🚀 go-pugleaf

                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1160

                          Thursday, August 17, 1995

Today's Topics:


                                ******


                          http sight for blinkchat.
                   Accessible Statments from Great Western
   Re: Request for Web Accessibility Tools, Utilities, and Recommendations
                           Braille football cards
                                Capsule Paper
                    new demo of OutSpoken available (fwd)
                                 Windows 95
                 New telnetable bbs for the blind (gbx.org)
                      Where have all the Issue's Gone?
                    MSWORKS for Windows Icon Enlargement
                        adult video discription (fwd)
                        Digital Opthalmology Journal
       Microsoft Disability Access Summit 95 Materials Available (fwd)
          Re: Finding people who are B/VI who are looking for jobs?


                                ******


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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.shel.isc-br.com
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Fidonet:    The Handicap News BBS (141/420)   1-203-926-6168
            (300 - 28,800 baud, 24 hours)

                              Bill McGarry (Moderator)
                              (203) 926-6187



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Subject: http sight for blinkchat.
From: 76455.264@CompuServe.COM (76455.264@compuserve.com)
Organization: none-set

Hello there, all

I would like to know how do I get access to the http sight blinkcat and
also the http sight for dating a ampu?  Any help with this would be greately
appreciated.
--
Later Maurice.



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Subject: Accessible Statments from Great Western
From: kford@teleport.com (Kelly Ford)
Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016

Over the past several months, I've posted to this forum about my
efforts to get various banks, credit card companies and other
such organizations to comply with the ADA and send me account
information in accessible formats.  Those efforts have met with
varying degrees of success.  I'm writing today to request that
those with an interest in this topic and who happen to be
customers of Great Western Bank in California, contact that bank
and express your displeasure with their continued stalling at
taking this issue seriously.

About the only positive thing I can say is that I have managed to
obtain an accessible bank statement each month from Great
Western.  Unfortunately, obtaining this statement has required
numerous phone calls each month to get them to actually do the
work.

When I was receiving the printed account statement, it never
arrived later than the 3rd of the month.  However, after waiting
until the 15th of the month (and this routine has taken place for
the last six months) and still not receiving the accessible
statement I would call the bank's Quality Assurance Department at
(800) 225-5497 where I dealt with a Gail Bermann.  I would
express my displeasure at not receiving the statement and without
fail UPS would deliver a taped statement within two days.

I was also repeatedly told that I was the only Great Western
customer making such requests.  The point I made to the bank was
that local branches were still telling customers that they
couldn't make accessible statements.  Great Western claims to
have sent a memo to all branches indicating that they will indeed
make accessible bank statements on request.  However, my calls to
20 local branches couldn't find a single branch that knew a thing
about it.  Even the bank's general marketing department available
at (800) 492-7587 knew nothing about this policy.

What Can You Do

If you are a Great Western customer wishing to receive accessible
bank statements, don't take no for an answer.  The law mandates
that the bank provide this service no matter what your local
branch tells you.  If your local branch manager tells you they
can't do this have him or her contact Gail Berrmann and contact
her yourself.

If you know someone who is a Great Western customer who could use
an accessible statement, share this information with them.




Kelly Ford
kford@teleport.com
See my home page at http://metro.turnpike.net/kford/index.html.




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Subject: Re: Request for Web Accessibility Tools, Utilities, and Recommendations
From: senkmj@ptbma.usbm.gov (Mark J. Senk WB3CAI)



Mark Senk       (412) 892-6513  ms5@usbm.gov

---------- Forwarded message ----------
 Date: Mon, 14 Aug 1995 11:40:48 -0500
 From: Gregg C. Vanderheiden <gcvander@facstaff.wisc.edu>
 To: Multiple recipients of list <uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu>
 Subject: Re: Request for Web Accessibility Tools, Utilities, and
 Recommendations

Dear Collegues:

Recently I was approached by a major publisher and asked if I would be
interested in compiling a guide for building an accessible World Wide Web site
for people with disabilities. The intended audience for the book is *not*
people with disabilities, but rather system administrators and internet service
providers.

The opportunity to educate the WWW audience and potentially the designers of
the Web and NII is one too good to pass up. Additionally, the public relations
plan the publisher has put together provides me with another opportunity to
generate a great measure of awareness around the issues of accessibility.

Additionally, the publisher has agreed to provide the source documents to ANY
braille publisher at no charge. I am personally building the publication using
SGML to insure a smooth conversion to braille, large text, and voice-ready.
Finally, they have agreed to donate a percentage of the books' revenues to a
nonprofit organization of my choice (I've already identified a
disabilities/accessibility organization).

The book will contain a CDROM that will contain accessibility tools  and
utilities that might assist a system administrator in providing easier access
to his/her site. I already have several freeware and shareware utilities. I
also have commitments from 3 industry vendors to place their Web applications
on the CD.

This mail is a request for your help. For the most part, I have collected much
of the data that I need for the book. In fact, 10 chapters are already done.
However, I believe that an important contributing factor to the book would be
to have your important input. I am open to anything and everything you might
want to be sure I include in the book. Hints, recommendations, techniques,
utlities, tools, etc..etc... I will be sure that anyone who contributes will
receive acknowledgements within the publication. Please note that this also
includes FTP, Gopher, Telnet, WAIS, and any other internet applications you are
using. Most of these are accessible on Websites. Oh yes, I will be featuring
accessibility/disability Websites in the book. So if you want me to feature it,
please be sure to let me know, so I can be sure to get a screen capture of it.

In advance, I would like to thank you all very much for your consideration and
help. It is my goal to insure that this book is on the shelf of every system
administrator and internet service provider here in the States and
internationally. Feel free to inquire of me at any time. I will respond to all
requests and replies. You can send me email at this address or at my webserver
address which is: mpaciello@www.webable.com

Regards,



------

----------
|d|i|g|i|t|a|l|
Michael G. Paciello                              Paciello@shane.enet.dec.com
Usability Expertise Center                       Phone: (603) 881-1831 (w)
Program Manager                                  Phone: (603) 598-9544 (soho)
Vision Impaired Information Services (VIIS)      FAX: (603) 881-0120
ViceChair: Electronics Industries Association/Assistive Devices Division
PR Chair: International Committee for Accessible Document Design (ICADD)
Member: Project EASI (Easy Access to Software and Information)
Member: Disabilities Access for X (DACx)
Member: NCSA/NSF Mosaic Access Project (MAP)
Member: Universal Access Project (UAP)
Author: ACCESS.TXT
Owner: WebABLE (TM) (WWW Server for Accessibility and Disabilities)
URL: http://www.webable.com


------

----------






------



Subject: Braille football cards
From: GailMBurns@aol.com

I uncovered a bunch of braille football cards while cleaning my office
today.  They were printed in 1992 by Action Packed and feature the
following players:
Mark Rypien                '91 NFC Passing Yardage Leader
Warren Moon               '91 AFC Passing Yardage Leader
Emmitt Smith               '91 NFC Rushing Leader
Thurman Thomas          '91 AFC Rushing Leader
Michael Irvin                 '91 NFC Recieveing Leader
Haywood Jeffries          '91 AFC Recieving Leader
Pat Swilling                 '91 NFC Sack Leader
Ronnie Lott                  '91 AFC Interception Leader

The front of the card features a raised line photo of the player in action
and on the
back the name and information that appears above in braille.  There are
about 50 cards and they are all in mint condition.

I would love to see these end up in the hands of football fans - visually
impaired or otehrwise (they would make great stocking stuffers!)  Make me an
offer via e-mail if you are interested (all reasonable offers accepted!)

Gail
GailMBurns@aol.com





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Subject: Capsule Paper
From: s.ungar@sheffield.ac.uk (Simon Ungar)

On Friday 21/7/95 Dorothy Lenard asked about:-
> capsule paper, with which one could custom make raised line maps. Can
>anybody > tell me of a source?

There are several sources in the UK (RNIB and Zychem Ltd as well as the
Queen Alexandra College source mentioned in the Blind News #1156). They
differ greatly in quality and in suitability for particular applications
(e.g. some are better for producing fine lines from computer generated
tactile maps and others are better for coaser hand-drawn lines.

If you find a number of suppliers, try and get them all to send you a
sample to test.

Simon Ungar




  *****************************************************************
    DR.SIMON UNGAR                Tel:    +44 (0) 114 282 6556
    Deparment of Psychology       Fax:    +44 (0) 114 276 6515
    University of Sheffield       e-mail: s.ungar@sheffield.ac.uk
    Western Bank
    Sheffield S10 2TP
    U.K.
  *****************************************************************





------



Subject: new demo of OutSpoken available (fwd)
From: senkmj@ptbma.usbm.gov (Mark J. Senk WB3CAI)



Mark Senk       (412) 892-6513  ms5@usbm.gov


New outSPOKEN for Windows Version 1.1 Demo Now Available

The latest free demo version of outSPOKEN for Windows (oSW), version 1.1,
offers all the new features of outSPOKEN 1.1, with fewer demo restrictions.
The new demo is now available from access.berksys.com via the World Wide
Web or anonymous FTP. Check it out!

To connect to our Web site, point your browser at http://access.berksys.com
To download demos via anonymous FTP, connect to access.berksys.com and look
in the /pub/osw directory.

New features of oSW 1.1 include:
-- A feature that reads an entire document with a single command
-- A single key command to read a whole window
-- Automatic dialog box reading and improved Tab support
-- Improved support for a number of popular applications including MS
Access, MS Mail, America On-Line, Omnipage Pro, and many others.

Fewer Demo Restrictions:
The new oSW 1.1 demo now allows you to exit Windows without rebooting your
computer. It also offers more than twice as many keystrokes as our previous
demos.

To get more information about our products, send e-mail to
access@berksys.com, or send snail-mail to:
Berkeley Access
2095 Rose St.
Berkeley, CA 94709
Phone: (510) 883-6280
FAX: (510) 883-6270


--------------------------------
>I sent my litetalk back to Microtalk for upgrade.
>I tried to just run the echo driver with my home installation of osw
>demo.  btw, is there a 1.1 demo?
>Do I have to uninstall OSW / litetalk on lpt1 to use the echo?
>For some reason running the echo driver /s2 does not give me a voice
>responce.  I get trash when I runwin / osw .
>I have had success with litetalk and no mouse attached.
>even if the synthesizer is not attached, I have run win / osw and used my
>girlfriend as a reader.
>
>
>Mark Senk       (412) 892-6513  ms5@usbm.gov




Mark Senk       (412) 892-6513  ms5@usbm.gov





------



Subject: Windows 95
From: kford@teleport.com (Kelly Ford)
Organization: Teleport - Portland's Public Access (503) 220-1016

Microsoft is about to take Windows 95 on the road and promote the heck
out of it.  They are, according to an AP wire story, starting a 10 week tour.

I'd imagine that dozens of local and national papers are soon to be
filled with computer columns extoling the virtues of this new operating
system.  I'd also imagine that few will talk about what this means for
those who use screen readers.


Does your local paper have a computer column?  If so I'd urge you to
write a letter to the author of that column and explain what Windows 95
means to people that are blind.

Send me the name and address of your columnist and I'll collect them and
make them available on my web page.

The AP wire story I read said Microsoft is spending some 200 million on
advertising for Windows 95.  Imagine what kind of screen reader could be
developed if they spent a tenth of that on access.

Now I know Microsoft has come along way with respect to accessibility
issues but Windows 95 is still, to the best of my knowledge, not going to
work with a screen reader on August 24.  So what's going to happen to
people that are blind who need to use the operating system.

How many people that are blind are sysops on the Microsoft Network for
example when that network requires that one use Windows 95.  We are being
closed out and should inform the computing press about one not so grand
impact of Windows 95.

Kelly Ford

kford@teleport.com

See my home page at http://metro.turnpike.net/kford/index.html.





------



Subject: New telnetable bbs for the blind (gbx.org)
From: kysor@netcom.com


For Immediate Release:
The Global Blind Exchange GBX is now on the Internet!
A full service BBS (Bulletin Board System) now run by and for blind people.
GBX has been online on the internet now since June 21, 1995.
Telnet or Rlogin to GBX.ORG or IP 165.90.138.192
Files!
Teleconferencing!
Fido Net!
Messaging!
Cross system linking!

A single Source Service for both blind consumers and professionals in the
field of blindness

GBX is still under construction and we are adding new features and support but
we are online 22 hours a day except 0300 hours to 04:30 hours.
For further information on the Global Blind Exchange, E mail the system
operator, Dan Kysor at DKYSOR@GBX.ORG





------



Subject: Where have all the Issue's Gone?
From: KSEVEN@delphi.com (KSEVEN)

I hope that the lack of Blind News Digest Issues has simply meant that
people have been gone to conventions.  Or have I somehow gotten myself taken
off the List Server?  Whatever the case, I miss the news, and have some more
of my own to share, so here it comes and I hope it serves you well...

I loaded a copy of WORDSCAN 3.0 into WINDOWS for our HP SCANJET IIP and was
pleased and a bit surprised to discover what a nice job it does scanning
materials and putting them into Word Perfect so that I can edit and read
them. I have since learned that others have done the same with this ando
ther Scanner software that comes bundled with scanners ranging in price
from $100.00 to $1000.00. I have not yet found a DOS based scanner package,
so do need to use my speech access to WINDOWS in order to take advantage of
this  very low cost OCR process, but I am not sure a DOS version  doesn't
 exist.

The point is that while the products for the blind do work for us, so do
off-the-shelf products designed and priced for sighted people. This makes me
wonder several things.
     1.  Why don't more of us know about general market products that would
meet our specialized needs?
     2.  Why don't vendors of products for blind people reflect such
availability in the pricing of their products?
     3.  What else don't we know about? And how are we going to find out?

A friend just bought a computer that includes speech with its word
processing program.  I don't know how detailed the speech may be and I don't
know if it would actually meet the needs of a totally blind writer, but this
was not a specially designed product. With more and more speech access being
included on computers as a matter of course, it causes contemplation about
what willl become of blindness products altogether.  Certainly the emphasis
now needs to be on screen access, rather than on hardware to do the talking.
But will even this be necessary six months from now? And will anyone tell us
if it is not?

It seems to me that access to information is becoming more critical the
faster things change.  List Servers like Blind News Digest are good sources
for such information, but cannot succeed unless we participate actively.

LS&S Group is selling the MICROSOFT Natural Keyboard for $149.00 in their
199596 catalog. (1800-468-4789) Globe Computer Supplies is selling the
Microsoft Natural Keyboard for $99.95. (1800-845-6225)  Who knew? It's tough
to comparrison shop when you can't read the catalogs.  We need to work
together to share information and to encourage vendors to make information
more easily available.

If anyone finds a good price on a soapbox, please Email me ASAP...K7.
KSEVEN@DELPHI.COM



------



Subject: MSWORKS for Windows Icon Enlargement
From: FLCU93A@prodigy.com (MR JOHN W STEVENSON)

Can anyone tell me how to double the size of the Icons in MSWORKS for
Windows?  Thank you for your help, John Stevenson.




------



Subject: adult video discription (fwd)
From: pb159@wwa.com (Pierre A. Berube)



Does anyone knows of Adult x rated movies that are video
discriptive?  I recently got Ghost and what a turn on. Rather than using
my amigiation i would really like to know what is going on.

Hope to hear from you soon.
Catch you later
Pierre Berube
pb159@wwa.com







------



Subject: Digital Opthalmology Journal
From: patt@squid.tram.com (Patt Bromberger)

--- Forwarded mail

 From: Arthur Bergen <bergen@AMC.UVA.NL>
 To: Multiple recipients of list OPH-GEN <OPH-GEN@HEARN.nic.SURFnet.nl>
 From:   IN%"mtrope@delphi.com"  "Joshua Young, MD" 18-JUL-1995 17:40:18.39

I am writing to introduce the Digital Journal of Ophthalmology (DJO), a
new peer-review ophthalmic journal dedicated to the dissemination of
ophthalmic information over the World Wide Web. This medium has much to
offer practicing ophthalmologists:

             Rapid publication
             Access from home, office, and while traveling
             Full color photos and full motion video
             Potential for worldwide exposure

Contents will include both original articles and weekly Grand Rounds of
the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary (MEEI). Future expansion will
include discussion sections and posting unknowns. I feel your readers
may wish to access our site  --
http://www.meei.harvard.edu/meei/DJOhome.html   . We have added your
site to our list of ophthalmology links.

Thank you,

Joshua Young, MD
editor and project manager
the Digital Journal of Ophthalmology
http://www.meei.harvard.edu/meei/DJOhome.html
mtrope@delphi.com


--- End of forwarded message from Arthur Bergen <-oph-gen@HEARN.NIC.SURFNET.NL>




------



Subject: Microsoft Disability Access Summit 95 Materials Available (fwd)
From: senkmj@ptbma.usbm.gov (Mark J. Senk WB3CAI)


 To: Multiple recipients of list <uaccess-l@trace.wisc.edu>
 Subject: Microsoft Disability Access Summit 95 Materials Available

The materials made available to attendees of Microsoft's recent
Disabilities Access Summit 95 are now available via anonymous ftp from
"nfbcal.org". The file is /pub/summit95.zip. The "readme.txt" file from
this archive is shown below:


Microsoft Accessibility Summit 95 was held July 14-16, 1995 in Redmond,
Washington.  The enclosed materials were given to attendees and are now
being distributed as general information by the National Council on
Disability with the permission of Microsoft.  The following is an
alphabetical list of file names and short descriptions.

aACTT.TXT = The Applications Configuration Test Team
AGENDA.TXT = Agenda for Microsoft Accessibility Summit 95
ATTENDEE.TXT = List of attendees
CONFINFO.TXT = General summit information
EVAL.TXT = Summit evaluation form
LOGO.TXT = Description of the summit logo
LOWNE176.TXT = Accessibility work at Microsoft by Gregory Lowney
MOORE176.TXT = Windows 95 architecture by George Moore
OPPER176.TXT = Introduction to technical sessions by Charles Opperman
OPPER376.TXT = Introduction to AbleHelp by Charles Opperman
PAULBIO.TXT = Bio of Paul Maritz
POLICY.TXT = Microsoft's corporate policy on accessibility
PORTLAB.TXT = The Microsoft porting lab
RICHT176.TXT = Developer resources by Jeffrey Richter
ROZAK.TXT = Microsoft speech API by Mike Rozak
SERDY176.TXT= New common controls by Steve Serdy
SYKES176.TXT = Imaging in Windows 95 by Ken Sykes
TULLI.TXT = Introduction to Win32 programming by Sara Tulli
VACHO176.TXT = Windows NT architecture by Andre Vachon
WILLI176.TXT = OLE and the component object model by Sara Williams
WINAPP16.TXT = Designing accessible applications for Windows


--
Mike Freeman            |       Internet: mikef@pacifier.com
GEnie: M.FREEMAN11      |       Amateur Radio Callsign: K7UIJ
/* PGP2.6.2 PUBLIC KEY available via finger or PGP key server */
.. Virtue is its own punishment.



-- -----------------------------------------------------
Gregg C. Vanderheiden Ph.D.
Trace R&D Center
Waisman Center and Dept of Industrial Engr.
University of Wisconsin - Madison   53705
gv@Trace.Wisc.Edu  ,   FAX 608 262-8848
FTP,Gopher and WWW servers at  trace.wisc.edu
For list of our listserve discussions send "LISTS" to listproc@trace.wisc.edu






------



Subject: Re: Finding people who are B/VI who are looking for jobs?
From: robertj@tekgen.bv.TEK.COM (Robert Jaquiss)
Organization: Tektronix, Inc., Beaverton, OR, USA


Hello:

I response to the article "Finding people who are b/vi who are
looking for jobs", I suggest you call the Job Opportunities for the
Blind (JOB) hotline at (800) 638-7518.  JOB is sponsored by the U.
S. department of Labor and operated by the National Federation of
the Blind.

        Robert S. Jaquiss Jr.

JOB Coordinator, National Federation of the Blind of Oregon

Internet: robertj@tekgen.bv.tek.com



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                 End of Issue # 1160 of the Blind News Digest

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