Looking for Lodging? Accessibility Matters

Assistive technology is about accessibility. Recently, this idea was taken a step further. AirBnB announced a set of 24 filters enabling travelers with a physical disability to more easily find lodging accessible for their needs (e.g., if they use a wheelchair to get around). This feature saves these travelers the burden of having to call multiple places to inquire whether they are accessible to their needs, according to an informative blog piece that goes into detail about how to use the many features now available on the AirBnB app.

The user can obtain detailed information on the residence, as well as outdoor and common areas and whether an accessible (“handicapped”) parking spot is nearby. The accessibility filters can be set to one’s own specific disability.

With more and more people with physical disabilities enjoying travel, this new feature will be welcome news, especially to those using the AirBnB platform.

Ablenet’s New Blue2 Bluetooth Switch Offers Access to Many Apps and Programs

The Ablenet Blue2 Bluetooth switch offers easy wireless access to iOS, IOX, Windows, and Android apps and programs.

The Blue2 offers either single- or dual-switch access to Apple devices running iOS 7, as well as the company’s desktop or laptop computers running OS X Mavericks. Blue2 also provides access to apps and programs running on the Windows and Android operating systems. Connection to one’s favorite device via Bluetooth is easy and quick to set up.

Find out about the Ablenet Blue2 Bluetooth switch. It’s this week’s #AssistiveTechTuesday feature, described on our website blog. Not sure if you want to make the investment? New Jersey residents can try it out free at our Technology Lending Center!

Getting to Know the Miracle of Living with Deaf-Blindness

Helen Keller is the most well-known deaf-blind person. With the advocacy of her teacher, Annie Sullivan, and her own determination, Helen proved one could undertake higher education and graduate.

 

 

We all know about Helen Keller, notably through the astonishing performance by Patty Duke in The Miracle Worker. Helen Keller is the most famous deaf-blind person; her name is a household word – and rightfully so. Yet, many people do not fully understand what it is to be deaf blind. With that, President Ronald Reagan in 1984 proclaimed the last week of June as Helen Keller Deaf Blind Awareness Week. To keep the awareness fresh, every year the Helen Keller National Center for Deaf-Blind Adults Youths and Adults (HKNC), publicizes this important declaration with a national campaign. HKNC is part of the National Family Association for the Deaf-Blind (NFADB).

 

 

What Is Deaf-Blindness?

What is deaf-blindness? According to the NFADB, “The term ‘deaf-blind’ seems to indicate the sum of deafness + blindness. However, the combination of these two sensory losses is much more like deafness multiplied by blindness = Deaf-blindness.” The combined loss of both senses poses unique challenges, with independence, access to  information, interpersonal communication, and special navigation is indeed profound. However, contrary to what most people believe, deaf-blindness is not a total loss of seeing and hearing. This is rarely the case. The National Center on Deaf-Blindness (NCDB) provides an excellent overview of the condition covering children, assessment in school, educational services, environment, communication, social-emotional concerns, and motor-movement issues.

 

Assistive technology in the form of Augmentative and Alternative Communication (AAC) devices are an important pathway to accessibility to full inclusion in society and independent living. http://www.assistivetechnologycenter.org/at/augmentative-communication  For New Jersey residents, the Advancing Opportunities Assistive Technology Center can be an excellent resource, offering both one-on-one assistance and the chance to try out costly equipment before committing to a purchase.

 

 

A Famous Deaf-Blind Person (Aside from Helen Keller)

Haben Girma is an Eritrean-American woman who was the first deaf-blind person to graduate Harvard Law School. As an attorney, she has been an outspoken disability advocate for inclusion, accessibility, and Universal Design. Haben recently with current Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, along with former Presidents Barack Obama and Bill Clinton, all of whom have praised her important work as a disability advocate and self-advocate.

 

 

Usher Syndrome

The most common form of deaf-blindness is a condition called Usher syndrome. Usher syndrome is characterized by hearing loss, combined with a loss of vision over time and deficiencies in balance, as the condition starts in the inner ear. There are three types of Usher syndrome, which are characterized by the severity of the symptoms. Usher syndrome is genetically inherited.

 

 

Did You Know?

• Nearly 10,000 children and young adults are deaf-blind.
• Some 2.4 million people in the U.S. have combined vision and hearing loss.

 

 

Further Resources

Project Sparkle Family’s Guide

Deaf-Blind Education

Eye on the Cure Blog 

Deaf-Blind International

National Coalition on Deaf-Blindness

European Deaf-Blind Network

 

The Genius of Braille: A Real Eye-Opener

Louis Braille (1809-1852)

In 1809, on January 4, Louis Braille was born.  At age 5, the curious boy was blinded in an accident with one of his father’s tools.  However, Louis refused to let his disability stop him from getting the most of life.  As a teen at the Royal Institute for Blind Youth in Paris, he self-advocated by developing the system of writing that, to this day, bears his name.  In his honor, the 4^th of January has been declared World Braille Day.

Braille’s alphabet consists of a series cells containing, in a 2 x 3 grid, as a raised dot or a blank space. Though there are only six dots or spaces, they can be combined in 64 different ways, allowing for other characters, including letters from the alphabets of other languages.  In other words, braille is not a language, but a code for transcribing many other languages.  Nowadays, there are two main types of braille: Grade 1 and Grade 2.  Grade 1 is a functional letter-by-letter transcription of text.  Grade 2 uses combinations of letters in a single braille character, allowing for much shorter documents; it is the most widely accepted form of braille.

 Br The basic braille alphabet consists of cells of six dots, raised in a variety of combinations and permutations. There are also symbols for punctuation and letter combinations.

Braille provides access to written communication for blind people, in other words, accessibility beyond physical means such as access ramps.  In other words, braille is a form of inclusion, allowing everyone to participate in an important aspect of society, regardless of their disability.  In creating the braille system for reading and writing for the blind, Louis Braille was advocate and self-advocate for people with disabilities par excellence.  And for his part in developing the braille writer, Louis Braille was also one of the great assistive technology specialists of all time.

 

 

The braille writer creates the raised dots for braille text rather than printing individual letters or characters. As with the typewriter, the basic layout of the braille writer has been incorporated in modern assistive technology braille input devices.

“Access to communication … is access to knowledge, and that is vitally important for us if we [the blind] are not to go on being despised or patronized by condescending sighted people. We do not need pity, nor do we need to be reminded we are vulnerable. We must be treated as equals—and communication is the way this can be brought about.”

—Louis Braille

 

 

 

Forthcoming New Jersey Conference: Facing the Future with Employment for People with Disabilites

Early bird registration is open for the March 24, 2017, “Facing the Future: To Employment and Beyond” conference hosted by the Boggs Center on Developmental Disabilities and NJ ASPE, the Association of People Supporting EmploymentFirst.

Advancing Opportunities will be presenting on how assistive technology can play a role in employment for people with all disabilities.

Looking Back: 2016 Was a Good Year for International Disability Sports Competition

This summer, we had the Rio Summer Olympics.  Then, there were the Rio Paralympics.  And in October, the best of championship athletics for people with disabilities and the latest in assistive technology are combining forces in what is known as the Cybathlon. Among the technologies used were robotic prostheses, brain-computer interfaces, all-terrain powered wheelchairs, and powered exoskeletons.

The first international competition of its kind, Cybathlon was conceived and organized by the Eidgenössische Technische Hochschule, ETH Zürich.  Founded in 1855, it counts Albert Einstein among its alumni and professors.  Cybathlon was a competition in six disciplines:

• Powered exoskeleton race
• Powered arm prosthesis race
• Powered leg prosthesis race
• Brain-controlled computer game
• Powered wheelchair race
• Muscle-stimulated bike race

The top moments can be seen and relived in a series of videos on the Cybathlon YouTube channel.  In the future, according to a PBS report, robotic arms and other limbs can be life-changing for our wounded veterans.

 

 

As to be expected, coverage was widespread:

• Scientific American and the BBC brought the complex technology to the interested lay reader.
• Swissinfo and Endgaget covered the events before, during, and after the Cybathlon, “combining innovation and competition.
• Techradar hailed the Cybathlon as an important force that will influence the Olympic games in the future.

In short, the Cybathlon will be a critical element in promoting assistive technology for people with physical disabilities in all walks of life.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Library Equal Access Program: Providing Visually Impaired Patrons Full Access to New Jersey Libraries

A new effort in New Jersey, the Library Equal Access Program (LEAP), offers speech and magnification assistive technology training to blind and visually impaired consumers 55 and older.  Libraries throughout the Garden State are offering classes in basic and intermediate computers. Advancing Opportunities is collaborating with the NJ State Library Talking Book and Braille Center and the NJ Commission for the Blind and Visually Impaired to provide training.  Fred Tchang, Director of Assistive Technology Services said, “There are many people who need assistance learning how to use an iPad and who need help browsing the Internet because their vision is changing. This unique partnership gives older clients with vision impairments the support they need to succeed in learning new technology.”

October Is Dyslexia Awareness Month: Appreciating Extraordinary Creativity

With a positive attitude and the help of the proper assistive technology, people with dyslexia can succeed in school and go to college. Brian Meersma, featured here as a high school student on Advancing Opportunities Assisitve Technology Center YouTube Channel, went on to graduate college with honors and become an expert AT advocate and respected blogger.

 

Two brothers from Ohio were the first to escape the surly bonds of Earth with a powered, controllable airplane.  The creator of Britain’s most successful independent airline by far, Virgin Atlantic, is seeking to soar higher than the rest, planning commercial flights into lower Earth orbit.  What do Orville and Wilbur Wright and Sir Richard Branson have in common?  They have dyslexia.  So did Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, Benjamin Franklin, Thomas Alva Edison, Albert Einstein, and Steve Jobs, not to mention “our own” Bruce Springsteen.  What these individuals also share is an extraordinary creativity that has enabled them to meet the challenges of their disability and put their ingenuity to use in ways that have literally changed the world.

Dyslexia is neurological condition in which one has difficulty recognizing words, which may make understanding written text or learning a foreign language very difficult.  In addition to reading, writing, spelling, and speaking can be challenging.  Dyslexia affects 17 percent, or one in six school children.

Large-print books and audio recordings, very helpful to people with dyslexia, have been available for a while.  More recently, however, such assistive technology has become increasingly sophisticated.  One notable Advancing Opportunities success story is a young man named Brian Meersma.  Back in middle school, Brian struggled to read.    His language arts teacher thought he was simply not making the effort.  “It was just so frustrating, because I was trying my best, but she didn’t realize it,” he said.    Brian’s parents learned about the Assistive Technology Center at Advancing Opportunities.  His specialist introduced him to several tools.  Learning Ally and Bookshare are services that allow him to download books that are either pre-recorded or, through special software, convert written words to speech.  Kurzweil 3000 is a downloadable app that provides text-to-speech in seven languages, “reading” any digital text aloud, from textbooks to the Internet.  Kurzweil 3000 comes with virtual sticky notes, graphic organizers, writing templates, and spell-checking dictionaries.  For Brian, “assistive technology has been a lifeline,” says his mom.  Brian was not only accepted to an Ivy League college, he graduated with honors and is a well-known and highly respected blogger.

To recognize the talents so many people with dyslexia have and to spread awareness of tools and accommodations available to this population, the International Dyslexia Association in 2002 declared October National Dyslexia Awareness Month.  In 2015, the U.S. Senate passed a resolution to this effect, in addition to expanding the definition of dyslexia and the types of services these students are entitled to not only succeed, but also soar.

With Assistive Technology, Donna Is Able to Manage Important Everyday Tasks

 

Ever since a serious accident, Donna has had trouble with remembering things.  The single mother of three was referred to the Advancing Opportunities Assistive Technology Center through the New Jersey Traumatic Brain Injury Fund.  Assistive Technology Specialist Kristen Russell worked with Donna to assess her needs and goals and find the most suitable AT tools.  Donna needed assistance to support her memory and organization skills, help her manage her daily schedule (e.g., pick up her children, when to take her medications, what to cook for dinner).  She already had much of the hardware: a smartphone and a laptop.  The smartphone already had several tools that could help someone like Donna with memory and organization.   Most notable was the reminders app, a place to keep to-do lists and items and alert the user to do those things.

“Advancing Opportunities has given me given me hope, learning to live with a traumatic brain injury and learning how to manage everyday stuff like shopping and taking medicine and paying bills, and just even leaving on time for a doctor appointment.  All that becomes extremely overwhelming,” said Donna.  “The technology and training that Kristen has provided for the technology makes some of these things more manageable….”

Added Kristen, “For most of us, using smartphones and tablets and computers makes our lives easier, but for people with traumatic brain injury it makes things possible.”

Our Most Notable and Favorite Disability Articles for the Week Ending September 9, 2016

At Advancing Opportunities, we excel in providing residential and respite services to people of with all disabilities, along with advocacy and education services for parents and guardians and assistive technology support.  As a leader in the field, we are pleased to share our experience, knowledge, and expertise with the disability community through our social media outlets: Facebook, Google+, LinkedIn, and Pinterest.  In our Disability and Ability Highlights of the Week column, we will select the best of what we found and shared and present them.  Please click on the titles with embedded links to find the full article.

Elsie the Cow is a larger-than-life sculpture beckoning patrons of the Turtle Back Zoo, West Orange, to the interactive farm animals area. This zoo, ever popular with our Essex County patrons of Weekend Recreation, is unusual in that agricultural animals are an important part of the venue, in addition to the usual wild fauna.

Please stop by our website, http://advopps.org/, and find out all we have to offer.  In addition, we are specialists in the area of assistive technology and offer a huge array of services; the Assistive Technology Center is New Jersey’s premier source of information and equipment.

 

 

Disability in the news (mostly in New Jersey, the population we serve):

 Blind and visually-impaired patrons receive help using assistive technology in a New Jersey library.

 

 

Advancing Opportunities job announcement of the week:

Advancing Opportunities is looking for dependable, caring recreational support staff to provide part-time direct support to children and/or adults with disabilities during recreational events and community outings, such as the zoo depicted in the illustration. Weekend and evening availability are a must. Experience preferred but not required. Paid training is provided.

 

 

Special education (including college for students with disability):

Here are three established assistive technology accommodations for students with dyslexia:

 

 

Informative, positive, noteworthy (or all three!):

A single woman looking to foster a child ended up with six!

 

 

 Advocacy and self-advocacy:

A blind advocate champions braille menus in restaurants.

 

 

Assistive technology:

Assistive technology is becoming more and more accessible to the public.

Virtual reality assistive technology helps eight paralyzed men regain some control of limbs.

A competition encourages innovation to create more user-friendly assistive technology and mobility devices for people with physical disabilities.

 

 

People with a disability in the arts:

“Born this Way” gains recognition for people with Down syndrome.

 

 

Disability awareness and appreciation:

This is a very interesting blog piece not just on autism awareness but, more important, autism self-awarenessvery interesting blog piece not just on autism awareness but, more important, autism self-awareness.  Autism and Asperger’s are something some people are born with.  A formal diagnosis may be helpful, but not having a diagnosis does not mean that one is not on the autism spectrum.

 

 

Beauty, fashion, glamour people with a disability:

The first amputee model to walk the runway without prosthetic devices will do so at New York Fashion Week.

 

 

Medical news – research:

A new study shows significant improvement in critical components of reading, including decoding and vocabulary, among children treated with atomoxetine.

 

 

People with disabilities in the arts:

A young photographer uses his creative photography to document and cope with his depression.

 

 

Employment for people with disabilities:

One new report claims that employment for people with disabilities is seeing gains.  However,  US Department of Labor statistics show a slight decrease.

 

 

Animals and animal therapy:

Here’s a beautiful story of how a service dog changed the life of a boy with autism and helped his family.

Author Laura Numeroff will present on Facebook Live, providing the opportunity to learn about her book Raising a Hero, as well as Canine Companions for Independence.