[accessibleimage] money, art, wayfinding,theater, Christmas

Hi,
A few articles. Hope you find them interesting.
Best,
Lisa

http://www.siskiyoudaily.com/articles/2006/12/08/news/doc4579dbde04be6896743181.txt
Siskiyou artist’ ornaments hang on state capital Christmas tree
Six of Melody Grantt’s handmade Christmas ornaments are on the state capital’s Christmas tree in Sacramento. Blind from birth, Melody recently taught a beaded ornament making class at the Siskiyou Opportunity Center. submitted photo
YREKA — Look for Melody Grantt’s beaded Christmas ornaments on the Christmas tree at the California State Capital in Sacramento – six of them are hanging on that tree.
Melody’s ornaments were selected to hang on the state’s Christmas tree after she taught a beaded ornament making class at the Siskiyou Opportunity Center.
The significant part of both accomplishments? Melody has been blind since birth.
“She has always loved doing crafts and other handiwork, learning to crochet when she was 18 years old,” said Jackie Roy with Madrone Hospice in a recent press release.
Melody’s favorite craft is bead work, out of which she creates bells, wreaths and candy canes.
The press release reported that her daughter has marked in braille all of her bead bottles so she knows the color she is using.
Roy said that Melody Grantt is one of the original participants at the Madrone Adult Center in Yreka, operated under the covering of Madrone Hospice.
“For the past five years Melody has been active at the center, and continues to come to the center three days a week, Roy said.
“She often spends her time at the center teaching other participants to crochet or do bead work. The amazing thing is that Melody was born blind,” Roy said. 


article

http://www.boston.com/yourlife/fashion/articles/2006/12/07/the_super_8/
Coco Raynes spends a lot of time thinking about the simple design elements that vex us when they're poorly executed. Arrows in public buildings that tell you where to find the restroom. Informational kiosks in public spaces. Signage directing you to parking lots.
Raynes, 62, specializes in environmental graphics, with a special interest in "wayfinding." Her work in Boston includes the new interpretive kiosk in Park Square that gives the historical development of the area; and the building directory in the Boston Convention Center.
Raynes, who was born in France and has expertise in universal design, has patented the "Raynes Rail," a braille and audio hand - rail system directing blind people to their destination. (There is a braille version of it in Quincy's Thomas Crane Public Library .)
She's received awards for the wayfinding and information system she designed in 2002 at Charles de Gaulle International Airport ; it features visual, tactile , and audio information in three languages . She's done a new wayfinding system for Battery Park City in Lower Manhattan, which includes a tactile guide to landmarks on the skyline. And when the renovation of Boston's Children's Museum is completed next year, Rayne s 's braille rails will have been retrofitted into the existing rails on the Harbor Walk. 


article
excerpt
http://sev.prnewswire.com/medical-pharmaceuticals/20061207/CLTH05607122006-1.html
CVS/pharmacy Charitable Trust Awards $5 Million to Non-Profit Organizations Nationwide Recipients across 22 states given grants for programs serving children with disabilities 
...
Art Education for the Blind, Inc.


article
http://www.kcbd.com/Global/story.asp?S=5792992&nav=3w6y
12/9/06
A Disabled Man Masters An Art form
A local man has a gift to share with Lubbock and the world despite one very difficult setback that he lives with each day. Allen Johnson has taken his handicap and turned it into an art form that is getting world-wide attention and he's also setting an example that can inspire us all.
Mr. Johnson had this to say, "I run a router, I run the shavers, I run the table saw the radial saw the skill saw the band saw the drill press, whole saws nail guns and I've got all my fingers."
That's right, he can do all of this, but there's a catch, Allen is completely blind.
"I've got stuff scattered from China and West Germany. From West Virginia to Los Angels and from Ann Arbor, Michigan to Houston. (I) Have no Earthly idea how many pieces I just know that I stay busy constantly..."
His first project was a train for his kids on Mother's Day back in 1990 and he hasn't stopped since. He said, "My first train looked a whole lot like this train here and it was very similar to it. This one is probably the 3rd or 4th I've made." 

But how does a blind man make all of this?
"I place my hand on the piece of wood where I'm going to cut it and I know how far it is from my hand to that blade and I don't move and I cut what I want to use... a lot of people say "my god your hands are right at the blade" and I say well, they're not in the blade and I say as long as you miss that's what counts," he said.
Allen's loving wife, Lea plays a very supportive role in this art form and has from day one. She said, "I thought it was beautiful. Whether you're blind or deaf or what ever. You have to allow that person as much independence as possible."
And that independence has allowed Allen to work miracles one masterpiece at a time.
One of the stage coaches Allen built has been made specifically for the president. Allen and his wife will be hand delivering a special gift sometime next year to the president while in Crawford. Allen told me that to build one of the stage coaches takes him about 160 hours and that there's no telling how many pieces of wood.
Allen and Lea have turned Allen's great gift into a business called "Jest Precious Memories by Touch," and you can view his collection and buy his pieces right here in Lubbock.
You may call Allen to set up an appointment to view or purchase his work. Allen's phone number is (806) 793-2391. 



article
http://www.boston.com/news/local/articles/2006/12/10/hands_on/

Hands-on
Rockport studio will show the work of visually impaired students who are guided by texture and tDecember 10, 2006
With a spinning wheel and equal parts determination and talent, 15-year-old Kayla Bentas is able to transform an ordinary ball of clay and a dab of water into a functional work of art -- a bowl, a mug, or even a vase.
"I love the way it feels, all smooth and wet, with graceful, gentle slopes," Kayla says of the clay she's molding into a bowl, her face beaming.
At a nearby table, giggling elementary students examine their works in progress, nimbly running their fingers over the delicate figurines -- a girl with braided hair and a small lizard -- to find flaws. One child holds her creation to her left eye, eager to get a better idea of what it might look like. But even up close, she is able to see only light and shadow. The details elude her.
These children are all legally blind. They must rely on texture and shape to mold their artistic vision, which several of them will share today when their work is displayed at the Cynthia Curtis Pottery holiday show.
For a few of the students, the show offers a chance to peddle their wares and perhaps earn a little pocket money. Kayla's saving up every penny she nets for a Braille printer. Others are hoping to make enough money to buy a loved one a holiday treat. But for most, it's simply an opportunity to showcase their handiwork.
Three times each year, Cynthia Curtis opens her glass studio, nestled in the woods of Rockport, to visually impaired youngsters, allowing them the chance to be creative and test the limits of their imagination.
"Many of these kids have siblings who go to clubs or play sports, but they don't," says Julia Andrews, director of the Social Circuit program at the North Shore YMCA in Beverly that brings these youngsters together each week to tackle a new challenge.
"This program is their thing," says Andrews, a certified orientation and mobility specialist. "The emphasis, really, is fun, but many of the activities -- like the pottery -- are also therapeutic, improving their motor skills and self-confidence."
Most of the time, when the children want to create something -- even a simple card -- a person with sight has to help them, Andrews notes. If they write something in Braille, for example, someone else has to translate it for them. But with pottery, they're able to complete a project on their own.
Curtis, a single mother with two children and a bachelor's degree in special education, has long recognized the therapeutic benefits of the potter's wheel. Over the years, her students have included an elderly woman in the early stages of Alzheimer's, an East Boston high school teacher looking to escape the stress of her day job, and two women with traumatic brain injuries.
"It's so relaxing to be able to focus on the clay and forget about everything else," says Curtis, who offers weekly classes and private lessons to 60 students who range in ability and in age, from 7 years to 70. "It's magical, really. It gives people a sense of accomplishment, to see that they can create something with their own hands."
For many students, even experienced potters, the creative process can be difficult. The slightest misstep is liable to cause the clay to fly off the wheel or collapse in a messy heap. But for those with disabilities, even the failures can prove invaluable.
"Sometimes, because I'm numb on one side and stronger on the other, it's a challenge for me to make something," says Lisa Vincent, 43, of Rockport, who started taking pottery lessons at Curtis's studio three years ago, after suffering a stroke that affected her central nervous system, leaving her dizzy and in chronic pain.
"Of every five things I make, four have to be done again, but still the process is gratifying," adds Vincent, who credits a friend she met at a local stroke support group with giving her the courage to try her hand at pottery. "It helped get me out of my depression, to feel like I could do something again."
Encouraged by her progress at Curtis's studio, Vincent bought both a kiln and a potter's wheel and set them up in her basement. The former marketing executive has also started selling her pieces -- teapots and mugs -- at local craft fairs.
"It started out as a diversion, but has become a passion," says Vincent. "One of the things I enjoy the most is sticking my hands into a big pot of clay. Working with the wheel allows me to channel my pain, to put it into something beautiful."
For Deb Richardson, 59, the woman who advised Vincent to take up pottery, Curtis's studio offers a respite. The tranquil setting, the warmth of the kiln, even the aroma of the clay and glazes, set her mind at ease.
"It's so peaceful there," says Richardson, who four years ago suffered two hemorrhagic strokes in a span of five days, forcing her to relearn how to walk, talk and feed herself. Like Vincent, Richardson is often dizzy and suffers chronic pain. "When the kiln is on, the studio is very cozy. And I love the smell of the clay; it reminds me of the smell of mud at a river's edge. It allows me to block out everything else."
Richardson, who also lives in Rockport, just 4 miles from the studio, says working with clay also improves her coordination and cognitive abilities.
"I find it helps me integrate the right and left sides of my body, to get them to work together," says Richardson, who shuns the potter's wheel and prefers to pinch the clay into shape. "The strokes left me with central pain syndrome, which triggers sensory issues. The feeling of the clay desensitizes me to touch, to heat, to cold, to wet, even to changes in the barometric pressure."
Like Vincent and several of the blind children in the YMCA program, Richardson has included some of her work in Curtis's holiday show. Her hope is that the inclusion of her ceramic trays will help others understand the healing power of art.
"I'm not in it to make money," Richardson says with a laugh when she is asked how much she'll charge for her work. "I'm in it for the rehab, because it restores my soul." 


article http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/4390201.html

Dec. 10, 2006, 1:08AM
A touch of paint guides Denton student's work
He's never seen his own work, but blind artist says painting frees him
Denton Record-chronicle
DENTON — Several pairs of eyes stare down from the living room wall in John Bramblitt's apartment.
One pair belongs to a woman, and a lock of her black hair dangles between her eyes.
Another pair belongs to a wide-eyed baby, Bramblitt said, though some have thought it was a frail old man's. 

A third pair of eyes belongs to a woman and features a lot of color.
In his studio at the back of his Denton apartment, Bramblitt paints another set of eyes, the next addition to his series called Perceptions.
"When we see something with our eyes, we think we understand it," said Bramblitt, 35. "I wanted people to think about how people perceive things. We all know that we all see things differently." 

Bramblitt has never seen his own work.

He is blind.
He lost his sight six years ago after a series of seizures that had plagued him since he was a child. 

Telling colors apart
About 3 1/2 years ago, Bramblitt picked up a paintbrush and began to paint, his way of "shoving my disability right back in the face of God or nature or whatever." 


But instead he found that painting helped him cope.
"When I first lost my sight, I was angry," Bramblitt said. "Until I started painting, I didn't even realize how angry I was. Painting was a way to get my vision back." 

Bramblitt paints with oils because he can tell the colors apart.
"Oil colors each have a different consistency," Bramblitt said. "White is thick like toothpaste; black is thin."
Differences among the colors in the middle of the spectrum are harder to describe, he said, but he's learned to tell them apart, too.
"One day I went to the art store and felt them all," he said. "I started with white, black and red and learned those well." 

Then he added more colors as he could.
He begins by drawing an outline of his subject with puffy paint, which leaves raised lines on the canvas. When that dries, he can feel his way around the canvas as he paints between those lines. His work requires intense concentration, so much so that he sometimes breaks out in a sweat.
"When I started painting, I didn't think anybody would see my painting," he said. "I didn't want people to know I was blind because that would color how they looked at my painting. But to hear that people liked them, that still blows my mind." 

Also a college student
When he is not painting, Bramblitt is studying at the University of North Texas.
He plans to finish his bachelor of applied arts and sciences in May. Then he plans to go to graduate school at UNT to study English.
"I'm a nerd. I love to read, so school is usually pretty easy," he said. "I just enjoy it."
To help him study, Bramblitt has some bells and whistles on his computer. One software program reads aloud what's on his screen. Another allows him to scan in notes, and his computer reads them back to him.
It was during his second year at UNT when Bramblitt went blind, though he had been losing his sight for several years.
Ron Venable, UNT's director of disability accommodations, has known Bramblitt only two years, but he said Bramblitt has coped with his disability as well as anyone could.
"He's got to be one of the most outstanding advocates we have," Venable said. "He says to people, 'Maybe I don't have the sight I used to have, but look what I can do.' We're very proud to have him at UNT." 

Wants to help others
Bramblitt plans to marry Jacqi Serie, his girlfriend of more than three years, on March 17.
She said living with someone who is blind is not as difficult as one might think. Bramblitt has memorized his way around his apartment, so at home it's hard to tell he is blind.
When they are at the grocery store or other places he is less familiar with, she has to help guide him more. 

"It's a good excuse to constantly hold hands," Serie said.
Serie, who holds an art degree from UNT, said Bramblitt has developed his own artistic style even though he has not been to art school.
While painting has helped him cope, he wants to help others do the same. He's trying to revive a local committee to address the needs of people with disabilities in Denton.
He also has workshops where he shows sighted children how he paints. Then he lets them try it blindfolded.
"I believe everybody is disabled in some way," Bramblitt said. "Disabled just means there's something you can't do. Everybody has something they can't do." 


article

Artificial eyesight
http://www.expresscomputeronline.com/20061211/technology06.shtml
Forehead Retina System (FRS) is a high-tech solution to what was formerly an insoluble problem. It literally enables the blind to see. The goal is to improve the quality of life for visually handicapped people.
The prototype is being developed with a form-factor that resembles sunglasses. The system converts visual information into tactile sensations using a small camera and 512 electrodes embedded inside a headband and mounted on the forehead.
According to a WHO report in 2003, approximately 45 million people are completely blind and about 135 million have low vision. FRS will give them a 2D representation of an object. The image is captured by the camera then converted to tactile sensations by electrical stimuli. An appropriate training module is necessary for using this device successfully. 

Several technologies are used for FRS.
Nerve selective stimulation. Says Dr Hiroyuki Kajimoto, Research faculty at the University of Electro-communications in Japan, “There are several mechano-receptors in our skin. These are a kind of sensor that is activated by mechanical deformation of the skin. This activity is transmitted to our brain through nerve fibres, generating the sense of touch. Each type of mechano-receptor is responsible for a different type of mechanical deformation.” Independently stimulating each type of mechano-receptor’s nerves in our skin, complex tactile sensations can be reconstructed by combining them. This process is similar to the visual colour construction method using RGB. It is called the ‘Tactile Primary Colour Approach.’ By appropriately designing electrical potential distribution using multiple surface electrodes, each type of receptor can be selectively stimulated. In FRS, the Meissner corpuscle, which responds to low frequency vibration (of about 30 Hz), is selectively stimulated; this gives a vibratory sensation to the person wearing the instrument. “Our electrical stimulation mainly stimulates the Meissner corpuscle, therefore it induces a vibratory sensation which is quite easy to perceive,” adds Kajimoto.
High speed switching. In FRS, unlike conventional co-axial electrodes, a matrix of electrodes is used. Each electrode alternates between anode and ground to form a virtual co-axial electrode, enabling denser alignment.
Forehead stimulation. Sensory substitution through electrical stimulation is old, but using the forehead as a stimulation area is a new approach. However, forehead stimulation is quite reasonable. It is easy to put on and take off, while coordinate system transformation in our brain is easier than would be the case with other parts of the body.
Image processing. An image is captured by the camera and then converted to tactile information through two processes. Firstly, to enhance the edges, spatial outline extraction is performed. Then to enhance time-varying information, temporal band-pass filtering is done. These are actually what the retina does. FRS imitates the pre-processing done by the real visual system to facilitate image recognition.
A CCD camera attached to a pair of sunglasses captures the view in front of the subject. After extracting the edges, the data is converted to a tactile stimulation pattern and transmitted to the driver circuit via a standard serial port. 512 electrodes are driven sequentially to create the tactile pattern. The entire process is triggered by the image capture event, which occurs every 33 ms (30 fps).
The basic electrical stimulation technology is inherited from ‘Smart-Touch’ [Kajimoto et al. 2003] which is a visual-to-tactile conversion system for the skin on the finger. Edge extraction is done using luminance information followed by extraction of specific colours using a colour key. Extraction of the outline edge is done using an ordinary Laplacian of Gaussian (LOG) filter. After that, the image is scaled down to a resolution of 32×16, and using threshold a black-and-white binary pattern is obtained.
Research on FRS is being conducted by Tachi Laboratory in the University of Tokyo and EyePlusPlus Inc. According to them, FRS should be widely available by 2007. 


article

Is that $20--or $5?
http://www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion/chi-0612090183dec09,1,2886833.story?coll=chi-opinionfront-hed&ctrack=1&cset=true
Published December 9, 2006
Some 3.3 million Americans are legally blind or have very limited vision. Should U.S. paper currency be redesigned to make it easier for that 1 percent of the nation to tell the difference between bill denominations? Yes, it should, U.S. District Court Judge James Robertson ruled last week in a case brought by the American Council of the Blind. The judge decreed the U.S. has illegally discriminated against the blind. He gave the government 30 days to come up with a fix.
Before you dismiss this as overkill, consider that 180 countries issue paper currency and the U.S. is the only one that doesn't make some kind of design accommodation to help the blind.
Euro denominations come in different sizes and colors. They also have large raised numerals and foil features located in one place on smaller bills and in another on larger bills. Denominations of the redesigned Japanese yen can be distinguished by touch; the Swiss franc has raised digits and perforated numerals. Canadian dollars have various tactile features; Australia's dollars come in different sizes and colors.
If 179 countries can figure this out, why can't the U.S.? This is not a new issue. Congress has tried to force change more than half a dozen times over the last 27 years. All those efforts fizzled. In that time, Treasury had made major changes to U.S. paper currency twice, in 1996 and 2004. Meanwhile, people with impaired vision struggled to differentiate their bills. Some fold different denominations into various shapes, keep them in separate pockets or parts of their wallets, or rely on the kindness and honesty of strangers. ("Can you tell me if I've given you a $5 bill or a $20 bill?")
The bureau has estimated the one-time costs of making various size or tactile changes to paper currency. It would cost $437 million to $528 million to print bills in different sizes. Other options are to add embossed features ($46 million), foil features ($51 million) or perforate the bills ($75 million). Each option would raise government operating costs, as did the last two redesigns. (They cost a combined $147 million and added $56 million in annual costs.) Making any one of these changes would not break the bank, Judge Robertson pointed out. The bureau has spent an average $420 million a year to make currency over the last decade.
The government's main argument seemed to be not so much cost, but security. These changes would make U.S. currency easier to counterfeit, government attorneys argued. Robertson dismissed that as "utterly unpersuasive." He also called "fairly absurd" the argument that any drastic change to U.S. currency would make it harder for foreigners to recognize and trust it.
The U.S. is the most technologically proficient nation on Earth. It can find a way to make sure that people can distinguish a $5 bill from a $20 bill by sight--or touch 

article
New theater space more friendly to patrons with disabilities
http://abclocal.go.com/wls/story?section=local&id=4848981
December 14, 2006 - Since 1995, Victory Gardens Theater has been the home to the Access Project, a program that promotes making theater accessible for patrons with disabilities. Now, their new home, the legendary Biograph Theater, has given them space to do more.
From getting into the building to the main stage, the beautiful renovated theater is barrier-free.
"If you look around, you'll see an attempt to accommodate everybody," said Access Project Director Mike Ervin.
Ervin also says there are various of accommodations available for patrons with disabilities. For those who are physically disabled, there are seating options.
"Right now, on both sides of the aisles, we have two spots removed, but we can also remove the four remaining chairs on both those sides of the aisles pretty easily, just by unbolting them from the floor," Ervin said. "[That] would make probably about five seats on each side where you could put somebody in a wheelchair." 

All of the seats are the same price.
"For people with disabilities and the people who accompany them, we offer a discount," Ervin said.
For patrons who are blind and visually impaired, there are audio described performances, braille and large print programs and touch tours.
"If someone who is blind wants to enhance and enrich experience of the description, they can come here an hour and half before an audio described show and we have volunteers who walk them around on the stage, have them meet the actors, have them sit on some of the furniture," Ervin said. 

They have touch tactile models of the set of the theater.

If you are deaf and hard of hearing, there are several accommodations.
"We do one performance for every show we produce of interpreting, we have captioning, we do three of them," said Ervin.
They also have assisted listening devices. For specific accommodations, Ervin recommends that you call in advance. "We realize some people want some spontaneity in their life. So, we don't require them to let us know but it's always best in life in general to be prepared to know what's coming," he said.
In January, they are going to start presenting some Sunday evening disability culture performances. 

For more information:

Victory Gardens Theater

www.victorygardens.org

article
excerpthttp://www.innovations-report.de/html/berichte/informationstechnologie/bericht-75958.html
New wheelchair technology offers greater freedom and independence
Ultimately this new technology can be used to guide the blind and sight impaired as a complement to the cane. Since the technology also creates a map, it can also assist people who suffer from dementia and impaired memory. The technology thus provides the user with both enhanced freedom and reduced dependency on relatives and personal assistants.

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