Cant See the Chalkboard Unfold the Transformer Capture It

In school, few skills are as paramount as reading and taking down what the teacher writes on the board. But if you're visually impaired, this simple task can separate you from class participation, higher test scores, and stress-free learning.

Enhanced Vision's Transformer, a portable desktop video magnifier, is one of those rare products in which assistive technology's promise is fully realized.

A student points the Transformer's digital camera at the board and a magnified view of what's there is displayed on their PC. They can click and save a snapshot of the notes for later transcription.

With the camera pointed down, they can enlarge reading material and magnify any paper and use the screen as a writing guide.

The Transformer goes beyond addressing a need. The efficiency it affords students in more easily capturing and processing information can lead to new levels of attentiveness and confidence.

NHAB Turns 100 An Age Many Boomers Will Face with Diminished Vision

Last Friday, I saw blindness advocate Randy Pierce off on the homeward half of his historic 100-mile walk honoring the New Hampshire Association for the Blind. Pierce was walking one mile for each year NHAB has served the blind and visually impaired.

One hundred years is significant. It's an age many baby boomers will live to see and a life term destined to swell the ranks of persons with low vision.

As I watched Randy and his guide dog, Quinn leave on their all-night quest to Concord, what struck me was the vital role organizations such as NHAB will play in the coming decades.

Keeping pace with life expectancy is our growing expectation of maintaining independent lives. The challenge is that such autonomy requires low-vision services -- including assistive technology -- that most people aren't aware of, can't find, or are too proud or stubborn to seek.

While Gen-Xers will grow up deploying digital solutions for every life skill, and will likely ride in driverless cars, today's seniors are more likely to benefit from home visits, training on products that promote independent living, and volunteer drivers -- services NHAB provides.

Check the American Foundation for the Blind website to find associations for the blind in your state or province. Most provide services such as low-vision evaluations and counseling, orientation and mobility training, rehabilitation, peer and family support services, and connections to relevant community agencies.

A key function such agencies provide is an introduction to and training on assistive technology products, including:

• Screen readers
• Desktop video magnifiers
• Braille notetakers and refreshable displays
• OCR scan-and-read solutions.

I'm an NHAB client and serve on its Seacoast Advisory Committee.

Your Operating System Just Might Have All the Accessibility You Need

My iMac ran long on OS X Leopard. I want Lion, the latest operating system. But to upgrade, I first had to pay $29 for Snow Leopard, the intervening release.

Paying for one upgrade just to get another seems unfair. What assuages me is all that free assistive technology in each Apple machine.

Snow Leopard integrates VoiceOver (its built-in screen reader) with the Multi-Touch trackpad, enabling blind users to hear what's onscreen with the swipe of a finger.

The trackpad also makes navigation and input easier for people with some mobility impairments.

The operating system's improved video resolution also makes signing and lip reading during iChat video conversations more reliable to deaf and hard-of-hearing individuals.

Even though I'll have to spend another $29 to download Lion from the App Store, upgrading to Snow Leopard reminded me how vital it is to keep up with accessibility features many of us have, but may not realize it.

So take a tour of your system's accessibility settings and applications.

Whether you use a Mac or a PC, you already have solutions that can make your computer easier to use.

NBP Book Profiles 21 MustHave iPhone Apps for Blind Users

National Braille Press has released Twenty-One iPhone Apps We Can't Live Without, its fourth iPhone guide for blind and visually impaired people.

The book, co-written by Judy Dixon and Doug Wakefield, profiles 21 iOS apps -- including several relating to travel -- designed to increase independence and quality of life. Most of the apps are free; none costs more than $2.00.

Apps profiled include: Amazon Mobile, Big Oven, DropVox, Taxi Magic, and VizWiz, which enables users to take pictures, ask questions, and get fast answers about their surroundings and objects in it, e.g. is this can green beans or dog food?

The booklet also covers how to navigate the App Store to buy, download, and update apps.

The book assumes users have an iTunes account and are familiar with the iPhone and the VoiceOver screen reader.

Twenty-One Apps We Can't Live Without costs $9.00 and is available in braille, web braille (CD or download), Microsoft Word (CD or download), and in DAISY CD format.

You can order the book from the National Braille Press website.

Also available from NBP:

• Getting Started with the iPhone: An Introduction for Blind Users
• Twenty-Six Useful Apps for Blind iPhone Users
• The iPhone Tactile Screenshot Quick Reference Guide

The Mother or at Least the Child of All Magnification Solutions

Built-in accessibility features and magnification apps offer visually impaired people new ways to enlarge words and images.

The Eyesight and VisionAssist apps provide iOS users with a mobile magnifier for a few dollars -- hundreds and sometimes thousands less than desktop video magnifiers cost. Even pocket models such as Enhanced Vision's Amigo costs $1,695.

Dedicated devices such as the Optelec Compact 5 HD do still boast the highest quality optics and resolution of any product.
In-between solutions include the $199 Eazy Reader, which provides a small camera and cable for turning one's TV into a CCTV.

All of these solutions, and the evolution of Apple TV, may be converging to provide the ultimate magnification solution: using AirPlay to display iOS content on a large HDTV monitor.

AppleTV is a little fat cube you hook up between your iOS device and HDTV. It comes with a small remote.

With AirPlay, you can project photos, videos, web pages, and applications on the big screen and are still able to use accessibility features, including VoiceOver and Zoom. Screen clarity remains intact, even on a 50-inch monitor.

This is not a magnification setup any vocational rehabilitation is likely to approve. It's more of a felicitous conjunction of technologies that many visually impaired people will have access to in the coming months and years.

Mistype Every Letter Fleksy Still Knows What Keys You Meant

Typing on a mobile device is frustrating for people who are blind and visually impaired. Using landscape view enlarges the keys a little, but tapping the right one is a constant battle.

So when I read about the Fleksy iOS app, I was intrigued. After seeing it in action, I was blown away. This app may represent the most significant leap in accessibility for blind people since the screen reader.

Fleksy uses next-generation pattern recognition technology to decipher words as one types. But this is no mere word prediction or auto-correct utility: tap anywhere near the intended keys, and Fleksy deduces the word you want and speaks it aloud.

It's almost comic to watch the video demo on developer Syntellia's website.

I rely on Google auto-correct ("Did you mean...") more than I should, but with Fleksy, you can miss every key and still type the write word.

Provided the user knows the layout of a QWERTY keyboard, Fleksy makes it possible for a blind person to type as fast and as accurately as any sighted user.

The app's not perfect: it costs $15 and takes getting used to. But removing the need to see keys while enabling access to them is an in an achievement.

Cant See the Chalkboard Unfold the Transformer Capture It

In school, few skills are as paramount as reading and taking down what the teacher writes on the board. But if you're visually impaired, this simple task can separate you from class participation, higher test scores, and stress-free learning.

Enhanced Vision's Transformer, a portable desktop video magnifier, is one of those rare products in which assistive technology's promise is fully realized.

A student points the Transformer's digital camera at the board and a magnified view of what's there is displayed on their PC. They can click and save a snapshot of the notes for later transcription.

With the camera pointed down, they can enlarge reading material and magnify any paper and use the screen as a writing guide.

The Transformer goes beyond addressing a need. The efficiency it affords students in more easily capturing and processing information can lead to new levels of attentiveness and confidence.