Author Archives

by

For Palm: Please Help

Hi,

 

If ever I’ve needed to cash in afavor with you, I’m calling it in today. If I’ve ever had any small influence on you at all, please read and take action.

 

Over the past couple days, I’ve seen articles about Palm, a guide dog, and her handler Iris, who were involved in a serious, devastating accident. Apparently, Palm was pushed off a commuter train in British Columbia. An automated commuter train that had no emergency stop. The doors closed on her leash, and Palm was dragged along by the train, until she hit a post and her leash snapped. She is now facing recovery and surgery for a broken muzzle, broken ribs, a punctured lung, and no doubt other injuries. The estimate I read puts the vet bill at around $15,000.

 

You can read more about the accident here:

http://communities.canada.com/VANCOUVERSUN/blogs/puppylove/archive/2010/10/05/guide-dog-seriously-injured-on-skytrain.aspx

 

And you can see the details of some of Palm’s surgery here:

http://www.blog.canadawestvets.com/2010/10/guide-dog-dragged-by-skytrain-sustains-severe-injury/

 

I can only imagine what this must be like for Iris and for Palm, and it brings me nearly to tears.

 

As a guide dog handler myself, now working my third one, I know firsthand what these dogs bring to our lives. When they hurt, you hurt with them. It’s no exaggeration to say that there are few, if any, relationships between two beings that are any closer than the one shared between a person and his or her service dog. Over time, as my dogs and I have gotten to know each other, we have learned to read each other’s moods, not only to work together seamlessly, but these dogs really do become a part of you. They aren’t just a “mobility aid”, much as they are that. They aren’t our children either, though, and i don’t really want to sensationalize the relationship or make it something it is not. One thing it is, though, is complex. My dogs aren’t “my best friend”, but neither are they “disposable”. They are a part of me, but they are not me. A friend of mine once said, upon the retirement of my first dog Karl, that harnessing my dog and working with him must be as natural to me as putting on my shoes. And so it is, but it isn’t that either exactly. Guide dog handlers know exactly what I mean, and those who are not have an idea perhaps, but it really is hard to explain. For fans of Anne McCaffrey’s Dragonriders of Pern series, (and this probably comes as close to the thing as anything else), working a guide dog is probably about as close as we will ever get to Impression.

 

But knowing this relationship as I do, I know Iris is just beside herself. Let me be blunt. I’m asking you to give to Palm’s recovery fund. Anything you can. As much or as little as you are able. I know that people are saying, “Well, Translink should pay.” And so they should. In an ideal world, they would have paid already, and Palm’s vet bills would be of no concern. But you know as well as I do how government bureaucracies work. You know that, even if they agree to pay her bills, that won’t come about for ages and ages, and that’s assuming they don’t figure out a way to weasel out of it and deny any culpability. And in the meantime, Iris still has vet bills, and Palm still needs vet care. So, again being very blunt, quit waiting for someone else to do the right thing and take responsibility. Step up to the plate and do somebody a kindness. We can’t take responsibility for the whole world, but we can make a difference in small parts of it. Those small parts add up to making a big difference. It’s like the story of the little boy throwing starfish back in the ocean. When someone told him that there were too many, and he wasn’t going to make a difference, he said, “I made a difference to that one”, and threw another one back in.

 

Unfortunately, they don’t have an online donation page, so please exercise your dialing finger.

(604) 473-4882

 

Just tell them when they answer the phone (between 7 AM and 8:30 PM Pacific time) that you want to contribute to Palm’s recovery fund. They will take your credit card information and send you a receipt if you want one. It probably took me three minutes to do this, and I talked about my dogs and my feelings about this. If you don’t feel the need to jabber as I did, it will take you less.

 

So that’s it, really. I’m asking you to do something for a complete stranger. And, i thank you from the bottom of my heart.

by

Budcast #8: Introducing The Pogoplug

There are three kinds of people in the world: those who can count, and those who can’t.

I accidentally called this #7 originally. Oops. It’s really #8.

In Budcast #8, we introduce you to the Pogoplug from Cloud Engines. One correction: apparently the default settings for MP3 on the Zoom H1 are 128KBps, not 48 KBps. Sorry. Find out more about the Pogoplug at http://www.pogoplug.com

by

Budcast #5: Introducing New Dog

In Budcast #5, we meet my new Seeing Eye dog, Leno. I’m just starting in-home training, and this is my third guide, though my first with home placement. Alena adds some variety to the proceedings, of course. Work begins in ernest in the morning. While I won’t be able to do podcasts of the actual training, I hope I can post my thoughts and impressions of training, either as podcasts or just text entries. Thanks for coming along for the ride.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download

by

A Call For Accessibility Commitment

I just sent the below as a follow-up to the previous correspondence with Amazon. I’ll be interested in their response.

 

For background, see correspondence with this address, below.

First, congratulations on your commendation from the National Federation Of the Blind for adding talking menus to the Kindle 3. While this is a great first step, I’d submit commendation was, perhaps, a bit premature.
This is a great first step, and there’s no denying that. However, more needs to be done, and much of it, I believe, should be able to be accomplished by firmware updates to the Kindle 3 hardware. At a minimum, all core functionality should be accessible using spoken feedback. This means the ability to browse and purchase from the Kindle ebook store, the ability to browse and select a book, and to begin reading that book. This all begins, of course, with the ability to turn on the voice guide without assistance. A reasonable stop gap measure (and I emphasize that this should not be a permanent solution) would be the ability to ask that voice guide be turned on before the unit is shipped.
Naturally, I completely understand that experimental functions such as the Web browser are less likely to receive attention, and I’m not as concerned about those. Core reading functionality being accessible is the important thing here. While it’s great to have a book read aloud, the ability to have unfamiliar words or terms spelled is essential, as is the ability to find, select, and review sections using spoken output. A straight read simply won’t be adequate for something like a college textbook.
As you are undoubtedly aware, the ability for publishers to disable text to speech is of great concern to the print disabled community. Ideally,we would like to see all books without the ability to have this important functionality disabled. If this cannot be done per individual unit, and if Amazon will not change its policy, so that all books allow text to speech to work, please at least ensure that all books with TTS disabled are designated on their purchase and information pages. I, for one, would be very upset if I bought a book and was then unable to read it. While “The publisher has asked that text to speech be disabled on this book, we apologize to our print disabled readers for their utter stupidity” would be super, I understand it is probably not practical. Still, a notice that “Text to speech is not available for this title”, noted prominently, would be sufficient, I think.
Let me stress here that I am at this time willing, able, and ready to purchase a Kindle 3, if I have some commitment from Amazon that I will be able to use its core functionality independently at some point, and that accessibility concerns are being addressed for this unit. I will add that I am willing, able, and ready to assist you in testing such accessibility improvements on the Kindle 3, should you need such a thing. As a blind computer user and technical support specialist for an assistive technology company, with over 25 years of computer use under my belt, I am happy to help you make the Kindle 3 even more useful to the print disabled community. If these concerns cannot or will not be addressed on this hardware platform and we must wait for the Kindle 4, sadly, I will not purchase a Kindle 3.
I eagerly await your response. Know that our previous correspondence, along with this letter, have been posted to my personal blog for the print disabled community to see. I’m sure we are all eager to hear that Amazon is committed to future accessibility enhancements as soon as is practical.

by

Amazon Responds

I just received the below Email. It sounds like Kindle might be slightly usable, but by no means does it appear to be anywhere close to being used for serious reading. It is also unclear whether one can browse the Kindle store, but it sounds like this won’t be possible.

 

Hello,

Thanks for writing to us with your comments.

Voice Guide lets you navigate your Kindle with spoken menus, selectable items, and descriptions. For example, when you open a book, Kindle speaks your current location and how far you’ve read.

Presently we don’t have the features like enabling the voice guide and TTS features without sighted assistance, navigate or read by smaller increments in text to speech, voice guide or text to speech work in the Web browser, enabling text to speech for the books which have text to speech option disabled.

I’ve sent your comments to the Kindle team for consideration. We’re regularly working on improvements to your Kindle experience. Customer feedback like yours helps us continue to improve the service we provide. 

I hope this helps. We look forward to seeing you again soon.

Did I solve your problem?

If yes, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-y?c=yagwhvtx3324198336

If no, please click here:
http://www.amazon.com/rsvp-n?c=yagwhvtx3324198336

Please note: this e-mail was sent from an address that cannot accept incoming e-mail. 

To contact us about an unrelated issue, please visit the Help section of our web site.

Best regards,

Madhu Y
Amazon.com
Your feedback is helping us build Earth’s Most Customer-Centric Company.
http://www.amazon.com/your-account

by

A Note to Amazon On Kindle 3

I just submitted the below to Amazon. I encourage others to submit their own concerns, especially for accessibility, to them as well. According to the manual, you can Email kindle@feedback@amazon.com so Email them early and often.

 

I’m very interested in the Kindle 3, but as a blind user, I have a few concerns. Before I outline those concerns, I would like to say that I, for one, am happy to purchase if Amazon can make a commitment to our community to make accessibility improvements where warranted. 

As you might suppose, my concerns directly relate to the text to speech and voice guide features:

1) Will voice guide speak as you type? Will it read options as they are navigated and selected? Can you select books with it? Documentation is definitely lacking in this area. With voice guide enabled, will it be possible to use Kindle as outlined in the rest of the manual, without looking at the screen at all?

2) Do menus wrap? Would it be possible to enable the voice guide and TTS features without sighted assistance? If not, I would recommend that it should be. 

3) With text to speech reading of Kindle ebooks, is it possible to navigate or read by smaller increments? In other words, can I navigate a book by word, or even by character? If I need to have an unfamiliar name or term spelled, is this possible? These features are essential if Kindle is to be used by a student in a classroom environment. 

4) Does voice guide or text to speech work in the Web browser? Can it be used, not only to read Web content but to navigate to that content? Is it possible to browse the Kindle store to purchase books, again, using only text to speech and voice guide? 

5) Will it be possible to enable text to speech for blind users on books where it is by default disabled? If not, is there some way to know whether a book is TTS-enabled before purchasing it? I would hate to buy a book, only to find I am unable to read it. 

In short, I would like some assurance that Amazon is working towrd real accessibility to the Kindle, and not just a token effort that amounts to little more than a toy.

by

OMG! Dinner Out

So, no podcast with this one. I had a nice recording that I thought I made for posting, but unfortunately, it didn’t save. A shame, but such is life.

 

I just had an amazing dinner at a little restaurant near the UPMC Prebyterian hospital in Pittsburgh:

 

Fuel And Fuddle

212 Oakland Ave.

Pittsburgh, PA 15213

 

It’s noisy and popular, judging by the more than a few diners on a Sunday during the summer.

 

I’d been there before, but it’s been a couple years; last time was during Alena’s surgeries a couple years ago. It’s still fantastic.

 

I started out with a fire-roasted brea. Now how can you fire roast a soft cheese like that, you might ask? I did. Basically, it’s some brea, wrapped up in a flaky pastry crust, with a little powdered sugar sprinkled on top, then fire baked, then served on a plate with honey and a couple thin slices of apple. It was absolutely amazing. I can’t describe it any other way. When my waitress told me it was one of her favorite things, I could well understand why.

 

The main event was alligator stew, and there’s a story here. It’s served in a bowl with a big pile of mashed potatoes. It’s definitely got a kick to it. There’s some chicken, alligator tail of course, and sausage, along with a little squash and I don’t know what, in a creamy broth that has a definite bite to it. Absolutelyfantastic, and just perfect flavor. And, you definitely needed the mashed potatoes, because there was a lot of that delicious stew gravy to eat up.

 

It’s amazing what you can get when you state something with just the right amount of awe and appreciation. When the waitress (Thanks, name withheld, I know it but won’t incriminate her), asked me how I liked the stew, I told her it was fantastic. “I wonder,” I said, “what’s in the broth.” She said she’d ask the cook. “Bet he won’t tell you,” I replied, to which she responded that they have a book, and she’d see what she could find out. Just a few minutes later, she returned to my table. “I did something,” she said. “Well, they wouldn’t let me have the recipe, but I did copy down the list of ingredients.” Whereupon, she handed me a folded slip of paper. I have this folded piece of paper in my pocket, and, well, it would appear I may have some kitchen experimentation in my future, although I will have to tone it down quite a bit for the girls if I ever do figure the right proportions.

 

For dessert, I just couldn’t pass up a slice of peanut butter pie. Couldn’t do it. It, like everything else, was delicious. I am now stuffed, but very, very happy.

 

So. Yes. Definitely go to Fuel And Fuddle if you want a good meal and don’t mind a bit of noise.

by

Budcast #4: Buddy Rants

We depart from the usual format (whatever that is) to free-form ranting. In this episode, Buddy gets angry about stupid people. Some strong language, and definitely strong opinions. This episode may just change your opinion of Buddy if you thought he was a level-headed and well together kind of guy. If you were under no such delusions, all the better. Comments and lively discussion are welcome.

Podcast: Play in new window | Download