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

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to multiple comments on sheltered workshops, as well as Missouri’s proposal to cut Medicaid to the blind, Karen wrote:

In 2012 it is a shame that a few sheltered workshops still pay people with disabilities sub-minimum wage. I want to commend the many workshops that do well by people with disabilities. I know of two in North Carolina. They are located in Winston Salem and Asheville and they pay blind workers minimum wage and beyond. We should thank our president for the stimulus package which went through in 2009 which provided many of the jobs in these workshops. I know of people who moved from different states to work there.

It is sad that Missouri is thinking of cutting all Medicaid for the blind. Are they aware of the 70% unemployment statistic among us? If legislators and other people really knew our situation, I think more effort would be put in to job creation. If this happened, blind people would earn enough so they would be less dependent on government benefits and the problem would be solved.

Let us get the word out on these issues and help change the thinking of legislators and the public about how devastating Medicaid cuts would be at this time.

Sincerely,
Karen Ctrowder
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In response to Op Ed with Bob Branco – Beware of Your Supported Environment, Julie wrote:

I wanted to respond to the story about the orange juice and bleach bottles. Unlike this gentleman in the story, I am totally blind. One day, I had a similar experience to this gentleman’s story where a bottle of apple juice got mixed up with a bottle of cooking oil. They were both plastic and about the same size. The oil made it into the fridge, but the apple juice didn’t. One morning, half asleep and in a hurry to get out the door, I poured some liquid into a glass, held it up to my nose to take in the nice apple aroma, and thankfully was able to smell that it wasn’t apple juice before drinking it down. I quickly realized what had happened, poured the oil out, and just decided to forget the whole thing of getting something to drink since I was running late anyway.
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Rita wrote in, saying:

As I am sitting here writing on my computer, I have realized that my computer skills are limited. Not only my computer skills are limited, but my technology skills are limited as well. My question is, do many of you who read or write the Matilda Zeigler magazine feel the way I do?

Computers and technology have taken over the world, in other words, writing in print, using a pen or pencil, writing on a typewriter has become obsolete. It is not easy finding someone who is qualified to teach computer lessons, or to learn technology.

When I was a little girl, it was mandatory to learn Braille–mind you, I am so glad that I learned Braille when I did. My Braille skills are good, and I am glad that I know Braille today. However, I am lost because I don’t know how to do everything on the computer. For example, I know how to write e-mails, I know how to write in Microsoft word, and I know how to open some attachments.

The State Commission will pay for lessons, but one has to have a job in order to get these lessons. To me that is not fair. I, myself, cannot pay for any kind of lessons because I do not have a job, and my husband is retired. So, money is tight.

Technology teachers cost lots of money for any kind of lessons that I may want, and know that I must not be the only one that feels this way.

I feel that when we reach a certain age, people feel like we cannot learn anymore, or study either. They should have someone in our blind or visually impaired community to teach us anything we want to learn, whether it be a new cell phone, an iPad, or computer lessons.

These are my feelings about how I want to learn technology. If anyone has any comments or suggestions, please write it in the Ziegler Reader’s Forum.

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to Feature Writer Terri Winaught – Has Time Life Heard of the ADA? Stuart wrote:

In Terry Winaught’s article about the problems of contacting Time Life, all that I can say is, it ain’t fun trying, they just don’t get it. I have had to get friends to check out the infomercials and obtain the numbers for me; however, when I mentioned the problem in the subsequent calls, they just didn’t get it, no one understood, it was like “talking to the wall.” I would ask to speak to a supervisor; however, that didn’t get anywhere either, they just cannot put 2 and 2 together, it’s like, in their heads, the elevator doesn’t go all the way to the penthouse.
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In response to Feature Writer Lynne Tatum – I Hear Jazz in You, Chela wrote:

I’m a totally blind jazz trumpeter and tenor singer. I’m a total jazz fanatic, in fact I’ve studied jazz since I was 13. I also have Hal Leonard’s Real Book volume One 12 CD set but it has only the piano bass and drums, so one would have to provide the melody and noodle around the solo section and you can get it from www.jazzbooks.com, just be aware it is around 97 dollars! I highly recommend it for all musicians. Also I think you’d like Miles Davis’s Kind Of Blue. In fact I have both the album and the book Kind Of Blue: The Making Of The Miles Davis Masterpiece by Ashley Kahn and Jimmy Cobb which I scanned and submitted with some help in the proofing from a fellow bookshare volunteer to get it onto bookshare.org and it will definitely change your perspective on the album and you’ll even listen to it differently, shoot I know I do!

Sincerely,
Trumpeter Chela Robles
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In response to Feature Writer Alena Roberts – Paying Disabled Workers Less Than Minimum Wage Must End, Dave wrote:

I would like to comment on some of the items about sheltered workshops.

First off, some sheltered shops do pay minimum wage or more. The National Federation of the Blind has worked long and hard many years ago to enable blind men and women to obtain good jobs and wages when working in shops. However, there are still some shops that do not pay minimum wage and the working conditions are very poor. To some, it may well be the only place blind people can obtain work, and some work is better than no work at all. The NFB is working to make jobs more accessible to blind people. All we want in the NFB is choice, the NFB does not put down blind people working in sheltered shops, NFB does not like the way blind people are treated. There is lots of money to be made out there, blind people just want their fair share.

I used to work at Alphapointe Association for the Blind, they lay off a lot of blind people while the sighted remain on the job. The new director has demoted most of the blind guys who were supervisors, some of their jobs at the Association require some good vision, not all of Alphapointe’s manufacturing jobs are blind friendly, benefits have been cut unless you are a permanent employee, and those who are on call don’t have any benefits.

It used to be a good place to work for a young guy getting some work experience 30 years ago. The former director and assistance director encouraged blind guys to try and do better for themselves, that’s not the case today. A sheltered workshop is some place to work in a pinch after losing a job like myself back in 1995 until my disability started again, I got the lump sum 5 months that blind people receive because there is no waiting period for blind reapplying for disability for blindness a 2nd time, other disabilities have to go through a waiting period no matter.

Blind people are exempt from the 2nd waiting period or more times. We have pretty good benefits working in the states BEP vending stand facilities, but not everyone is vending material, we need to be less picky about where to work and swallow our pride some, because of this economy most people can’t be choosy about where they work, don’t look a gift horse in the mouth, things will eventually get better, in the meantime we need to do what we can to survive, just like everyone else, be glad we have what we do have compared to other blind people in other countries.
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In response to Sally’s post regarding issues navigating within Word Pad, Edward wrote:

Sally should do the following: place five karats “^^^^^” or five at-signs “@@@@@” where she stops reading the word pad book. Every time she opens the word pad book, she first has to search for the “^^^^^” or “@@@@@” punctuation marks.

She has to make sure that she saves the word pad book after adding the punctuation marks and as she reads she has to move the punctuation marks.

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to Feature Writer Alena Roberts – Paying Disabled Workers Less than Minimum Wage Must End and Op Ed with Bob Branco – The Blind and the Media, Mary wrote:

I wish to comment on the sheltered workshop system. I never wanted to work in such a place, and I got sucked into a program for a month where knobs for stoves were assembled and a couple of other things were done. It did not lead to a real job and did not let me utilize my real skills. It was boring, mind-numbing work, and I hated it. I only got up to 51 percent on that assembly line. The other people in the sheltered shop were sighted, but mentally challenged. I didn’t belong in such a program at all. I was glad when I got my last check and could go home and not come back. One month wasted out of my life back in 1999.

I also refused to work at the Chicago Lighthouse. In 1979, Dialogue Magazine ran an extensive article about sheltered workshops and how the blind were treated back then; always paid less than anyone else and never able to get a “real job.” These shops do not teach any skills that can be used on a “real job.” Yet the practice continues to this day.

I wasn’t given a fair chance at all; I took a medical transcription course from Hadley School for the Blind but could not use that skill; I was rejected by a major medical center for employment because the personnel lady said they didn’t use Dictaphones. The real reason is they didn’t want a blind person working there. It was no use complaining because there were no organizations for the blind in Nevada where this happened in 1991.

Concerning the press making some kind of deal out of what we do: It’s just another example of sighted people misunderstanding people with disabilities. We can cook without burning the house down. We buy the same ingredients sighted people buy from the same stores. Those of us who can really cook using fresh ingredients, can follow recipes. Just like anyone else, we can compile our own recipe collections from various sources and put them into 3-ring binders. We can buy cookbooks in Braille; we can look recipes up on the Internet. To me, it’s no big deal.

I’m sick and tired of the press or anyone who doesn’t know us at all, assuming that we need to live with other people to eat or dress well, etc. I’m tired of their assumptions. You talk about educating the public, but there continues to be large segments of the population who choose to continue to be ignorant about the abilities of people with disabilities and treat us like we have no minds at all and pity us. I don’t want pity.

Sincerely,
Marie Rudys
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In response to Feature Writer Alena Roberts – Paying Disabled Workers Less than Minimum Wage Must End, Linda wrote:

Regarding closing sheltered workshops, after enduring six years of a poor economy in which I lost my steady job and have resorted to contract work, if the corruption were cleaned up in the workshops, it seems to me that some sort of employment is better than none. When my own contract work stopped temporarily, I heard of a blind man making pizza boxes for Pizza Hut, and I would have gladly done that–anything–to have work again, but when I checked into this possibility, that man had already been laid off himself. Luckily, I have found more contract transcription work again.

We also need to be careful not to assume that all blind people can do regular work. Some just have severe enough other issues that regular employment isn’t possible for them, and compassion for them is in order. Let’s not be too quick to sneer at sheltered workshops when even sighted people are having a difficult time finding jobs.
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In response to Braille literacy, in the February 6, 2012 “Ziegler” Readers Forum section, Beth wrote:

Here is part of what Chris wrote in his reader’s forum post last week that I’d like to address. He said, “Although a lot of information isn’t accessible to us, just look at what we have in the way of technology that could easily make Braille obsolete: notetakers, screen readers, iDevices with VoiceOver, etc.”

But wait! Some note takers have integrated Braille displays, others have ways of attaching them. Screen readers can make use of Braille displays attached to PCs or tethered with Apple devices and Macs. At least one note taker that I know of with an integrated Braille display can be used as a USB drive on a PC, maybe on a Mac too, so info can travel back and forth. Hard copy Braille, note takers and Braille displays all constitute literacy, let’s not just concentrate on hard copy Braille, which is often not available in a timely fashion and it’s bulky.
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In response to Feature Writer Ann Chiappetta – Project Guttenberg, Sally wrote:

As I was listening to the table of contents in a previous issue, my ears really perked up when I heard the words “Project Guttenberg.”

I’d like to thank Ann Chiappetta for letting us know the history of this project. Not being formally trained on the computer I accidently stumbled upon Project Guttenberg in a hidden file on my computer. I can only assume that my computer came pre loaded with approximately 411 books. There are many titles I would love to listen to but I have one problem–it appears that the books are in word pad. When I have to stop listening to a book for whatever reason, I can’t figure out how to save it at the position where I left off. It gets very tiresome having to scroll all the way through the book to find my place. I’m sure there is an easy answer to my problem but I haven’t been able to figure it out. Can anyone help? Thanks in advance. You can post to the magazine or email me at ross3324@comcast.net

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to comments about taking notes in Braille, Richard wrote:

Someone in the Reader’s Forum questioned the use of the slate and stylus for college note taking.

I went through undergraduate and graduate school using a slate and stylus to take notes. I made up my own shorthand. I did not know Grade three.

There are now two books available from Web Braille on Grade three.

The Braille Code: A Guide to Grade Three Braille by Ruth Hayden: BRA03950 http://www.loc.gov/nls/braille/03950a01.brf and Key to Grade Three Braille by L. W. Rodenberg: BRA18832 http://www.loc.gov/nls/braille/18832a01.brf

I hope this helps.

Richard
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In response to comments about taking notes in Braille, Jim wrote:

I received my B.A. degree from the College of Wooster, a liberal arts college in Ohio in June 1966.

I studied there between 1962 and 1966, taking Braille notes in my classes, especially history.

One of my professors was Dan Calhoun, a fast-talker. . My fellow students joked that if you dropped a pencil, you would miss a century. Braille slate writing was the most efficient way to keep up with this speed demon.

Using regular typing paper was a great way to build up speed. The thinner the paper, the faster a blind person can write. Remember, you won’t need to keep your notes past the final exam.

Second, remember that grade two Braille is merely a contracted shorthand. Regarding grade three Braille, you don’t need to take a course. While in college I created my own shorthand.

College students today can do likewise.

Jim Boswell, York, PA
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In response to comments about taking notes in Braille, Virgil wrote:

Is it possible to keep up with college lectures with a slate and stylus? Absolutely! In 1955, I enrolled as a freshman at Roanoke College. I used the slate and stylus through four years of undergraduate school, three and a half years of coursework in graduate school at Vanderbilt University, eventually earning a Ph.D.

I never learned Grade 3, but the one chance that I had to see a code book, I saw that many of my personal abbreviations were the same. I used a Braille magazine to deaden the sound. Being able to take notes so rapidly requires a well-organized briefcase or backpack so that you can drop the finished page into its proper place and grab a clean sheet of paper very quickly.

Keep in mind that 57 years ago, the slate and stylus was the most common way of writing Braille. Would today’s high-school graduate be as proficient with a slate and stylus as my contemporaries were?

Finally, you can buy all of the necessary equipment for under $50, not the thousands of dollars that a Braille Note or a similar device would cost. If you have access to such a device, by all means use it. As much as I would like to have a Braille Note, I just can’t justify the expense. Were I not retired, I would probably own such a device, but not now when I am on a fixed income.

Virgil A. Cook
Associate Professor Emeritus of English
Virginia Tech
Blacksburg, Virginia
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In response to comments about taking notes in Braille, Dick wrote:
In response to David’s question about “Braille Thoughts From Past Issues,” I can report that I took notes in undergraduate and graduate school from 1967 to 1973. I graduated with High Honors. I am not going to say that it was easy, but it can be done. I used thin notebook paper in order to write much faster than one can write using Braille paper. Although I did not master grade 3 Braille, I did use a lot of made-up abbreviations: such as gov. for government; bus. for business; econ. for economics and hist. for history. etc. Moving the four-line slate down the paper and changing sheets of paper did slow me down a bit. It would probably have been easier if I had had a full page slate. However I don’t know if full-page slates were available at that time. Most instructors lectured at a normal pace, so notaking was fairly easy. I did have one instructor that lectured in a rapid-fire manner and I did have some difficulty keeping up with him. However, I passed all the courses he taught. The reason I didn’t want to record everything was that I would have had to listen to all of the classes again.

Dick Seifert, Little Rock, Arkansas.
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In response to previous posts in the Reader’s Forum regarding Braille, Chris wrote:

There is an interesting debate within the blindness community and in the community of people working with us regarding Braille and its importance in the digital world in which we live. There is no question that we have seen a remarkable advancement in technology, including technology for the blind, and this technology will continue to advance and become more accessible. Although a lot of information isn’t accessible to us, just look at what we have in the way of technology that could easily make Braille obsolete: notetakers, screen readers, iDevices with VoiceOver, etc. All this technology is very good and allows us to access information like never before; don’t get me wrong there. But it can’t replace Braille! There is technology; there is audio; there are ways out there for us to access books besides hardcopy Braille; but in my opinion there is nothing that can replace Braille literacy. Yes, you can read books using audio (human-produced or synthesized,) but that’s not literacy! Anybody who is familiar with the English language (or whatever language the audiobook is produced in) enough to listen to a person talking can do that! But literacy, in my opinion, is the ability to communicate effectively and efficiently using some system of reading and writing. Even in today’s technologically-driven society, there is still a huge emphasis placed on literacy; most jobs require you to be able to read; you’re definitely not going to get into any kind of college without being able to read; literate people are typically regarded in society as educated and so are much more respected than those who can’t read. Even the technology that sighted people use is all print-based, in that the sighted user must read the print on the screen to get at any information on the computer/mobile device and to operate the device. So, we really are the only people whose form of literacy (and the teaching of it) is affected negatively by advancements in technology. However, this technology, in my view, doesn’t even come close to making Braille obsolete. As print is the form of literacy for the sighted, so Braille is the form of literacy for the blind! I believe we still need Braille and that it is very important to us! If you ask anybody who says we don’t need Braille anymore the question: “So should we stop teaching sighted children print,” you’d most likely get a resounding “No!” So why should we eliminate our form of literacy just because there’s technology that can replace it? Braille is still our form of literacy, and I think eliminating it or stopping the teaching of it would place all blind people at a severe disadvantage to their sighted peers.

Chris Nusbaum
Taneytown, Maryland
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In response to the problems with a street crossing by Howard Geltman in a previous Reader’s Forum, David wrote:

Howard Geltman might want to talk to his local media including the local TV news, the city’s traffic management department and any other interested blind people. Either the lights are set too short, or the drivers are in need of some serious education. I wish all the talking signals would now say the street that it is now safe to cross. We have a signal on the corner of Moss and Alexander and you have to listen and remember which tone or chirp indicates which street is safe to cross. It helps, but I still have to be very careful because it’s a busy intersection. I doubt I’d even attempt it without the audible cue because of the confusion I have with right on red which they should toss out if they ever get alternative energy in place–it was brought in during the OPeC Embargo of 1973 as a fuel saver. I have nearly been hit by right on red drivers not noticing I was beginning to cross the street during several mobility lessons. Needless to say, this did not help my confidence and caused me to realize if I got hurt, no blind organization would support me let alone any member of the sighted public as they think we can’t travel safely though we now have blind O&M instructors.
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In response to the problems with a street crossing by Howard Geltman in a previous Reader’s Forum, Edward wrote:

You should find out how people are crossing the street. Are they walking quickly? The best long term solution is to contact the town administrator. Request them to lengthen the period of the lights changing. This would allow you to cross the road with enough time.
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In response to the problems with a street crossing by Howard Geltman in a previous Reader’s Forum, Patty wrote:

In response to your thoughts on crossing busy lights, something you should know. Once you have the right of way when crossing at a light, and are out in the street, you continue to have the right of way until you have completed your street crossing. At least that is the law in the state I am in.

If you feel that drivers at this particular crossing are not being sensitive to your needs, or the law, you might want to get the police to check out that crossing while you’re crossing it, and you also might want to check your state laws, and if they are as I suspect then you might want to try and contact a local source of media and do an article on the bothersome problem. I have found that doing articles is a good way to begin the awareness process.

Patty Fletcher
Volunteer Coordinator For 2-1-1/Contact Concern

http://www.contactconcern.org

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In response to Op Ed with Bob Branco – Verizon Behind the Times, Michelle wrote:

I am writing to comment on Bob Branco’s article regarding Verizon. I have had better luck with the general Verizon staff/technical support personnel than I have had with the office for disabilities. That’s not to say that all tech support people are great, but mostly what it takes is patience on the part of the staff to work through issues with adaptive technology. Also if a person has Verizon internet service the tech support personal can access your computer remotely and generally this will help fix the problem. As far as sensitivity training goes this could be done initially when a person is hired by the higher level staff. Like I said before the biggest issues are awareness of disabilities and patience. One would think the important thing is to help one person solve a problem not as many people as possible.

Michelle from Pennsylvania
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In response to Op Ed with Bob Branco – Verizon Behind the Times, Beth wrote:

I am a Cox customer, they have no special office for the disabled and, when I have a technical issue, we do just fine. I tell them and remind them multiple times that I cannot provide info on the status of lights on my PC or cable modem and I also ask that they give me keystrokes to try, which they do without difficulty. Not being a mind-reader, I do not know others’ attitudes when seeking customer support, but let’s assume the customer service people can help us, just tell them what we can offer regarding info and what we need from them regarding instructions.
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In response to Feature Writer Ann Chiappetta – Project Gutenberg, Chris from the UK wrote:

I love Project Gutenberg. First of all I have been able to re-discover authors I read as a child and teenager. Then there are books written on topics I’m interested in which I could never have accessed at a public library. Not only are there titles which are interesting because of their subject, but sometimes they’re the books written by explorers, botanists, etc. I’ve come across some real gems!

What do I read them on?

I never downloaded the PC Kindle application, but my husband bought me the 3G Kindle last Easter. I thought he was going to take up reading more seriously – but he isn’t a book reader by nature for relaxation. He has a serious visual impairment which makes reading very tiring: for preference he prefers to watch rather than listen. I don’t know if this is because he’s a professional sound engineer and his ears probably get enough sound on a busy day or not.

Although I have used the male voice and can live with it, I can’t be doing with the female voice. Fortunately I am able to read print at a reasonable size still so this is how I use Kindle. Last summer I moved from the PC platform to the Apple IMac and have downloaded the Kindle application for that. This gives me different books (or sometimes the same) to those for Kindle because the IMac takes the ‘Mac mobile’ format. I have also got the IPad but I haven’t yet got as far as investigating IBooks and Project Gutenberg.

Are there downsides? Yes. The quality of the transcription of the materials can be ‘iffy’. I haven’t read enough books to give a percentage but one I have read had a section which was unreadable and one other will probably defeat me if it doesn’t improve in the first quarter. Reading in print is a lot easier than listening of course so a book like the second one would have been unusable within the first pages. Which isn’t good.

I can’t speak for using smart phones etc as I don’t have one, nor would I as I don’t really use a mobile phone much. Although I know several people who use smart phones to read, I don’t think they use Gutenberg. If you want to read ‘old’, this is where to go for first forays, if you want ‘new’, don’t do Gutenberg.

Sincerely Chris
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In response to Feature Writer John Christie – A Dream Realized for Blind Musicians Everywhere, Bill wrote:

It was certainly a pleasant and unexpected surprise to find feature Writer John Christie’s article “A Dream Realized for Blind Musicians Everywhere” in your Jan. 23, 2012, issue. I certainly appreciate his kind words. It is now over 20 years since I left my “real job” and started Dancing Dots and it has indeed been a great adventure.

Before founding Dancing Dots, I worked for almost ten years for the Sun Oil Company, or Sunoco as it is also known, and not for Sun Micro Systems as some online sources erroneously show. In addition to the online sources listed by Mr. Christie, readers might enjoy listening to an archive of my interview with Billy Brookshire of the Hadley School found at http://www.hadley.edu/PastSeminars.asp
Under the link entitled: Braille Music Technology Audio
I demonstrated some of our software and played a few musical excerpts produced with our accessible audio production solution, CakeTalking for SONAR.

CakeTalking was actually developed by David Pinto, a gifted musician and programmer from southern California. Dancing Dots serves as his exclusive, worldwide distributor.

Thanks for all you do to publish the E-mail edition of the Matilda Ziegler Magazine. I enjoy browsing through it each week and often learn something new.

Sincerely,
Bill McCann
President
Dancing Dots
www.DancingDots.com
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Jim Boswell wrote in to say:

What can we learn from the Giants?

New York Giants Coach Tom Coughlin gave us his philosophy in one sentence: “All things are possible for those who believe.” Football pundits discounted the Giants’ chances of making the playoffs on Christmas Eve. On that day they had a .500 record, 7 wins, 7 losses.

Coach Coughlin inspired his Giants to win one game at a time. They defeated the Jets on Christmas Eve. New Year’s Day they defeated the Dallas Cowboys, 31-14. That win gave them the NFC East Championship.

Then came their playoff run: 24-2 over the Atlanta Falcons; 37-20 over the Green Bay Packers; 20-17 in overtime over the San Francisco 49ers. That led to last night’s Super Bowl XLVI, where they overcame an 8-point deficit against the New England Patriots. Two Lawrence Tynes field goals closed the gap to 17-15. Then Ahmed Bradshaw scored the winning touchdown with 57 seconds to go in the game.

New York Giants defeated New England Patriots, 21-17.

When their backs were against the wall, when they had to win six straight games, the Giants overcame adversity by believing in themselves.

In the same way, we who are blind and visually impaired will overcome adversity by believing in ourselves.

We can learn from the Giants by remembering that all things are possible for those who believe.

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to Braille thoughts in past issues, David wrote:

I wonder if a student using a slate and stylus can really keep up with college lecturers. Most people talk about 250-300 words per minute and I heard the best slate writers attain a rate of 25 wpm. How can that work? I say this because I heard from so many people especially from a certain organization of the blind who stressed slate writing. Even with Grade 3 Braille it would be hard. I don’t even think any existing Braille software can produce the same. I don’t think NLS has any downloadable books in Grade 3.
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Howard Geltman wrote in to say:

In our town we have a main thoroughfare, Silas Deanne Highway, a two-way road with two lanes on each side, and a buzzer that sounds when the traffic lights turn red so persons with disabilities know when it is “safe” to cross the street.

When the buzzer sounds I tell my trusted companion, Valor, a Yellow Labrador, “Forward”. We walk at a normal pace, and usually by the time we get to the center of the road where the two white lines are the light changes, and cars just start going regardless if we are stuck in the middle of this very busy road with nowhere to go.

Of course, you can’t move in any direction with cars zooming by, because the draft from them actually causes Valor and I to rock from their motion.

You would think people would have the common courtesy to let you finish your walk across the street before they start moving, which might delay them an extra thirty seconds. It seems drivers these days are so eager to get somewhere they would put a blind person’s life in jeopardy rather than using some common sense.

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to posts in last week’s Reader’s Forum regarding Braille teaching, Gary wrote:

I love Braille and have often used the argument about not teaching sighted students to handwrite, but I was surprised to hear our school board actively discussing no longer teaching cursive, the reason being the use of the keyboard for writing. I have yet to hear them recommend discontinuing print reading because there is audio. I hope that is never advanced as a serious argument for the sighted for it is most certainly a flawed one for the blind.
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In response to posts in last week’s Reader’s Forum regarding Braille teaching, Sean wrote:

I am unable to readily use Braille due to nerve damage suffered when I was shot, but can feel the dots for just a minute or two before they are unrecognizable. But I can’t imagine doing many of the things I do now without the little I do read. I use it to access bathrooms, find offices in the hospital, take the elevator, and even to purchase snacks and soda from the vending machines where I frequent. While I have had to label the machines myself and the snack machine man knows the situation and tries not to change the menu without letting me know I do occasionally get a bag of chips instead of the snickers I wanted or a cookie instead of chewing gum. But life without it would be very difficult for me. Those who feel it is not important need to spend a month living blind and they would soon change the tune they sing.

Sean Martin
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In response to a December Reader’s Forum post, Alan wrote:

Hello,

I am writing to comment on Shelley McMullen’s December contribution to the Readers’ Forum regarding the use of treats by guide dog schools as a training aid. I got my first dog in May of 1979. At the time, the school I attended did not use treats as part of training. While that situation has changed since my first trip to class, I don’t think the use of treats has been applied in all situations. When I trained with my most recent dog in 2008, treats may have been used in some situations for some of the dogs in class, but I never used them when I worked with my current dog and have never had to do so since I came home.

I share Shelley’s concern, in that I’m not sure how gradually the treats are withdrawn and I don’t want my dog to have to work for food rewards, but since it was clear that the dog I trained with didn’t need that kind of encouragement, I never had to use food rewards.

I suspect, however, that if used properly, they may help some dogs over situations that might otherwise frighten them and if it helps, I wouldn’t discount it, especially since treats are a part of effective clicker training, which has certainly helped some dogs learn to work effectively.

Alan Conway
Quebec, Canada
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In response to Feature Writer Karen Crowder – The Last Time I Saw Donna, Jan wrote:

I was very touched by Karen Crowder’s article about Donna. I’ve known Donna since 1963, when we were at camp together. I was planning to go to the party Karen was referring to, but I was sick, a rare occurrence. So the last time I saw Donna was the previous November. She brought me back in touch with several friends over the years. Donna was a special person and will certainly be missed.
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In response to Feature Writer Lynne Tatum – Wrangling with Windows 7, Duane wrote:

Lynn’s piece in the current Ziegler about her frustration with Windows 7 is further proof that Microsoft really doesn’t care if its products are accessible to those who are blind. Despite my recent purchase of a new laptop with Windows 7, I’m plodding on with my XP unit until it crashes because I’m reluctant to enter the unknown environment of the new operating system. I don’t even know where to begin to set it up to be accessible. Perhaps a future issue of the magazine might be devoted to some quick tutorial help for that time that will come to all of us when we must wave goodbye to XP, and plunge headlong into this new world Microsoft creates every few years to make computers more and more inaccessible, while people like Lynne patiently persist in devising workarounds with little or no help from those who create such new computer environments.
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In response to Feature Writer Ann Chiappetta – Comparing Two Popular Screen Readers: Part 2, Keith wrote:

The use of the caps lock key is also used in Jaws, but you have to switch to the laptop configuration to use it. It’s handy for laptop users who don’t usually have a numpad to issue commands. The trouble in Serotek is that they don’t offer the rest of the laptop commands to navigate that Jaws does. For example, in the laptop configuration, capslock + j, k, or l is the same as using insert+4,5, or 6 to move by words (left, say current, or move right).

It would be cool if Serotek would let you route mouse to PC. I have some software where that’s the only way to access a status bar on the screen and have it read.

Great observations.

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to Feature Writer Lynne Tatum – Learning Braille–A Touching Process, and Feature Writer Alena Roberts – The Quest to Create a Low Cost Braille Display, Tim wrote:

I read with interest Lynne Tatum’s article about learning Braille as an adult, and Alena Roberts’ article about the cost of producing Braille material and Braille displays. I will comment on both articles.

Congratulations, Lynne, for the effort you are putting into this! It will pay off later! Though I learned Braille in Kindergarten, at the New York State School for the Blind, and use it every day, myself, I taught Braille to adults for many years. During my work and travels, I used English, Spanish, and Afrikaans in my teaching. One interesting thing I found was that, for people who speak a second language, no matter how well they spoke it, it was always best to start them off in their native language. The intuition which helps you guess and understand what you are reading works much better in your first language.

As stated, I use Braille every day. Yet I do not borrow books from the NLS libraries. This may mean that, according to the statistics, I am not a Braille reader, even though I use slate and stylus, Perkins brailler, and I used to have a Braille printer for my computer.

Is it only the cost of Braille books and Braille equipment that causes the numbers of children learning Braille to be so low? I strongly say that this is not the only reason. In our current main-streaming educational system, I believe that there is a definite bias against Braille on the part of teachers who teach our blind and visually impaired children. Most of these teachers are sighted, their knowledge of Braille is weak, at best, and they just don’t want to be bothered, or those funding this education don’t think Braille is valuable. Ask these same teachers if we should eliminate hand writing instruction for their sighted children. Imagine the loud choruses of “no way!” that you would get. Ask any adult blind person who is a fluent Braille reader, no matter how often or rarely that person uses Braille, and he/she will be more than likely to say, “I wouldn’t give up my Braille knowledge for the world.”

I strongly and assertively promote Braille whenever I am asked about it.

Tim Hendel
Huntsville, Alabama
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In response to Feature Writer Lynne Tatum – Learning Braille–A Touching Process, Duane wrote:

Braille is an awesome medium of communication that must never disappear! I was delighted to read Lynne Tatum’s article about learning Braille. As both pastor and musician, I have read Braille all my life. Louis Braille’s birthday should be commemorated annually everywhere. Keep up the good work of learning, whoever you are, and wherever you are!
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In response to Feature Writer Lynne Tatum – Learning Braille–A Touching Process, Andrew wrote:

I am teaching myself Braille using flash cards and a deck of Braille playing cards. I find that in today’s cyber society it is hard to find motivation when you can have smart phones, screen readers, and books on tape.
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In response to Feature Writer Lynne Tatum – Learning Braille–A Touching Process, Andrew wrote:

It is encouraging in this age of declining Braille literacy to read about someone going back to reading Braille. As a lifelong Braille reader, I agree that it is a very peaceful way to read, but I still remember how frustrating it was to learn even as a child. I especially remember how I used to get e and i mixed up and how my teacher, who was also fun, would pretend I hurt the feelings of letter e when I called it an i! I also had tracking problems for quite a few years, but the good news is, if you are going to work mostly with Braille notetakers, the Braille display only shows one line at a time, so that might make tracking easier for you. Good luck!
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In response to Karen Crowder – Will 2012 Bring in a New Age of Civility and Politeness? Danni wrote:

I went through this a couple years ago when I was dropped off at Target rather than Toys R Us where I was supposed to be going! Turned out scheduler messed up, but anyway, I figured I’m here I’ll do some shopping since by the time paratransit could get back to get me it would be too late to shop elsewhere and got a shocking response from the manager: “We don’t offer a service like that.” Oh well, okay I got back on the phone and called paratransit back and told them to please find a driver to take me home, they don’t want my money at Target! I have spread the word much since!

Walmart, though, at times has been interesting help. But they have always been willing to help!
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In response to Karen Crowder – Will 2012 Bring in a New Age of Civility and Politeness? David wrote:

Hello,

I dread shopping alone, not because I can’t do it, I have and will again. I dread it because I never know who I’ll end up getting to help me. Will they be in a hurry and sort of rush me along? Will they get me what they think I have asked for, but maybe it’s the Vanilla Coke not the Cherry Coke or the chunky peanut butter, not the natural smooth? Will my groceries be bagged such that my bread is smashed? Will the para-transit driver help me load or just sit in the van near where I am standing with my basket, motor running, and not roll the window down to let me know it’s my ride, not who knows who out there? Will I have too many bags for the para-transit driver not to tell me not to have more than 3? Will I miss new and interesting items because the shopper helper has no idea what I might like to try?

As to the couple at the mall, I think the security was rude. But I think that if you are going at a very busy time, you take a chance they are busy. I always try to avoid extremely busy times at malls where I rarely go anyway–overpriced often and the noise from echoes and inside fountains makes a sound-fog that gives me a headache. I don’t expect people to be helpful anymore. It seems everyone is in a hurry, expects technology to help us, or people just think we should be more independent or they get tired of helping when you don’t ever improve. I sometimes think the advances in technology will continue to make an ever-more independent group of blind people but the group risks becoming smaller and smaller unless older blind people can keep up with the technology changes and afford the new things. There are so many things out now, iPads, iPhones, iTouches, iMacks, Windows 7, several notetakers, Victor Streams, NLS downloadable books, NFB Newsline items, Audio.com books, Bookshare.org and Learningally.org items, commercial audio, and other resources. I feel a bit lost at times and definitely old now.

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to Feature Writer Lynne Tatum – Diving into a Good Book, Karen wrote:

I loved Lynne Tatum’s article on diving into a good book. I have always been an avid reader, and if I really liked an author I will try to read all of her/his books that I can find. A few recent examples are the series by Sheryl Woods on the town of Serenity in the Carolinas, and how the three women find true love. She also has a new series which takes place in Maryland. I also like mysteries, science fiction, true crime books, cookbooks, and really too many other books to mention.

I have re-read books like “Gone With the Wind,” by Margaret Mitchell, which is a timeless classic, books by VC Andrews, especially her early ones, and cookbooks, such as Fannie Farmer, and her baking book which teach you basic cooking techniques.

I enjoy reading such popular authors as Mary Higgins Clark, and the popular writer Anne Rule. I also like to read about some rock groups like the Beatles and have read almost every book put on cassette about them.

So with that said, reading is a great past time and a good way to learn about life, love, and our world.
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In response to Op Ed with Bob Branco – A Reminder About Patriotism, Tim wrote:

I heartily agree with Bob Branco’s wish that our National Anthem would be played more at the beginning of sporting events, as it used to be.

I am hardly what you would call a “super patriot.” In fact, as a far-left Democrat, many on the talk show circuit would deny that I’m patriotic at all. They would be wrong, but, that’s not what I’m here to discuss.

Our Huntsville Stars are an AA minor league baseball team, affiliated with the Milwaukee Brewers. Every year, they hold auditions, so that local singers, including many young people studying voice can try to get chosen to sing the National Anthem at baseball games.

The local station here which carries the Stars refuses to broadcast the National Anthem. I have written to the station several times on this matter. I have pointed out that if they just cut the pre-game show a little bit short, they could get in all their paid commercials and still broadcast the anthem. The man who does the Stars commentary actually wrote to me and said, “We have no interest in broadcasting the anthem, and do not plan to change our format in order to do so.”

I thought this was merely a local Huntsville problem, until I read Bob’s letter. I say, fans, if you want your stations to broadcast the anthem, write to the stations, the sponsors, and the team’s front office. Maybe someone will listen.
Tim Hendel
Huntsville, Alabama
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In response to Feature Writer Terri Winaught – Does Rudolph Promote Bullying, Bruce wrote:

I couldn’t believe it when I heard about that psychologist claiming the story of Rudolf the red-nosed reindeer promotes bullying. Kids instinctively know what’s wrong and what’s right. We had the same nonsense preached when The Three Stooges were shown in theatres to kids. My friends and I knew that being boinked in the eye really hurt, yet some ninnies claimed we’d all turn out violent from watching Larry, Curley, Moe, and Shemp doing their slapstick routines.

The point is that all kids bully or are bullied at one time or another without being encouraged. It went on at Jericho Hill School for the Deaf and Blind as well as the public schools I went to. Nobody had to show kids how to throw stones at me and call me names. They just did it. I think that psychologist had too much time on his hands and too much ego on top of that.

Sincerely,
Bruce Atchison – author of When a Man Loves a Rabbit and Deliverance from Jericho.

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to Op Ed with Bob Branco – Separating Work and the Family, Allison wrote:

I totally agree with Bob Branco on separating work from family. I’m involved with a group that has a regular monthly meeting, and one of the members brings his young son. The child is bored, naturally, and is quite a distraction during the meeting. His noise makes it difficult to concentrate, and those who have hearing impairments have a particularly difficult time.
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In response to Op Ed with Bob Branco – Separating Work and the Family, David wrote:

It’s different with kids today. Parents seem to arrange their lives around kids. Kids seem to have every night scheduled with an activity and parents spend all of their after-work time running them to practices of some kind. They seem to live on chicken nuggets and oven fries while spending hours on the Xbox or other gaming console. No play outside seems doable. Teachers want to be their friends. Zero-tolerance for bullying is expected. Some of these changes are good, but some amaze me. Teachers being your friend, for instance. We had teachers who liked being hard-nosed and you’d better hop in line. One teacher in high school hit the door lecturing and you better have Braille paper and be ready to go.
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In response to Feature Writer Terri Winaught – Does Rudolph Promote Bullying? Keith wrote:

The story of Rudolph comes from a man who worked for a well known department store. He had lost his wife, and was struggling to support his young daughter. Down on his luck, having everything in their lives go wrong, he wrote a poem, with illustrations for his girl. It portrayed the bad stuff that life handed to them, and hope that somehow they might make it in the world.

When his employer caught wind of the poem, it soon became a storybook that they sold in their stores. The store bought the rights to the book, but later gave rights back to the family.

It was, of course Rudolph the Red Nosed Reindeer. The later fame, and income from the song, and the TV special goes to add that despite being handed a raw deal, bullies, losing a loved one, or being denied the career path of choice, you can’t lose hope. Success just might find its way into your life somehow. Life has no guarantees, and bad things happen, but they don’t have to be the final word.
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In response to Feature Writer Terri Winaught – Does Rudolph Promote Bullying? Mel wrote:

I’m getting sick and tired of everything getting labeled “bullying!” First of all, I was bullied in high school. I was spat upon by other kids. I was pushed down and called all sorts of nasty names. My parents never dreamed of getting the school involved! They taught me to stand up for myself. I think we are doing our children a lot of harm by calling everything bullying! If we don’t teach our children to stand up for themselves while they are in school, what will happen in the “real world” when there is no school to “protect” them? I’m not advocating violence here when I say stand up for yourself. I just think we need to teach our children that life isn’t all sunshine and roses. There will be bullies. There will be hurts. That’s just life.

And, yes, I am a mother of an 11 year old girl. She gets teased a lot at school because of my disability. Children can be awful. I don’t think anything will change that.
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In response to Shelley McMullen’s post in last week’s Reader’s Forum regarding Guide Dog training, Allison wrote:

I also agree with Shelley McMullen. I’ve had two guide dogs, one was obtained in 1965 and one in 1996. I noticed the differences she mentioned when I got my second dog, and frankly, I wasn’t pleased with the changes. I also think the dogs are softer than they used to be. That may be necessary, given the aging population, but I still see it as a problem.

One change I do like is the teaching of the follow command. That can be useful in a lot of situations.
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In response to Shelley McMullen’s post in last week’s Reader’s Forum regarding Guide Dog training, David wrote:

No way am I going to give my dogs treats in public. What if a friend holds out a treat too and you are about to cross a street? I thought clicker training was the big thing now. I had a guide dog, too; and I liked it but never had the mystical connection some have with their dogs. I liked having Nader, hope he was happy, tried making sure he had organic, high-quality food and supplements, and took him for walks and such, but just didn’t have any mystical mind-reading like feelings.
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In response to Feature Writer Karen Crowder – Five Non-traditional Ways to Give and Celebrate During the Holidays, Rick wrote:

Karen, your last idea about giving a book or CD was most meaningful. Last Christmas, after the San Francisco Giants won the World Series, my friend Donna gave me as a Christmas present–a DVD she got from Major League Baseball highlighting their season, and that meant more to me than any other present I got. Little did I know at the time it would be the last present she gave me before she passed away.

For your convenience, all Reader’s Forum submissions are separated by the ## symbol.

In response to Feature Writer Lynne Tatum – What to Do for your Cold and/or Flu? Samuel wrote:

I write to comment after reading Lynne Tatum’s article of Ziegler, December 5, 2011, titled “What Do You Do for Your Cold and/or Flu?”, where she talked about the various medications she used in the course of treating her cold. I believe in spending money on good food, eating healthy, no matter how the food may taste, smell, feel, or sound, than spending money on good medicines. “Positively draconian” as the remedy suggested to Lynne Tatum by her aunt may be, science has proven countless times that pepper can serve as a good and natural remedy for colds, the flu, sore throats and even irritations. She (Lynne Tatum) even testified to this truth by saying that the black pepper concoction did help to some extent but she couldn’t continue with its administration every night.

Well, I think rather waiting for a cold to strike before seeking a solution, we can do better by preventing ourselves; besides, “prevention is better than cure.” This prevention method can be achieved by including some quantity of natural pepper regularly in our meals.

If life must be lived to the fullest, I think we should be willing to make some sacrifices, no matter how discomforting, unpleasurable or negative they may be to us. Life is not all sugar and spice, and all things nice, but also Snips and snails, and puppy dogs tails!
For more information on the pepper-remedy visit www.jcrows.com/cayenne.html or simply google for the benefits of pepper; you’ll be amazed what you’ll discover about pepper!
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In response to Op Ed with Bob Branco – Black Friday is a Joke, Alison wrote:

I agree with you that Black Friday has gone too far! I am a traditionalist too, who believes Thanksgiving should be a family day. I am 21 years old and enjoy having the latest technology, but I have never wanted anything bad enough to camp out in front of a store to get in at midnight. For the sake of the poor store employees who make minimum wage yet must leave their families to work the store, it makes me sad how many people cannot wait.

The only shopping I generally enjoy on Black Friday is shopping for the perfect family Christmas tree at our local tree farm. This year, my parents made a bit of an exception as they wanted to take advantage of a sale at the Apple store to get me an iPad, but I will never do that again. Even in the evening when we went, the store was so crowded and noisy that I couldn’t hear the voiceover when the store worker tried to demonstrate it for me and I didn’t get the personal attention that I probably could have gotten on a less busy day. Bargains are nice, but not always worth joining the frenzy.
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In response to Op Ed with Bob Branco – Black Friday is a Joke, Karen wrote:

I liked Bob Branco’s comments about black Friday what a farce it has become. It is sad we are imparting the wrong values to children that shopping is more important than spending valuable time with family.

People do not realize that if you really want to save money on gifts that you can wait until the week or even a few days before Christmas. One year my husband shopped for me on Christmas Eve day. Almost everything he bought me was half the original price. The waffle sandwich maker was $30, not forty dollars. The Jeanne Natae and Wind song were a half off at the Walgreen drug store. So if people really want to save money wait until Christmas week to buy gifts. After Christmas sales are great, as well, and often everything is over half off and you can buy wrapping paper and such too.

So these are a few suggestions on how people can save and not rush out on Black Friday. It used to be a pleasant day to do shopping but not now.
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Shelley McMullen wrote in to say:

I know before I submit this that it may produce a lot of controversy among Ziegler readers. These are issues that have concerned me for a very long time so I feel compelled to address them!

First let me state that I have been a dog guide user since May of 1975 which is over half of my life. For me, having a dog as a guide has enhanced my independence more than I can ever explain! Furthermore, over the years my dogs have been my best friends and have been wonderful companions who have loved me unconditionally when I haven’t always been lovable. They have accompanied me to work where they have patiently and quietly remained obedient all day long. My dogs over the years have been loyal and have forgiven me when I didn’t feel well enough to go for a walk.

When I think about all these dogs give up in order to become guides and faithful companions it almost makes me cry. I am so filled with emotion and gratitude for the dogs, their puppy raisers, trainers, and all of the schools who train them.

Now to the heart of the matter. When I received my first dog in May of 1975 my class was told that the dogs are taught to work for us because they want to please us and want to keep us safe. However, within probably the last 10 years many of the dog guide schools including the one that my dogs are from has started using treats for the purpose of weaning the dog from its trainer and for encouraging the dog to work for the blind student. I abide by this rule when I am in training, but honestly have to say that the rule no longer applies once I return home with my dog. I don’t want my dog to work for food. Besides it may not always be convenient to pull a treat from one’s pocket. It concerns me that students feed their dogs treats in public. To me the messages that are being sent to the general public are confusing and misleading in situations such as I have mentioned.

I understand that students of the recent past may like this method of training, because that is all they are familiar with. Whatever happened to good old-fashioned verbal and physical praise?

Secondly many of the schools are using less and less leash corrections as a part of training. Keep in mind that every dog and the amount of correction it requires is different. For those of you who don’t know a leash correction is a quick snap of the leash which is attached to the dog’s collar to reprimand the dog for something that it has done that is wrong. The correction does not hurt the dog, it simply startles the dog temporarily and helps the dog to refocus on its work. Schools are now verbally correcting more, and implementing the use of the gentle leader, a type of head collar instead. This I agree is an effective tool in some situations, but does not replace a quick well-timed leash correction. To me correcting is just like anything else. It requires good common sense and appropriate timing.
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In response to Feature Writer Karen Crowder – Accessible Christmas Gifts, Barbara Mattson wrote:

According to the emails I’ve been receiving from Long’s Electronics, they are out of business.