blind person. In May 2016, she began the intense, four-year program to become a chiropractor, a course of study that would claim most of her time and energy. Her marriage, regrettably, ended soon afterward, but her determination to succeed never faltered.

Jackie Ouellet completed her chiropractic course studies, but the road was never easy. Some professors embraced the challenge of having a blind student, while others flatly refused to meet with her outside of class or go the proverbial extra mile. She had professors who made tactile drawings with puffy paint and other materials and those who talked relentlessly with her to ensure that visual concepts were conveyed. There were instructors who would use her as the demonstration model for a technique or medical concept, so that she would get a first-hand picture of the concept being taught.

In the beginning, her father flew from Virginia to Kansas a few weeks each term to serve as a study partner, helping her access and absorb the required course material. Sadly, her father died suddenly three years ago, and while she is still grieving, she found new ways to continue working. She hired other students to read and study material with her, making her own notes and sometimes making drawings herself on a tactile drawing pad to help reinforce the visual elements needed in medical practice. Due to the coronavirus pandemic, the physical graduation ceremony was canceled, but her diploma arrived in the mail in April 2020. She has taken and passed three of the four required national board exams. The fourth, which has been rescheduled twice due first to an accessibility issue and then to COVID-19, is now scheduled for July. After that, she has only to become licensed in the state where she intends to practice (at this time, Virginia, to return to her Washington DC roots). At 38, she is ready and eager to launch her new career.

Essential Tools for Success

Jackie Ouellet is quick to say that, as she puts it, “I clawed my way through this program.” It was, in other words, all-consuming and extremely hard work. That said, she is profoundly grateful for every bit of support she received from myriad directions and eager to share her perspective with others.

The ingredients most responsible for her success, she says, have been a solid support system and an equally solid belief in herself. “My father was my favorite cheerleader,” she says. After he was gone, she depended upon support from others, including some of her professors.

One professor would repeatedly tell the chiropractic students that none were islands. You need to support one another, help one another, and recognize that no one is completely independent. On the surface, Ouellet says, that philosophy might seem to be at odds with what she learned at the Colorado Center for the Blind. The lessons she learned there, she says, have been invaluable in every aspect of life—the braille that she uses for labeling (admitting that it was not her strongest suit), the daily living and social skills, and especially the training that gave her the freedom to travel anywhere with confidence and a white cane. Sometimes, though, the message of independence is flavored with the notion that, if you can’t do a thing entirely on your own, you are not a good blind person.

Ouellet is proud of her independence, but says that she could not have completed her chiropractic program without solid support from others. Professors who were willing to find alternative techniques for enabling her to experience images and diagrams were her heroes.

In terms of technology, her methods are surprisingly simple. Nearly all her studying was accomplished with an iPhone running VoiceOver. She read tests on an iPad, dictating her responses to a scribe for entering in paper booklets or on touchpad screens. During her various internships, she compiled reports and diagnostic information all on her iPhone. To access course schedules, assignments, and even check her grades she accessed the schools Canvas system with her iPhone.

She has had plenty of experience working with patients and finds that minimal adaptations are required. While she has a few accessible medical tools—a talking thermometer and talking blood pressure cuff—she says many bits of information can be gleaned by using a sighted scribe to whom she dictates her notes and observations. Whether a patient has any visible wounds, scars, or discolorations, for instance, is information she can obtain through the eyes of someone working for her. The actual practice of chiropractic treatment is well suited to a person who is blind, since it is all hands-on.

“I’m really looking forward to applying for licensure and setting up my own practice,” she says. By establishing her own practice, there will be no need to convince another employer to hire her. She will only need to convince patients that she is good at what she does.

Another future pleasure she anticipates is the opportunity to mentor other blind people interested in following her lead. She was grateful when another blind chiropractor generously shared information with her, and sees that as part of her own role when she ultimately opens the office of Dr. Jacqueline Ouellet.

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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June Table of Contents

Bill Holton

In the February issue of AccessWorld I served up a review of a recent eBook from the folks at Mystic Access called Dinner Delivered: Accessible and Easy Ways to Receive Meals Direct to Your Door, by Kim Loftis and Chris Grabowski. In that timely tome they offer a thorough look at several meal delivery services, along with two of the most popular grocery delivery services: Instacart and Shipt. They found both extremely accessible, and provided step-by-step instructions on how to sign up, order, and pay for grocery deliveries using either or both of these services. An app they did not cover in that article is Walmart Grocery, through which you can order both curb pickup and home delivery.

Walmart’s New Look

I have shopped occasionally at Walmart.com, usually preferring to use the web interface, as I found their iOS app a bit “busy” and confusing. But now they've updated the Walmart app, combining the regular “department store” and their grocery store into a united smartphone or tablet interface. If you’re like me, you already had a Walmart account, which means all of your settings, addresses, and payment information will be imported directly into this updated app. If you have not shopped with a Walmart app before, you will be asked to create an account. As part of the account setup, you will be prompted to provide credit or debit card information. You can skip this for now, and only add the information when and if you decide to arrange for grocery pickup or delivery.

For this review I limited the scope to evaluating the grocery delivery service, using both the iOS app with VoiceOver and the web interface running the latest versions of Windows 10 and JAWS.

Both the web interface and app used location services to point me toward my local store. For the department-store side, shipping is usually free with a $35+ order. On the grocery side, a minimum purchase of at least $30 is required to qualify for delivery. Grocery delivery is not free. One-time delivery charges, which seem to fall into the $10-$12 range, depend on what time of day you arrange for delivery. You can also sign up for unlimited delivery for either $12.95 per month or $98 per year. As of this writing the company was offering a 15-day free trial. To cancel the trial, simply go to the Account page and use the “End Delivery Trial.” button.

Filling Your Cart

Shoppers are welcomed with a list of featured and sale items. There is also a Search edit box at the top of nearly every app screen or webpage you can use to search for items of interest. You can also shop by department, such as “Eggs and Dairy,” “Pantry,” and “Frozen.” Needless to say the selection can be daunting. When I searched for “cream cheese,” for example, the app responded with 530 items. The item I wanted was near the top of the list, I could have also filtered and sorted the results by relevance, price, best sellers, special offers, and other criteria.

One glitch I did discover in the search area is that if you use the Search feature to locate an item, to cancel the search and return to the previous screen you have to swipe near the top of the page until you reach an area that doesn’t voice, and then double-tap this invisible control. The iOS app, at least, does not make use of the VoiceOver two-finger scrub gesture for activating the back function.

Another frustration with both the app and Web interface is the lack of quick navigation. Items usually appear in pairs, with an “Add to Cart” and “Favorite” button following. This leads to a lot of swiping on a phone and tabbing on the Web. This wouldn’t be so bad if the items did not appear in pairs, leaving the screen reader user wondering which button is for which product. Consequently, I found it much less confusing to simply activate the item name, and then determine what I was going to do with it.

Item descriptions include calorie counts, unit and total item prices, serving sizes, number of servings, and ingredients and nutrition information. I can’t help but wonder how difficult it would be to also include links to cooking instructions, where applicable.

The Add to Cart button is always located at the extreme bottom of the product details screen, which results in a lot of scrolling. Press the Add to Cart button to add your initial purchase, then, if desired, use the plus and minus signs to increase or decrease the item count. When you have reached your desired quantity, simply back out of the screen. The final item count is automatically saved to your cart. Again, using the iOS app you will need to scroll back to the top of the page--the scrub gesture does not work for activating the Back function.

You can add frequently purchased items to your favorites and then shop from that list, and you can limit your searches to items in that list. It's possible to scan items in your pantry, but you will need to locate the UPC codes, and the app does not offer audible feedback to help determine if you are getting close (such as when using Microsoft’s Seeing AI). You can also enable ”Voice Shopping,” which empowers you to add items to your list with a Siri command. Reserving a delivery date and time via Siri is apparently also in the works.

Arranging for Delivery

Curbside pickup is available, but for this review I focused on delivery. The app offers a calendar of available dates and times for delivery. Since I was conducting this evaluation during the COVID-19 rush for delivery, I had to wait several days for an open slot. I figured that was OK—it would give me time to adjust my order, which is possible to do up until about 12 hours before the delivery window.

After a bit of initial frustration, I discovered that adding items to an existing order was simple. Add the item or items to the cart, then return to the cart by double tapping the running items count and price total found at the lower right corner of the main screen. There, you are given the choice between starting a new order or adding the items to your pending order.

At first I was unable to add or remove items from my list. Support is offered both via email and returned call through the app’s Help menu. They graciously offered to make the changes for me, but had little awareness of accessibility. Happily, it finally occurred to me to try the obvious first step. I cleared the Walmart app from my phone’s running processes and restarted. The app worked fine. I was still unable, however, to figure out how to change the quantity of an item using the Web interface. Each cart item includes a check box you toggle off or on depending on if you will accept substitutes for that particular item. The checkboxes were accessible, but on the Web, I found that the combo box that allows you to increase quantities, or reduce them to zero, would not activate with either Enter or Spacebar, or by using the mouse cursor. It was enough to drive a poor writer to drink. Unfortunately, I was also unable to toggle the check box proclaiming I am over 21 years of age and eligible to purchase alcohol. Luckily, they sent my sangria anyway—though I did have to show ID and let the driver record the number.

Checking out, there were no fees beyond the one-time delivery fee, or the monthly/yearly membership. The ability to tip was not available, so when my driver arrived I wound up using cash. Only after the order was delivered did I receive a form to add a tip. (Note: Store employees do the shopping and loading of items into the driver's car. The driver is only responsible for delivering your items and bringing them to your door. As happens in other areas of the service industry, tips are pooled and shared with the drivers, who are contract employees.)

The Final Receipt

Despite the few accessibility issues mentioned above, all in all I found grocery shopping at Walmart a satisfying experience. The driver arrived on time and in the location I specified. I do not know, however, how I would have fared in this matter if I lived in a fifth-floor walkup, or even in an apartment building with an elevator. Unlike Instacart, which notes in their app that prices are often higher than in store, the Walmart prices were no higher than if I’d shopped in person.

Assuming the 15-day free trial of unlimited grocery delivery is still available when you read this, you really have nothing to lose giving Walmart’s grocery a try. If you do, be sure to let us know how it goes.

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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June Table of Contents

Bill Holton

Until recently, my wife hosted monthly dinners for the half of her large family that resides here in Florida—the other half is spread throughout New England—but when the world shut down and began social distancing, the dinners had to stop. Texts and phone calls began to fly, but they were no substitute for actually gathering together.

That’s when my wife decided to throw a virtual Easter dinner. Everyone cooked their specialties, then nearly 20 of us gathered at the appointed time to enjoy them together via a video meeting. We could have used FaceTime, but not everyone owns an iPhone. Even fewer had Google accounts, so Hangouts was not an option. Skype can be more than a bit confusing for novice users, and tends toward unreliability. So we settled on the choice more and more people seem to be making these days: Zoom.

In case you’ve been social distancing in a cave, Zoom is one of the more popular of the growing number of teleconferencing platforms. It’s launch-and-run simple to use, and the free version has helped the app's phenomenal growth over these past few months.

With so many companies allowing their employees to work from home, so many schools relying on teleconferenced classrooms, and so many grandparents missing their weekly hugs, Zoom has turned out to be the perfect platform for these terrible times. Which is why my reviewer’s ear perked up when I caught the release of a new title from the Carroll Center for the Blind, Getting Started with Zoom Meetings: A Guide for JAWS, NVDA, and iPhone VoiceOver Users, written by Accessibility Associate Heather Thomas. The book is available from the Carroll Center in downloadable PDF and MS Word formats for $18. As is usually the case with titles directed toward users with visual impairments, the nearly 30,000-word text is well-formatted with short-cut heading and list navigation. The author assumes a working knowledge of Windows using a screen reader and/or a VoiceOver accessible iPhone, though she does pause to describe the screen reader commands needed to accomplish many specific Zoom tasks.

Not covered in the book are the Mac, Chromebook, and Android Zoom apps. Windows Narrator is also omitted.

Zooming Along

After some preliminary remarks on the book’s structure and comments about Zoom itself, the text is divided roughly into two sections. The first covers using the Zoom Windows desktop app. (Note: the browser plugin is not described.) The second section deals with using Zoom on the iPhone/iPad.

There are three levels of Zoom participation: you can attend meetings via the Zoom app without registration. You can host a meeting with up to 100 participants with a free registered account, though meetings of three people or more are limited to 40 minutes. Meeting length is up to 24 hours with a Pro account ($14.95 per month). Pro accounts also offer increased technical support and other enhanced features, which Thomas does an excellent job annotating throughout the text.

Computer and iPhone novices will appreciate the author’s detailed, step-by-step tutorial on downloading and installing the desktop and/or iOS app, setting up your video camera and microphone, and connecting to your first Zoom meeting. If you have already successfully accomplished these tasks, you may wish to use your screen reader’s navigation keys to skim through these sections. Or perhaps not, as I discovered several buried nuggets that answered questions I had, such as why I am unable to record an iPhone meeting, or the reason some Zoom invitations come with a dial-in phone number and others do not. Did you know you can share your iPhone screen, VoiceOver and all, during a Zoom meeting while attending the same meeting on your PC? Or that even though we may be working from home these days, it doesn’t mean we’ve escaped the dreaded PowerPoint slide deck, and that sharing PowerPoint slides through Zoom is just as inaccessible as the office wall projection?

Zoom offers keyboard shortcuts for most of its desktop functions. Thomas notes each as appropriate, and lists them all in one of the book’s appendices. About the only meeting feature she does not describe in detail is setting a background image. She explains the omission this way: “…if you move around [when you have a background image set], your own image may appear blacked out or blocky to viewers.” She considers them unprofessional, but what about the stacked dirty dishes in the kitchen sink behind you? Or the family photograph you didn’t realize was hanging askew and that distracts everyone in the meeting? It seems to me that a simple, green-screen type background image would be a vast improvement. I suggest the author should have included a more complete description of image backgrounds and how best to acquire and use them. And not just for a more professional look. Using backgrounds is a popular Zoom meme. There’s no reason people with visual impairments shouldn't be able to participate.

And speaking of imagery, the author limits “low vision” guidance to a discussion on how to increase the font size on the chat window. Most low vision users would expect more. How can I test my settings to make sure I am, as they say, “ready for my close up?” Or the fact that the best way to tell who’s speaking is to look for the video image the software has brought front and center. My wife used our Apple TV to mirror the Zoom image onto our 48” TV. We could also have chosen to use our Chromecast. Low vision users could benefit from discussions of these magnification options.

I have never hosted a Zoom meeting, but after reading the appropriate chapters I feel confident I could do so, either on a PC or my iPhone. Perhaps both. As mentioned, when my wife hosted the family dinner she hosted the meeting on her laptop, muted the sound, then logged in on her iPhone and used our Apple TV and screen mirroring to port both image and sound to our TV. She had a better view of the family, and I didn’t have to log in and run a second audio stream or huddle close to her laptop to hear hers.

Near the end of this book Thomas offers up some “Tips for Successful Meetings.” For example, if you plan to host Zoom meetings, consider investing in some good headphones. Otherwise it’s likely participants will become distracted by your screen reader. There’s another reason to consider headphones. When things get boring you can always switch over and check your email or Twitter feed. (Not that I would ever engage in such behavior during an AccessWorld Zoom meeting.)

Thomas concludes her book with several useful appendices listing Zoom keyboard commands, a mini guide on installing the free JAWS scripts for Zoom using older versions of JAWS--they come preinstalled in newer versions, some additional resources and a listing of referenced URLs.

As the author states, “If Zoom meetings were not a regular part of your life prior to the COVID-19 pandemic, there is a good chance that you have been exposed now—to Zoom, that is.” Even post-pandemic, it looks like Zoom and other remote presence technologies are here to stay. And unlike previous societal paradigm shifts, this is one we can access and embrace from the start. As its title clearly states, Getting Started with Zoom Meetings is an excellent place to begin.

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:

• A Review of Format Your Word Documents with JAWS and NVDA: A Guide for Students and Professionals, by David Kingsbury by Bill Holton
• Full Speed Ahead with Modern Communication: A Review of the Zoom Conferencing System by J.J. Meddaugh

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• Vision Tech: Several Gene Therapies for Blindness Reach Clinical Trials
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June Table of Contents

Janet Ingber

CleanMyMac X (CMM X), an app by MacPaw, claims that it "is an all-in-one package to awesomize your Mac. It cleans megatons of junk and makes your computer run faster. Just like it did on day one.” The app costs $34.99 per year for a single license.

CMM X can be purchased from the Mac App Store. A free trial of the app, with limited functionality, is available from the MacPaw site. Activate the Free Download link and the trial app will start downloading.

MacPaw states that CMM X supports VoiceOver and high contrast. We decided to take the app for a spin ourselves to determine if it is usable by someone with vision loss. For this review, I used version 4.6.2,on a 2016 MacBook Pro running macOS Catalina.

Getting Help  

Unfortunately, MacPaw does not provide phone or tech support. They have email support and a knowledge base.

Installing the App

Before you install any new software, I strongly recommend backing up your Mac. When CMM X is first opened, there are checkboxes to share anonymous usage data and agree to the privacy policy. The Share Data button is below the share request and the privacy policy agreement checkbox is above the agreement. VoiceOver said there was a button labeled, “SkipNOTRANS.” With sighted assistance, I learned that the button was not on the screen. The last controls on the screen were an option to quit the app and an OK button.

Using CMM X

When I activated the OK button, some music played. VoiceOver eventually said, “Side bar” and a few seconds later said that I was on a table. The sidebar had many options including Smart Scan, System Junk, Trash Bins, and Malware Removal. There is an Assistant button to the left of the sidebar. The Assistant gives suggestions based on which feature you are using.

Menus and Preferences

CMM X has six Menus: File, Edit, Action, View, Window, and Help. The File menu has a single option: to close a window. The Edit menu is the standard Edit menu with options including Undo, Select All, and Delete. The Actions Menu has options to start a scan, access the Assistant, and authenticate your Mac. The View menu provides a way to view processes such as Smart Scan and Protection. Selecting an option brings up a sublist under that category. Keyboard commands are given. The Window menu is the standard Window menu you will find in most programs. The Help window has options including Contact Support, Leave Feedback, and Search.

In Preferences, there are tabs including Assistant, Protection, and Menu. As with any app, check out Preferences to determine which features are controllable.

CMM X has an additional menu that allows quick access to features including upload and download speed, resource usage, and processor load. This menu is not accessible with VoiceOver, because it's in the Mac menu bar as a graphic. It's supposed to be in Menu Extras but when I installed CMM X, it did not work. Instead, a new item was added to Menu Extras labeled “Menu bar item light.” I was unable to even open the menu. I have made MacPaw aware of this inaccessibility.

If you want CMM X to have access to your disk and you are running an operating system newer than Mojave you need to authorize that access in the Security and Privacy section in System Preferences. If your operating system is older than Mojave, you don't need to authorize access.

Using the Sidebar and Table

VoiceOver does not discriminate between headings and items under the heading in the sidebar. When I landed on a sidebar heading, VoiceOver told me I was in a cell in the table. For example, I thought Speed was a category option, but it was not. Speed was a heading under which were Optimization and Maintenance. The headings are Clean Up, Protection, Speed Applications, and Files.

By default, Smart Scan is selected when CMM X is launched. Use table navigation to explore other listed options. On a selected item, VO + Right Arrow once and there is a brief description of the selected item. For example, if Malware Removal is selected, the description is, “perform an in-depth checkup of your Mac for all kinds of vulnerabilities.” Using VO-Right Arrow again brings you to a table where more details about what CMM X will do are listed. If you just want to go from the sidebar to the table, use Tab. After the table there may be additional information, depending on which sidebar item you chose. Either way, you will need to VO + Right Arrow to get to the Scan button. As you do this, you may come across an unlabeled button. Selecting it brings you to a MacPaw page that says, “It’s time to share your excitement and inspire folks to fine-tune their Macs too.” Here is where you will find their social media links.

Uninstalling Apps

The first CMM X feature I tried was the uninstaller. This option is under the Apps heading in the sidebar. From there the Tab key will get you to the applications table. I interacted with the table and chose to uninstall Skype. I selected it with VO + Spacebar. VoiceOver said, “Uncheck Skype.APP checkbox.”

Next, I stopped interacting with the table and used VO + Right Arrow to get to the Uninstall button. The first time you use this feature, you will be prompted to enter your computer’s user name and password. CMM X will play a sound when the process is complete.

When the screen re-loads, there will be information about another MacPaw product and a Get It Now button. There is an option to View Log that will list what has been deleted. There is also an option to go back to the Apps table.

Removing Email Attachments

Next, I went to the Cleanup section of the sidebar and chose Email Attachments. With VO-Right Arrow, I was able to explore the page and then get to the Scan Button. Once the button was activated, VoiceOver said, “Pressed, Stop.” It took a few seconds to do the scan. When completed, the usual sound was played.

When the new screen loaded, it said how much space had been cleaned. Using VO +_Left Arrow, I got to a Review Details button. Selecting it brought up a table with all my email accounts and how much space was used by each account. I selected one account but did not exit the table. Instead, I used the Tab key to get to a disclosure triangle. When opened, it displayed a list of attachments that could be deleted. I could choose attachments that I did not want deleted. If you do not want to review the files, exit the table and go to the Clean button.

Removing Malware

Having malware on your computer can be very troublesome and it is not always obvious when your computer is infected. I went to the Malware Removal option under Protection. Using VO + Right Arrow, I found information about malware removal. Next was information about CMM X’s database of malware software and when it was last updated. Next was the Scan button.

When the scan was complete, I learned that CMM X found one potential threat on my computer: one piece of adware (a program that sends you to advertising). I activated the Remove button. I got a message that the threat was removed and my computer was safe.

Running a Smart Scan

I then tried Smart Scan. When the scan finished, I used VO + Left arrow to get to my results table. Using VO navigation, I was able to check the results. Finally, I used VO + Right Arrow to get to the Run button. If I did not want to review the results, I could have used VO + Right Arrow to get to the Run button. When the operation was completed, CMM X made recommendations for optimizing my Mac.

The Bottom Line

I recommend starting with the free trial since CMM X is a paid app. This will give you a good feel for the app and help you decide if you want to make a purchase.

This app is definitely usable with good VoiceOver skills, though it can be a little tricky going back and forth in the results table. I feel that the lack of live help is a negative. If I can't find my answer in the knowledge base, I don't want to wait for someone to return my e-mail. I want to speak or live chat with a human. Finally, The inaccessibility of the CleanMyMac X menu is an issue. Having the menu made accessible would offer users who are blind a quick way to access important features.

Product Information

Product: CleanMyMac X

Manufacturer: MacPaw

Price: $34.99 per year for one Mac

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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• An Overview of macOS Catalina and WatchOS 6 by Janet Ingber
  • An Overview of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 by Janet Ingber

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• The Affordable AmazonBasics Microwave: Accessible for People with Visual Impairments
• Workout with the Aaptiv Audio Exercise App

June Table of Contents

Steve Kelley

This is the first of two articles on using Dolphin’s GuideConnect software. This article covers the basics of using the applications and getting started. In the second article, we’ll take a closer look at GuideConnect's email, Web browsing, document writing applications, and also how to use GuideConnect for pleasure and to stay connected and get more informed.

What are the basic things we want to do when we use a computer? Write something, communicate by email, get some information on the Internet? For newcomers to the computer, or those returning to the computer with vision loss, the learning curve can be steep, no matter what physical device is being used—computer, tablet or smartphone. Just getting up to speed with any of those basic tasks can be enough to discourage many users.

Dolphin's GuideConnect software really seems designed for people who are either new to the computer or who are returning to the computer with screen magnification or text-to-speech. GuideConnect is the latest version of Guide software, which has been around for over a decade. GuideConnect can be installed on a Windows 10 computer or tablet, or be run from a TV using the GuideConnect TV box, which connects to a television by HDMI cable. On Windows 10, GuideConnect can be installed to open like any other application from the desktop, or it can be run at start up. In the latter case, you don't need to go to the Windows desktop at all—the computer just opens to the GuideConnect interface, which has its own applications for most of the common tasks a user might want to do, such as send and receive email, write a document, and surf the web.

GuideConnect creates a straightforward, simplified mode for a Windows 10 computer that is quite intuitive. The interface enables access to the computer with a combination of text-to-speech and screen magnification that really feels like it's built right in rather than added on as an afterthought. GuideConnect includes the ability to add a USB Dolphin remote to the user interface in case you are more comfortable using a remote instead of a keyboard or mouse. A touch screen computer can also be used with GuideConnect so menu items can be selected by simply touching them on the screen. Regardless of how you choose to work with GuideConnect, menu items and navigation are organized into either large icons called "tiles," or a text-based list. By default, on installation the menu items are displayed as tiles but can be changed in the Settings menu by selecting Appearance. Whichever option you select is implemented consistently across the various applications.

In addition to the consistency and appearance of menu items, GuideConnect can be used with just a few keystrokes to get up and running. Navigating the menu and reading can be done completely just using the Arrow keys. Pressing the Escape key moves to a previous menu, and eventually back to the Main menu. Pressing Enter (or OK on the remote) selects an item. Add F2 for the Action menu within applications and you have nearly all the keystrokes necessary to make forward progress in GuideConnect.

Accessibility

GuideConnect first opens with text-to-speech enabled. This can be turned off and on and modified within the Settings menu, under Speech and Audio. Here, the voice and its speed can be changed, you can choose whether or not letters and words are spoken as they are typed, and adjust several other settings to customize speech. Speech rate can also be changed quickly within any application by using the keyboard shortcut F9 to slow it down and F10 to speed it up.

This same level of customization is also available for the overall appearance and screen magnification. In the Settings > Appearance menu, there are several ways to customize the overall look of GuideConnect, in addition to the way the menus are displayed, as mentioned before. The Appearance menu provides options for the font style, screen colors, and menu scrolling. There are seven "themes" listed in Screen Colors to dial in the best color combinations for viewing. The Menu Scrolling feature, on by default, scrolls the text in a highlighted menu item. This adds some movement to the display, which I at first found distracting although for a touch screen user it might be really handy to have some movement on the screen for a target. Screen brightness can also be changed within this menu and the display language selected. There are 12 languages available.

GuideConnect screen magnification provides a full screen magnifier and independent magnification for different elements of an application. For example, the main menu might be set to zoom Level 3, the main display area set to zoom Level 5, and the Action Menu set to zoom Level 4. Magnification is changed using the keyboard shortcuts F12 to increase the zoom level, or F11 to decrease the zoom level. On the remote, magnification is changed with the magnification toggle on the bottom right of the remote. At the highest zoom level, 5-6 letters of a single menu item or line of text will fill the screen; at the lowest level of screen magnification, 10 lines of text will fill the screen.

Applications

Although GuideConnect provides a simplified user interface for menus and navigation, it comes with a wide variety of applications for communication, productivity, and entertainment. The main menu contains the following items:

• Email
• Letters and documents
• Websites
• Scanner and camera
• Books and News
• Address book and calendar
• Entertainment
• Notes
• Tools
• Settings
• Exit GuideConnect

Users of earlier versions of Guide will notice that there are fewer layers to the main menu. Some menu items have been eliminated and others better organized.

Regardless of which application is open, the structure of the display remains consistent. The title of the file or application appears in the top center. If available, the Action Menu button is to the left of the title. To the right of the title, a Microphone button is present if speech input for dictation is available on that screen. In the top right corner is the Help button labeled with “I.” Help provides context-related information. An Up Arrow button is located along the left side of the screen, and below it, a Back button. On the right side of the screen, there is a Down Arrow button with an OK button below. These basic navigational elements remain consistent across applications. You can click the buttons with the mouse pointer or just use the keyboard or remote equivalents. On the Dolphin remote, there is a circular pad in the center with directional arrows at the top, bottom, left and right, with an OK button in the center. The Back button is located just below the circular pad on the left.

The Action menu, when available, provides a context-dependent submenu for various areas of an application. In addition to the Action menu icon and F2 on the keyboard, it’s available on the remote as a button labeled "A" above and to the left of the large circular pad. The Action menu includes other menu options available to that specific location in the application. For example, in the Notes app, by default after a selected note is opened, the user is in a reading mode. To edit the note, the Action menu must be opened and Edit selected from the menu.

When an application is open, content is displayed below the title and between the navigational buttons on the left and right sides of the display. It is worth noting that the elements around the border don’t change in size as the zoom level is modified, just the content.

With the exceptions of spreadsheet and presentation applications, GuideConnect offers an alternative to all of the other applications that might be expected on a Windows desktop, plus many others that would have to be added to a standard Windows desktop for some basic assistive technology. For example, the GuideConnect menus for Books and News and for Scanners and Camera, have some great accessible applications that would otherwise have to be downloaded and added to Windows—a DAISY book reader, podcast player, and optical character recognition (OCR) software, etc.

Getting Started

GuideConnect is intuitive enough that you can start anywhere and make some progress just by working through the menus with the Arrow and Escape keys. A great starting point for training, however, is tucked within the Tools menu, where Training is one of the menu items. The Training menu contains the Getting Started Wizard, Keyboard Shortcuts, and Typing Tutor. The Getting Started Wizard contains 4 categories of training videos: Keyboard and mouse, Remote control, Touch screen, and Voice input. The last item on the menu is called Skip, and this is the only way to return to the Main menu from this menu. Unlike virtually every other menu, pressing the Escape key here returns the user to the Getting Started Wizard welcome page where the only option is to press Enter to return to the Getting Started menu. To exit this loop the user has to press Skip, then select “Yes, get started now” to return to the Main menu.

The training videos are well described and instructions spoken slowly. Pressing Enter pauses and resumes the videos. There are more training videos, including the ones available in the Training menu from GuideConnect Support.

What was not obvious at first is that each of the applications has detailed documentation that can be accessed from Help. To open help, click the Help icon with the mouse, use the keyboard shortcut F1, or the button labeled “B” above and to the right of the circular pad on the Dolphin remote. From the Help menu, select Help again from the menu options and the documentation for that particular application or section. Like any other document, the Up and Down Arrow keys will read through it, line by line, or F5 will begin reading continuously from the current location. On the Dolphin remote, continuous reading may be started and stopped using the button just below and to the right of the circular pad, labeled with a speaker with a slash through it. To locate a specific help topic, open the Action menu to see the links to all the topics in that documentation.

If you're looking for a tutorial, one of the best ways into GuideConnect is to open up Help right at the Main menu. Press the Action menu to open the 9 help topics, starting with “GuideConnect Getting Started and Help Page,” “Main Menu Overview,” "Help and Information, etc. Help documentation is clear and easily read using the basic reading commands.

On A Personal Note

I had the opportunity to work with several clients on previous versions of GuideConnect, then called Dolphin Guide. In two instances, the clients had little previous computer experience, had a vision loss acquired later in life, and were motivated to learn the computer. The simplified menu structure allowed each to begin using applications very quickly and helped them develop confidence as they used the computer. The typing training available in both the previous version and now in GuideConnect enabled both to improve their ability to touch type.

At one point during this review, GuideConnect stopped unexpectedly and the computer returned to the Windows desktop, something that happened at times using previous versions of Guide. It is worth mentioning because new computer users who have GuideConnect installed to open at Windows startup should be aware that this happens infrequently and that the best way to get GuideConnect back is to restart the computer. If GuideConnect stops unexpectedly and returns you to the Windows desktop, the following steps should restart your computer and get GuideConnect back:

• Press and hold the Windows key and then press D to make sure you are focused on the desktop.
• Press and hold the ALT key and then press F4 to launch the shutdown options dialog.
• Press the R key to focus the Restart option.
• Press Enter to restart the computer.

Conclusion

GuideConnect may be a great option if you're looking for access to common computer applications with less of a learning curve. Its combination of simplified menus, ease of navigation, built-in speech, and magnification make it a great choice for anyone new to computers or learning new skills after vision loss. A free 30-day trial can be downloaded from the Dolphin website. There are several ways to purchase GuideConnect. Retail is $895, and this includes both the Dolphin remote and a 1-year service agreement (3-years if purchased through the VA). A subscription is available for $49/month, and this includes all support and upgrades. Owners of previous versions of Guide can upgrade for $250. The GuideConnect TV box is available through retailers for $1,295. It comes with a USB keyboard and mouse and a Dolphin remote.

For a more in-depth look at using GuideConnect applications for pleasure or to stay connected, be sure to check out next month’s article on using GuideConnect for fun and education.

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:

• The BlindShell Classic Accessible Feature Cell Phone, a Smart Alternative by Steve Kelley
• An Overview of iOS 13 and iPadOS 13 by Janet Ingber

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June Table of Contents

American Foundation for the Blind Presents "Inform and Connect," a Series of Interviews with Blind Individuals

Each Wednesday at 4:00 Eastern, AFB presents Inform and Connect, an ongoing series created to foster togetherness and camaraderie within the blindness community through informal storytelling and learning about relevant, interesting topics. The program features a new guest each week to share their incredible stories.

Interviews are conducted live using the Zoom platform; to be added to the list to receive connection information, contact: Melody Goodspeed, AFB mgoodspeed@afb.org 212-502-7614

The current schedule is as follows:

June 10: Libby Thaw, founder of the Checkered Eye Project

June 17: Catherine Harrison, blind model

Instagram: @Catherine_Harrison_model

June 24: Alexa Jovanovic, Braille Fashion Designer

Envision Conference East Going Virtual August 14-15, 2020

Due to ongoing concerns over the COVID-19 outbreak and how it will affect future in-person events, Envision Conference East will take place virtually via livestream webinar on August 14–15, 2020.

Envision Conference East is celebrating 15 years as a premiere low vision rehabilitation and research conference in North America. The same programming you have come to expect is being planned, with 16 hours of education and research sessions being offered. For more information and to register, visit the conference webpage.

Opportunities are also available for sponsors and exhibitors to sponsor a course as well as to make a virtual presentation in the virtual exhibit hall.

Audio Description Narrators of America Present Know your Narrator Podcast Series

The Audio Description Narrators of America have recently begun producing a new podcast series called Know Your Narrator in which they interview audio description narrators to form a greater picture of who they are and their involvement in the audio description industry. New podcasts are produced weekly, usually on Tuesdays, and the series is available from a range of sources including Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and the Audio Description Narrators of America website where the podcasts can be played with a highly accessible web player. Learn more about the podcast and the Audio Description Narrators of America.

VisionCare, Inc. Announces CE Mark Approval of the Tsert-SI™ Delivery System for the CentraSight Treatment Program

VisionCare, a developer of advanced visual prosthetic devices for the treatment of age-related macular degeneration (AMD), today announced receipt of a Conformité Européene (CE) Mark for the Tsert-SI™ delivery system for the CentraSight treatment program. The CentraSight treatment program includes the Implantable Miniature Telescope (by Dr. Isaac Lipshitz), which is available around the world, including the United States, Europe, Australia, New Zealand, and Israel. The Tsert-SI delivery system includes a pre-loaded telescope implant injector, which only requires a 6.5mm incision, reducing the incision size by nearly half.

“The Tsert-SI delivery system will allow surgeons to more quickly and more easily insert the telescope implant, which is demonstrated to restore vision and improve quality of life in people living with severe, blinding forms of macular degeneration,” said Sumit Garg, MD, Associate Professor of Ophthalmology, Medical Director, and Vice Chair of Clinical Ophthalmology at the Gavin Herbert Eye Institute (University of California, Irvine). “With a smaller incision size, the surgery will be more straightforward, and patients will have a faster visual recovery.”

The Tsert-SI delivery system includes a telescope implant with foldable haptics, which allows it to fit in the injector and be delivered through a smaller incision. During development, providers found that out-patient surgery procedural time using the injector system, which includes removal of a patient’s cataract and implantation of the implantable miniature telescope in one eye only, expected to drop from approximately 60 minutes to approximately 25 minutes (in routine procedures).

”We are excited that our years long effort to develop the Tsert-SI delivery system will allow ophthalmologists in the European Economic Area to offer the telescope implant and CentraSight treatment program to their patients with the goal of an enhanced patient experience,” stated Wolfgang Tolle, CEO of VisionCare, Inc. “We look forward to coordinating a meeting with the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to determine the timeline and pathway to bring this technology to United States health care providers.”

In the United States, the telescope implant is part of the CentraSight® treatment program, which is for people 65 years and older diagnosed with end-stage, age-related macular degeneration who meet specific eye health and vision requirements, and for whom common treatments such as glasses, vitamins, drugs or cataract surgery will not lead to vision improvement. The telescope implant is contraindicated in patients with previous intraocular or corneal surgery of any kind in the operative eye, including cataract surgery.

The Implantable Miniature Telescope (by Dr. Isaac Lipshitz) is indicated for monocular implantation to improve vision in patients who meet age requirements and with stable severe to profound vision impairment (best-corrected distance visual acuity 20/160 to 20/800) caused by bilateral central scotomas (blind areas) associated with End-Stage AMD.

This level of visual impairment constitutes statutory (legal) blindness. Smaller than a pea, the telescope is implanted in one eye in an outpatient surgical procedure. In the implanted eye, the device renders enlarged central vision images over a wide area of the retina to improve central vision, while the non-operated eye provides peripheral vision for mobility and orientation. The telescope implant is part of the CentraSight treatment program, which has been designed to help patients follow the necessary steps for proper diagnosis, surgical evaluation, and postoperative care.

The telescope implant is not a cure for End-Stage AMD. As with any medical intervention, potential risks and complications exist with the telescope implant. Possible side effects include decreased vision or vision-impairing corneal swelling. The risks and benefits associated with the telescope implant are discussed in the online Patient Information Bookl and will be evaluated with each patient who might be a candidate for this study.

Patients and physicians can find more information about the telescope implant and related treatment program by visiting this website or calling 1-877-997-4448.

M-Enabling Conference Postponed to September due to Coronavirus

The M-Enabling Summit leadership team, organizers E.J. Krause & Associates and G3ict, have been monitoring the COVID-19 situation very closely as it has affected many conferences and major events. While the M-Enabling team believes conferences and business events are critical to the development of the accessibility industry, the health and wellness of conference participants is the organization's top priority. After consulting with key stakeholders, the organizers have decided to postpone the M-Enabling Summit to September 14-16, 2020. The organization believes moving the M-Enabling Summit to September is in the best interest of all participants. The summit will proceed as planned with all conference and event activities during the new dates. The venue for the Summit, with the theme of “Digital Inclusion Strategies: A Catalyst for Action,” remains the Renaissance Arlington Capital View Hotel in Arlington, VA.

The 2020 M-Enabling Summit will highlight how organizations can successfully leverage innovative enabling technologies to make their digital workplaces, learning environments and products and services accessible to users of all abilities.

Registration is currently open. Registration will be honored in September for any currently registered participants.

Disability:IN Annual Conference Goes Virtual

After much consideration, Disability:IN and its Board of Directors have decided the 2020 Disability:IN Annual Conference & Expo will now be a Virtual Event during the same dates, July 13–16th.

This is an unprecedented situation and the organization appreciates your patience and support as they work through next steps. This was not an easy decision as this would have been the 23rd year of the in-person conference. However, the organization explained that the safety and concern of conference attendees is the highest priority.

In the coming weeks, Disability:IN will be communicating next steps and any actions you need to take, including:

• Canceling your hotel room (for reservations in the Disability:IN hotel block at the JW Marriott or Ritz-Carlton Grande Lakes).
• If you have already registered – your options for a virtual event registration.
• If you have not registered – how to register for the virtual event.
• If you are an exhibitor, or would like to exhibit, how you can leverage this opportunity.

To learn more, visit the Disability:IN website.

June Table of Contents