Bringing Sight to the World

Imagine if you lived in a country where there was no such thing as an eye doctor, and if there is one you don't know how to access them. This is the situation for millions of people around the world. The problem is that almost everyone will have vision problems during their life. If you live in the U.S. or another industrialized country, you simply go to a glasses shop and get fitted with a prescription, but this is not the case in places such as Sub-saharan Africa or India. So what's the solution?

Josh Silver, a physicist from Oxford has invented a pair of glasses that can be adjusted by the wearer. Since most vision problems are related to near-sidedness or far-sidedness, then it's just a matter of changing the shape of the lens. The glasses have two pieces of plastic with fluid in between them. The wearer changes the strength of the glasses by changing the level of fluid. Attached to each lens is a syringe, and once the fluid level is chosen, then a screw seals the fluid inside the lenses.

Giving sight back to people in the developing world will have an amazing impact. It will likely increase literacy, and it will allow people to work in their chosen industries longer. In Ghana, Silver met a man who retired as a taylor when he was 35 because he couldn't see to thread his needle anymore. Once he put on the glasses, he was able to see again and is working again.

Since an optometrist isn't needed, the cost for these glasses is extremely low. As of now, 30,000 have already been distributed, and Silver's goal is to give out 1 million by the end of one year. According to this article in the Guardian, he is partnering with business owners and governments around the world to increase distribution. He is also working on changing the design, since the current design is clunking and unfashionable.

Who knew that bringing sight to the world could be so easy. I hope that his project continues, and that he is able to meet his goal of distributing these glasses all over the world.

My Story on VisionAware.Org

About two months ago, Maurine from VisionAware.Org contacted me to ask if I would like to be a part of their sites "My Story" collection. I was honored by this request so of course I said yes. Here is a link to my article.

VisionAware.Org is a one stop resource center on the web for those with vision loss. They cover everything from eye conditions and their treatments to how to adapt leisure activities. I highly recommend this site for anyone who is losing their vision or has a family member who is losing their vision.

Writing a story about myself was not something I think I've ever done before. I think the hardest thing was that the questions I address were so open ended. This meant I had the option to include a lot of information, but I also had to be aware of what was the most valuable to include. This process allowed me to really think about how I've arrived at the place I am now, and all of the trials that I've gone through to get here. I really hope that this story will enlighten people about what it means to grow up with a disability, as well as, demonstrate that having a disability does not mean you can't live a happy productive life.

Amazon Kindle Should be Fully Accessible to the Blind by Summer 2010

If you were wondering what the most tweeted thing amongst the blind community was yesterday, it would have to be that Amazon plans to be releasing a kindle that is accessible to the blind by summer of next year. According to the press release, Amazon is working on adding TTS to their menu systems so that those of us who can't read print can use the Kindle. It looks like with a little prodding, a mainstream company can see that the disabled community is worth marketing to.

When I read about this, I had mixed feelings. On the one hand I was ecstatic because the Kindle would be another product that I could purchase that would be accessible to me without me adding any software to it. I was also excited because Amazon heard the message from the blind community and they listened.

On the other hand, I then remembered the issue with the Author's Guild. As it stands right now publishers can turn off the TTS feature on any book they want to. The whole Random House collection still has TTS turned off as far as I know, and who knows how many other publishers will decide to take this action. This means that even if I were to buy a Kindle, that there may be a lot of books that still would be out of my reach thanks to greedy publishers. The other concern that people on twitter brought up was their fear of us having to prove our disability to have full access to the TTS features. As it stands right now, most of the services that the blind and disabled use are restricted to our use. What this means is that we have to "prove" that we have a disability before we have the right to use the service. If Amazon is going to require this of us, many people may choose to not buy the Kindle because they're tired of having to be on a special list to use a product.

So from my standpoint this news is a good thing. Although I am concerned about TTS being turned off on books that I may want to own, I think it's great that in less than a year I should have the opportunity to see what the Kindle is like and decide if it is something I would want to purchase. I hope other companies follow in Amazon's footsteps, and that the number of products that the disabled can use that are made by mainstream companies only continues to grow.

What are your thoughts about the Kindle becoming accessible?

A Month Into the Braille Readers are Leaders Program

I mentioned in a previous post that I'm working on improving my braille reading skills. To motivate me, I am participating in the Braille Readers are Leaders program put on by the NFB. This is the first year they're allowing adults to participate.

In that post I mentioned that I was reading Ivanhoe by Sir Walter Scott. I am proud to tell you that I finished the book. It was almost 1000 pages in braille. As of today I have read almost 700 pages for the contest which started on Nov. 1st. I am currently reading an issue of National Geographic, but I'm hoping to order another book. If you have any recommendations please feel free to leave a comment. If you're a braille reader and haven't entered into the contest there's still time. I'm doing this for me. If I end up winning anything, I'll be happy, but mostly I'm happy because I'm improving my braille skills.

Bringing Tactile Feedback to Touch Screens

Even though Apple has developed a way for touch screen devices to be accessible to the blind, some non-sighted and sighted people still miss having tactile feedback. I've recently come across two solutions for this problem. One is something you put on your IPhone, and the other is an emerging technology that could be used with any touch screen interface.

For Iphone users that either don't like typing without a physical keyboard, or for those that have figured how, but still don't like it, there is now a solution. 4iThumbs is a new product that gives you tactile feedback when you're typing. The device is also a screen protector, and when you need to have full access to your screen you simply pop the 4iThumbs off and put it on the back of your phone. The ridges on the outside guide your thumbs while you're typing. 4iThumbs comes in portrait or landscape models. The best part is the price, only $15-$20. If anyone has tried this product please let me know what you think of it.

For those of us who don't have an Iphone, or are still waiting for touch screen to give real tactile feedback, then I'm happy to say there's hope on the horizon. Two professors at Carnegie Mellon have created a system that uses pneumatics to turn touch screen buttons into physical buttons. According to this article, "The technology consists of a flexible surface area with a hard backing that acts as a mask for the button shapes.  An air chamber behind the backing can be pressurized or depressurized using pneumatic technology, in this case fan-based pumps.
When positive pressure is applied, the buttons pop out.  When the pressure is neutral, the screen is flat.  When negative pressure is applied, the buttons pop inwards. Images are displayed on the surface using a projector behind the device, turning the surface into a display screen.  Button presses are detected using an infra-red camera pointed at the front of the screen that detects reflections of light from a fingernail.  When your fingernail gets close to the screen, a button press is recorded.  This technology cannot easily distinguish between a finger touching the screen and one merely close to the screen, so a press is not recorded until the finger presses down on the surface and causes a detectable change in pressure in the air chamber."

At this point the technology has some pretty big limitations, but it seems like this could be something we find in our cell phones and other touch screen devices someday.

How much more likely would you be to purchase a touch screen device if you knew it could provide you with tactile feedback?