Matilda Ziegler Magazine for the Blind the source for blindness news and information since 1907

Submitted by Dave Hutchins

Slow-cook the ribs during the day and they will be ready to finish on
the grill when you get home.

Yield: 4 Servings
Preparation Time: 5 minutes
Cooking Time: 6-1/4 hours

Ingredients:
2-1/2 pounds pork baby back ribs, cut into eight pieces
5 cups water
1 medium onion, sliced
2 celery ribs, cut in half
2 teaspoons minced garlic, divided
1 teaspoon whole peppercorns
3/4 cup barbecue sauce
1/4 cup plum sauce
Dash hot pepper sauce

Directions:
Place the ribs in a 5 quart slow cooker. Add the water, onion, celery, 1 teaspoon garlic and peppercorns. Cover and cook on low for 6 hours or until meat is tender.

In a small saucepan, combine the barbecue sauce, plum sauce, hot pepper sauce and remaining garlic. Cook and stir over medium heat for 5minutes or until heated through.

Remove ribs. Discard cooking juices and vegetables.

Moisten a paper towel with cooking oil; using long-handled tongs, lightly coat the grill rack.

Brush ribs with sauce. Grill, covered, over medium-low heat for 8 to 10 minutes or until browned, turning and basting occasionally with remaining sauce.

Phil Jones wrote:

I’m writing to express my appreciation to John Christie for sharing with us the article Georgia Man Gets No Break in Life. The reason I say this is because all too often many of us who are blind or visually impaired become too focused on the negative side of blindness and the native attitudes board us and the barriers that we face. The fact is that the vast majority of us have it pretty good and most of us can turn our situation around if we really want too. We’ve made a lot of progress over the years and the fact that we have shows that we still can if we really want to. The individual written about in this article had no breaks at all, was never given a chance and died at a very young age. So folks let’s try to keep that in mind the next time things don’t seem to be going the way we think they should.

In response to Terri’s comment in last week’s Reader’s Forum, David McElroy wrote:

Regarding marriage to an SSI beneficiary, that benefit is technically a Welfare program. Therefore, significant restrictions apply which would not be as onerous were this spouse receiving funds under his own account. Would this couple not have been better served by dropping SSI initially and remaining in one apartment?

In 1981, I joined one of the largest consumer organizations of blind people in this country. I learned about how and why the organization was founded, what its focus was, and how blind people in the movement fight for their rights. I also learned that there were approximately 50 thousand members throughout the United States. My own chapter had close to 40 members, and we were very strong.

As the years went by, the membership in my chapter diminished by leaps and bounds, until finally in 2006, the chapter didn’t have any members left. I believe that the reason for this dramatic drop in membership was very simple. While the older members resigned or passed away, it was very difficult to recruit young, ambitious people. I later learned that other chapters in my state suffered the same fate, and in two cases the chapters were dissolved. Then I began to wonder if my state was the only one with this problem, because I find it hard to believe that in an organization with 50 state affiliates, my state would be the only one which was rapidly losing membership. Yet despite several chapters drained of members, I still hear that the organization is fifty thousand strong.

On one hand, it is very sad to hear that consumer groups are having problems recruiting younger people, blind or sighted. Could it be that younger people don’t want to be bothered? Is it that young blind people of today, given how they are integrated in society more than ever, are suddenly too busy to join something new, even if it’s for their own good? Could it also be that transportation isn’t as affordable as it once was? No matter why it’s so hard to recruit the younger generation, it is a known fact. With that said, have we seen the peak of powerful consumer groups? What are their futures, and will they be as effective in their advocacy as they have been?

I welcome your input.

Channel Two, Pittsburgh Pennsylvania’s CBS affiliate, airs a program Monday through Friday called Pittsburgh Today Live.

Their May 8th program was entirely Mother’s Day themed with one segment having been called, “Mother May I?” That segment featured a nutritionist from the University of Pittsburgh Medical Center testing the hosts’ knowledge of food facts. I thought of Ziegler readers immediately and decided to share the quiz the TV hosts took.

1. Moms should focus their diets on “super foods.” If you answered “false,” you may take a step forward. Good though so-called “super foods” might be, to focus almost exclusively on them would be to deprive oneself of valuable nutrients.

2. Sugar is always toxic. Again, while too much sugar consumption can be problematic, sugar is not toxic. Also keep in mind that few things are “never” or “always.”

3. Soy is bad for a pregnant woman. Since soy can serve as an excellent source of protein, this, too, is false.

4. Frozen vegetables can sometimes be better than fresh. Interestingly, this is true. Frozen vegetables, especially if not overcooked, contain the nutrients found in fresh produce.

To access the entire quiz, go to kdka.com and follow the links to PTL for Pittsburgh Today Live. You can also access a variety of health topics by going to www.upmc.com.

I hope that all Ziegler female readers had a wonderful Mother’s Day.

Do you visit the YouTube website often? If you’d asked me that question a few years ago, my lukewarm response would have been, “Not much”. Sighted friends and colleagues would send videos that were fairly visual or I would occasionally receive a few really fun or unique videos through email and/or Twitter but that was it. I’m certain my lack of enthusiasm stemmed from the fact that YouTube was not a bastion of accessibility. Pressing the letter “B” would move from button to button but there was always the annoyance that the music would often overpower my JAWS screen reader and it was difficult to hear the “Pause” button.

When I visited the YouTube website on my cherished HTC Ozone Windows phone back in 2009, searches took forever! I only ventured to the site when at a medical office where I knew I’d have some time to spare. I won’t deny that it was still thrilling as I’d previously only been able to enjoy videos on my PC.

My use of YouTube escalated during preparation for our first cabaret show as I’d search for renditions of songs I wanted to perform. Once found, I’d purchase the song on www.amazon.com/mp3. It was an unbeatable combination. Still, this was a sporadic thing. As you know, I also use an accessible YouTube alternative found at www.povidi.com/yourtube.

Using YouTube on my iPhone has been a pleasant enough experience but as tech companies are prone to do, they fiddle with and tweak their products. These changes sometimes come at the expense of accessibility and it can be quite disturbing. The YouTube app was just fine and when the new version was rolled out, blind and visually impaired users groaned. I recall scratching my head in bewilderment to try to figure out why the developers felt it necessary to hide the video controls once the player opened. Double-tapping returned the controls but it just seemed a waste of a good gesture. The view has changed yet again, but with exploration, viewing is a reasonable experience.

Lately, my viewing has skyrocketed as I’m currently hooked on the educational and humorous Mental Floss and Sci-Show videos. Packed with facts from A to Z, you can learn a great deal in a few minutes. Their theme song, however, is driving me slightly mad but I’m certain they chose it for some obscure reason only they know. Now, if only the videos wouldn’t continually start and stop.

I’m now giving the You Player app a go and find it quite Voiceover friendly. You’ll find a fine demonstration at www.applevis.com.

By the way, how do you feel about paid channel subscriptions coming to YouTube?

For more than a century Spelman College has had one commencement ceremony after another, but co-valedictorians is something they have never experienced before. Spelman, located in Atlanta, Georgia, will conduct its 126th Commencement this coming Sunday, and this time the occasion will be historic for several reasons. Not only is this the first time the school will feature co-valedictorians, but the academic stars happen to be sisters too. To be more precise, Kirstie and Kristie Bronner are identical twins, who obviously share much more in common than just their looks.

Explaining how they were both able to maintain perfect 4.0 GPA’s, the sisters emphasized the importance of prioritizing, accountability, and faith. “People would ask us, do you want to go do this or that on a weekday and the response was an automatic no”, said Kirstie. “We saved recreation for the weekend.” When her sister chimed in, she talked about the difference between asking for something as opposed to working for it. “Prayer accounts for things you can’t do,” said Kristie. “What you are able to take responsibility for, do it. Don’t act like God is supposed to do it all for you.”

In the immediate future, the sisters plan to work at a youth ministry in Atlanta, where their father happens to be the pastor. Eventually, Kirstie and Kristie, who each earned a degree in music, aspire to record a gospel album. Future plans also include publishing a book, geared towards educating teens on accomplishing scholastic excellence.

Knowing their history, it comes as no surprise that Kirstie and Kristie value education so much, because the twins are not the first members of the family to graduate from Spelman. Their mother and grandmother also earned degrees from the prestigious college for African American women, so that always supplied motivation to continue the family tradition. Now that the mission is complete, Kristie summed up the impact Spelman has had on her life. “It’s been a nurturing environment for my overall growth as a Black woman.”

Source: http://www.spelman.edu/about-us/news-and-events/2013/05/02/kirstie-and-kristie-bronner-named-co-valedictorians-for-spelman-college-class-of-2013

Mother’s Day is celebrated across the U.S. on the second Sunday in May. But what do we really know about the founding and evolution of this holiday?

According to information I found on the life of Anna Jarvis, her mother, Ann Maria Reeves, was born September 30, 1830 to Reverend Josiah Reeves and Nancy Reeves in Culpeper, Virginia. The family later moved to Philippi in Barbour County, West Virginia when the Reverend was transferred to a Methodist church in that county.

Ann Maria married Granville E. Jarvis in 1850, and they subsequently moved to Webster in Taylor County, West Virginia. She organized “work clubs” for mothers and women, helping to improve poor women’s quality of life. During the Civil War they raised money to provide medicine for soldiers. She tirelessly helped care for wounded soldiers despite personal tragedies in her life.

In 1865 she began a friends group for mothers. It became an annual celebration lasting several years.

Ann Maria Jarvis’s husband died in 1902. She lived with her daughters Anna and Lillian in Philadelphia until her death in 1905.

Anna Jarvis devoted her life making her mother’s wishes a reality.

In 1907 Anna had a memorial service for her mother at a Methodist church in Grafton, West Virginia. In 1910, the first unofficial celebration of Mother’s Day occurred Sunday May 8 in Philadelphia. She received generous help from affluent department store owner John Wanamaker. After a church service there was a celebration in the auditorium of the Wanamaker department store. By 1914, the popularity of this day spread and President Woodrow Wilson signed a proclamation in 1915 declaring Mother’s Day a holiday across the U.S. Presidents from Franklin Delano Roosevelt to George Bush have reaffirmed this Mother’s Day proclamation.

By the 1920s Anna Jarvis became distressed with the increasing commercialization of this holiday. She protested this until the end of her life. In 1948 she was arrested for disturbing the peace. She said that “people should write letters instead of buying greeting cards.” She died that year, but will be remembered for starting this beautiful tradition of Mother’s day.

In Boston, Julia Ward Howe had different ideas about the celebration and implementation of a Mother’s Day, according to the Perkins School for the Blind History Series Volume 1. Julia Ward Howe was a social worker, reformer and writer of “Battle Hymn of the Republic.” Her husband, Samuel Gridley Howe, was the first director at Perkins Institute. They lived at the school, which was in South Boston. In the 1870s she wanted the second Sunday in June to be set aside for mothers who were pacifists like herself.

Despite its rampant commercialization, with shopping and movie channels devoting this weekend to moms, Mother’s Day is a day to show appreciation for our mothers. The best gifts are our attentiveness and our love.

If you wish to know more about the history of this holiday go to look up the Wikipedia entry on the history of Mother’s Day or Google the life of Anna Jarvis. You can also find information on the history of Mother’s Day in the Perkins School for the Blind History Series Volume 1. This one volume book can be purchased from Perkins in Braille.

According to expert resources, a psychiatric service dog (PSD) assists people suffering from diagnosed mental health conditions like anxiety and depression or Post Traumatic Stress Disorder. Those who suffer with PTSD and have obtained a PTSD dog say it has made more of a difference than any other medical treatment.

Before we continue, let me say that a service dog is not to be confused with an emotional support dog, also sometimes referred to as a companion dog. The former can go to any public place and the latter cannot. What’s the difference? A service dog is specially trained and proofed for things like being calm, obedient and friendly wherever it goes with the handler and to perform tasks to mitigate the person’s disability. A properly certified service dog and the person to whom it is matched are protected under the Americans with Disabilities Act as well as State laws. An emotional support dog is not allowed to do this according to the ADA. However, there are circumstances in which the emotional support dog may be allowed, such as traveling with the person on airplanes (The Air Carrier Act) and in dwellings where there is a no pet policy (the Fair Housing Act). In both cases, documentation, usually a letter from a licensed mental health professional, is required to verify that the dog assists in relieving the symptoms associated with the person’s mental health condition or disability.

Now that we know the difference between a service dog and an emotional support or companion dog, what, exactly, does a psychiatric service dog do? How does a dog learn to understand the person it is helping? Wikipedia provided the following on these questions. “Training to mitigate a psychiatric disability may include providing environmental assessment (in such cases as paranoia or hallucinations), signaling behaviors (such as interrupting repetitive or injurious behaviors), reminding the handler to take medication, retrieving objects, guiding the handler from stressful situations, or acting as a brace if the handler becomes dizzy.

What breeds are used for PSDs? Many breeds and cross breeds are used as long as they can perform the tasks required by the person. Wikipedia sums it up by stating, “Psychiatric service dogs may be of any breed or size suitable for public work. Many psychiatric service dogs are trained by the person who will become the handler — usually with the help of a professional trainer. Others are trained by assistance or service dog programs. Assistance dog organizations are increasingly recognizing the need for dogs to help individuals with psychiatric disabilities.”

Do you know anyone who is working with a PSD? Tell us in the Reader’s Forum.

To read more about PSDs, go to: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Psychiatric_service_dog

Ruben Hernandez is a remarkable man who has done a variety of things in his life. First and foremost, he was an active member of the Marine Corps until he was discharged because of vision loss. After his time in the service, he became a general contractor. This involved building dry cleaning establishments. He was responsible for a variety of tasks that needed to get done including plumbing, electrical wiring, steam fitting, concrete work, roofing and any other duties that had to do with constructing buildings.

In his mid 60s after losing a great deal of sight, he went to the Western Blind Rehabilitation Center run by the Department of Veterans Affairs. He was scheduled to stay there for six weeks but left in three because of lymphoma (cancer of the lymph nodes). He was also told that he had a year to live.

Wanting to learn how to type so that he could use a computer, he signed up for the Seniors Program at the Colorado Center for the Blind. One class he took while at the center was cane travel. He liked this class and had many memorable experiences while taking the class and on his own. However, one travel experience he had he will never forget.

One Friday morning the day after Thanksgiving, he reported to class as usual but found the doors all locked. He then went out to the parking lot and found it empty. Then he had the snow to contend with and slipped and fell into a snow bank. In the process of the falling, he lost his cane but was eventually able to find it.

Hernandez decided that since there were no classes, he might as well go home.

He went down the steps to the train but tripped on the last two steps, and fell on his knees and ripped his pants. After being on the train for a while, he realized that he was going the wrong way. He got off the train at Mineral station. He then waited for the train to turn around and ended up at Englewood. He sees the next train and asks if it goes up by the college and is told that it does. He boards the train and hears the disappointing announcement that the train is heading toward the depot. He then goes to Alameda then exits and waits.

When the next train comes, he asks if it is going towards the college and is told that it does. He then doesn’t pay attention to where he is going. A fellow passenger tells him when he is at the college. However, he discovers that he is in the wrong place. He goes out on the street and stops a car and asks them where Colfax is. He is told that he has to go to the other side of the campus. Eventually, he decides to take a bus. When he gets off the bus, he crosses a few streets at night and finally gets home.

Hernandez is a real trooper who made it home in the dark of night when he didn’t have much experience traveling with a cane. He definitely has to be admired for doing this.

Source: https://nfb.org/images/nfb/publications/bm/bm13/bm1305/bm130509.htm

One of the amazing things about technology is how many challenges it can solve. Come up with something that you have trouble doing and there might just be a researcher out there that’s trying to find a solution. I recently came across three new projects that are in the works that could make the lives of the visually impaired much easier.

Optical Character Recognition has come a long way and continues to get more accurate and faster, but you are still limited to using a camera or a flat bed scanner. Imagine having access to OCR in a pair of glasses. This is the idea that a group of students from Florida International University are working on. Their project is called iTalk, and the way the technology works is similar to the OCR apps on your phone, but instead the camera is in a set of glasses you wear. This means we could interact with pretty much anything that has text. Imagine going to the store and picking up a box of cereal and reading the label right then and there. To learn more about this exciting project visit http://eyes4blind.com

The next project is called Access Lens and is similar, but it relies on the user using a set of gestures to interact with the text. This youtube video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gyBT4e_PoK8&feature=youtu.be demonstrates how the technology works. The user first takes a picture of the item with text, then you would actually read the paper by touching it. The video shows a person interacting with a map by actually feeling the map. This kind of technology could open the doors to having better access to printed materials, especially those that are spatial like a map or a diagram. To read more about the project visit this link: http://www.wearabletechworld.com/topics/wearable-tech/articles/336638-access-lens-breakthrough-wearable-tech-the-blind.htm

Finally, a new app is being developed by a team at UC Santa Cruz that will help the visually impaired take better pictures. There are many features in the app including a simple swipe up gesture that takes the picture and audio cues that tell how many faces are in the picture frame, as well as how to focus the picture. The app also will make a 30 second audio file to help with picture sharing. It will record who is in the photo as well as where the picture was taken. The app will be discussed at an upcoming conference and hopefully it will be available soon. This app would make me want to take pictures more often. To read more visit this link: http://www.newscientist.com/article/dn23516-app-helps-blind-photographers-take-the-perfect-snap.html