The Blind Buzz on Accessibility

A selection of VoiceOver keyboard commands | 456 Berea Street for Mac OS,.

Accessibility features – Windows SharePoint Services – Microsoft Office Online

Actuate Addresses Online Statement Accessibility for the Visually Impaired with Xenos Axess – Mozilla Firefox – this system can deliver high volumes of accessible PDF files, according to this article.

Advocacy group for visually impaired | guampdn.com | Pacific Daily News – new group aims to open up life and work opportunities. Meeting on April 17th will include phone accessibility and JAWS demonstrations.

AFB Consulting Webinar on PDF and Assistive Technologies « The BAT Channel

Apple iPhone to soon get long-sought multitasking – iPhone OS 4 will let you run multiple apps at the same time.

Apple will update iPhones, iPads to run more than one program at once

Apple’s iPad Brings Easy Reading to the Blind « Forbes.com’s Booked – why the iPad is exciting some blind readers and is way ahead of the Amazon Kindle.

ATTO: Assistive Technology Training Online to assist elementary school students.

b-f-b Blind Facebook Yahoo! Group –
Subscribe by email

BARD Talk – a mailing list concerning the NLS download service in the US.
Subscribe to BARDTalk by e-mail

BCScan Scan It, Learn About It, Use It – a new online way to organise your life. For more information, listen to
Accessible World Tek Talk presents A Look at BCScan, April 12, 2010 by J.J. Meddaugh

Blind iPad Review – Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind – totatlly blind woman reviews the iPad.

Brailect Can Translate Text Into Braille Or Audio – this concept device is a glove that can be used to read text and convert it to either format.

Breaking news on Digital Image and Graphic Resources for Accessible Materials: DIAGRAM – No Limits to Learning – this is hoped to improve accessibility to images for students with disabilities, and educators providing for them.

C-Desk by AdaptiveVoice – free 15 day trial. The program gives a high-contrast, voiced desktop that is meant to simplify computer use for people who are disabled or elderly.

Call for Presentations for the ATIA 2010 Chicago and ATIA 2011 Orlando Conferences. « ConnSENSE Bulletin

Charities merge to aid the blind – Scotsman.com News – InfoSound news service launched with support from British Wireless for the Blind Fund. 

How to listen to InfoSound. 

[Audio] Latest briefing (April 12th, 2010).

Coalition of Organizations for Accessible Technology – "Welcome to COAT, a coalition of over 280 national, regional, state, and community-based disability organizations. We advocate for legislative and regulatory safeguards that will ensure full access by people with disabilities to evolving high speed broadband, wireless and other Internet Protocol (IP) technologies."

computer assistive technology abilityhub for disability and disabilities – "Assistive Technology for people with a disability who find operating a computer difficult, maybe even impossible. This web site will direct you to adaptive equipment and alternative methods available for accessing computers "

Creative ZEN X-Fi Style PMP, ZEN Style Series Music Player | Blog | ZiggyTek – news on these affordable audio players.

CTL 2goPC Slate: Windows 7 Tablet (Video) | Blog | ZiggyTek – the spec is not outstanding, but this device has some things the iPad currently lacks, e.g., webcam and Adobe Flash.

Digital Unite – Computer Training for the Over 50s – UK based.

Disabled Ontarians still find barriers to voting – thestar.com – Coyle

Document Accessibility Should Begin at the Author Level – the Web isn’t the whole story – what about other types of document?

Dogs and Islam: The Devil and the Seeing-Eye Dog | Psychology Today – all may not be as it seems on the subject of "unclean" dogs.

Dogs for the Blind | Dogs Training who thought of that idea?

E-Readers and technology to assist the Blind | Good E-Reader Blog – Electronic Reader News and Articles

Easy to See Balloons – Fred’s Head – balloons that light up. Every little helps!

[Audio] EyePod TechnoCast 10 – Larry Lewis of Flying Blind, LLC, talks about optical character recognition (OCR) and introduces AbiSee Products, particularly the EyePal OCR products that use a camera rather than a scanner.

Facebook Works with the Blind on Accessibility | WebProNews

Good50 Low Vision Version – "Good50 is a user-friendly search engine designed for those who are ages 50+. Because of its user-friendly features, Good50 is also beneficial for the whole family including children."

Grave Concerns about a Ban on Dogs in Nottinghamshire Parks – jady_lady – ban on dogs in parks in part of Nottinghamshire, could cause guide dog problems.

Group Travel for Persons with Special Needs – Yahoo! Finance – many opportunities in the USA for people with various disabilities.

HTML5 details element, built-in and bolt-on accessibility – Bruce Lawson’s personal site – possible advantages of HTML5 over scripting and ARIA.

Ideas on Coping With Low Vision by Sharon Noseworthy and members of the Macular Degeneration Support Network

Interviews from CSUN 2010 – NFB – Access Technology Blog

iSpeech – Text to Speech Service – Assistive Technology – online service that can convert text files to speech.

KeySoft 9 0 1 upgrade – HumanWare Canada/English – update your BrailleNote Apex.

Nissan Adding Noise to Make Silent Electric Cars Safe « Nissan Zone – USA and Japan could make this mandatory.

[Audio] PDF Document Reading and Strategies with JAWS and MAGic – 90-minute webinar with instructions for saving.

Registration Mac Academy Workshop – Handy Tech North America – there is a booking form and description here for the 5-day workshop on using VoiceOver with SnowLeopard being held in June.

Review: VI Scientific’s Currency Identifier (and more) “VisionHunt 2.1″ for S60 3rd & 5th edition – Blind Mind News – Unrestricted Access: Versatile apps for camera-pones. Currnecy, colour light source and light light level detection. Works on the Nokia N97 and their are planned versions for other types of phone, including the iPhone.

Screen Reader Tutorial – for users of the Blackboard Learning System.

Self-Expression | Real Coaching Radio Network – technophobic? well, if a blind middle-aged woman not involved in technology can deal with technology, you can too!

SeroTalk Tech Chat 57 – The Three Most Affordable reading Solutions « SeroTalk

Sweeping Landmark Class Action Settlement Paves the Way for Improved Sidewalk Access for People with Disabilities | Accessibility News International – success for Californians with disabilities.

Tactile mind – A book of nude photographs for the blind/vision impaired. ISBN: 978-0-9813431-0-5 produced in toronto,canada. tactilemind@gmail.com, telephone: 416.516.2999. Wrongly described as a magazine in the British Telegraph newspaper, this is a thermoform book of raised erotic images with Braille text. A snip at £150. 

Read the telegraph article ‘Pornographic magazine for the blind launched’

The Mac-cessibility Round Table Podcast – Special Edition #6 – iPhone OS 4.0– The Mac-cessibility Network – News [Lioncourt.com

The Tech Doctor Blog and Podcast - comparative reviews of similar products.The
first podcast looks at the Plextalk Pocket and the Bookport Plus. 

The Tech Doctor Blog and Podcast RSS Feed

Videos Created by Ai Squared « AccessTech News - these promote products such as ZoomText, Victor Reader Stream and Pebble.

Who Wins the Accessibility Election? | S3 Web Design - a web designer comments on the accessibility of the web sites of the major British political parties.

[Book] Windows 7 and Vista Explained – A guide for blind and partially sighted users. Intended to work with whatever access technology you have. Can be pre-ordered for delivery late May. Orders from USA and Canada should be made to National Braille Press.

The Blind Buzz on Accessibility

CSUN2010 Audio

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  A First Look at the Pearl – Blind Bargains: Audio Content – the new portable device from Freedom Scientific that works with OpenBook to scan books quickly.
• 
  Quick Tour of the BookSense DS – Blind Bargains: Audio Content:
• 
  When Braille and Print Collide – Blind Bargains: Audio Content – Viewplus have some new products for including Braille and print on the same page.

Other CSUN articles

• 
  Adobe at CSUN 2010 – Adobe Accessibility
• 
  GW Micro Anounces an Improved Desktop SenseView – Blind Bargains
• 
  GW Micro Anounces the BookSense DS with OLED Display – Blind Bargains
• 
  GW Micro Anounces the Voice Sense QWERTY – Blind Bargains
• 
  GW Micro Releases BookSense 2.1 Firmware – Blind Bargains
• 
  I.D. Mate Summit is even Smaller, Lighter – Blind Bargains
• 
  Plextalk Pocket Wireless Details Begin to Emerge – Blind Bargains
• 
  Sendero Pretends to be Letterman, Releases Top 10 List of New GPS Features – lind Bargains

A (Guide Dogs) bus stop inside the House of Commons — Guide dog puppy blog – talking buses on the agenda for the UK

A reading strategy for low-vision users of SmartView Xtend « Jon Udell – related video
Reading with the SmartView Xtend magnifier (no soundtrack)

A Week With the Victor Reader Stream | Access4 Us

Accessible JavaScript Techniques | Sarah Davies

Accessible News Slider: A jQuery Plugin – there is a myth that jQuery is not accessible. Take a look at this.

Accessible Recreation – includes adaptive sports, travel and other leisure activities. USA based.

Accessibility for all could be a future business model for some – Technology – livemint.com

Accessibility Testing Software Compared

Accessibility: A Guide for Educators

Accessibility: Why it Matters – Blackboard Blogs: by a member of Blackboard’s user experience dept.

ADA Standards for Accessible Design

Adapting to accessibility « Boagworld – short podcast on making the web a better place for disabled and non-disabled people alike.

[Video] Adobe – Flash CS4 Professional Accessibility – good to note that the controls on the video are accessible.

Adobe Supports Open-Source Screen Reader NVDA – Adobe Accessibility 
NVDA Web Site

Assistives in Windows 7 « LVATUG blog – accessibility improvements in Windows 7.

AssistiveWare: Accessibility solutions for Mac OS X

[Video] Audio description version of Decent Work for People with Disabilities Count Us In!

Automated testing – How useful is it? – The Guild of Accessible Web Designers

Chairman Ed Towns Breaks Down Bureaucratic Barriers to Good Paying Jobs for People Who Are Blind – US Government urged to cut unemployment among blind people.

CMU Sphinx – Speech Recognition Toolkit – open source toolkit fromCarnegie Mellon University

collective.flowplayer_toolbar: adding accessibility in an unobtrusive way — RedTurtle’s Blog – a Flash player with accessibility features.

Creating Accessible Forms in MS Word from Freedom Scientific

Deque Systems Announces New Web Accessibility Plugin for Firefox « Deque Systems Inc – this add-on understands JavaScript and dynamic updates.

Disabled protest at Safa House – Mail & Guardian Online – disabled South Africans protest about the lack of facilities at the World Cup.

Disabled travel: Britain’s most accessible attractions win awards – Telegraph

Download TotalFinder for Mac – Adds tabs, hotkeys, and other tweaks to the Finder. MacUpdate Mac Software Downloads

Embedding Valid Flash With The Object Tag – Easy As Pie!

EU accessibility law won’t cover design of goods, says Presidency | Pinsent Masons LLP

Firefox Add-On Adds Text To Voice « The BAT Channel – the add-on can speak and record the speech to an audio file.

Flash Player and Flex Support for IAccessible2 and WAI-ARIA – Adobe Accessibility – one of several recent articles by Adobe about improved accessibility in their products. 

Adobe Accessibility RSS Feed

Flex 4 and Flash Builder 4 Released with Accessibility Improvements – Adobe Accessibility

Fliptop makes RSS feeds more accessible | Rafe’s Radar – CNET News – but you have to get through a CAPTCHA first!!!!

GovHK site revamped – Hong Kong government has removed accessibility barriers from its web site, in consultation with users.

Guide Dogs launches guide to services for people with sight loss – Guide dog puppy blog – UK-wide directory. Guide for each country in .DOC format (accessible) can be freely downloaded. 

Guide dog puppy blog RSS Feed

iBooks to Include Project Gutenberg Catalog– The Mac-cessibility Network – News [Lioncourt.com]

ID Mate Portable Barcode Reader « LVATUG blog – talking device by Envision America

Identification of important cards – Donna Jodhan

[Video] Importance of HTML Headings for Accessibility

[Video] Inclusive Universe – Wendy Chisholm – imagine a world that’s accessible to everyone (so long as you’re in Seattle!).

Inference Group: Dasher Project – Dasher is a text-entry system using gestures, including eye movements, for situations where a keyboard isn’t realistic.

iPhone & iPod touch Apps for (Special) Education « ConnSENSE Bulletin – very useful list of links by category.

Learning to Navigate Blindness & Hearing Loss – the author has Usher’s Syndrome, which results in both sight and hearing loss. She is documenting her training at Colorado Center for the Blind. 

RSS Feed

Lexdis – Ideas for e-Learning – techniques and technology.

LookTel a Mobile Augmented Reality Solution for the Visually Impaired in partnership with LinkMe Mobile. Contains visual and voice recognition technology.
LookTel – Mobile Object Recognition and Remote Assistance Solutions for Visually Impaired Users

LVATUG blog – Low Vision Assistive Technology Users Group serving the NC Triangle Low Vision Community. 

LVATUG blog RSS Feed

Online text to speech (TTS) converter – SpokenText.net – convert text to speech and save in audio files. Demo account is free.

Our top 10 Accessibility tools – AbilityNet

Produce Your own AudioGames with the Blastbay Game Toolkit – Blind Bargains

Quinnipiac University Starts Beta Testing Datatel Mobile Access Application for smartphones

Rabbis oppose Egged plan for audio-visual aids for deaf and blind – screens on buses could be used for "unworthy purposes" claim the ultra-orthodox.

School Boards Required To Comply With New Accessibility Standards – Canada, Litigation, Mediation & Arbitration

Social networking can be an important lifeline for people with disabilities or chronic illnesses – Media dis&dat

Talking Tins – Voice Recorder for Schools and the Visually Impaired – originally designed to help blind people identify tinned foods, talking tins have their uses in education too.

Underway: Overdrive’s Program for Visually Impaired Readers, LEAP (Library eBook Accessibility Program) « ResourceShelf

University adopts award winning mobile technology / Current news / The University of Newcastle, Australia – real-time information on phones, programmed by University student.

Vodafone sends Wayfinder on its way, but cuts own throat on the stage of public perception and opinion – Blind Mind News – Unrestricted Access: Blog

VoiceOver – In Depth – Apple – Accessibility

VoicePrint – the non-profit, 24/7 audio newsstand that broadcasts top stories — international, national, regional and local — from more than 600 Canadian newspapers and magazines into 10 million homes.

WordTalk – free text-to-speech plug-in for Microsoft Word

The Blind Buzz on Accessibility

12 Ways to Increase the Usability and Accessibility of Your Weblog – The 2010 CWAs:

7 usability guidelines for websites on mobile devices – based on research among mobile phone users.

accessible information, disability rights, web accessibility – Low Visionary – there is a series of articles here giving guidelines on writing accessible information.

Accessibility: Why it Matters – Blackboard Blogs

AdapTech Insider: Volume 23 -Flying Blind LLC previews Flying Blind’s contributions to CSUN 2010, including
BLV-1083: Accessible Non-Visual Access to GPS Applications and
BLV-1036: How Far Have We Come with OCR

Analyzing Blogs about Blindness « WRIT 4000: Writing for the Web – looks at Fred’s Head, Perspectives from a Blind Point of View and Voice of the Nation’s Blind (NFB blog – the American NFB, that is).

Assistive Gaming: Making Mac OS X Games Accessible

AssistiveWare – Assistive Technology Audio and Video Podcasts 

AssistiveWare Podcast Feed

ConnSENSE Bulletin – "The NEW ConnSENSE Bulletin is dedicated to becoming your essential resource for the latest assistive technology news and information." 

ConnSENSE Bulletin RSS Feed

DAPD boss recognizes lack of proper access to businesses for disabled persons | Dominica News Online

Disability411 podcast episode 63 – Dann Berkowitz on e-text, Part 1 – sparked off by issues over the Kindle 2 and the accessibility of text by text-to-speech software. 

Disability411 podcast feed

gamelablondon.com – UK producer of multi-media content exclusive to all, including blind students and those with learning disabilities.

Getting Started with Web Accessibility – The Web Squeeze – an overview for people new to accessibility.

Accessability: GWT, ARIA and JAWS screen-reader – Google Web Toolkit | Google Groups

High Accessibility Is Effective Search Engine Optimization – A List Apart: Articles

How Accessible is Safari? | Accessify – using Apple’s browser.

India needs new legislation on Disability Rights – new law should give civil and political rights to people with disabilities, advocates claim.

Internet Explorer 9 will not support Windows XP – Blind Mind News – Unrestricted Access: News

Jaws PDF Desktop, Server and Enterprise Suite software. Jaws PDF Creator and Editor Software – I can see trouble ahead – this isn’t Freedom Scientific’s software.

Keyboard Accessibility – Providing Keyboard Shortcuts Using accesskey – WebAIM

Letter from the Editor – Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind – the magazine will be available on NFB-Newsline from Tuesday, m March 30th.

NIMAC, Bookshare and Your Students – What’s Next?: Webinar on March 31st, 2010 | DAISY Consortium

Palm webOS Smartphones to be Available for AT&T Customers

Peter Ganza’s Blog – the world of accessibility 

Peter Ganza’s Blog RSS Feed

Personalised website for everyone within four years – Telegraph – "Everyone in the country will be given their own personalised website page within four years in order to cut down the cost of dealing with officials, Gordon Brown has said. " Er, run that past me 50 more times….

Play Free Games – PhysBallz – Physics Games – test your colour blindness and increase your concentration.

Prime minister Gordon Brown defends £6 internet levy – Brand Republic – market forces won’t provide decent broadband, so TAX THE PEASANTRY!”

Publishing company subscribes to BrowseAloud… – Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blindwill implement this text-to-speech software on its site.

ThickButtons Launches Accurate, Convenient Typing for Touchscreen Phones: Financial News – Yahoo! Finance – this app is for Android phones.

Video on the Web – Dive Into HTML5

Voicetoaim – Voice translated into text through IP

Web Accessibility for Online Learning – don’t let your content be a missed opportunity.

Windows 7 – The Start Menu « CathyAnne Murtha – using the menu from the keyboard.

The Blind Buzz on Accessibility

A small apology if necessary – because WordPress seems to have had some downtime today, some of the links here haven’t been checked as they would usually be checked. Chances are that they’re fine, but time will tell.

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A few upcoming free technology webinars – The Assistive Technology Blog

Accessible-devices.com Podcast – Show 11 Computer Utilities and Odds and Ends 

Accessible Devices Podcast Feed

Accessible drag and drop using WAI-ARIA – Opera Developer Community

Accessible form builder – Generate XHTML-compliant accessible forms quickly and easily | Accessify

Accessible Open Source Content Management System – TYPOlight Open Source CMS – to produce well-organised and accessible web sites.

Accessible World Tek Talk Presents a Discussion of iTunes with JAWS 11, February 8, 2010 by Brian Hartgen | Accessible World

Adobe is Bad for Open Government – Sunlight Labs: Blog

AIM 7.2 Integrates with Facebook Chat | SSB BART Group – improves accessibility to Facebook.

Airline staff refuses to help blind man from the Deccan Herald

Ai Squared sponsored show "Cooking Without Looking" goes national – ai squared – making accessibility simple

ARC Accessibility Simulations – Home Page – simulations of the ways in which various disabled people may interact with Blackboard. This is for awareness-raising.

Are You Aware February 10, 2010 | VisionAWARE newsletter of zVISIONAWARE.ORG

Built-in video arrives in Opera beta | Deep Tech – CNET News and still Opera refuses to work with my screen reader. Why haven’t they ever got this right? Is this the fastest critique on the Web?

Computer Training for the Over 50s – based in southern England. Online learning materials are free, and you can pay for a tutor to visit.

csun10 – APH to Present Half-day Book Port Plus Workshop, Release Projected Beforehand « The BAT Channel

csun10 – Wireless Downloads coming to Plextalk Pocket – Blind Bargains

Design for Disability Will Become the Norm – The Chronicle Review – The Chronicle of Higher Education – as the population ages, the penny’s dropped that accessibility is good for everyone.

Disabled score voting victory | Toronto & GTA | News | Toronto Sun – elections must be made more accessible in the whole of Canada, human rights judgement says

Dolphin – Version 11.50 out now – FREE for ALL version 11 users

EASI Webinar: NonVisual Desktop Access free open source Screen Reader – use this link to register for the webinar scheduled for Wed. March 3, 9 GMT in the US, times are 1 PM Pacific, 2 PM Mountain,

Expedia Offers New Option for Disabled Travelers – find out which hotels can offer facilities for people with disabilities.

Full Screen Weather : Weather Underground – partly accessible with a screen reader.

Google Buzz Has Completely Changed the Game: Here’s How « The BAT Channel – what Google Buzz might mean for the social networking environment.

Humanware releases version 3.1 of the Victor Reader Stream firmware – AccessTech News

Internet Your Way to a New Job (JOBONLINE – National Braille Press (USA)) – $11.95 Braille and e-book.

iPad: no books here and an interesting diversity challenge – The Mobiliser » Blog Archive – no iPad books in the UK at the moment, and some criticisms of Apple’s software.

[Audio] iPhone Review – Action for Blind People

Law Office of Lainey Feingold – Disability Rights Legal Advocacy – Home Page – has represented blind and visually impaired people in class actions in the USA.

[Video] Mac OSX Universal Access features for sight impaired users – YouTube

[Audio] Michel Pepin Talks Oratio in Extended Interview – Blind Bargains – Oratio is Humanware’s screen reader for the Blackberry smartphone.

Mobile Speak 4.01 for Symbian phones has been released – Blind Bargains – maintenance update of CodeFactory’s screen reader.

Monthly Event Calendar | Accessible World – podcasts, webcasts and e-learning.

Olympus Announces New Accessible Recorders with Text-to-speech, Drastic Cut in Battery Life – Blind Bargains

Qwitter Client – an accessible Twitter interface for blind people.

REAPER | Download – trial version (fully working) of this music editing software is reportedly accessible to screen readers.

SeroTalk Podcast 35 – Lots of News, 5 Things for the iPhone, and 3 Radios Under $100 « SeroTalk

Solona teams up with independent developers to make Captcha Solving much easier – Fred’s Head

‘Talking’ bus stops for blind – pilot project in Leicester, UK, using the Star Trak bus information system.

Teaching about accessibility – via @saraheborne – Hello Happy Pitbulls » Blog Archive – Alan Brightman of Yahoo! explains how staff are made aware of accessibility needs. Better late than never, I suppose.

The Government’s medicines watchdog want to put their comprehensive and up to date medicine information online. Is this a good idea? How would you use it? – they don’t say which government!

The Internet Archive: An Untapped Resource for the Blind – Braille Monitor – set up in 1996, the Internet Archive’s mission was to make knowledge universally available. In partnership with the NFB, they are making efforts to make it accessible to blind people.

The one handed typing tutor – Learn to touch type with one hand. Suitable for child and adult. One handed typing helps people with a disability in education and employment. Become a one hand typist

The Top 5 Roadblocks To Web Accessibility – Karl Groves asserts that accessibility is the last thing on the minds of web designers, and explains why it is important, and the major pitfalls.

Theatre for the blind gives unique insight at Upton Village Hall show – Chester Chronicle – local production of ‘Jane Eyre’ will be audio described.

TidyRead Turns Your Web Reading into a Fast, Smooth, No-fringe Experience Again – extension available for Firefox, Chrome and Internet Explorer. Results for me have been a bit patchy, I must say.

U.S. to Celebrate World Standards Day 2010 with a Focus on Standards for Accessibility

Usability.Edu: 25 Incredibly Useful Usability Cheat Sheets & Checklists | Designer City, USA

UIC Accessibility Guide for Non HTML Formats including PDF, Word, Powerpoint, multimedia formats.

Vodaphone… get blind pedestrians back on track! – group aims to save Wayfinder Access GPS software. Thanks to Top Tech Tidbits for this one.

Win a new VW Urban Fox or £10,000 in our Big Spring Prize Draw 2010 – Action for Blind People – hey, does the car include driving lessons?