Letter and Envelope Writing Guides

Letter and Envelope Writing Guides

The INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads is dedicated to providing the public with information on assistive technology, events, workshops, and everything that makes life for individuals with disabilities a little bit easier. Although we tend to focus on new, innovative and exciting products that are elaborate and are at times expensive, sometimes heavy duty machinery and pricey software are not required to meet the needs of an individual with a disability. Sometimes the solution is rather simple.

The Simple Solutions Series is going to focus on the everyday, inexpensive innovations that have been designed to make day-to-day living easier and more efficient. Each week we will introduce a  product or service that is functional, easily accessible, and, above all, simple.

Writing Guides:

Writing Guides are used by individuals with low vision or visual impairments. The usually heavy-duty black guides create a contrast and straight edge that make it easier for these individuals to see and write on various types of forms. Writing guides are used in a number of different applications: taking notes at work or in the classroom on lined paper, writing letters, addressing envelopes, writing and signing checks, etc.

This simple solution makes every day writing and signing activities much easier for those who would otherwise have a hard time seeing or signing forms. It is an inexpensive tool that can make a world of difference.

To view and purchase various types of writing guides visit the Maxi Aids website. The INDATA Loan Library also has a number of these tools available for loan.

Neon Wheelchair Sign

Neon Wheelchair Sign

WHAT: ALS, MS and Assistive Technology Training

WHEN: Friday, November 12, 2010 from 9 a.m. to 1:30 p.m.

WHERE: Easter Seals Crossroads, 4740 Kingsway Drive, Indianapolis IN 46205

Who should attend: Individuals diagnosed with ALS or MS, therapists, parents, students, educators, vocational rehabilitation counselors, physicians, nurses, and caregivers can benefit from training content.

Training content: You’ll learn about how assistive technology can accommodate employment, educational or independent living situations for those who have been diagnosed with ALS or MS.  Information about the INDATA Loan Library, Home Modification Assessments, and Job Accommodations available from Easter Seals Crossroads will also be available.

Those who participate in the training will have access to exhibits from United Seating and Mobility, Vocational Rehabilitation, Home Health Depot, ALS Association of Indiana, and Vision Aid Systems.

To view the agenda or to register, visit http://atandalsms.eventbrite.com/.

Amazon Kindle

Amazon Kindle

Many of you have come to us at INDATA and said “I’ve heard that the new Kindle has text-to-speech options. Can you tell me more about this?”  INDATA decided to purchase the new Kindle for our loan library to see what it has to offer to folks with vision impairments that are interested in listening to their books on the Kindle device.  While researching this topic, I spoke with Ricky Enger, a staff member from Serotalk, who referred me to a post she had written about the topic. We’ve taken bits and pieces of her article and brought it to you here, and we’ve added information in our post about screen magnification options.  For a detailed accessibility review, please read her article “An Accessibility Review of the Amazon Kindle 3.”

The accessibility on the Kindle consists of two features: “voice guide” and “text-to-speech.”

“Voice Guide:”

  • The “voice guide” feature is what you will use to navigate menus and materials on the device, and there is currently no way to enable this feature without sighted help.
  • To enable “voice guide”, press the menu button which is just above the 5-way navigation control, choose settings, and turn on “voice guide”.  Once this feature is on, it will remain activated even when you restart your Kindle.
  • When reading books, “voice guide” will announce the number of pages present on the home screen, as well as the page you’re currently on. When a book is open, you’ll hear its title as well as a percentage indicator of where you are in the book.  In order to begin reading the book though, you’ll need to enable text-to-speech.

“Text-to-Speech:”

  • Reads text content aloud using the Samantha or Tom voice from Nuance
  • The text-to-speech settings on the device allow you to switch between male and female voices, and you can also choose from 3 speed settings: slower, default, and faster.
  • Text-to-speech preferences for any content you read are not saved, meaning that you will need to enable text to speech for each bit of content you open, each time you open it.

Serotalk notes that at this time, navigation within a text is not possible. This means that although you can read a book on the device, it is not ideal for materials such as textbooks, Bibles, or even the Kindle user’s guide, where you may want to jump to specific portions of the text rather than reading it straight through.

Audiobooks:

  • The Kindle supports reading of Audible content which can be purchased directly from the Kindle store and downloaded over wifi, or transferred from the PC when the Kindle is connected via USB.

Screen Magnification:

  • Eight different font sizes are available
  • You can change the line spacing and words per line allowing for added customization
  • The screen can be rotated to landscape form
Franklin Bill Reader

Franklin Bill Reader

The Franklin Bill Reader is a handheld device for the blind and visually impaired.  It uses Evolution Robotics’ ViPR (Visual Pattern Recognition) object recognition and identification technology with an imbedded digital camera and speaker to immediately determine the denominations of U.S. paper currency.

Hold the BR-1000 over a single U.S. dollar bill (each bill must be identified one at a time), with the camera lens pointing towards the bill and approximately 3 to 8-inches away from the bill.  Press the large CAPTURE button in the top corner of the unit to take a picture of the bill, determine the denomination and speak the value of the note in English or Spanish.  It is capable of identifying all current and recent versions/designs of U.S. paper currency, including the One Dollar bill, $2, $5, $10, $20, $50, and $100 bills.

Specifications:

  • Uses two AAA batteries
  • Battery Life is approximately 1000 scans or about 200 days in standby mode
  • Size: 79mm x 42mm x 20 mm

This item is available for a 30-day loan to Indiana residents.  Visit www.eastersealstech.com and click on “Equipment Loan Library” for more information.

PEARL Scanner with Case

PEARL Scanner with Case

The PEARL is a brand new assistive technology device from Freedom Scientific designed to take pictures of text faster than a flatbed scanner.  Here are some of its features:

Portability: Designed to fold to 14”x 3”x 2 1/8”, the PEARL fits in a small carrying case and is lightweight.  This device would take up much less room in a backpack than a flatbed scanner, and would also be lighter on the neck and shoulders.

Scanning Speed: Developers at Freedom Scientific demonstrated this device to our team this past summer.  PEARL captured the image of a page in a novel and OpenBook started reading it all within three seconds.  Freedom explains that speed will vary depending upon the processor of the computer you are using.

Automatic Page Capture: Set the PEARL to automatic page capture and it will sense the motion of your hand as you turn pages, therefore keeping you from clicking your mouse or keyboard and allowing you to scan faster. You can also set up OpenBook to read one page as you scan several.

Video Magnifier Feature: The PEARL can use its camera to project an image on to your computer screen so that you may magnify text or images for easier viewing.

Computer requirements include OpenBook 9 or above and a USB 2.0 Connection.  For more information about PEARL or OpenBook, visit www.freedomscientific.com and click on “Products.” The PEARL has been added to the INDATA loan library – for more information, visit www.eastersealstech.com and click on “Equipment Loan Library.

Do you have difficulty typing on a keyboard? Whether you are struggling to type at a fast speed or are simply looking for a shortcut, consider trying out Google Scribe.  Google Scribe is a word prediction tool, which means it can predict the word you are typing as you type it into the field on the website.  This tool uses similar technology to Dragon Naturally Speaking, however instead of predicting words as you dictate, Google Scribe predicts as you type.

To try out Google Scribe, visit their website and enter text in the provided field.  Here is an example of how the program predicted what word I was typing:

Google Scribe Test

Google Scribe Test

As I typed “sen,” the program starts a drop down box with a list of words I may by typing.  To select a word from the list, I could use my down arrow to scroll through the list and hit ENTER to select a word, or I could press the number to select that word or phrase.  As of now, Google Scribe only predicts words typed in English. You can download the Google Scribe extension for the Chrome browser so that you can use this tool in all webpages.

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