[accessibleimage] photography, quiet cars, gardens, course UCSC


Blind Israelis use photography to share their world
Feb. 11 - The Bezalel Academy of Art and Design at the Hebrew University in Jerusalem recently concluded an exhibit of blind photographers using photography to explore the world, reports the Associated Press. The three week exhibit attracted a crowd of over 400 people. Made up of exhibits from participants from a groundbreaking Israeli photography course for the blind, the program was inspired by a similar project in Japan. Iris Shinar and Kfir Sivan, the initiators of the Israeli project, hope that the idea will spread and further courses and exhibits will open around the world. Shirley Britton of the Disabled Photographers Society in the United Kingdom noted that completely blind photography is still extremely rare. In addition to teaching the fundamentals of photography, the course helps build communities. Riki Fritsh, 50, has become well known on her bus route. One bus passenger even asked her to be the official photographer for a party at a local nursing home. Another participant photographed her Passover preparations for more than 30 family members. Shinar said the class, started last year and run on a volunteer basis, will continue. "We can't stop now," she said. "We are like family." 

http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=InThePress&enPage=BlankPage&enDisplay=view&enDispWhat=Zone&enZone=InThePress&Date=02/11/07


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Blind PedestriansSay Quiet HybridsPose Safety Threat
Hybrid cars became commercially available to mainstream consumers in 2000 and are gaining in popularity. Nationwide, registrations for new hybrids more than doubled to 199,148 in 2005 from 83,153 in 2004, according to R.L. Polk & Co., an automotive research firm. At least a dozen states and several cities are encouraging drivers to buy fuel-efficient hybrids by offering tax breaks and other incentives, and the vehicles are being added to municipal fleets. Still, the total 392,000 hybrids on the road reflect just over 1% of all new vehicle registrations in the U.S.
The National Federation of the Blind, an advocacy group, says all hybrid vehicles should emit a sound while turned on and is calling on the auto industry to make changes. The group says the sound should be loud enough to be heard over the din of other ambient noise.
Members of the NFB's Committee on Automobile and Pedestrian Safety have discussed sound cues that hybrids could use to alert pedestrians, including a device built into the axle that could make a sound as the wheels rotate, or a sensor that blind travelers could carry that would indicate when a hybrid is in the vicinity. The committee has yet to have a formal meeting with auto industry representatives. 
http://online.wsj.com/public/article/SB117133115592406662-lzcW5raT8WcaWzZqQ3reMhj9EzY_20070314.html?mod=tff_main_tff_top

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New course teaches UCSC students about disability
The University of California, Santa Cruz, is offering a new general education course on universal access and assistive technology, enabling students from all majors to learn more about disability and the issues that surround it.
The course is taught by Roberto Manduchi, an associate professor of computer engineering whose research includes work on assistive technology. Assistive technology refers to equipment that allows people with disabilities to function in the day-to-day world. Universal access is the goal of assistive technology, which seeks to enable everyone, disabled or not, to communicate and participate in society.
According to Manduchi, the new course is unique in that it addresses both the technological aspects of disabilities and the implications of disability on a personal and societal level.
"There is some technology involved, because this is an engineering course. But mostly the emphasis is on understanding the physiology, psychology, and sociology of disability," Manduchi said.
The course is aimed at anyone interested in the subject, but will be required for those pursuing UCSC's new bioengineering major. Called Universal Access: Disability, Technology, and Society, it will be offered every year and has no prerequisites. The students who are taking the class this year are evenly distributed among engineering, social sciences, humanities, and physical and biological sciences, Manduchi said.
The class incorporates invited guest lecturers to give the students as many perspectives on disability as possible. These include experts who study disability, professionals who work with people with disabilities, and disabled people themselves. Manduchi himself spent almost 10 years working on robot vision before deciding to apply that knowledge to helping blind people. He thought it would be easy, but soon learned otherwise.
"Most engineers are like me. They start proposing solutions to the problem of disability without knowing what the problems are," Manduchi said. "After a while, I realized that you could not start from an engineering point of view. You need to talk to people and understand all the issues that go along with disability. Then you can start trying to solve the problem."
In his research, Manduchi addresses the problem of blindness by engineering equipment that helps blind people sense their environment. He developed what he calls a "laser cane" that can sense obstacles in a person's path. He is also working on a computer mouse that translates onscreen features into tactile sensations, like the feedback sensors on some video-game controllers. Another project involves using the camera and computer in a cellular phone to "look" for things like bathrooms and elevators in an unfamiliar environment.
Peggy Church, director of the Disability Resource Center on campus, and her staff provided resources and information that helped Manduchi design the new course. Church called the class an important contribution to broadening students' awareness of disability.
"When people think of diversity, they think of ethnic diversity and gender, but not about disability," she said.
The course includes a project that requires students to immerse themselves in a facet of the disability issue. Manduchi said this could include learning some American Sign Language or spending 24 hours with a person with a disability. Manduchi said he hopes that his course will give students an opportunity to explore a field and an issue they might otherwise not have thought about.
"I think the right way to deal with disability is knowledge: getting to know what disability means and entails," Manduchi said. 

http://www.ucsc.edu/news_events/press_releases/text.asp?pid=1051


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Gardner Choudhury Surendra Ram, who has been tending to the garden for 37 years, said: “The President has taken great interest in the development of the garden. Since his first year in office, he has introduced many changes. The Herbal Garden is one of them. He also introduced special facilities for the blind in the form of the ‘tactile’ garden.” 

http://cities.expressindia.com/fullstory.php?newsid=221961

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