Hi,
What do you think of this letter I am going to send to Apple? All
suggestions and things are greatly appreciated.
Apple Canada:
AWEBSIGHT World Wide, from Surrey, British Columbia, Canada is making
a formal request of Apple Canada, for assistance with an educational
program in Mazatlan, Mexico.
I am a fifteen year old blind technitian from Surrey, British
Columbia, Canada. In my day to day dealings with sighted family,
teachers, peers, and others, I make use of Leopard's latest and very
inovative accessibility features. I have always used a Macintosh
computer, ever since I was introduced to the computing world at the
age of three. When it became apparent I was losing my sight at the age
of six, I was converted to the then recommended Keysoft, and then on
to Microsoft's Windows, believing at the time that that was the most
accessible platform. Though, I still used my old beige G3 and Mac os 9
at home, school regulations decreed that I use windows XP professional
edition in the classroom. When I first became aware of Apple's
inovative Voiceover technology, I quickly got an older G4 PowerMac
running Macintosh os X 10.4 Tiger at home.
I have always struggled with Microsoft's windows family, from Windows
XP, with its expensive bolt on software, to the faulty adaptation of
Windows Pocket PC, used on Braille notetakers, such as the Freedom
Scientific Pacmate. Not only did I have unmeasurable amounts of stress
due to incomparability of Windows Base software and devices, but also
have witnessed peers with astonishingly similar stories as my own,
struggled with the same equipment in my home province of British
Columbia.
In September of 2007, with the promising release of Apple's os X 10.5
Leopard, and with Microsoft Windows and Job Access With Speach (JAWS)
giving me constant headaches, I was fortunate enough to have a friend
of the family purchase a brand new Macbook for me. Since I have had
the Macbook, I have not only replaced my laptop but also my talking
calculator, Braille and talking dictionaries, Daisy Talking book
Player, personal alarm clock, Braille typewriter, Braille notetaker,
Braille translating software, and many more devices with a simple,
easy to use, ultraportable Macintosh Leopard system. Also, my need for
technical support has been significantly reduced, while using Apple's
products.
When my school refused to allow me access to the network, because my
technicians believed that my Macbook posed a potential risk of
containing viruses that threatened the entire school district. We
took the matter to higher authorities in the district, which
effectively overruled the initial ruling. Voiceover and Zoom have
really made things a lot easier on myself as well as teaching staff,
as minimal modifications were made to the software installed on my
computer for use in the school enviornment. Apple provides an
unmatched level of accessibility, from the first powering on of the
unit, to a fully accessible suite of built in applications. My
favourite built in applications are Safari and Frontrow. Safari, has a
unique navigation system, perfect for integration with my Email
service. It provides the user with the unique ability to use the
graphical user interface as any sighted person would to meet the daily
challenges of being a blind technitian.
Macintosh is great for blind and visually impaired students and adults
alike. I would like to further enphasize that with the Macbook air,
released in January of 2008, brings even greater oppertunities to the
world of accessible computing AWEBSIGHT strives for.
The following is a quoatation from a community report, released by
AWEBSIGHT, detailing goals and objectives for the project.
"AWEBSIGHT has released plans to set up a brand new sixteen machine
computer lab in Mazatlan, Mexico. This lab provides unique
oppertunities for [visually impaired] students K to 12, to explore and
further their knowledge in a buisness enviornment, as well as the many
applications of digital media. ...
The goals of the initiative are as follow:
- to provide students with the ability to perform workplace tasks
- to further students indevidual talents
- to instruct the students in the use of digital media
- to train students to type
- To allow students an oppertunity to develop their creativity [This
may be achieved by the use of Text Edit to premote creative writing.]
- to impliment a program to be integrated into the existing curiculum
[by providing work stations to view specially formated E-books. Using
voiceover or Zoom, in conjuction with Text Edit, These books may be
utilized as efficiently as any sighted student.]
The project is aimed at allowing [visually impaired] students to learn
and colaberate with their peers and instructors, as well as with
sighted friends and associates, allowing for a more independant
lifestyle..
To allow the project to be successful, the following limitations are
placed on the non-profitacy of the lab outlined above:
- all work stations are licensed to the individual students, for their
term at school
- "
We hereby make a request for a portible lab of Macbooks for an
educational project in Mazatlan Mexico. In addition to a portible lab,
we would appreciate a portible Wireless Apple Airport Express base
station
Thanks for listening,
Alex,
Alex,
ICE Customer Care,
AWEBSIGHT Administrator,
<[EMAIL PROTECTED]>
"Blindness is a gift, not a disability"
http://www.vipbc.org/
