Dear Barbara: I couldn't agree with you more. I have known a few deaf-blind people over the years, and have had some opportunities to be an interpreter. You go girl! I admire you speaking up for what is needed for you. If people on the list criticize and reprimand what you know to be your needs, then they are not too open in their minds. I'm sorry you had to endure that.
Yes, I'd even like to have a way to talk on the phone with some people I know who are deaf. I agree about instillation instructions being above the person using them. When I read instructions/manuals/whatever, I want specifically what I want now, not what all the things that can be done. Save the ads until I've gotten my feet on the basic ground, please? Anyway, Barbara, I'm on your side, and I'd be happy to help in any way I can. Thanks for writing. Martha Loescher, Secretary ODNR Division of Watercraft 2045 Morse Rd Bldg A-3 Columbus OH 43229 Phone: 614-265-6774 Email: [EMAIL PROTECTED] -----Original Message----- From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED] On Behalf Of Barbara J. Wagreich Sent: Monday, May 01, 2006 1:42 AM To: [email protected] Cc: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: RE: [Braillenote] Suggestions, priorities and philosophy Dear Jonathan: I'm deaf-blind and oral. I'm responding to your comments concerning deaf-blind users. Even though I'm oral, I'm profoundly deaf. there's no way I could use the memo recording facility in the BN, and I would say the same for most deaf-blind users of the BN. while deaf-blindness covers a broad spectrum of people, many of whom may have some residual hearing, only a minority would have enough to be able to profit from the memo recording feature of the BN. Only a few who have enough residual hearing would be able to use it. You also said that the Keysoft installations can be done independently by deaf-blind people. when I sent a message to this list expressing my concern that the instructions for installing Keysoft 7 were not deaf-blind user friendly, I was serverly criticized and reprimanded by a few users on this lsit. My comments were misudnerstood. If people took the time to review the installation instructions for Keysoft 7, they might h ave understood my concern. The instructions for the most part didn't state what one should see on the braille display besides the audio cues. I wonder how many deaf-blind people that are profoundly deaf were able to install Keysoft 7 alone. I also wonder if you have any deaf-blind BN uses who are profoundly deaf as beta testers? You also mentioned that features were added to the BN to reduce baggage for BN users, such as the FM radio, the media player, and memo recording. We deaf-blind were hoping the BN would have some form of TDD capability. I understand Humanware is developing a separate TDD device, and while I h ave no details about this or its portability, it would also be extra baggage for deaf-blind people to carray around (and much heavier than a RFM radio, MP3 player, and cassettse recoder). I would have been delighted if there was a way to access the Internet TDD Relay services (there are at least three of them) using the BN -- this would be great in a power outage or when there is no access to a regular phone (it could be done with a cell phone). Keyweb doesn't allow this at the present time but perhaps Humanware could work with one of the TDD relay services that provide on-line relay services to allow keyweb to access their on-line relay service. some of us deaf-blind have recognized the ptential of the BN as a face-to-face communications device using the visual display feature and a second keyboard. However the details to set up the visual display weren't readily available and it took several friends and me a while to figure out how to do it by trial and error. We found a lot of information in the help file for the Palm Viewer on the visual display but this info wasn't made available in a separate file, and BN tech support didn't have any info about how to set up the visual display to work withthe BN (they said they had never done it). while this set-up is useful, it can be problematic if the othe sighted person types faster than the deaf-blidn person can keep up with. It isn't possible at the present time for a deaf blind person to read at his/her own pace while the sighted person types. I realize that deaf-blind users constitute a minority and therefore may not be regarded as big a user community as the group of blind users. I understand that development is done for the biggest possible market. But it would be a geginning to make the installation instructions more deaf-blind uer friendly, provide access to a on-line TDD Relay service, provide access to online chats like Instant Messenger (AIM) and provide information for setting up things like a communications setup. A competitor has already done much work in this area, but I much prefer the BN and would like to see it include more accessibility for the deaf-blind. Barbara Wagreich ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote ___ To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to [EMAIL PROTECTED] To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit http://list.humanware.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote
