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Approved-By:  Bill McGarry <wtm@SHELDEV.SHEL.ISC-BR.COM>
Newsgroups: bit.listserv.l-hcap
Date:         Wed, 2 Sep 1992 02:01:15 EDT
Reply-To:     Bill McGarry <wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com>
From:         Bill McGarry <wtm@sheldev.shel.isc-br.com>
Subject:      Handicap Digest # 2910
X-To:         LHCAP <l-hcap@VM1.NODAK.EDU>

                             THE HANDICAP DIGEST

                                 Issue # 2910

                        Wednesday, September 02, 1992

Today's Topics:


                                ******

                           Blink Talk Digest # 701

             Re: new tax on blind audiophiles and computer users
                               Kurzweil Reader
                            Starving Guide dogs?
                         Adoption services and a tip
                            Re: TALKING software
                            tens units & supplies
                          Re: Braille N Speak Compl
                          Re: Braille N Speak Compl
                          Re: nfb bbs censorship??
                          Re: Braille N Speak Compl


                                ******


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                              Bill McGarry (Moderator)
                              (203) 337-1518



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Subject: Re: new tax on blind audiophiles and computer users
From: janina@netcom.com (Janina Sajka)
Organization: Netcom - Online Communication Services  (408 241-9760 guest)

I'm very disappointed to see this important issue of discrimination
against blind people drowned in racism, sexism, and xenophobia.
The issues are important andneed to be addressed.  Your
Congresspeople -- men and women both -- need to hear from you on
this.  That fact that some of the businesses backing this
legislation are Japaneese is irrelevant to the real issues of
discrimination against blind people.  We don't need more technology
we can't use -- even if we're willing to pay an unfair and unjust
tax to Sony or to Michael Jackson.  Let's focus on the real issues,
which happen to be the ones that Congress needs to hear.

							Janina




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Subject: Kurzweil Reader
From: Phillip@hikssrv.lib.purdue.edu (Phillip White)

[Forwarded by Patt Bromberger <patt@squid.tram.com> from EASI]

I am trying to work with the Kurzweil Reader's ability to transfer
files to the IBM compatible.  Has anyone had any experience using
the program Kermit as a go between.  If so, please send me infor on
how to do that.  I have looked through Kermits documentation, but
fail to understand most of it.  I understand how to set the
settings, but not how to command the program to receive the ascii
file which the kurzweil is sending, nor when to send that file.

Any help would be appreciated.

Phillip White
Purdue University
phillip@hikssrv.lib.purdue.edu




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Subject: Starving Guide dogs?
From: 34AEJ7D@cmuvm.csv.cmich.edu (Bill Gorman)

The attached post, forwarded from my CANINE-L list, indicates that
there authorities may be blocking needed supplies from, among other animals,
Guide/Leader dogs in hurricane damage areas. Clearly, this both violates
the ADA and puts those needing the services of such dogs at risk.


Sez me,

W. K. [Bill] Gorman
--------------------------ATTACHMENT------------------------------------


On Sat, 29 Aug 1992 11:27:10 EST Judith Van Noate said:
|I just called the humane society here (Charlotte) about supplies for
|animals.  They told me that trucks with animal supplies are not being
|let through.  People supplies take priority.  They told me if I wanted
|to help I could send money to:
|the Putnam County Humane Society (the hardest hit area).  They didn't
|have the address but they are batching checks and will send them on to
|Putnam Co. H.S.  If you wish to contribute--make a check out to
|Putnam County Humane Society.  You can send it to:
|The Humane Society of Charlotte
|P.O. Box 221028  or 537 Rountree Road
|Charlotte, N. C. 28222
|Phone (704) 523 PETS
|...




------



Subject: Adoption services and a tip
From: MYERS@AB.WVNET.EDU (Roger Myers)


Here is some info about an adoption service from NFB which I found
useful and a very useful tip for anyone contemplating adoption.

Debby Day runs the NFB adoption services from her home at (206)
733-8159.  If you are trying to adopt a blind child, are a parent
of a blind child, or just interested in raising blind children she
can help.  She has a very small budget and mostly uses volenteers
to help.  She can send information on why blind persons make good
parents and will even write a letter of recommendation for you to
your social worker if needed.  She has people from around the
country send her info on waiting blind children which she will send
to you if you are trying to adopt.  The cost is minimal.  She only
asks for several stamps to offset her costs and you usually need to
call her instead of her calling you because like I said, she has a
very tight budget.  Her service is excellent and if you are
interested in adoption and are blind I highly recommend calling
her.  (I am sure she would also be glad for any donations or
volenteer assistance)

I am a blind programmer at Alderson-Broaddus College.  Drema and I
have been trying to adopt for about a year.  The adoption social
worker had many questions about how I could manage children, "How
could you tell if your child was doing something dangerous?", "What
would you do if your child ran out into the street?", "How would
you change diapers?", etc.  We had no background raising children
so I got Debby Day to write a letter for me to explain many of
these things to my adoption social worker.  Also I got my mother to
write a letter about how she raised a blind child, my uncle Frank
to write a letter about what it was like to grow up as a sighted
child of a blind father, and my rehab counselor to write to inform
her about how he knew many successful blind parents.  Debby Day
also sent along copies of several articles about blindness and
parenting which my social worker read and put in my file.  After
this I had no more problems with my adoption as regards my being
blind.  It is important that the adoption social worker be informed
if she is to represent you to prospective birth mothers
and other social workers and it is important that she be totally convenced
that blindness will not make a person a bad parent.

That was this past Spring when our home study was being compiled.
In July a birth mother chose us to adopt her beautiful healthy
newborn boy.  He has lots of long very dark brown hair and an
apitite you wouldn't believe.  So it is only a myth that birth
mothers will not want their child to be raised by handicapped
parents.  But as I said above, your social worker being totally
convenced that you will make good parents is the starting point.
The following tip I believe helped us a good deal and would also
help anyone trying to adopt.

Note:  I am not a member of NFB but simply a very greatful recipiant of
       very good quality adoption services.  If others know of similar services
       that help handicapped persons with adoption and/or parenting issues,
       lets here them.


Here is a tip for anyone trying to adopt.  Gather many photographs
of your childhood, your spouses childhood, your marriage, and life
together.  Make sure that they show interesting events or are cute
pictures.  Be sure that you include pictures of your home, yard,
and the baby's room if it appropriate but do not let any pictures
identify your city or anything which will allow the person viewing
them to figure out where you live.  Next, arrange them on pages and
type a brief description under each picture.  Again be sure that
the descriptions do not identify who you are or where you live.
They can say your first name but not your last name, your brother's
and sister's first names, identify parents as mother and father,
etc.  Do not tell names for other people in the pictures for
example:
"Roger's third grade teacher helping him paint a picture."
Take all of these pages of pictures to a print shop and have a
hundred copies of each page printed, collated, and stapled.  Give
about half of these packets to your adoption social worker to send
out with your home study and also to show birth mothers.

The picture booklet will help your home study to really stand out
from all others received by a social worker or birth mother.  Just
imagin it.  If you had a large stack of home studies with only 1
fuzzy portrait of the couple in each except for 1 which had 50
pictures showing the couple as children playing and having fun,
camping, picnicing, sewing, woodworking, etc. and showing their
home, neighborhood, yard, and even the room in which the child will
stay then which would you choose?  Birth mothers are usually only
shown a single page of very general information about Mr. and Mrs.
X.  If your page can be augmented by a several page picture booklet
showing your lives it might just give the birth mother a sense that
she knows your family and can trust you to provide a rich childhood
for her child.

Also if you are interested in adoption or birth parent issues you
may wish to join the adoption mailing list.  Send your request to
ADOPTION-REQUEST@THINK.COM.  The actual mailing list is at
ADOPTION@THINK.COM.

				Roger

Internet address:  MYERS@AB.WVNET.EDU

Mailing address:   Roger Myers
                   Route 3, Box 269-D
                   Philippi, WV  26416




------



Subject: Re: TALKING software
From: person@plains.nodak.edu (Brett Person )
Organization: North Dakota Higher Education Computing Network

I'd like to make a few points about this thing.
1.  This announcement says a lot without saying anything.  What does
this thing do speciffically?

2.  Why does it run on so manny platofrms?   A Mac, A NeXT, an SGI,
CP/M. C'mon.  I'll believe it runs on ONE platform, not 8 or 9.

3. What is digitized speech data?  Digitized phonetic speech, maybe?
Possible, but the techniques for doing that are different enough
across each of the listed platforms it supposedly  runs on that I
doubt it runs on any of them very well. If at all.

4.  What do I get for my $$$?  It is real vague about what I actually
*get*.

5.  If anyone actually has this, I'd like to hear about it.  I could
be wrong, but this just seems too vague to be anything tangible. And
looks more like a scheme to get money out of people who probably can't
afford to spend it.

--
Brett Person
Guest Account
North Dakota State University
person@plains.nodak.edu || person@plains.bitnet




------



Subject: tens units & supplies
From: Al.Smith@f233.n351.z1.fidonet.org (Al Smith)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:351/233 - Square Hole BBS, Nanaimo BC


[This is from the Chronic Pain Conference]

Hi Ruthie, I've been using a tens unit for over ten years now and I
find that the STAODYN strips are the best things yet. I just use
one strip that fits across the lower back about 18hrs a day and
have found great comfort and relief from discomfort. It lasts for
about 3 weeks to a month. I guess what I like about it most is the
fact you don't have to use gel or tape onthese ones, like you had
to on the old ones.Hope this it is of some help.Catch you later. Al
Smith  Nanaimo, B.C.

--
Uucp: ..!uunet!bunker!hcap!hnews!351!233!Al.Smith
Internet: Al.Smith@f233.n351.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Re: Braille N Speak Compl
From: Ron.Denis@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Ron Denis)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

For whatever it's worth, I want to kick in my 2 cents here.  I
readily concede that the Braille n speak costs too much.  However,
it does a lot in a small package, takes braille input of both grade
2 and computer braille, and makes a great PIM as well as
notetaker.  It also doubles as a syhthesizer in a pinch and can
communicate wit a bbs.  I have two computers, one a notebook, and
still use my BNS all the time.  For many things the BNS is faster
than loading the program I want and running it on my notebook.  As
I always have program resume on, I usually have to exit whatever I
was working on and then find my way back to it.  With BNS,  I can
switch files and come back to where I left off.  I think that if
people don't like a product they should say so, but this horse has
been beaten to death and revivified for reexecution.  This topic
has devolved to the point where I am getting great info for
personality profiles but very little useful info about anything
else.  So:  some folks like BNS, some like notebooks, some like
both, and some can't stand the variance.  Couldn't we
let it rest a month or two?

Ron

"So many clocks, so little time."

--
Uucp: ..!uunet!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!Ron.Denis
Internet: Ron.Denis@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Re: Braille N Speak Compl
From: Chuck.Hallenbeck@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Chuck Hallenbeck)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:129/89.0 - BlinkLink, Pittsburgh PA


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 WS> have to include the cost of the screen reader since the braille
 WS> Frankly, I don't have either, and
 WS> I really don't have use for either, but if I were to want one,
 WS> I might lean toward the notebook, but I would have to really
 WS> look at both before buying either.

Hi, Walter.
Willy is right. If it is portability you want, you can't beat the BNS.
If you need to do a lot of editing or other standard computer work
though, then you ought to look at a notebook. I am afraid I am coming
across as more critical of the BNS than I mean to be. The problem is
that its high and increasing cost demands that it be compared with the
low and decreasing cost of mainstream alternatives.
... Chuck.

--
Uucp: ..!uunet!bunker!hcap!hnews!129!89.0!Chuck.Hallenbeck
Internet: Chuck.Hallenbeck@p0.f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Re: nfb bbs censorship??
From: Christopher.Hill@p233.f4115.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Christopher Hill)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:124/4115.233 - Southern Crossroads, Grapevine TX


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

You made some good points about NFB andpolicy, and change etc.  I'm
not sure if people are willing to try to change NFB, at least if
they are, there success is never seen from the outside.

I've got a question on an unrelated matter, well sort of, that I'd
be interested in knowing the answer to.  Is the president of NFB
payed a salary?

I ask this because, in my opinion, this could cause problems.  It
would seem to encourage a more radical type of leadership becuase a
cautious person wouldn't be willing to give up their regular job to
take a position which they may or   may not be able to keep.  I
would have to think long and hard about joining such an
organization.  Chris

--
Uucp: ..!uunet!bunker!hcap!hnews!124!4115.233!Christopher.Hill
Internet: Christopher.Hill@p233.f4115.n124.z1.fidonet.org




------



Subject: Re: Braille N Speak Compl
From: Christopher.Hill@p233.f4115.n124.z1.fidonet.org (Christopher Hill)
Organization: FidoNet node 1:124/4115.233 - Southern Crossroads, Grapevine TX


[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

In a msg on <Aug 08 21:49>, David Tanner of 1:129/168 writes:

 DT>         As I said to WIllie , I still would prefer the classic
 DT> BNS to the 640 for what I would usually use a BNS for.

I agree, and I doubt if I'll ever upgrade.

 DT>Your
 DT> comment about the insert mode is the one big problem I have
 DT> always seen with the BNS, and so far as I know it is still the
 DT> same.  Perhaps the worst thing is so far as I can remember there
 DT> is no way to check what you have typed in in insert mode without
 DT> exiting and then checking what you typed.

I sure don't know of any.  For me, I find it most useful for typing
in in mathematical stuff, which can't be really translated for the
pc, for printing in braille.  I've never been able to type in
grade2 on it, and get a good back translation because I use too
much of my own short hand.  Maybe some sort of acception table
concept would work, but I often invent the stuff on the fly.  I'd
rather take notes on my notebook as long as it isn't math.  That
way I can edit it.

Later..
 Chris

--
Uucp: ..!uunet!bunker!hcap!hnews!124!4115.233!Christopher.Hill
Internet: Christopher.Hill@p233.f4115.n124.z1.fidonet.org




------






                                ******

                  End of Issue # 2910 of the Handicap Digest

                                ******
Comments: Gated by NETNEWS@AUVM.AMERICAN.EDU