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                            THE BLIND NEWS DIGEST

                                 Issue # 1161

                         Wednesday, August 23, 1995

Today's Topics:


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                          Talking Books in Russian
                  Blind Classical Indian Dancers Tour U.K.
                          Websurfing for the blind?
                              Jaws for Windows
             Did anyone see the CNN Computer Show? (need number)
                              Re: SLIP vs Blind
                        Re: Blind News Digest # 1155
                        Computer aids for the Blind?
                      Comments on Access to PDF Via DOS


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                              Bill McGarry (Moderator)
                              (203) 926-6187



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Subject: Talking Books in Russian
From: ed02@central.napier.ac.UK (Mike McDonagh)
Organization: University of Birmingham mail to news gateway


Can anyone give me source(s) for talking books (ie tape-recorded novels,
non-fiction, magazines, newspapers etc) in Russian please?

Sources can be loan or purchase, those in the UK would be of especial interest.

Thanks in anticipation.

Mike.





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Subject: Blind Classical Indian Dancers Tour U.K.
From: sheridan@cheza.demon.co.uk (sheridan james lloyd)
Organization: None

This Autumn, a troupe of blind children from the
Sri Ramanamaharishi Academy for the Blind, Bangalore, India,
will be touring the United Kingdom from September to November.

The tour is being organised by Kalapremi UK, a charitable organisation
established in 1984 by Dr P V Nath, to promote the spread of Indian Art
and Culture throughout Europe, with all profits raised being used for
the  welfare of the blind.

The children  will be giving Indian Dance performances under the
guidance  of their teacher, Mr Ashok Kumar, across the U.K. The
children will performDance Ballets in (the toughest of) the ancient
Indian dance forms,   Bharatanatyam and Kuchpudi,depicting stories and
legends of the vast Indian mythology. They are renowned  throughout
India for their depiction  of the Epic  ,'Ramayana' , which theyhave
performed in various cities including  Delhi, Calcutta, Madras and
Hyderabad.
The children will also be taking part in workshops along with their
teacherwhich show the novel techniques used to teach the blind to dance.

The Sri Ramanamaharishi Academy for the Blind is a charitable
organisation  established 25 years ago, which educates  blind children
of  any background, giving them an all round education which has
enabled hundreds to compete with and live in mainstream society.

This tour is the  chance of a lifetime for the children of the school
to increase their renown by  exhibiting their extraordinary
capabilities.  Travelling and performing outside of India will
help them to build up their self confidence, making them better able
to adapt to and compete in the outside world.

The tour, which will be called, 'a Gift from the Blind to the Sighted',
is the first in the world of this kind.
Any profits made from the tour will be used  for the benifit of the
school  and its 300 blind children.

It is  unique opportunity for the general public of Europe, to see the
children perform.

At present help is urgently required to publicise the programmes.
Donations towards covering expenses, which have not yet been met,
would be very gladly received.

If you would like  more details of specific venues and to see a
picture of the children, or if you could offer  help in any way, or if
you would simply like to know more

  please see our home page on http://zow00.desy.de:8000/~nath/children.html

or  email:


  sheridan@cheza.demon.co.uk

  or

  nath@vxdesy.desy.de

  Thank you

  P.Chandrika Nath
  S. J. Lloyd




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Subject: Websurfing for the blind?
From: evanj@singnet.com.sg (Evan Jones)
Organization: Singapore Telecom Internet Service

My father is going blind. He can still read big typefaces; would it be
practical for him to surf the web with a sound card? It look like
Netscape has a helper application with the filename extension .au,
which I presume means audio.

How workable is audio web surfing? All tips/advise greatly
appreciated.

Cheers

Evan Jones




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Subject: Jaws for Windows
From: scanno@iinet.com.au (Peter Scanlon)
Organization: iiNET Technologies

Hi can someone please post for me the e-mail, or snail mail, or
telephoen  number of Henter-Joyce, the folks who make Jaws.

I would also apreciate any feedback on your experiences with Windows
programs.

Peter S.

Peter Scanlon.  "scanno@iinet.com.au

There'll be a little atom bomb, gonna blow me out of this place
There'll be an even bigger bomb, what a crazy human race.
That'll kill us all, well brother that ain't for me.
          Glen Barber.  Starday Label.

French N_Bomb tests.  Protest to your local French Embassy.




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Subject: Did anyone see the CNN Computer Show? (need number)
From: sludi@phoenix.csc.calpoly.edu (Stephanie Ann Ludi)
Organization: Cal Poly, State University

Hi,
        On this week's CNN Computer Show, they had a story on a computer
camp for Blind/VI kids in the Bay Area (Calif) called Enchanted Hills
Computer Camp (or something like that).  I didn't catch their number at the
end and I was wondering if anyone know their number either from the show or
otherwise.

Thanks in advance,
Steph




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Subject: Re: SLIP vs Blind
From: mgflax@panix.com (Marshall G. Flax)
Organization: Currently, _extremely_ disorganized

In article <37225@handicap.news>,
Tara Kent-Holton <tholton@cabell.vcu.edu> wrote:
>Index Number: 37225
>
>I am sure this has been discussed here before, but I missed it.  Can
>anyone outline the software I would need and how/where to obtain it
>that would enable me to use speech access with a compressed slip
>connection?  I want access to email, gopher, telnet and WWW.  Any
>help appreciated.

SLIP is not required for email, gopher, telnet, and text WWW.  A simple
dialup connection using a normal terminal emulator (I highly recomment
Kermit) should alow you to dial into your local internet provider and
use all of these services.

marshall
--
                  [Marshall G. Flax -- mgflax@panix.com]



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Subject: Re: Blind News Digest # 1155
From: tholton@cabell.vcu.edu (Bill Holton)

  I know this subject has probably been discussed here, but I have
missed it.  Can someone tell me about the software I would need to
use DOS screen reading software with a compressed slip connection?
This is the only sort of connection Netcom offers in my area, and
I will be losing my university account the end of this month.
P. S.:  I left this message on the handicapped news group, but my
local feed must be messed up, because my own message didn't even
come back, and it says there are no messages.  So if you happn to
have seen this there, please try responding again.  Thanks.



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Subject: Computer aids for the Blind?
From: treid@CS.mun.ca (Todd Reid)
Organization: CS Dept., Memorial University of Newfoundland

I was wondering about any available equipment for blind computer users.
More specifically, a braille keyboard, or braille printer, or even tips
on getting the best voice regonition software. Any help would be greatly
appreciated. Or any info on companies which I could get in contact with.


Please reply by direct email as I don't really get to read
the news much anymore, and don't frequent these groups....

Thank you bunches
-T

--
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

          Todd A. Reid is constantly found at treid@cs.mun.ca.
                Or my URL: http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~treid
              You can look some where else, but why bother.

        "you can't light a candle without somewhere casting a shadow"
                                - Ursula K. LeGuin


--
%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%%

          Todd A. Reid is constantly found at treid@cs.mun.ca.
                Or my URL: http://www.ucs.mun.ca/~treid



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Subject: Comments on Access to PDF Via DOS
From: gary@sasquatch.com (Gary Peterson)



---------- Forwarded message ----------
 Date: Sat, 22 Jul 1995 12:15:52 -0500
 From: Curtis Chong <curtisc@WINTERNET.COM>
 To: Multiple recipients of list EASI <EASI@SJUVM.STJOHNS.EDU>
 Subject: Comments on Access to PDF Via DOS

                NATIONAL FEDERATION OF THE BLIND
                       IN COMPUTER SCIENCE
_________________________________________________________________
Curtis Chong               20 Northeast 2nd Street, Apartment 908
President                             Minneapolis, MN  55413-2265
Phone: 612/379-3493               Internet: curtisc@winternet.com

July 22, 1995

Liz McQuarrie and Steve Zilles
Adobe Systems Incorporated

Hello Liz and Steve:

I would like to take this opportunity to comment concerning your
proposal to provide access to PDF for blind and visually impaired
people who are still using DOS.  I would also like to comment on
the over-all efforts currently under way at Adobe to ensure that
PDF will be generally accessible to the blind.

Regarding the DOS proposal, I heartily concur with your plan to
provide access to PDF documents by creating a modified version of
LYNX which first translates PDF documents into HTML.  As you so
rightly point out, LYNX is a popular web browser among blind
people who access the World Wide Web.  I also concur with your
proposal to develop the modified LYNX to run on (at a minimum) an
intel (or equivalent) 80386 processor with two megabytes of RAM.
However, I would like to put in a plug for a modified version of
LYNX to run on a UNIX platform and urge you to develop this
software ahead of the DOS LYNX program.  LYNX, running under
UNIX, is a popular means for accessing the Web used by persons
who are blind.  In fact, my guess is that you will find more
blind people using LYNX on UNIX than LYNX running under DOS,
simply because it is easier for us to establish a connection with
UNIX platforms using popular telecommunications programs such as
Procomm Plus, Telix, and the like.  In other words, if you want
to help more blind people sooner, build the modified LYNX
software for UNIX and work on the modified DOS LYNX program
later.

If you need further justification for working on the DOs
development, I would point out that you will not find many blind
people rushing to use Windows--at least, not for the next two to
three years.  As we learned from the Microsoft Accessibility
Summit, held on July 14-16, the efforts currently under way at
Microsoft will not solve today's Windows access problems. Today's
problems can only be meaningfully addressed by "work around"
solutions developed by screen reader software manufacturers and
by companies such as Adobe, which take an interest in ensuring
accessibility to their software and data formats.

I applaud your proposal to develop a special "plug-in" for
Acrobat in the Windows environment.  I believe that you have a
clear grasp of the capabilities of current screen reading
programs for Windows and that you are taking those capabilities
into account in the design process.  Since some blind people run
Windows programs using the OS/2 operating system, I would urge
you to ensure that the plug-in operates successfully in this
environment as well as in the Microsoft Windows environment.

I think it is only fair to point out that today, some blind
people are beginning to make in-roads into web browsers running
under Windows.  At this year's meeting of the National Federation
of the Blind in Computer Science, held in Chicago on July 3, two
blind people talked about their use of the Web with programs such
as Netscape and Netcruiser.  So clearly, we won't be stuck on
DOS-based communication programs indefinitely.  This is only to
say that as you design your future upgrades and enhancements,
please be sure that you ensure compatibility with existing screen
reading technology for the blind.

In conclusion, I wish to commend you and Adobe Systems for your
efforts on our behalf.  No, PDF is not today truly accessible to
the blind, but if you keep going the way you seem to be headed,
things will certainly improve.  Keep it up!

Regards,

Curtis Chong
President
National Federation of the Blind in Computer Science




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                 End of Issue # 1161 of the Blind News Digest

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