Wireless RERC - low vision

WebAIM Launches 2 Screen Reader User Surveys

mz22 — Fri, 15 Feb 2013 20:57:28 +0000

Web Accessibility in Mind (WebAIM)

accessible web content

low vision

motor disabilities

Survey Announcement

Survey of Users with Low Vision

Survey of Users with Motor Disabilities

February 12, 2013 — Web Accessibility in Mind (WebAIM) has launched two new surveys that focus on the use of screen readers: a Survey of Users with Low Vision and a Survey of Users with Motor Disabilities. The data collected from the surveys will be made available to the public and used to provide guidance and recommendations on the design and development of accessible web content. All individuals with low vision or motor disabilities are invited to take the surveys, which will remain open through March 15, 2013. WebAIM is an initiative of the Center for Persons with Disabilities (CPD) and Utah State University that concentrates on the expansion of the web’s potential for individuals with disabilities.

Georgia Tech Part of Effort to Increase Braille Materials

blippincott4 — Wed, 01 Aug 2012 20:22:04 +0000

July 26, 2012 - In an effort to increase the number of printed materials for people who are blind and low vision, ex-offenders will be trained in Braille transcription, computer skills and business techniques. The program, Providing Real Opportunities for Income through Technology (or PROFITT), is currently being beta tested in a maximum-security institution in Texas. It was developed through a partnership of the National Braille Press, the Texas Department of Criminal Justice and the Alternative Media Access Center (AMAC) at the Georgia Institute of Technology. PROFITT requires 750 hours of hands-on classroom training for approximately 30 weeks. Transcribing materials is of great need; currently for every 100 books published there is only one that is converted into Braille. [Georgia Tech]

FCC Reconsiders Text-to-Speech for EAS

blippincott4 — Tue, 01 May 2012 19:13:28 +0000

FCC

Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA)

Commercial Alert Protocol (CAP)

Emergency Alert System (EAS)

Order on Reconsideration

04.19.12 – The FCC issued an Order on Reconsideration “In the Matter of Amendment of the Review of the Emergency Alert System” [EB Docket No. 04-296] reconsidering the Commission’s rules on the use of text-to-speech (TTS) by Emergency Alert System (EAS) participants. On January 10, 2012, the FCC released a Fifth Report and Order which required EAS participants to convert and process CAP messages into a format outlined in the EAS-CAP Industry Group’s (ECIG) Implementation Guide. However, at the time, the rules barred the use of TTS technology when the CAP message does not include an audio file, noting that “accuracy and reliability of TTS had not been established in the record.” Following a “Petition for Reconsideration,” filed by the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), which stated that a lack of TTS could lead to possible disruptions of National Weather Service alerts or a lack of information for subscribers, and similar filings from stakeholders, the FCC has revised section 11.56(a)(2) of the rules and will allow EAS participants to adhere to the TTS specifications included in the ECIG Implementation guide on a voluntary basis. This reconsideration will become effective immediately upon publication in the Federal Registrar. [Source: FCC]

FCC Seeks Input on VPAAC Report on Video Description: Guidelines & Recommendations

blippincott4 — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:51:40 +0000

FCC

CVAA

video description

Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC)

VPAAC Report

FCC Notice: User Interfaces and Video Programming Guides and Menus

FCC Notice: Video Description and Access to Emergency Information

04.09.12 – The FCC’s Video Programming Accessibility Advisory Committee (VPAAC) issued a Report concerning Video Description and the Twenty-First Century Communications and Video Accessibility Act of 2010. The report describes the chain of distribution of video descriptions including the production of video descriptions by and distribution to consumers highlighting that the rights to create video description must first be obtained before a script describing the visual elements of a television program can be created. The video descriptions for digital television will then be implemented as a secondary audio stream. The report also makes recommendations concerning the delivery of video description. Recommendations include ensuring information is provided to consumers as to which programs will contain descriptions, instituting more user-friendly mechanisms to allow for multiple audio service channels and that secondary channels not be programmed with silence, establishing a point of contact for customers’ concerns regarding video description, and creating best practices concerning the description quality. The FCC is currently seeking comment on two aspects of the report. First, the FCC is seeking comment on portions of the report that address the accessibility of user interfaces and video programming guides and menus including features such as audio output for on-screen menus and means to easily activate closed captioning or video description for menu navigation. In addition, the FCC is seeking comment on ways in which video programming apparatuses can be utilized to provide accessible video descriptions for emergency information. Comments are due June 8, 2012. [Source: FCC]

Letter to the Editor of TDPH

blippincott4 — Tue, 01 May 2012 18:19:19 +0000

Following the March issue of the TDPH, the Wireless RERC received the following letter in response to the story on the New Legislation for Prescription Drug Labeling.

Dear Editor,

My name is Brian J. Coppola. I am a 47-year-old legally blind and hard of hearing man who has two [Associate’s] degrees. One as a Paralegal and the other in General Studies, graduated with these degrees from Northern Essex Community College Cum Laud. I also hold a [Bachelor’s] of Art in Political science from Merrimack College. I also worked for sometime in the field of assistive technology at Northern Essex Community college teaching the use of the Zoomtext software to visually impaired students.

I and the now resigned senator Steven A. Baddour of Methuen, Massachusetts, who was the state senator at the state house in Boston, Massachusetts has been working on legislation to mandate that health insurance companies cover the costs of devices that read aloud to blind people information contained on a medication bottle for about 10 years. The bill for the most part was put into study order, but during the 2007 legislative cycle, it was reported out favorably by the Joint Committee on Financial Services and then moved onto the Joint Committee on Health Financing. It is currently now s01855. I am calling on Massachusetts residents who are blind, even those who use PCA’s, visiting nurses or family members to help them with their medications to call the Massachusetts State House at 617-722-2000 and ask members of the legislature to get the bill moved out of committees and onto the floor so that Massachusetts can take the lead in what Edward Markey is trying to do. Making prescription bottles accessible in audible format, through cost analysis has already been proven to be cost effective and would save health insurance companies monies from unnecessary emergency room visits and the uses of visiting nurses or PCA’s to do this when the technology is available for the blind and deaf/blind is there for them to handle medicine on an independent manner. Without this, this could be argued to violate the Americans with Disabilities Act, HIPPA, and the Olmstead decision of the United States Supreme Court of 1999, which requires that disabled people to be allowed to live in the least restrictive environment possible.

There are other uses for PCA’s for the Blind, such as transportation, where there is no car developed yet that a blind person can drive. They also need to include a benefit for medical transportation in Medicare so that a blind person can go to a doctor no matter whether or not, they take Medicaid or up in Massachusetts, MassHealth. Blind need to go to doctors they are most comfortable with and not just those that take Medicaid. So in honor of Senator Steven A. Baddour of Massachusetts, please put this article into your newsletter so that the blind can stop relying on others for medicine regiment help and get the transportation that they [need] so desperately. Accessible medicine bottles make more sense than visiting nurses coming out to set medicine regiments up. Transportation makes more sense so that blind can be able to go to doctors and other places, such as employment and other places in the community on a level of independence in the same manner as those who do not have visual handicaps and or hearing handicaps.

I thank you in advance for your understanding of this matter. Have a nice Easter.

Sincerely Yours,

Brian J. Coppola