🚀 go-pugleaf

                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1072

                           Friday, August 12, 1994

Today's Topics:


                                ******


                   Change of Internet Address + Other Info
                     Re: identify dollars for the blind
           Summary Sale of Wordperfect 5.1 Tutorial for the Blind
                     Re: identify dollars for the blind
                Talking Book Topics Available on the Internet
                          Re: Braille Resource Info
                                   Braille
              Re: Talking Book Topics Available on the Internet


                                ******


To subscribe to the Blind News Digest mailing list or have your
thoughts in the next issue, please send electronic mail to
Bill McGarry at any of the following addresses:


UUCP:       uunet!bunker!wtm
INTERNET:   wtm@bunker.afd.olivetti.com
BITNET:     blindnws@ndsuvm1.bitnet
Fidonet:    The Handicap News BBS (141/420)   1-203-926-6168
            (300 - 14,400 baud, 24 hours)

                              Bill McGarry (Moderator)
                              (203) 926-6187



------



Subject: Change of Internet Address + Other Info
From: HHDT58A@PRODIGY.COM (Jim Breene)

[Note from Bill McGarry: This is from the EASI mailing list and
 I have deleted large portions of the posting since the section
 that I would like the readers to help Jim with is Internet access
 in his area.]

To people of the EASI network:  I have lost my Internet addressing
capability.  Hopefully, it will be temporary but in the meantime, I have
had to drop from the EASI and EASI-library distribution lists.

Thankfully, I have an Internet address via PRODIGY.  The bad part is I have
to pay a COD charge for each incoming message.  With the general EASI and
Library volume of messages, it is prohibitive to get the whole distribution.

If you have sent me a message since July 1 at my RIT or St. John's address,
I have not received those notes.  If you have occasion to address a note to
me, please use my PRODIGY Internet address.  It is:

  HHDT58A@PRODIGY.COM

[about 50 lines of other subjects deleted]

Please excuse me for being so long-winded.  I feel like I am in withdrawal
in not being in communication since July 1.  Most of that time I have been
in transit with family illness but I do swing back through Atlanta every
couple of weeks and pick up messages.  It looks like our travels are over
for the immediate time as my mother-in-law has passed the critical time
with pneumonia and bacterial infection.

My loss of Internet access via RIT and St. John's is caused by PSI-net
limiting use of their facility to official campus personnel.  As many of
you know, I am an IBM retiree who does consulting work for EASI and other
universities on the use of computer technology accommodations and other
issues dealing with ADA and compliance.  If anyone, particularly in the
Atlanta area at Georgia Tech, the University of Georgia, Georgia State,
Kennesaw State or other local groups have any ideas on getting me Internet
access through your facilities, please let me know.  My phone number is
(404) 934-3440.

Jim Breene
Internet:  HHDT58A@PRODIGY.COM




------



Subject: Re: identify dollars for the blind
From: raman@cs.cornell.edu (T V Raman)
Organization: Cornell Univ. CS Dept, Ithaca NY 14853

I think a currency identifier is a necessity. Yes, i can fold my bills
and identify them for later, but as the earlier poster pointed out,
there is still the problem of initially identifying the bill.

Simply put, the current currency notes do not meet the accessibility
requirements under ADA.

Back home in India, the solution was simple: since the notes were of
different sizes, all you did was hold a folded note between finger and
thumb and the amount it stuck out told you the denomination.

I think  dollar bills of the same size are too deeply embedded in
North American culture now to be changed.
However there is hope:

The reason why the current currency identifiers cost a fortune is that
they are specialized devices.
I saw one at CSUN and was shocked at the price: I said I would buy one
only if it cost less than the amount of cash I carry in my wallet at
any given time, so something between 20.00 and 30.00

This said, the US Government is currently looking into a redesign of
the currency in order to beat forgers. This might be a good time for
those of us interested to get our act together and try and influence
Congress into putting some accessibility requirements into the new
currency.

This could be something as simple as a specialized watermark that is
easy to identify using a simple inexpensive device.

I think piggy-backing the accessibility requirement on the current
redesign is a great of achieving accessibility of the currency: it's
not going to happen otherwise.


--
   T. V. Raman <raman@cs.cornell.edu>




------



Subject: Summary Sale of Wordperfect 5.1 Tutorial for the Blind
From: pduran@world.std.com (Peter Duran)

                           Summer Sale
                       Thirty Percent Off

                ACCESSIBLE TUTORIAL NOW AVAILABLE
                     For WordPerfect 5.0/5.1

ARTS Computer Products, Inc. is a reseller and developer of
computer products for the blind and visually impaired.

The disabled PC user can use a word processor in various creative
ways:  to store names and addresses for future reference; to save
instructions for home appliances and for equipment at work; to jot
down TV and radio schedules; and of course, to write letters.  The
word processor of choice is most often WordPerfect 5.1 -- the DOS
version.

Now, accessible instructional material for WordPerfect 5.1 is
available.  The Perfect Scribe is a tutorial especially written for
disabled PC users by ARTS Computer Products, Inc.  Short, simple
lessons present the basic information in a format convenient for
visually impaired and blind PC users.  All displays are given
careful and complete verbal descriptions.

The Perfect Scribe, in use for 2 years, is user tested and user
approved.  It covers material and techniques common to WordPerfect
5.1 as well as WordPerfect 5.0.  Topics of interest to disabled
users are emphasized and irrelevant material (graphics unaccessible
to most users) is omitted for the sake of brevity.

Access Notes are included that guide the blind PC user in the
proper setup and use of voice programs.  They explain which keys to
assign to voice functions like Speak Character and Speak Word.
They explain display layouts like the location of the Cursor and
the Status Line on the Edit screen and how to hear this
information.

The Perfect Scribe is available in Grade 2 braille ($75.00), in
print ($45.00), large print ($55.00), on 2-track audio cassette
($55.00), and, of course, on disk ($45.00), in ASCII format.
(Please add $5.00 for shipping.)

Please call 800-343-0095 or write to ask questions, or to receive
further information on the Perfect Scribe and other products we
sell.




------



Subject: Re: identify dollars for the blind
From: samwick@sol.cms.uncwil.edu (Mark Samwick)
Organization: University of North Carolina @ Wilmington

Back when Richard Nixon was campaigning for the Presidency, he
said that if ellected, he would review the currency situation and
would recommend that Braille markings be included on future designs.
Of course, once elected, nothing ever came of his statements.

But it *was* one of his better ideas!

Maybe it was felt that raised markings would interfer with the
functioning of automatic currency counters.  Who knows?  The
situation definitely needs addressing!





------



Subject: Talking Book Topics Available on the Internet
From: patt@squid.tram.com (Patt Bromberger)

Volume 60, Number 4
July-August 1994 Edition of Talking Book Topics, page 1, says:

"In Brief

Talking Book Topics
Available on the Internet

Talking Book Topics (TBT) is now available to patrons who have access to
computers with connections to the Internet.  The Internet is a wordwide
electronic network that links an estimated twenty-five million computers
in more than 100 countries.  Computer users with Internet capability can
read, search, or obtain an electronic edition of TBT that contains the same
material as the print and recorded editions, except for the index and
order forms.  Readers can also browse through electronic copies of Braille
Book Review, cumulative catalogs, and many reference circulars,
bibliographies, and factsheets.

In addition, the system allows users to search the union catalog of
special format books available through NLS (National Library Service) and
other agencies.  The catalog lists some 225,000 books in braille and audio
formats.  An on-line publication, Union Catalog Online: SCORPIO Files
BPHP and BPHI: A Search Guide, gives readers instructions on identifying
and locating books they may wish to borrow from cooperating libraries.

To access the Library of Congress MARVEL system, telnet (connect) to
marvel.loc.gov
and login as marvel

This will connect you to a "generic" Gopher client.  Only a limited number
of ports are available to outside users for a direct telnet connection.
However, connection is also possible through a local Gopher client or
another Gopher server by pointing to

        marvel.loc.gov port 70

Select menu choice number two, "Events, Facilities, Proggrams and
Services."  Then select p\option six "Services to the Blind and Physically
Handicapped" and follow the available options to access NLS publications
and databases."



--
Patricia Ann Bromberger            -      patt@squid.tram.com
Tramway Unix Systems                   - or -    patt@dorsai.dorsai.org
"Seize the day; make your life extraordinary!" -- Dead Poets Society




------



Subject: Re: Braille Resource Info
From: ECZ5BUR@MVS.OAC.UCLA.EDU (Patrick J. Burke)


Attention braille fans! Some of this may have gone out on the list
fairly recently, but it bears repeating.

The National Braille Press sells a selection of reference-type
materials, mostly technology related, including basic info on DOS,
CD-rom and general adaptive tech overviews, etc, in all the usual
formats. They also offer braille quick reference cards for WP51,
Procomm, Quicken and other programs, as well as a FREE list of
independent braille transcription services.

National Braille Press
88 St. Stephen Street
Boston, MA 02115
Tel 617 266-6160
Fax 617 437-0456




------



Subject: Braille
From: carperv@FRB.GOV (Virginia Carper)

The EEOC office of the Federal Reserve Board requests the
following information:
Agencies or Services that translate documents into
Braille.  Point of contact, cost, etc.

The Federal Reserve Board wishes to make available its
publications, speeches by Governors, and releases to persons
who are blind and wish a permanent copy.

Thank-you.

Virginia Carper
International Finance Division
Federal Reserve Board of Governors
N.W. Washington D.C.

carperv@frb.gov





------



Subject: Re: Talking Book Topics Available on the Internet
From: jcota@delphi.com (Jeff Cota)
Organization: Delphi (info@delphi.com email, 800-695-4005 voice)

How?




------






                                ******

                 End of Issue # 1072 of the Blind News Digest

                                ******