Microsoft announced a new accessibility feature for Xbox and PC gamers. This new feature allows a person to have their spoken game chat transmissions transcribe to text for those who cannot hear, and it also allows people to have their text chat transmissions converted to speech for those who are blind and cannot read the screen.
Blind People Can Now Read Kindle Books on Windows PC’s.
Thanks to the efforts of Amazon and the developers of the popular NVDA open source screen reader, Kindle books are now accessible to blind people using a Windows 10, Windows 8, or Windows 7 computer. First download the Kindle app on your computer, and make sure you have the latest version of NVDA installed.
VIP: Setting Assistive Tech on Fire!
In this VIP, Joel Ramos, Hugo Gallegos, and Jessica “Fyre” Rickards tell us all about what is burning up the Assistive Tech World.
Microsoft Creates Physical Programming Language Inclusive of Children with Visual Impairments.
Microsoft has created, Project Torino, a new way of teaching computational thinking skills and basic programming concepts to children age 7 to 11. The program is inclusive of children who are blind or visually impaired, but sighted children also benefit from the program. It was Microsoft’s intent to make sure that blind children could participate with sighted children without being isolated from them.
Project Torino uses physical beads that link together to form music, stories, and computer programming code. The physical language can then be transferred to a digital platform so that blind and visually impaired children can feel comfortable writing stories, music, and computer software.
There are many jobs that require computer programming skills, and there are not enough people to fill those jobs. There are also an enormous number of blind people who are unemployed. It only makes sense to make sure that these children develop the skills to compete in the job market of today.
Macaron by Oseyeris: A Measuring and Navigation Device for the Blind.
Oseyeris has developed the Macaron, which is a handheld device that pairs with an app on your iPhone. The Macaron can measure almost anything using its tape measure feature or long range feature. Not only can you measure your refrigerator, window, or bookshelf, but you can also measure the dimensions of a room, and you can even take your body measurements.
Measurements are spoken to the blind user, and can also be saved to a folder on a cloud service, like Dropbox or iCloud, for future reference.
The Macaron also has a navigation feature that detects objects in your path. The navigation feature provides audio and haptic feedback that allows a blind person to tell what objects are in their path, and what direction the object is in, and how far away it is.
Future versions of the Macaron will allow the user to leave breadcrumbs while navigating. This will make it easier to find points of interest.
You can find out more by visiting the Oseyeris website. There you can listen to audio recordings explaining all the Macaron’s features and register as a tester of the device.
Blackboard Tackles Accessibility Barriers in Higher Education with Blackboard Ally.
One of the biggest and most unacceptable problems that face students with disabilities is the lack of access to digital course content. All colleges and universities now require some form of participation on a digital platform. The amount of work that a student must perform on these digital platforms varies from school to school, and professor to professor. In some classes, a student might have to access the course syllabus, assignments, worksheets, downloads, and they might even have to submit course work and consult online with their professors using these digital platforms. It is shocking how many students with disabilities have been denied access to a proper education on account of these platforms not being accessible.
Blackboard, one of the larger providers of digital content in higher education, is finally tackling this issue. They have developed a program called, Blackboard Ally, which takes digital content and makes it accessible within minutes. Students no longer must go through the long and often fruitless process of trying to get their professor to make their material accessible to a student with a special need. The software also generates a report that informs the professor and the school of what changes need to be made to content so that it will be accessible in the future.
Riding the Highlights of CSUN 2017
This year’s 2017 Assistive Technology for Persons with Disabilities Conference, referred to in verbal shorthand as CSUN, held a lot for everyone. As soon as one walked into the exhibit hall, there were people everywhere! So many conversations about the latest and greatest to hit the technological land, most products to be released later this year.
Since covering everything I saw would take until the products are released, let’s do a bird’s-eye view and hit those highlights!
Finally, An Accessible NCAA Men’s College Basketball Tournament Bracket!
If you are anything like me, you believe that March Madness should be declared a national holiday. It is so much fun to sit around and watch 68 teams battle it out for the national championship, cheer for your favorite team, and make friendly wagers with your friends and work colleagues.
However, if you are blind, it can be difficult to deal with the fact that none of the online tournament brackets are accessible. Finally, there is now an easy to use, and completely accessible tournament bracket available.
Check it out here, and remember that the North Carolina Tar Heels will win it all!
Cool Picks- March 11, 2017
In this episode of Cool Picks, Joel Ramos, Hugo Gallegos, and Rachel Feinberg tell us all about their favourite gadgets from this year’s Assistive Technology Conference, hosted by California State University Northridge.
InsideOne: A Windows 10 Tablet with a Built-in Braille Display.
Inside Vision has created one of the coolest products for people who are blind. The InsideOne is a full size Windows 10 tablet with 32cells of refreshable braille located along the bottom of the screen. This device also allows a person to type in braille on the screen, but there is no longer a need to make sure that your fingers are perfectly allied to be recognized. There are indentations in the glass, and this is where you place your fingers when typing in braille. I think this is a much better design than trying to add a Perkins style physical keyboard in addition to the 32cell line of refreshable braille. It also makes it feel more in line with a traditional Windows tablet. You don’t have to use braille input. There is an option for a virtual on screen keyboard. In addition, you could use a Bluetooth connected keyboard or a USB connected keyboard. The tablet still has a touch sensitive glass screen that responds to Windows 10 gestures.
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