Three Steps To A Smarter Phone

There are smart phones (with email, Internet capability), and there are phones that are not smart --- shall we call them dumb? It’s never too late to help your dumb phone get a little smarter.

You may be able to set these features in your phone, but I suggest opting for the easy method, go to the tech desk at your local Verizon Wireless store (or the carrier of your choice), or make an appointment with a “Device Specialist” at a Verizon location, and ask to activate the features (listed below) in your cell phone. It makes a huge difference to ease of use, especially when you cannot see what’s on the screen.

1. Caller ID and Menu Readout:
announces incoming calls, menu names

2. Voice Commands: ask phone to dial contact by name, get messages, get time/date

3. Largest Font, Highest Contrast & Brightness: make screen text readable

My experience has been at Verizon, but I know you can get the same "smarts" at AT&T, Sprint, T-Mobile. Go ahead, ask.

Voting Under the Magnifier

It appears that a lot of people voting in New York City’s Primary Elections today may be experiencing something all too familiar to me – the need for magnification. Apparently our new paper ballots are printed in font so small that just about everyone is having difficulty reading them.

Is this what we call progress? We moved from the ancient lever system of voting to a paper ballot that has to be marked with a pen while using a magnifier that is chained to the voting booth).

It's ironic, I am way ahead in this game. I relish my ability to cast a private and independent vote with the ballot marking device that allows me to listen to audio prompts and make my selection. Today it seems many people could benefit from this option. It

It's a clear cut case -- accessible technology is better for everyone!

Signs of The Times

The printed newspaper, before long, will be a piece of nostalgia. I understand the desire of some to hang on to their dependence on newsprint, as I was forced to quit some time ago. It was not a habit I particularly wanted to kick, but one of the first things to go with declining vision is the ability to read newsprint – small fonts, bad contrast.

With such difficulty, one might think it best to let go, turn on CNN and be done with it. I tried, but quitting for me proved equally as difficult. It is no surprise that I moved with the herd to The New York Times on the Web, and while a definite improvement, it was still not the news-reading experience I was dreaming of.

Then, just a few months ago, I had, what I consider, a major breakthrough. Having signed up (reluctantly) for nytimes.com daily emails with “Today’s Headlines,” I was delighted to discover that I could scroll through article headlines, synopses, and links to full articles. Once linked, I click on “Print” to get a cleaned-up version of the article, which makes reading much easier with my eyes--or with my computer’s speech, a satisfying experience.

Sounds like a pretty simple solution, and indeed it is. Took me a while, but today I’m feeling it was worth the trip. Especially since so many people I’ve shared this with are switching, happily, to my method of reading nytimes.com, whether they were struggling or not. Good for me, better for everyone. Try it!

I continue to dream of the day I will be able to choose how I read the “paper” online. I will be able to select the font, the contrast, the layout, and I even get to choose the voice in which the paper is read to me, aloud. I know that day is coming!

The Intel Reader Is My Sous Chef

There are many traits embedded in my DNA. One of my best inheritances is the joy of cooking. My passion for the food experience begins with the thought, the prep, then moves through the process, the aromas, the taste, and ends with a great sense of satisfaction.

The cooking gene was dominant in my father, who passed to me a penchant for turning Sundays into culinary events. He would fill the day with food and football, running in and out of the kitchen, so as never to miss a touchdown or a Hail Mary Pass, while garlic and herbs wafted about the house.

My mother’s genetics in the kitchen were a bit more recessive, but none the less, she instilled in me an early interest in the delicious chemistry of baking cakes and cookies. Instead of giving me a requested Easy Bake Oven at the age of 8, she got me started with my own set of cookbooks, baking the real thing.

My joy appeared to be in jeopardy, when my vision declined below the acuity required for cookbook reading. Of course, I did not put the cookbooks on the shelf without a fight. I tried magnifiers. I tried funky glasses. I typed recipe favorites into my computer and made the font very large. I pulled up recipes on the Internet and ran, back and forth, from kitchen to computer, measuring and mixing, one step at a time. I became very good at memorizing and improvisation but had to cut back on the baking, because the chemistry of sugar with butter and flour with baking soda requires strict adherence to measurement.

Cut to now.

The Intel Reader is my Sous Chef; it photographed a bunch of my favorites like Apple Cheesecake Tart, the best Banana Yogurt Bread on earth, Zebra Shortbread and Chocolate Decadence Cake.

Hearing my recipes, converted to speech by the Intel reader, was like being reborn. It works like a charm…a cup of this, a tablespoon of that. I can stop and start the reading with the push of a button, or go back and review with the push of another. Some recipes are formatted perfectly, while others require a bit of toggling between ingredients and instructions. Sometimes the pronunciation is funny, in which case I look at it in the screen (zoomed to big letters), or listen to the spelling by holding down the “ok” button. I have to admit, sticky fingers may be a potential hazard; remember, the Intel Reader is not dishwasher safe.
I think this is another one of those things that happens to be good for me, but really could be better for everyone. Last week I watched a segment of Martha Stewart and one of her guests was a Wall Street Journal reporter who brought a new digital recipe reader. I watched with intense anticipation, waiting for it to speak, but there was no voice: this ‘reader’ required you to read to yourself. Isn’t that so last year?

Coming next…how I used the Intel Reader with forms and meeting notes.

The iPad Speaks for Itself

“A magical and revolutionary product at an unbelievable price.” That is how Apple describes its latest must have, the iPad. There is a lot more to this statement than meets the eye.

Apple’s magical revolution delivers, yet again, on Universal Access, and it just keeps getting better and better. Not only does the iPad make reading easy for people with seriously impaired vision, or no vision at all --- it makes reading easier for everyone!

You can make it your own with Zoom magnifying font to 40 pt., then turn the 10 inch screen to landscape and it gets even bigger. You can reverse the screen contrast to white-on-black, making it easy on the eyes. Or, just relax and listen with Voice Over.

If you do not see well, the iPad is equipped with all the features you want in an eBook reader. We need wait no longer for Amazon to deal with the shortcomings of its Kindle, although I’m sure they are scurrying to get it done now. That’s okay, that’s actually also good for everyone.

The fact that it looks like a big iPhone is a plus because I already know how to use it. On the bigger screen I can view (close up) many things I cannot see at all on my iPhone; photographs, movies, and TV. Email looks quite easy too, the key pad is jumbo.

And yes, the price is unbelievable, because it’s the same price for everyone. This is as it should be. Perhaps the days of obscenely priced, mediocre products in the assistive tech industry are coming to an end as well. Let the scurrying begin!

Add iPad to iPod, iPhone, Mac, and we are looking at a paradigm shift. Apple has reset the bar on accessibility and they are way ahead of the curve, addressing the needs of a huge demographic – the aging population.

Go to the nearest Apple store and see for yourself. I bet it makes you giddy!

What's It All About

For a while, I have been collecting items in a virtual folder labeled “Easy On The Eyes,” which I often pull from and share with people I encounter everyday. Over the last few years, I have come to realize that this resource filed in my head has relevance that reaches far beyond the population of people, who like me, have a serious vision impairment, well into the general population.

Most of us experience the same degree of difficulty in reading the text on a cell phone screen, or a Blackberry, or an iPod (until recently). Who isn’t reaching for the readers and the pocket magnifiers?

Happy to report, these issues are not going unnoticed. More and more mainstream corporations and makers of widely used electronic and technology devices are stepping into the arena of accessibility (simply means making things easy to deal with). After all, who can ignore a market 100 million strong and growing?

I am delighted to have the opportunity to launch this blog, and share with you the many wonderful developments in ‘vision-friendly technology.’ A good many things that make life easier for me, I've learned about from others, word of mouth, and I am pleased to be able to pass it along. So here we go, blogging our way to many, many times the numbers that good old word-of-mouth can reach.

There is a lot to cover already…and so much to come. Great news like crossing over of the iPod nano and shuffle with voice over for spoken menus) and the Kindle 2’s six font sizes, text-to-speech option and (soon) a big screen version, over-the-counter cell phones with voice recognition and audio output, talking ATMs and Metro Card Vending machines; and how Disney is making theme parks accessible with descriptive narration and GPS, and how IBM sees personal technology developing in the near term. And, more, more, more, more!
Remember, the fact is, when it’s good for people with impaired vision, it’s actually better for everyone!

An Error Has Occured

On Tuesday morning, Election Day 2010, I walked the short block to my polling place to vote. I did not feel any of the nervous anticipation I had in the past and thought about writing a blog post titled,"I Love to Vote!" Unfortunately, my exuberance did not last as I attempted to place my vote using a very uncooperative BMD (Ballot Marking Device).

I guess my false sense of comfort in the accessible voting experience was built over the 3 previous elections in which I voted privately and independently using the BMD with minimal fanfare. In fact I was feeling rather smug about my “easy” method of voting since the City of New York switched to a system of paper ballots that have such tiny font size everyone is having trouble reading them.

When all goes well I sit at the BMD, plug in my earphones, choose my language, and push a button to adjust the sound. I listen to the choices for each contest, make my selections, and advance through contests and candidates, and press the selection button to cast my vote. Once I have voted all contests the BMD gives me the option to review my selections and mark the paper ballot that is inserted into the BMD.

Everyone else is standing at a funny little desk in bad light straining to mark their ballot with a pen.

This time things did not go quite so smoothly. Carmen the poll worker who bravely volunteered to help me get started had a bit of trouble figuring out where to insert the paper ballot. We were not off to a great start. Carmen leaned toward me and in a soft voice, as if she was giving me an inside tip, she said, “You know the best way to do this is just to mark the ballot with a pen.” I smiled and told her that if I were able to see the ballot I would not be putting her through this.

She now also needed assistance and she called for help from a colleague. Two heads are definitely better than one and together they found the flap that was hiding the slot to feed in the paper ballot.

With ballot inserted I plugged in earphones and started to proceed with my voting and waved to Carmen that I could take it from here. Once I got going it all came back and I was able to advance through all contests and place my votes in a relatively short period. After reviewing my choices I pressed the selection button one more time to mark my ballot. That is when I was stopped cold with a message from my BMD that said “An error has occurred. Contact your election official.”

Carmen and company came back and heavy consternation ensued, not quite sure even what the error message was trying to tell them. They pulled out the BMD instruction guide and decided to do what we all do when we don’t know what else to do with a temperamental computer --- shut down and reboot.

Carmen made another suggestion, “Do you think you could use the magnifier?” She was referring to a sheet of plastic, a weak magnifier, tethered to the “booth” where voters marked their ballot by hand. I answered, “Not unless it magnifies 10 times.”

I may have given up and forfeited right about here, were it not for the fact that it had been instilled in me, by both my parents, that you must exercise your right to vote. And, I could not get their voices out of my head.

We all persevered. The shut down and reboot took an extraordinarily long time and it felt as if the BMD was testing my resolve.

The next attempt was abruptly ended by another message from the BMD, it said, “The ballot you have inserted has already been marked.” Carmen wanted to argue with the machine, but I asked her please to just give me a new unmarked ballot. She agreed.

Another few minutes passed as they unregistered my corrupted ballot and reassigned a fresh one. I wondered if I was going to be there all morning.

The third try was the charm. I was back in the voting business, this time racing through the selecting and marking process. I pulled the marked ballot out of the BMD and held my breath as I approached the scanner. I hoped for the best and fed the ballot smoothly into the scanner and saw the American flag appear signaling my vote had been counted successfully!

I felt victorious and raised both hands in the air. I high fived Carmen and several of her colleagues and I headed for the door --- looking as if I had just won a contest myself!

Read my comment on the Wall Street Journal about the new voting system:
http://on.wsj.com/9TKBzJ

The Intel Reader Takes Form

I like my font big and bold (about 2 inches high) and at eye level; in this format I can read just about anything. Well, then again, I could not exactly call this reading. Let’s say, in this format, I could identify one word at a time, slowly. For me, “listening” is the new “reading.” It is far more enjoyable and, definitely, more efficient to hear printed words spoken, than to undergo the arduous process of deciphering words, which sometimes appear to be moving or broken. It can be like reading a book under water.

A few days ago, a former colleague asked if I would write a recommendation for grad school. I was happy to do it until she handed me the (dreaded) form. I am not fond of forms, especially the instructions about how to fill out the form. So I decided to take a picture of it with the Intel Reader and have it read me the instructions, where I learned that I could answer the questions on a separate page. I listened to each question and answered it in a word document in my computer, printed it, attached it, and voila, another form bites the dust.

Stay tuned for …Intel Teleprompter.