Blind

There is more and more talk about the accessibility of iPhones and iPads. For blind and visually impaired people, it is one of the most accessible devices. But have you wondered how they can access it when all it has is a touch screen?

Last year I had a post discussing if blind people can see. At the moment, the answer was no, but there are some devices which can help a lot. Little did I know...

WASHINGTON – The House last night gave final approval to legislation that significantly expands access for the blind and deaf to technology such as the
internet, smart phones, and video.

“Whether it’s a Braille reader or a broadband connection, access to technology is not a political issue - it’s a participation issue,” said Representative
Ed Markey, a Malden Democrat and author of the legislation. “Two decades ago, Americans with disabilities couldn’t get around if buildings weren’t wheelchair
accessible; today it’s about being Web accessible.”

The measure, which was previously approved by the Senate, is expected to be signed into law next week by President Obama.

Stevie Wonder has recently explained to the U.N.’s World Intellectual Property Organization that its current copyright system denies equal opportunities
for the blind.  He urged delegates to adopt an action plan that would allow the blind and near-blind to side-step copyright rules and give them easier
access to books and learning.  His stance was endorsed by the World Blind Union, which said that in developing countries less than one percent of published
works are available in Braille or audio format.  The number is not much better in industrial nations, to which WBU gave an estimation of five percent.
Wonder stated that reformatting these published works could give the blind and visually impaired access to billions of science, history, and other books
that they currently cannot read.

Donna Jodhan, who is blind, is taking the federal government to court because government websites are not accessible to blind and partially-sighted Internet
users.

Donna Jodhan was one of the first blind people in Canada to earn an MBA, in 1981, and one of the first in the world to obtain technical certifications from
software companies Microsoft and Novell.

So the Toronto accessibility consultant was shocked in 2004 when she had trouble applying for a position posted on the federal government’s jobs website.

The long white cane has been a symbol of blind persons around the world. This simple device has helped millions of blind persons find their way towards the place they want to go to.

It has also inspired a number of electronic mobility devices for blind individuals. Taking the concept of the white cane, developers of assistive technologies have made these electronic devices to enhance the traveling experience of persons who are blind. Most of these devices should be used in conjunction with the cane or other mobility aids.

The Lauriston Hotel must have some of the best sea views of any hotel in Weston-super-Mare – with the redeveloped Grand Pier just a stone's throw away and
the rolling waves of the Bristol Channel glistening all the way to Steep Holm.

The true grandeur of the view has become something of a recurring joke between the staff and the residents at the elegant Victorian hotel – because for
the past 50 years, this remarkable place has been a hotel for the blind.

The Kindle is an electronic book reading device produced by Amazon that provides access to hundreds of thousands of in-copyright books and well over a million
more that are either out of print or in the public domain. In other words, it’s pretty safe to say that if it’s not available on the Kindle it’s not available
in e-book format.

The question we must ask is, “how effectively does the new Kindle 3 make the books in this vast library accessible to blind readers”?

One second is all it takes to know what time it is. That is, if you can see your watch or clock. On the other hand, if you are blind, have low vision, or are deaf blind, it would be a very different situation. You may even think of resorting to the help of others in doing this vital task due to the disability you have.

There are, however, a number of assistive technologies you can use to independently know the time. Below we talk about some of the most common time-related devices and software for blind and visually impaired persons.

ThinkContacts is a new mobile application being developed by Nokia which would allow a disabled person to select a contact from a list and place a phone
call to that person using only their mind. The app, which is designed for Nokia's N900 Maemo platform, works with an accompanying headset that reads the
user's brainwaves to measure attention levels. If the attention level is higher than 70%, the software scrolls to the next contact in the list. If the
attention level is higher than 80%, the software makes a phone call to the selected contact.

It's one of the latest developments in making accessible smartphone applications for the disabled, the blind and deaf.