Braille – Blind Access Journal: Recent Episodes
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In this approximately 45-minute podcast, Allison, Allyssa and Darrell Hilliker talk with Dr. Denise Robinson all about her company, TechVision and her thoughts about the education of blind children and adults. Listen or Pause: Denise Robinson Download: Denise Robinson TechVision Low-cost technology lessons for blind children and adults from a certified teacher of the visually… Finish Reading Never Say “No”: Expand Your TechVision with Dr. Denise Robinson
iOS 8 hit the street with accessibility bugs that severely impact bluetooth keyboards, Braille support, screen scrolling and other critical areas of the operating system on which blind VoiceOver users rely in order to effectively use iOS devices. A list of The Accessibility Bugs in iOS 8: From Serious To Minor effectively describes the situation… Finish Reading iOS 8 Accessibility Call to Action
In this approximately 22-minute podcast, Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow speak with Sean Kelleher from Electronic Brailler LLC and learn all about the portable, quiet Cosmo Braille Writer for blind children and adults. Listen or Pause – Electronic Brailler Download – Electronic Brailler We love hearing from our listeners! Please feel free to talk with… Finish Reading Electronic Brailler
In this approximately 11-minute podcast, Allison Hilliker and Emily Gibbs talk about a summer Braille learning program for blind children. The two-week Braille Enrichment for Literacy and Learning (BELL) program focuses on intensive Braille instruction for children with some residual sight who might not otherwise be granted the opportunity to learn this important skill. Listen… Finish Reading Let Literacy Ring: an Overview of the NFB BELL Program for Blind Children
Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow chat with Gayle Yarnall and learn all about the Perkins Products Mini Braille display. Listen or Pause – Perkins Products Mini Braille Display Download – Perkins Products Mini Braille Display We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing of our CSUN podcasts.… Finish Reading CSUN: Perkins Products Mini Braille Display
Allison Hilliker and Darrell Shandrow talk with Ryan Jones all about Freedom Scientific’s soon-to-be-released Focus 14 Blue Braille display. Listen or Pause – Freedom Scientific Focus 14 Blue Braille Display Download – Freedom Scientific Focus 14 Blue Braille Display We thank Jeff Bishop (@jeffbishop) for his tireless hours of dedicated work on the audio editing… Finish Reading CSUN: Freedom Scientific Focus 14 Blue Braille Display
I had an enlightening conversation with Dr. Robert Stepp, where I learned that the Braille 2000 translation software for transcribers is accidentally accessible but not marketed for use by blind people. I think we ended on a positive note, and I hope many of you will find this an interesting look at how some small companies in our own field employ many of the same arguments as the mainstream technology industry to explain why they are not fully accessible.
Finish Reading CSUN: Braille 2000 and Accidental Accessibility
Index Braille CEO Björn Löfstedt told me all about the refresh of the company's popular Basic and Everest Braille embossers. The updated features in the new hardware include front-panel status LEDs, multi-lingual speech for the user interface, network printing and USB connectivity.
Finish Reading CSUN: Index Modernizes the Basic and Everest Braille Embossers
I spoke with Jason Castaneda from American Thermoform Corporation, who discussed and demonstrated the Braille and Print embosser and the Swell-Form tactile graphics machine.
Finish Reading CSUN: Braille and Print on the Same Page and Tactile Graphics
Just in case you're thinking there's nothing new and innovative in the field of hardcopy Braille production, Index Braille is here to turn heads with the new 800-pages-per-hour Braille Box! I spoke with Björn Löfstedt, Index Braille's CEO, about this fast, quiet $13,000 Braille embosser that should find a home in many Braille production houses around the world.
Finish Reading CSUN: Churning Out the Dots at 800 Pages Per Hour on the Index Braille Box!
Tyler Juranek demonstrates the iPod Touch with VoiceOver and the Refreshabraille 18 display.
Tyler covers a number of topics in this approximately 30-minute podcast, including:
- A physical description of the Refreshabraille 18 with commentary and a demonstration of its durability.
- A thorough demonstration of the process for pairing the Refreshabraille with the iPod Touch using Bluetooth.
- Remote control and navigation of the iPod Touch using the controls on the Refreshabraille from a distance.
- Contracted Braille keyboard text entry.
- Using VoiceOver Practice Mode to demonstrate a possibly easy means for teaching and learning Braille.
I am honored to welcome Tyler to the Blind Access Journal podcast for his excellent debut. We are looking forward to many more contributions.
Finish Reading Exploring the iPod Touch and Learning Braille Using the Refreshabraille 18 Display
In the summer of 2009, I was interviewed by Rachel Aviv, a reporter with the New York Times, for a story about Braille literacy. The following in-depth article, published on Dec. 30, contains quotes from me and represents the culmination of a great deal of interesting research on the subject. A plain-text copy of the… Finish Reading Listening to Braille
I learned over on the FreedomBox forum that the writer of Imagine is Carl Jarvis, a blind man from Washington State. The article was apparently published in The Braille Forum, the American Council of the Blind’s monthly magazine, but I have not yet been able to locate the issue containing this work. I just want… Finish Reading Writer of the Imagine Article Identified
This is an absolutely amazing article by an anonymous writer! It is a must-read for everyone, blind and sighted alike. Imagine: You’ve just entered your office on what may well be the most hectic, stressful day of your life. Suddenly you realize all of your reference books, piles of paper-work and notes are covered with… Finish Reading Imagine!