Re: the Personal Computer was the greatest thing ever invented for the Blind

  • From: Ann <tate886@xxxxxxxxx>
  • To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
  • Date: Thu, 21 Oct 2010 09:37:38 -0400

The Optacon also had a lot of varying, and unexpected uses. Later models could even be connected to computers, though I never had one of these.


However, from the beginning of 1996 to mid 1999, my internet access was solely through the use of my webTV box, a 13-inch TV, and my old-model Optacon. I didn't get my first computer until mid 1999, but even then, it was still useful in reading the monitor before the speech would work.

I also programmed my VCrs that I had from 1987 until 2002, when my old Optacon finally went to tech Heaven. I used it to read on-screen program guides from my Direct TV box and schedule programs, program the microwave, figure out how buttons were arranged on new pieces of electronic equipment., read and understand diagrams in instruction manuals... Everything that you cannot do with a computer & scanner.

The computer is absolutely fabulous, and I would not want to live without one in one form or another. But the Optacon was truly a miracle tool for many blind folks. I still miss mine each day even after all these years, and even great OCR programs like K1000 and Openbook just do not even come close.


Skype: tate886
Google Voice: 1-872-222-8799
~Ann


On 10/21/2010 9:09 AM, Harmony Neil wrote:
Sounds interesting.

*From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
Behalf Of *Lisle, Ted (CHFS DMS)
*Sent:* 21 October 2010 12:54
*To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* RE: the Personal Computer was the greatest thing ever
invented for the Blind

The device was about the size of a large portable cassette recorder,
complete with carrying case. It consisted of a platform, with user
controls, and a small slot where one hand rested. The other hand
controlled a tethered camera, about the size and shape of the bar a
steel guitar player might use. I believe there was a small button at the
top, but its use escapes me now. The camera scanned a sheet of paper, or
book, or whatever, and translated the images into tactile feedback,
allowing the user to read print as he read Braille.

Ted

*From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
Behalf Of *Harmony Neil
*Sent:* Wednesday, October 20, 2010 1:24 PM
*To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* RE: the Personal Computer was the greatest thing ever
invented for the Blind

It was used for reading print. I’m not entirely sure, but maybe someone
else might be able to explain how it worked.

*From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
Behalf Of *Yadiel Sotomayor
*Sent:* 20 October 2010 18:17
*To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* Re: the Personal Computer was the greatest thing ever
invented for the Blind

I re-ask: what is the obticon or whatever it is spelled? How does it
worked, what it was used for and so forth.

*From:*Bissett, Tom <mailto:tom.bissett@xxxxxxx>

*Sent:*Wednesday, October 20, 2010 11:31 AM

*To:*'jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx' <mailto:'jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx'>

*Subject:*RE: the Personal Computer was the greatest thing ever invented
for the Blind

I do think the personal computer is the best thing for blind people but
the opticon was a marvelous tool because you could actually see what the
print looked like. With the opticon I could read diagrams and even hand
writing although that was always a challenge because hand writing styles
vary so greatly and you had to figure out how the person made their
letters but it could be done. The opticon did cover ground that the
personal computer has not yet touched.

Tom Bissett


*From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
Behalf Of *Harmony Neil
*Sent:* October 20, 2010 11:08 AM
*To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* RE: the Personal Computer was the greatest thing ever
invented for the Blind

Agree with the last post. The optigan would probably be a very slow way
of reading printed material, although I can read raised print, but I’ve
always used some sort of computer and most of that time except when I
was only learning to touch type has been with a screen reader. I do
however do the thing of tapping the spacebar twice between sentences or
enter twice between paragraphs sometimes.

*From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On
Behalf Of *Alan Dicey
*Sent:* 20 October 2010 15:56
*To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
*Subject:* the Personal Computer was the greatest thing ever invented
for the Blind

Dear Cy,

I respectfully disagree with you!

I am sure the Personal Computer was the greatest thing invented to
assist the Blind so far!

It will read anything also!

And it allows Blind to perform work as fast if not faster than Sighted
people.

With Best Regards,
Alan
Miami, Florida
Alan Dicey, President
United States Braille Chess Association - USBCA
“Yes, Blind or Visually Impaired People Can, and Do, Play Chess!!!”
United States Braille Chess Association Home Page:
http://AmericanBlindChess.org

    ----- Original Message -----

    *From:*Cy Selfridge <mailto:cyselfridge@xxxxxxxxxxx>

    *To:*jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

    *Sent:*Wednesday, October 20, 2010 10:37 AM

    *Subject:*RE: One or two spaces

    The Optacon was the single greatest invention of all times for a
    blind person.

    It is the only device which would allow a blind person to read
    almost anything printed.

    Cy, The anasazi

    *From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
    [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Dave Durber
    *Sent:* Tuesday, October 19, 2010 6:32 PM
    *To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
    *Subject:* Re: One or two spaces

    As an Optacon user, (Remember that useful gadget), to read books, I
    notice that the amount of space between sentences still seems to be
    the equivalent of two spaces.

    There is a feature in Word that will create the equivalent amount of
    space between sentences as if you had pressed the SPACE BAR twice.

    You can have word do the same thing between paragraphs but with the
    equivalent amount of space between paragraphs as if you had pressed
    the ENTER key twice.

    I have not used these functions personally, this is because I have
    no trust in a Microsoft product to do always what it claims to do.
    Oh, dear me, untrusting cynic that I am.

    So, being as I am becoming an old fuddy duddy,, I will go on tapping
    the SPACE BAR twice between sentences and tapping the ENTER key
    twice to put a blank line to insert a blank line between paragraphs
    and before and after headings.

    HTH

    Sincerely:

    Dave Durber

    ----- Original Message -----

        *From:*CrisMunoz54 <mailto:crismunoz54@xxxxxxxxx>

        *To:*jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>

        *Sent:*Tuesday, October 19, 2010 5:36 PM

        *Subject:*RE: One or two spaces

        Two spaces are from the days of the typewriter. Go one space.
        It’ll look better.

        *From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        <mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Adrian Spratt
        *Sent:* Tuesday, October 19, 2010 2:33 PM
        *To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        *Subject:* RE: One or two spaces

        Hi, John. Just to save anyone a duplication of effort, this
        Wikipedia link is to the same article as the one given to us by
        G.W. Cox.

        *From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *john R. Vaughn
        *Sent:* Tuesday, October 19, 2010 4:57 PM
        *To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        *Subject:* One or two spaces

        Adrian and list, interesting issue of whether to single or
        double space after the terminal punctuation for a sentence and
        the beginning of the next sentence. Believe it or not, the link
        below is from wicipedia on the matter and I found this from
        doing a google search.

        http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sentence_spacing#History

        As for me, always a double space bar between sentences, I am
        going to try the one space bar and and have sighted folks tell
        me if the MS Word program does infact do some sort of variable
        spacing to clearly indicate the end of one sentence and another.

        John

        *From:*jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] *On Behalf Of *Adrian Spratt
        *Sent:* Tuesday, October 19, 2010 2:04 PM
        *To:* jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
        *Subject:* RE: please help

        Hi, Richard.

        You couch your argument in terms of blind computer users making
        sure their work looks as polished as our sighted colleagues. I
        agree with this concept, but you do it a disservice by flatly
        asserting that double spaces meet that objective. I was
        persuaded to switch to single spaces while using word processors
        by several sighted people who observed too much space at the
        ends of my sentences and by a man who has published the two
        standard texts on typesetting and typeset conventions.

        There may be special circumstances, such as the tab issue
        brought up by Ted Lisle, but the Wikipedia entry to which G.W.
        Cox sent a link lays out the history and current general preference.

        This is one of those questions that is very hard for us to grasp
        because the impact is purely visual. Unsupported, strongly
        worded assertions don't help.

        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
        From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Richard P. Kelly
        Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 10:14 AM
        To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        Subject: RE: please help

        Greetings all,

        Proper formatting of a print document still calls for two spaces
        at the end of a sentence, after a colon, and perhaps elsewhere.
        This remains true even with mono spaced or proportionally spaced
        fonts. New word processors often assure proper style is used if
        auto correct and grammar checking is on. Still, we want what we
        print to look as polished as what our sighted colleagues
        produce; if not better!

        Cordially, Richard P. Kelly rpkelly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx
        <mailto:rpkelly@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

        rich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:rich@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>

        www.new-visions-network.com <http://www.new-visions-network.com>

        From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Lisle, Ted (CHFS DMS)
        Sent: Tuesday, October 19, 2010 6:50 AM
        To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        Subject: RE: please help

        Now that’s interesting. I Have seen one space from time to time,
        but never knew why. I sometimes long for the days of Pica and
        Elite, when laying out a document. In the immortal words of
        Edith Bunker, “You knew where you were then.” However, I’ve
        managed to figure out which font-size combinations are
        functional equivalents of the old Pica,
        10-space-per-horozontal-inch, format, and that’s what I use.
        Vertical spacing will have to look after itself.

        Ted

        From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Adrian Spratt
        Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 6:37 PM
        To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        Subject: RE: please help

        I preface this suggestion by acknowledging there's a debate
        about whether there should be one or two spaces after the end of
        a sentence. Despite my pre-computer typing training, I have been
        convinced that modern print fonts mean that two spaces are no
        longer desirable. So the way I solve the problem you describe is
        to search for two spaces and replace with one space. If you
        think there might be an odd number of spaces, say three, then
        search for that number first and replace with a single space.
        Then search for all instances of a double space and replace with
        that single space.

        
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

        From: jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        [mailto:jfw-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Hina
        Sent: Monday, October 18, 2010 6:24 PM
        To: jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <mailto:jfw@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
        Subject: please help

        hi,

        i am writing a lots of reports and i did figure out formatting
        issues, but i am not sure how will i know if there are extra
        spaces between words, sentenses and paragraphs without reading
        word by word which is so time consuming? for sighted people,
        microsoft word highlights but is there any way to know with
        jaws? microsoft's spell checke option says that there is extra
        space and suppose to change it to make corrections, but they
        still remain and is there a way to deal with this issue with jaws?

        i would be very thankful for your help.

        hina.

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