The Optacon came out in the early 1970's. Unfortunately, it is no longer being manufactured, although used ones are still around for sale. It is an amazing device, but it does take a fair amount of training to get good at. I was lucky enough to get plenty of training at the school I went to. Evan ----- Original Message ----- From: Melissa Smith To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 11:52 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: question please thank you. I had never heard of the optacon until joining this list. When did the Optacon come out? I lost my sight in the mid-80's at the age of 7, but, I'm sure there were some technology developments I didn't hear about. I wish I had a Optacon though. It sounds a bit cumbersome for reading, but sure could be helpful when proofing. Melissa Smith On 3/26/2010 10:34 AM, EVAN REESE wrote: A totally blind person with an Optacon could do it, although those fractions can be quite small. Still, I've used my Optacon to check and make corrections to fractions for a few recipes in a book or two that didn't scan well. It would be a hassle if there were a lot of them, though, say a whole recipe book where the fractions didn't come out. Yet I think a sufficiently dedicated person with good Optacon skills could do it if they really wanted to. Evan ----- Original Message ----- From: Larry Lumpkin To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 9:51 AM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: question please thank you. we've had a lot of troble with cookbooks. I don't think so. -------------------------------------------------------------------------- From: bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:bksvol-discuss-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of gwen tweedy Sent: Friday, March 26, 2010 6:56 AM To: bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx Subject: [bksvol-discuss] question please thank you. Can a totally blind person proof a recipe book? Gwen