[accessibleimage] links to articles

From: Lisa Yayla <fnugg@xxxxxxxxx>
To: accessibleimage@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Date: Sat, 19 Mar 2005 11:01:57 +0100

Hi,
Mix of links to articles. One with a request for help from Washington's
State Facility Access Advisory Committee, a couple related to web
accessibility, a couple science related, two about art and one a tactile
garden in India.
Regards,
Lisa

Excerpt from an article by /Carol Maher, barrier-free facilities program
manager for Washington state who is looking for /new members for the
State Facility Access Advisory Committee.Link and excerpt follows with
full text later.
http://www.theolympian.com/home/news/20050318/opinion/108452.shtml

"Want to help? I am looking for new members for the State Facility
Access Advisory Committee. The group is made up of people who have
disabilities or experience in facility management who attend design
reviews for new or remodeled state buildings."

It's a group that provides valuable advice, expertise and makes a
difference.

/Carol Maher, barrier-free facilities program manager for Washington
state, is a member of The Olympian's Diversity Panel. She can be reached
at cmaher@xxxxxxxxx <mailto:cmaher@xxxxxxxxx> or by calling 360-902-7210./

Students participate in Kuwaiti cultural exchange

http://www.mountvernonnews.com/local/031905/kuwait.html

Author Lisa Fittipaldi shares her blind devotion to painting in a new book

http://www.houstonpress.com/issues/2005-3-10/calendar3.html

space camp

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050317/NEWS01/503170325/1002

Touching gesture garden

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/1054203.cms

gh's MathSpeak(TM) Finds Its "Voice" With Pittsburgh Speech Synthesis
Company

http://press.arrivenet.com/tec/article.php/610434.html

PDA tactile interface

http://www.geekzone.co.nz/content.asp?contentid=4239

*Finding vision in blindness*
http://www.dailypress.com/features/food/dp-71219sy0mar16,1,7846978.story?coll=dp-features-taste&ctrack=2&cset=true

web accessibility

http://www.baltimoresun.com/features/lifestyle/bal-to.blind16mar16,1,1345515.story?coll=bal-artslife-today&ctrack=1&cset=true

Net surfing for those unable to see

Often Web sites' designs hinder navigation by the blind

By Abigail Tucker

Sun Staff

Originally published March 16, 2005

Ellen Ringlein of Baltimore clicks efficiently with a cane through
strange hallways. She tours alien cities without the help of a
seeing-eye dog or anyone else.

And, yet, in the comfort of her own office, Amazon.com seems impossible
to navigate. Earlier this month, Ringlein spent a half-hour on the Web
site trying to locate the audio version of the book her church club was
reading, but the speech-synthesizing machine she and other blind people
use to surf the Net just rattled minutes of gibberish.

Imagemaplinkrefequals! it barked.

And, blankblankblank!

The Web site offered no easy way to avoid this nonsensical spiel, which
was mostly a narration of the links at the top of the page, Ringlein
said. And even when she finally discovered where to type in the title
she wanted, the results were hard to decipher.

"OK, now they're talking about delighting your valentine," she said, as
the computer spat out an advertisement. "I just want to know how much
the audio book is. I know it's here, but I can't find it."

Actually, the screen wasn't even displaying the correct page.

Frustrating experiences like this are why one Towson University
</entertainment/visitor/college/bal-hl-towson,0,5614758.story?coll=bal-artslife-today>

professor recently partnered with the Baltimore-based National
Federation of the Blind to map the struggles of the blind online.
Jonathan Lazar is studying how the Internet fails blind users and will
share his findings in the summer with Web masters and software designers
who aren't legally compelled to make their products accessible, but
could change lives by doing so.

The study follows 100 or so users in Baltimore and elsewhere as they
perform everyday functions online: buying additional cell phone minutes,
checking e-mail, browsing CNN.com, downloading music, researching
medical problems, looking for Delta Air Lines tickets - basically, stuff
that everyone else does on the Net.

But navigational problems eat huge chunks of blind people's time, Lazar
is finding, and technical nuisances like spam, pop-up advertisements and
security checks hinder searches.

"What is annoying to a visual user becomes impossible for a blind user,"
said Lazar, who is the head of Towson's Computer Information Systems
Undergraduate Program.

Faulty design

Most of these obstacles can be overcome, he said. "It's not the
disability that causes the hardship. It's the way the technology is
designed."

His study identifies precisely when Web sites fall apart for blind users
and how much time and energy they waste figuring out problems.

Because the Internet allows for electronic commuting, communication and
commerce, it has opened doors for most disabled people, but threatens to
close some for the blind.

"The Internet is designed for visual people, fundamentally," said Betsy
Zaborowski, who runs the NFB's research and technology training institute.

Only about a quarter of the 1.1 million blind Americans use computers,
and of these many experiment with the Internet only in limited ways,
Zaborowski said. Partially this is because blind people are often older
and not techno-savvy, but it's also because the graphic-centric Internet
is not designed for them.

And yet it's vital that everyone have access, she said. Already there is
a 74 percent unemployment rate among blind adults. If the blind don't
adapt to the Internet, they'll lack vital job skills.

But first the Internet must adapt to them. Unintentionally, Web masters
often shut blind users out of their sites. Of 50 Baltimore-based Web
sites, 49 had accessibility problems, Lazar found in a 2003 study.

Yet accommodating blind users is neither expensive nor difficult, Lazar
said, especially if provisions are made in the first stages of Web site
design.

How blind navigate

To navigate the Internet, blind people use screen readers -
speech-synthesizing machines that narrate text at auctioneer-speed - or
Braille keyboards, which transfer information into bumps that rise and
fall beneath the user's fingertips.

Though useful, these devices have online limitations. They can't
interpret graphics like pictures and logos, and they can't scan. Instead
they read every word of text, rattling off links that a sighted user
could dismiss with a glance.

But site designers can layer captions beneath pictures and add shortcuts
that bypass superfluous links. These sanity-saving adjustments are
usually encoded "behind the scenes" and don't change the Web site's
look, Lazar said.

Web companies that service the federal government are now compelled to
follow accessibility guidelines, and the sites of some states - Maryland
included - must also comply with appropriate captioning, page
organization and other elements.

Easy adjustment

The reconfiguration wasn't hard, said Kristen Cox, secretary of the
state's Department of Disabilities.

"Nonvisual accessibility is not a problem if people are clear about the
specifics to make sites compatible with screen readers," she said. "In
most cases, if it's built-in there's really no new costs."

In the private sector, though, it's usually up to individual Web masters
to embrace the accessibility guidelines, because federal courts haven't
ruled definitively on whether or not the Internet is a public space that
must be available to everyone, said Daniel Goldstein, a lawyer for NFB.

Thus awareness-raising must fuel reforms, and Lazar said that his
research will alert designers to trouble areas.

Progress has been made already. Some companies, including Amazon.com,
offer alternative versions that are streamlined for the visually
impaired, although many blind users - Ellen Ringlein, for instance -
don't know they exist. Other companies have applied accessibility
guidelines to their main sites.

But across-the-board accessibility is necessary, according to James
Gashel, the NFB's executive director for strategic initiatives.

Something to build on

"The electronic infrastructure is being built today," he said. "If we
miss this, we won't have jobs, we won't have opportunities, we won't
have normal lives."

It's disturbing that some of the least-accessible sites are operated by
Web companies, Lazar said. But he believes that the changes that make
Web sites navigable for blind people will also benefit the sighted. For
instance, he said, many of the accessibility modifications will also
help display Internet information in alternative formats, like cell
phone screens.

More importantly, though, the modifications are "the right thing to do,
the respectful thing to do," he said. "This is something we can do to
make people's lives better."

To doubters, he offers this challenge:

"Turn off the graphics in your browser and try browsing your favorite
Web site."

Mansfield Journal, Ohio
Friday, March 18, 2005

3 ... 2 ... 1, liftoff for space camp!

By Lou Whitmire, News Journal

Visually impaired Simpson students prepare for learning vacation

CAPTION: Berry Beugly, 13, works on a math problem in Michelle Crump's
class for visually impaired students at John Simpson Middle School. In
September, Crump and her students will attend Space Camp for Visually
Impaired Students at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville,
Ala. Dave Polcyn/News Journal

The Mansfield Noon Lions Club, the Martha Holden Jennings Foundation,
V.F.W. Post 9943 and V.F.W. Post 3494 are paying for a trip to Space
Camp in Huntsville, Ala., from Sept. 24 to 29 for three John Simpson
Middle School students who are visually impaired.

MANSFIELD --Kayla Rollison is blind, but she doesn't let anything stop her.

The Simpson Middle School seventh-grader was learning geometry Wednesday
with classmates John Ringer and Berry Beugly in the visually impaired
student resource room.

Rollison, 13, plans to become a zoologist or a judge.

In six months, she and her classmates will find out what it's like to be
an astronaut.

The three will attend a weeklong Space Camp for Visually-Impaired
Students at the U.S. Space and Rocket Center in Huntsville, Ala. The
all-expenses paid trip, Sept. 24 to 29, will include a round-trip flight
and lodging.

Teacher Michelle Crump said students will participate in space camp
thanks to the Mansfield Noon Lions Club, the Martha Holden Jennings
Foundation, V.F.W. Post 9943 and V.F.W. Post 3494.

Crump will accompany the students. She visited the space camp with other
visually impaired students before joining Mansfield City Schools.

Wednesday, the students talked about how they will work with materials
and equipment in Braille and large print. They will learn how astronauts
train, and even eat the same food.

Rollison said she loves science and math. When she returns, she plans to
base her next science fair project on the space camp trip. She will
present her current science project, "Moisturizers, Money and Time," at
the district Science Day at Ashland University on Saturday.

Ringer said he enjoys anything to do with computers; Beugly likes
anything that involves learning.

Ringer and Beugly do not let limited sight hamper their enthusiasm for
learning.

All three students look forward to a week away from home and school.

Rollison plans to attend Michigan State University. Until then, her
activities will include singing in the school choir.

Ringer plans to major in computers. "I like taking things apart and
fixing them," he said.

Beugly said he loves video games, especially "Spiderman 2." He hasn't
decided on a career.

lwhitmire@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx (419) 521-7223

http://www.mansfieldnewsjournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20050317/NEWS01/503170325/1002

OTHER VOICESBuilding codes benefit people with disabilities

CAROL MAHER

The International Building Code requirements for barrier-free
accessibility recently were adopted by the state of Washington. The
state currently is applying for certification to be equal to the
Americans With Disabilities Act.

These codes are not just about buildings -- they're about people, access
and a person's right to fully participate in life's activities.

That is what I like about my job. I am the barrier-free facilities
program manager for Washington state. I assist project managers, real
estate services and our clients to build or lease accessible buildings.
My job is not about codes; it's about making buildings accessible to the
largest number of people.

My program follows universal design concepts:

- A building should be able to be used by a person who is 6 feet, 5
inches tall, as well as person in a wheelchair or a child on field trip.

- Finding your way in a building should be intuitive. People should not
have to hunt for the front door. The location of restrooms, stairs,
elevators and other amenities should make sense right away.

- People who are blind should be able to use the building as easily as a
person who uses a wheelchair or a person who is walking.

- State buildings should be integrated, meaning that everyone should be
able to go through the same door and have access to the same services.
Every year, my program saves the state thousands of dollars by talking
architects out of building both stairs and a ramp to buildings. Everyone
should be able to take the same path.

- New and existing buildings should be reached safely from other
buildings, from the parking lot or the bus stop. They should be on an
accessible path of travel. A building with accessible features that
cannot be reached from a sidewalk is not accessible. Having to approach
a building by going down a busy road is dangerous for everyone.

Access benefits everyone whether or not you are a person with a disability.

How often have you used a curb cut to roll your suitcase or used an
automatic door opener when your hands were full? How often have you
taken the ramp rather than the stairs into a building? Have you used the
side push button on a drinking fountain while lifting your child?

If you find that a state building is not accessible, call or e-mail me.
I find that people want to do the right thing. I can usually get done
what needs to be done.

Want to help? I am looking for new members for the State Facility Access
Advisory Committee. The group is made up of people who have disabilities
or experience in facility management who attend design reviews for new
or remodeled state buildings.

It's a group that provides valuable advice, expertise and makes a
difference.

DANVILLE — Under the tutelage of visually impaired artist Cherry Albert,
first-grade students in Cody Donaldson’s Danville Elementary class
participated in an international cultural exchange with students from
Kuwait.

Albert said the ArtLink theme this year was “artifacts.” The students
created pictures of valued items that might be recovered far into the
future after a hypothetical disaster covered the whole town in volcanic
ash and lava. They then wrote individual descriptions of their work and
explained the significance of their subject matter. The young artists
also penned brief biographies of themselves to share with the Kuwaiti
students. The biographies included information about their school,
family, likes and dislikes, and leisure activities.

Of the 70-plus schools involved in this year’s ArtLink exchange
worldwide, Albert said, Danville was the only school to have first-grade
participants. Each pupil painted an inanimate object which has a special
meaning for them; CD player, four-wheeler, dog dish or Barbie doll. The
artwork, along with the child’s photograph and biography, was then sent
to Kuwait.

Students from Kuwait sent back representations of their lives. Some are
paintings, some collages and some a combination of art materials. Those
pictures are on display in the Danville elementary building. Albert said
“it’s an awesome display.” The themes include littering, favorite
activities and local history.

In the accompanying photograph, Albert is holding a water color/collage
by Kuwaiti student Mariam Abdel Sahib Bash. Bash described her scene as
follows: “It shows a Kuwaiti street in the old times when there was no
electricity and people used al-fannous (special lanterns.) Nowadays you
can see al-fannous during the holy month of Ramadan when the people put
them in courtyards and houses.”

Bash said she chose this particular scene because she loves Kuwaiti
traditions and religious festivals. The 13-year-old attends the Wafa
School for Girls and hopes to become a teacher. She has three brothers
and two sisters; and spends her free time drawing, watching television
and listening to music.

At the end of the year, Albert said, there will be a comprehensive art
exhibition in Connecticut consisting of two pieces of art from every
participating school. The entire worldwide show, Albert said, will be on
the Internet for a year. Danville Elementary will also receive a
full-color catalog of all the artwork in this year’s exchange.

Danville’s Gunor Anable, age 7, chose a four-wheeler to depict as his
artifact because, he said, “living for me is riding dirt bikes and
four-wheelers.” Gunor wants to be a motocross driver when he grows up.
He has three sisters and two brothers.

A music buff, Danville’s Bailey Miller chose a CD player to express her
love of music. She said she wants to be a cheerleader in college when
she grows up.

Sarena Ashley, a Danville first-grader, chose to paint her dad’s
policeman’s badge and wants to be a policewoman when she grows up.

Student Connie Chang said that in addition to talking about the artwork
from Kuwait, the class has learned about related geography, such as the
Persian Gulf, and practiced writing skills in creating their biographies
and writing about why they like the Kuwaiti art.

Other Danville students participating in the ArtLink exchange are
Brandon Holt, Brody Brown, Desi Anders, Jacob McGuffin, Amanda Jordan,
Lelia Dusthimer, Logan Noon, Mia Weaver, Mark Moreland, Mason Ansel,
Mason Endsley, Michaela Frye and Zoe Looney.

Hello, /Darkness /Author Lisa Fittipaldi shares her blind devotion to
painting in a new book

The paintings are stunning: A sultry-eyed woman in a lime-green dress
leans seductively forward. A toothless tiger reclines among pink
orchids. An old man admires a vibrant display of flowers; a horse and
rider leap muscularly over a rail. The amazing thing about the scenes is
their vivid color; the pinks, greens, blues and yellows hit you like
unexpected good news. And they're all the more spectacular when you find
out that the artist is blind.

Playing golf and getting a motor home. That's how Lisa Fittipaldi
envisioned her retirement, before the onetime trauma-care nurse and CPA
blacked out on a highway in 1993 and descended into complete blindness
soon after. The problem? Vasculitis, an autoimmune disorder that's also
given her asthma, eczema, kidney disease and allergies. Now she's losing
her hearing -- so far, 40 percent in one ear and 60 percent in the other.

Yet Fittipaldi, now 56, is a sought-after professional artist who paints
prolifically. She's also a successful author: Her book, /A Brush with
Darkness: Learning to Paint After Losing My Sight/, is on its third
printing. It details the onset of her disease and her subsequent
depression, but focuses mostly on her late-found passion: art. "Painting
is my first love," she says. "It's my only way to keep reality. If I
don't paint, I can't tie my shoes. If I don't paint, I can't walk out
the front door."

The notion of a blind painter is inherently paradoxical. Disbelief is a
common reaction; even the /Today/ show nixed plans to feature Fittipaldi
because they doubted she was "really" blind. But /A Brush with Darkness/
explains it all: Learning to paint was a lengthy, intense and
painstaking process; simply learning to draw parallel lines took weeks.
She tripped and spilled things and argued with her roommate at art camp.
But ten years later, she's mastering the street scene. She notes that
milestones in her everyday life translate into better painting. "Just
recently I got on a plane and didn't get lost in the airport," she says.
"At the same time I can now do a canvas with eight to 16 people" in it.

/A Brush with Darkness/ has moments both bitter and quixotic, but its
overwhelming tone is one of relentless ambition. The book careens along
with Fittipaldi yanking the reader by the lapels, her voice chatty,
engaging and upbeat. She credits her newfound momentum to her blindness,
saying it even helps her decide when a piece is finished. "I'm lucky I
don't see it," she says. "If I'm bored with it, it's done, which is
really liberating."

She and her husband, Al, now run a bed-and-breakfast, and she'd like to
become a yoga master and learn multiple languages. Fittipaldi also
manages The Mind's Eye Foundation, which provides computer software to
visually impaired children. But art remains her focus: She's
consistently attempting new forms and styles. For example, she recently
completed her first still life of fruit, which features figs, oranges
and lemons.

That's a novel use for those bitter little fruits life hands to you.

Fittipaldi signs /A Brush with Darkness/ at 3 p.m. Saturday, March 12.
Borders Books and Music, 9595 Six Pines Drive, The Woodlands,
832-585-0051. She also appears at 3 p.m. Sunday, March 13. Borders Books
and Music, 3025 Kirby, 713-524-0200. For information, visit
www.lisafittipaldi.com <http://www.lisafittipaldi.com/>. Free.

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