American Printing House for the Blind (APH) and Freedom Scientific have partnered to make a JAWS and MAGic Student Edition available to students who are blind or visually impaired in primary and secondary school in the U.S. using Federal Quota Funds.
Freedom Scientific has released the Apple iOS Training Bundle, a new training solution specifically designed to teach people with visual impairments how to use VoiceOver and the Apple iOS on devices such as the iPhone and iPad.
Are you a teenager who could use a week of fun, outdoor activity and friendship this summer? Does kayaking, rock wall climbing and tandem biking sound good to you? Would you enjoy the challenge of developing new travel skills and stretching your independence? If so, the Leader Dogs for the Blind Summer Experience Camp was designed with you in mind.
Very recently, Microsoft announced some organizational shifts and investments in how it is going to be leading and driving accessibility across the company. Important information is provided by Microsoft in its blog post, Moving forward on Accessibility.
If you are blind or visually impaired and own a smartphone, undoubtedly you have at least tried one of the several item recognition apps we have covered here at AccessWorld. One of the latest mentioned was Bespecular, an app that enables you to snap a photo of that mystery box in your pantry, a street sign, or anything else you need help identifying, pose a question, and send it along to a network of human volunteers.
Recently, the Consumer Technology Association (CTA) Foundation announced it will award more than $500,000 in grant funding to 10 organizations that help link seniors and people with disabilities with technology to enhance their lives. The recipients include groups that work with accessibility apps, develop digital entrepreneurship among seniors, and bring "smart home" technology to residential living centers.
If you are a print-impaired student or adult learner, you are probably already familiar with Learning Ally, the Princeton, New Jersey based repository of over 80,000 volunteer-recorded textbooks and other reading materials used by a quarter of a million students in 10,000 schools across the US. Books are available via download for use with the Learning Ally software for PC, Mac or Chromebook.
The Hadley School for the Blind's Forsythe Center for Employment and Entrepreneurship (FCE) was launched in 2011 to address the 70 to 80 percent unemployment and underemployment rate among Americans who are blind or visually impaired. Through this business education program, Hadley offers tuition-free courses to help prepare students for employment and entrepreneurship.
The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) announced that its President & CEO, Carl R. Augusto, will retire in the spring of 2016 after 25 years of service to AFB. Augusto, a longtime champion of people with disabilities and a preeminent leader in the field of blindness, joined the organization in 1991.
*Caption: *This blog post was written by Rob Sinclair, Microsoft's Chief Accessibility Officer. Rob is responsible for the company's worldwide strategy to develop software and services that make it easier for people of all ages and abilities to see, hear, and use their computers.**
