Wireless RERC - Vision Loss

National Federation of the Blind 2014 National Convention

mz22 — Wed, 21 May 2014 17:27:17 +0000

The National Federation of the Blind will hold its 2014 National Convention July 1-6, 2014 at the Rosen Centre Hotel in Orlando, Florida. During this annual convention, board members and national officers are elected; important decisions are made regarding the organization and next year’s policies. The conference typically sees an average attendance of around 3k attendees. Preregistration for the event is currently open.

Start Date:

Tuesday, July 1, 2014 - 8:00am to Sunday, July 6, 2014 - 10:00pm

Additional Information:

NFB Convention 2014

Vision Loss

National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

More Fun at CSUN, Hobnobbing with CEOs and Robots

mz22 — Wed, 02 Apr 2014 15:31:50 +0000

CSUN14

Project Ray

Vision Loss

Project Ray Demonstration

While making our way through the lobby at CSUN14 look who we ran into! He (distinctly male voice) was quite witty, as John mused about who was controlling him, he quickly retorted, “Is Someone controlling you?” “Oh yes,” we replied, laughing.

Also while there, Salimah and John met with Boaz Zilberman, founder and CEO of Project Ray. He demonstrated the Ray smartphone interface software for people with vision loss. The innovation for this product is that the touchscreen controls center around the user’s touch point, eliminating the need to memorize the position of the icons; the controls adapt to wherever the person touches. According to Boaz, Project Ray’s simplified interface is good for individuals who have lost sight later in life. The target market is the elderly with vision loss and his typical customer is around 55 years old. Ray runs on Nexus 5 with the Android 4.2 operating system. Additionally, developers can create apps for the Ray environment the same way they develop standard Android apps. Ray is available commercially (in Israel) via Odin Wireless. Boaz, is exploring ways to introduce Ray to the US market.

National Federation of the Blind Files Suit Against the Department of Transportation

mz22 — Mon, 27 Jan 2014 15:50:28 +0000

National Federation of the Blind

Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA)

Kiosks

Vision Loss

NFB News Release

January 2014 — The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) filed suit against the Department of Transportation (DOT) challenging regulations issued under the Air Carrier Access Act (ACAA) meant to “require that airline check-in kiosks be made accessible to airline passengers who are blind.” The NFB asserts that the regulations, which require 25 percent of airport kiosks to be accessible by 2023, fail to implement the ACAA as Congress intended and that currently kiosks can easily be made accessible by “affixing Braille labels, installing headphone jacks and adding speech software that provides audio prompts to the user.” Of the case, NFB President, Dr. Marc Maurer, noted, “The regulations will only require 25 percent of these kiosks to be made accessible; apparently 75 percent discrimination against blind people is acceptable to the DOT. The agency also failed to make the information it gathered from airlines available until these regulations were issued, which also violated federal law and denied blind Americans the opportunity to challenge the airlines’ assertions. We are therefore asking the court to strike down the regulations and order the agency to restart the rulemaking process.”

American Foundation for the Blind Accepting Nominations for Migel Medals

mz22 — Fri, 13 Sep 2013 16:45:34 +0000

Blind

Vision Loss

American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Migel Medals

AFB Call for Nominations

Migel Medal Nomination Application

September 2013 —The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) announced that they are accepting nominations for the 2013 Migel Medals. The medals, considered the “highest honor in the blindness field,” were established in honor of M.C. Migel, the first chairperson of AFB, and are awarded to a professionals and volunteers whose work has “significantly improved the lives of people who are blind or visually impaired.” Nominations are due October 4, 2013 and can be submitted here.

Sprint Releases New Accessible Smartphone

mz22 — Thu, 12 Sep 2013 13:12:58 +0000

Sprint Launches Kyocera Kona

September 2013 — Sprint has announced the release of Kyocera Kona, a new smartphone with multiple accessibility features. The compact flip phone provides users with a tactile keyboard, verbal descriptions of on-screen menus, “high-contrast user interface options,” 911 shortcuts, and “verbal translation enabling internet browsing.” The phone is also being currently offered free of charge, following a $50 mail-in rebate. Of the service, David Owens, Vice President of Product Development at Sprint, stated, “Sprint has always been dedicated to ensuring accessibility – whether it’s our award winning accessibility Sprint ID application bundles or a device like Kona providing first–of-its-kind features for the visually impaired. We are providing the product free of charge because we want anyone who has a unique need to be able to take advantage of this great new offering.”

Access Board Provides Best Practices for Accessible Prescription Labels

mz22 — Mon, 22 Jul 2013 16:56:14 +0000

United States Access Board

Vision Loss

Access Board Prescription Drug Container Labels Best Practices

July 2013 — Pursuant to Section 904 of the Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act, the U.S. Access Board Working Group on Accessible Prescription Drug Container Labels released best practices for accessible prescription drug labels for people who are blind or have low vision. According to the report, accessible labels are necessary to ensure that people who are blind or have low vision are not at risk of taking, or providing to someone in their care, the wrong medications, expired medications or the wrong dosage. The Access Board notes that prescription drug container labels can be made accessible through the use of braille, large print and dedicated electronic equipment, and provides format-specific best practices such as ensuring all labels provided in an audio format are presented in a clear voice with minimal background noise, printing braille labels on a transparent material to “preserve the legibility of the print container,” and printing large-print labels in 18-point, non-condensed, sans-serif font. Despite the delivery method, the Access Board also notes that accessible labels should be provided free of charge to users and within the same time frame as prescriptions with non-accessible labels and any duplicate labels should “preserve the integrity of the print prescription drug container label.” The best practices presented by the Access Board are not mandatory, however the National Council on Disability will “conduct an informational and educational campaign” to inform the public of the practices, while the Government Accountability Office will review adoption of the practices in pharmacies nationwide beginning 18 months after the release of the practices.

New Personal Vision Assistant Released

mz22 — Wed, 17 Jul 2013 15:22:05 +0000

Vision Loss

Prodigi

July 2013 — HumanWare has announced the release of Prodigi, a personal vision assistant designed to be a “more affordable and intuitive visual aid than the traditional CCTV-based electronic magnifier.” Available in a desk version or a portable, tablet version, Prodigi allows users to magnify a letter or A4-sized page, and displays the image with “perfect text quality”. Prodigi also offers various reading modes including enhanced color contrast, single column text, scrolling text, and text-to-speech. Pierre Hamel, Vice President of Research and Development at HumanWare noted, “Until recently, the technology behind Prodigi wasn’t available, but we saw it coming and have now successfully integrated the latest camera and image processing technologies into a portable platform, specifically designed for people living with a visual impairment.”

Nominations for American Foundation for the Blind Access Awards

mz22 — Fri, 12 Jul 2013 13:56:31 +0000

American Foundation for the Blind (AFB)

Vision Loss

Access Awards Call for Nominations

July 2013 — The American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) announced that they are accepting nominations for the 2014 Access Awards, due by August 30, 2013. The awards are given annually to honor individuals, corporations, and organizations that use “exceptional and innovative efforts” to improve the lives of people who are blind or have low vision through “enhancing access to information, the environment, technology, education, or employment.” The awards will be presented at the AFB Leadership Conference on February 28, 2014 in New York.

Fully Accessible GPS App

mz22 — Mon, 08 Jul 2013 19:35:30 +0000

Apps

Global Position System (GPS)

Wayfinding

Vision Loss

The Seeing Eye

July 2013 — The Seeing Eye and the Sendero Group released The Seeing Eye GPS app, described as the first fully accessible GPS product for the iPhone. The app provides turn-by-turn directions, and includes features such as announcing the orientation of cross streets at all intersections, “heads-up” announcements for upcoming turns, automatic recalculation if the individual wanders off the route, and the LookAround Wand, which audibly lists nearby establishments depending on the direction the phone is pointed. The app is available for $69 for a one-year subscription and $129 for a three-year subscription.

New International Treaty for Accessible Books

mz22 — Thu, 27 Jun 2013 16:15:28 +0000

World Intellectual Property Organization

Vision Loss

National Federation of the Blind (NFB)

Draft of the Treaty

Washington Post: "Group finalizes treaty to expand book access for world's blind community"

June 2013 — The World Intellectual Property Organization met at the end of June to finalize the terms of a treaty, which would legally allow for copyrighted material to be made accessible to people who are blind or have low vision. Currently, less than one percent of all the world’s books are available in accessible formats including Braille, large print or audio recordings. However, under the treaty, authorized entities will be able to copy materials in accessible formats “without authorization of the copyright right holder.” According to Marc Maurer, the president of the National Federation of the Blind, “This historic treaty, the first ever international instrument specifically addressing the needs of the world’s blind, will dramatically increase access to published works and the empowering information and ideas they contain by a community that has traditionally experienced barriers to obtaining the world’s knowledge.”