iPhone users group

for people who are blind or have low vision. Call the MaryLee Perkins for details. 615-292-5803 This is a group of users helping each other through the great advancements in technology. More info
Braille Embossers for rent or sale, contact Technology Manager

Please support this movement. Contact
Ruth Scovill, the acting director of NLS; appointed March, 2011 call your State Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped, too. Tell Ms. Scovill that since other countries have made audio books available on smart phones and other devices, to their citizens with print disabilities, the NLS surly can find a way to do the same for Americans. (Bookshare allows their books to be played on iphones/ipads/computers and other smart phones.)

STATE LIBRARIANS WANT NLS BOOKS ON SMARTPHONES


Organ.gov page :
At their fall meeting (2010) in Kansas City, the Chief Officers of State Library Agencies (COSLA), made up of state librarians from all 50 states and the District of Columbia, passed a resolution calling upon the National Library Services (NLS) to make its new digital talking books readable on the iPhone and other smartphones.

 The resolution was in response to a letter that quoted the director of NLS as being reluctant to move in this direction.  The director indicated that he believed that blind iPhone users are a tiny minority of blind readers and he cited concerns about the security of Apple devices that might compromise NLS’s digital rights management software.
 COSLA is aware that every other major country now makes it possible for blind smartphone users to read talking books. The Association for the Blind of Western Australia (ABWA) has created an iPhone app that will read digital talking books from Australia and other countries.  The COSLA resolution calls on NLS to work with Apple and with ABWA so that blind iPhone users in the U.S. can use the new app, and that NLS cooperate with other manufacturers of smartphones to allow NLS books to be read on their devices as apps become available.
 State librarians understand that smartphones are becoming very popular with blind people because they include features that make them usable by the blind right out of the box.  The same is true of devises like the iPad and iPod Touch.  At a recent National Federation of the Blind conference in Kansas, the Kansas State Librarian reported that about a third of the attendees were iPhone users.


New voter ID creates great challenges for many people with disabilities. Link to TV article featuring Dylan Brown
   http://www.wsmv.com/story/16327237/could-voter-id-law-disenfranchise-disabled-residents?utm_medium=twitter&utm_source=twitterfeed

Who We Are:

Mission: “To ensure that persons with disabilities have the opportunity to achieve their own vision of independence in an inclusive and integrated community.”
 three Haitian soccer players, each with only one leg and crutchesWheel chair basketball the Haitian way-photo from the Boston Globe 1.12.11
picture of burger bun with small seeds spelling words in brailleOn the burger bun it says “100% pure beef burger made for you”, but what it really says is that everyone is welcome here, and we try to make each customer feel comfortable and valued. Click on the picture to read about the Wimpy’s ad campaign and see the video.