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

Hello Everyone,

I hope you all had a nice week last week and a fun-filled weekend. Just as a reminder, for those of you who are not receiving the email version of the special notices and pen pals supplement, you can use the link at the very end of the magazine to read it in a secure section of our website. If you’re reading it on our website, be sure to select the “skip to main content” link right when you visit the page to jump over all of the headline links and get right to the supplement.

Also, it’s a big sports weekend coming up, and even if you’re not a Patriots or Giants fan, I think we can all agree that we should expect to get an entertaining game no matter who wins this rematch. I just hope that it isn’t a blow-out and that most of the commercials are, at the very least, tolerable. At $3 million for a 30 second spot, you would certainly hope so.

Other than that, it’s business as usual here at the magazine this week. We’ve got some great articles lined up for you, and please feel free to submit your comments to the Reader’s Forum by emailing me at editor@matildaziegler.com.

Take care, have a great week, and as always, thanks for reading.

Sincerely,
Ross Hammond, Editor

Submitted by Dave Hutchins

Yield: 6 Servings

Ingredients:

1-1/2 cups cut-up green beans, cooked and drained
1 medium green bell pepper, chopped
3 medium tomatoes, chopped
1-1/2 cups shredded Cheddar cheese
1/2 cup Bisquick®
1 teaspoon Sea salt
1/2 teaspoon cayenne pepper
1/2 cup milk
3 Eggs

Directions:

Preheat oven to 350 degrees F. Grease an 8-inch square baking dish.

Spread beans and peppers in dish; sprinkle with tomatoes and cheese. Beat remaining ingredients with mixer until smooth. Pour over vegetables and cheese. Bake uncovered until golden brown, 45 to 50 minutes. Let stand 10 minutes before serving.

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.

Floyd, Glenwood Romelle, 60, of Richmond, departed this life on December 29, 2011. He was preceded in death by his parents, Carl Washington and Ethel Jearlean Floyd.

Our friend Glen was a wonderful guy who was larger than life. He was so giving and loved around the world. His word was his bond. I have known Glen 3 decades. He was an intellectual genius who earned a Masters in Computer Science and was an exceptional computer programmer.

His passion was advocating for the rights of people who were blind/disadvantaged. He was a long time devoted member of The American Council of the Blind, working diligently within the ACB organization. Glen served as Presidents of ACB’s Virginia affiliate and of the local Richmond chapter. He received many prestigious awards and accolades, and was the recipient of a letter from Governor L. Douglas Wilder of Virginia, commending him for outstanding services rendered.

Rosetta Brown

I met Glenwood Floyd in the summer of 1974. Glen was always ready, willing, and able to assist me with problems I had with my studies. He was so mild-mannered, clear-thinking, and patient with me, that we became very best friends.

We often discussed our jobs, families, and issues in the blindness community. Glen was absolutely one of the most intelligent, level-headed, and compassionate people that I’ve ever had the privilege to know, and this world will definitely be a much poorer and sadder place without him. So long, my good friend, I certainly hope to see you again in that celestial place where we will never grow old: where sickness will have no power to cause suffering, and death no dominion.”

Herbert Brown

Do any of you feel your inspiration and energy slipping? The new year is a time to count or to find blessings.

A quote from January’s Guideposts started me thinking: “There is satisfaction in wisdom, in having loved people and accomplished things, in having not wasted all our time with caution and escape.”

People often believe that blind folks sit around with no purpose. We can come to believe this too. So let me tell you about one little end-of-year week full of clues about what to do and not do. I’ll skip necessary things–cleaning, bill paying, exercising. I’ll skip my struggle balancing desire, mythology, and practicality–they are ongoing and revised more slowly with repeated “guidance.”

I began the week listening to Karen lament her cut in work hours and how she has never had a raise. “Some residents,” she said, “were very generous with Christmas presents this year.” Generosity, being listened to, and being valued keep us caring about what we do.

So I checked in with several other friends who need someone to carefully listen or at least someone to think about them, including a 93-year-old who asked to call me to test her new cell phone because she didn’t know who else to call.

I record NASA information for voice-mail. Marcia commented, “I haven’t heard a launch and docking for years. I used to be so involved with this and I got all the old feelings again.” Esther also thanked me for sending the early morning Soyuz launch.

On Monday night the heat was off in my apartment row. I’m usually the first person to notice such things. I told Maintenance at 9:00 that “It’s probably better than people calling at 3 a.m.”

Bev is my computer wizard. On Wednesday I was about to call her concerning e-mailing a bio to clinch a publication when she called me. (Synchronicity?)

The switch in NASA TV’s satellite was something I warned my cable company about, over a month ago. For the first time in such situations, there was no local interruption in NASA programming. And, yes, I called back to compliment then. (I always report NASA issues, and they trust me now.)

We must beware of that “we don’t matter” syndrome. Maybe no one is there at midnight or when we feel particularly frail. But I, for one, have a lifestyle of all-hours NASA events or reading whenever I wake up. Or writing a rough draft on New Year’s Eve. I mustn’t take the luxury of moldable time for granted.

And Bev is nudging me toward a new project. Besides being very purposeful herself, Bev is a voice teacher. “Did you do any Christmas singing?” she asked. “No,” I said, “my voice is shot.” “That’s not true. I can hear that your voice isn’t gone.” Because of catching too many colds, I had to give up music-therapy volunteer work. But the CDs are still here–I could perform Karaoke. I could help carol next Christmas. I could enjoy the process, and perhaps inspire others. And I just met a new tenant on my floor who practices soprano opera an hour a day, which is surely a sign.

I am not ashamed to admit that I am a die-hard music fan and often become ecstatic when one of my favorite musicians or groups has a new CD coming out. But, remember the days before the internet? Securing one of these gems wasn’t easy at times. So it was in August of 1987 when The Monkees released their first new album in almost 20 years.

I’d been a fan of their weekly sit-com since its debut in 1966 and my husband and six year old daughter had joined the ranks of Monkee-maniacs in 1986 when they made a successful comeback. On the wave of positivity, their first comeback album, “Pool It,” was out then and I’d spent that summer looking for it with no success. On this hot weekday afternoon, daughter Mary and I were at the local supermarket to purchase the perfect lunchbox for her first grade semester.

It took 30 minutes to find a bright Care Bears box. Taking a shortcut down the miscellaneous aisle to the express counter, Mary grabbed my arm suddenly.
“Mom!” she yelled. “The Monkees!”
“What?” I said, confused. “Where?”
“The records!” she squealed, jumping up and down, pulling me over to the rack. There it was, the new album right up front. Seizing it as if it would vanish, we ran to the check-out, talking over each other.

Grinning, I set the lunchbox and album down, reaching in my purse for my wallet. I felt the blood shoot to my shoes as I realized the wallet was back at the house.

“Hello, ladies,” the chipper girl said at the register as she greeted us and priced the Care Bears box.

“Mommy,” Mary said beside me as I franticly rummaged in my purse. “You look sick!”

My fingers touched a stray bill. It was a $5 bill, enough for the lunchbox. “Excuse me,” I said as the girl reached for the record. “I changed my mind–just the lunchbox, please.”

Confusion and horror filled Mary’s face. “But, it’s The Monkees!” Her incredulity made the people behind us snicker.

“I know, Mare, but we have to put it back. My wallet’s home.”

New Jersey’s youngest Monkee fan burst in to tears. She cried the entire walk home until I was grabbing my wallet from the kitchen table. “We’re going back!” I declared as if we were heading for a pack of lions. “Nobody’s getting that one copy, baby doll, but us!”

In our hurry, we tramped back to the store without setting the lunchbox down. In my mind, I could see Davy, Peter and Micky smiling on that album cover!

We got it, yes, we did–and walking home again, I took a grand tumble on some rocks. Sitting on my backside on the grass as Mary was shrieking with laughter, I wondered why this day was getting a bit too annoying.

At home, Mary ran to the stereo as I inspected the lunchbox for damage. It and the Monkee LP were intact, which was more than I could say for my aching hind area.

Irony of this little tale, then? At lunch time on Mary’s first day of school, her Care Bears thermos had leaked milk all over her tuna sandwich and cookies. Seems there was a crack in it. Whether from my glorious fall or poor production, we’ll never know, but she said it was OK, since we did get “Pool It,” didn’t we?

Martin Luther King, Jr., was born on January 14, 1929 in Atlanta, GA and died on April 4, 1968 in Memphis, TN where he was supporting striking African-American sanitation workers. Shortly after 6pm, Doctor King left his second story room at the Lorraine Motel to go to dinner when a gunshot to King’s jaw severed his spinal cord.

When I think of Doctor King’s legacy and nonviolent approach to achieving racial justice, I reflect on the Prayer of Saint Francis. To better understand the relationship between Doctor King’s philosophy and Saint Francis of Assisi’s Prayer, the beginning of that prayer is presented below:

“Make me a channel of your peace. Where there is hatred, let me bring your love.”

Countless were the times during his civil rights leadership that the Reverend Doctor King met the venom of vicious hatred with the soothing salve of love. In his “I Have a Dream” speech to which I will refer several times in this article, Doctor King urged his supporters to respond to hatred with the nonviolent resistance of love.

Where there was a desert of despair, Doctor King brought an oasis of hope. In his now famous “I Have a Dream” speech, Doctor King encouraged the half million people gathered at the Lincoln Memorial in Washington, D.C., to go back to their communities and continue fighting for equality and justice (By Googling “I Have a Dream,” you can hear an MP3 version of this August 28, 1963 speech).

Where there was the darkness of discontent, the Reverend Doctor Martin Luther King Jr. brought the light of his dreams for better tomorrow. Again referring to his “I Have a Dream” speech, Reverend King expressed his hope that one day, his four little children would be judged, not by the color of their skin, but by the content of their character.

Tragically, Doctor King, Jr. paid the ultimate price for daring to dream of wrongs righted and injustices invalidated. In March, 1969, James Earl Ray, an avowed racist who escaped from a Missouri prison in 1967, was convicted of Doctor King’s assassination.

Another point worth noting here is that, though achieving racial justice and equality was Doctor King’s primary focus, he was also concerned about economic equality. One way Doctor King addressed this issue was by organizing an interracial Poor People’s Campaign that was held in Washington, D.C. in 1968.

What has made Doctor King’s legacy a lasting one is that, out of the ashes of the violence he deplored and the economic inequality he fought against arose new hands, hearts and voices building bridges to peace, highways to hope, and pathways to justice.

When I heard the news of Doctor King’s death, I was doing my homework at the Overbrook School for the Blind where I was a 15-year-old sophomore. Where were you when you heard the news?

Additional Sources: www.doctorkingonline.com, en.wikipedia.org, and www.history.com.

When I moved to Oregon almost 10 years ago, I knew that the biggest adjustment would be getting used to the weather. Specifically, as a desert rat, I would have to come to terms with all the rain. Over the years I’ve adjusted, and for the most part, Oregon rain doesn’t bother me. It might rain for days at a time, but the rain is usually light–however, this is not always the case. Last week brought us not only a bit of snow, but four inches of rain in one day.

January 18, 2012 has been recorded as the third largest amount of rainfall in one day in the last 100 years. Even though Oregon does well with lots of rain, that much rain in one day causes flooding. On that day, I was teaching my knitting class so I got home pretty late. As my husband and I were coming down the major street that leads to our neighborhood, we were stopped by a police blockade. The street had over a foot of standing water in places, and it wasn’t safe for us to drive through. This meant we had to park our car blocks away from our house and walk the rest of the way. The walk from the car was quite the adventure and my pants were soaked up to my knees by the time we arrived. Thankfully, the street we live on was not flooded so our house was fine.

Walking home through the high water was not dangerous because the water wasn’t moving, but if I had been alone with my guide dog it would have been much more frightening for me. So, since chance favors the well prepared, I did some research. According to FEMA, here are some things to do during a flood.

If you must prepare to evacuate, you should do the following:

- Secure your home.
- Collect your pets so that you can take them with you and/or leave them in a friend’s or relative’s care or at an emergency animal shelter.
- If you have time, move essential items to an upper floor.
- Turn off utilities at the main switches or valves if instructed to do so. Disconnect electrical appliances. Do not touch electrical equipment if you are wet or standing in water.

If you have to leave your home, remember the following:
- Do not walk through moving water. Six inches of moving water can make you fall. If you have to walk in water, walk where the water is not moving. Use a stick to check the firmness of the ground in front of you.

Winter sure does bring us some strange weather. I hope everyone stays safe.

Have you ever been in a flood? Tell us about your experience in the Reader’s Forum.

Bill McCann was a successful programmer at Sun Microsystems and was being promoted on a regular basis. But the former Philadelphia native had a dream. He wanted to develop Music Translation Software that would allow people to create their own music compositions and arrangements and create hard copy music scores that blind and sighted people could read. This software idea kept on coming up in McCann’s mind.

In 1991, with two children on the way, he decided to leave his programming job and accept a severance package that Sun Microsystems offered.

For the next year, McCann made plans to start up his own music company along with generating some income. In other words, he was a part-time musician playing the trumpet–which he started playing when he was 9 years old–a part-time assistive technology trainer and also went to school to learn the C Programming language. He also was an entrepreneur working on setting up his music business for both the blind and sighted alike. He came up with a business plan with the help of a school in Pennsylvania. This new company would become Dancing Dots.

He then started working on the Braille Translation Program which would later become the GOODFEEL music-translation software, which came out in 1997. The program was a dos-based program. Many Windows versions have come out since, and it does work on Windows 7 64 bit operating systems. He acquired start up money from a program that funded new businesses involving technology. His former school, St. Lucy’s, provided office space for his business. Another event happened at a family gathering which would change McCann’s life forever. He met the boyfriend of his wife’s sister. His name was Albert Milani. They both started talking about what each of them did for work. When McCann found out that he was an electrical engineer and Wiz Programmer, he knew that he was the missing link to his business plan.

“What I had before I met Albert,” McCann recalled, “was a prototype. Albert turned it into a product.” Milani became a full time employee of Dancing Dots in 1994 and he is now their Chief Technical Officer. He was hired with the help of a grant through the federal government. Dancing Dots has 5 programmers working on the GOODFEEL program.

He also had something to do with making CakeTalking, another music software program accessible to screen readers. Dancing Dots is also making a musical program for partially sighted people called Limelighter.

Dancing Dots has received calls from celebrities such as Ronnie Millsap, Stevie Wonder, and Ray Charles.

McCann’s dream of starting his own music company has finally been realized and is incredibly successful. His drive to make digital music accessible is a testament to the type of person he is and blind musicians everywhere can now compose music easier than ever. He truly is a role model in the blind community.

Sources: http://www.afb.org/afbpress/pub.asp?DocID=aw090203
http://www.freedomscientific.com/FSCast/default.asp
http://dancingdots.com/main/index.htm

As many individuals with visual impairment will attest, as children we were taught to travel using visual cues. “Cross at the Green and Not in Between” was the saying. These days if you’re traveling visually, it’s more like “Cross at the White and You’ll Be All right!” We also have a blinking red wait hand that can be translated to, “Run like the dickens!” as you only have a few seconds before traffic begins bearing down on you.

My first mobility lesson found me attempting to imitate an ice sculpture as I waited for my instructor at a convenient bus shelter. Considering myself a safe traveler, I told him that I would like some tips and tricks for difficult intersections’. I must admit to some trepidation on my part as I conjured up nightmarish scenarios of my rather tall cane and technique being scrutinized. I need not have worried as he was an amiable and accommodating instructor whom I knew from a former place of employ. Learning that he has been teaching mobility for 37 years also put me at ease.

We began our trek at a notorious crossing that I need to make on a regular basis, I eagerly awaited his thoughts. Turns out I’m doing exactly what mobility instructors recommend. I listen for the parallel traffic surge to cross and wait when I’m not certain. He also made me aware of a pedestrian plaza, which means I really only need to deal with two crossings. With the frigid wind whipping at our coats we made our way to yet another danger zone that I have been handling with nothing more than common sense. I turn and walk up the block to avoid being splattered by on-coming traffic. This crossing is such a hazard that mobility instructors aren’t even certain that an accessible pedestrian signal would be helpful.

Making a full circuit, we stopped at a bus stop that offers busses which take me to my second home, Lighthouse International, and my real home. We took some time to assess my mobility needs and I admitted that I really do not know my home neighborhood very well. Only familiar with a two-block radius, we are unaware of the locations of establishments such as the Post Office, UPS Store or a dry cleaners where zippers are fixed. He then inquired about an area I fear the most—the dreaded Village. After some embarrassed stammering, I admitted that I know next to nothing about that ultra-confusing area with its myriad twists and turns and no discernable grid pattern.

I can barely believe I’m writing this but I’m actually looking forward to tackling that dastardly area either by bus or subway–in the Spring!

If you’ve been spreading your wings and learning new areas, tell us about it in the Reader’s Forum.