Re: Two Interesting Survey Requests
- From: "Francesca Diodati" <mdiodat@xxxxxx>
- To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Sun, 7 May 2006 17:59:32 +0200
These are both very interesting. The first person mentiones using the
optacon to check her own handwriting and if the pen worked. I totally agree!
I too do that.
The second person mentions reading a microwave display. Does one need a
special lens to do that or are there certain displays that the unequipped
optacon will read?
Thanks
Fran
----- Original Message -----
From: "Catherine Thomas" <braille@xxxxxxxxx>
To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Sunday, May 07, 2006 11:53 AM
Subject: Two Interesting Survey Requests
> Here they are below with only the identifying information stripped.
> -----
> Date: Sun, 7 May 2006
> Subject: Optacon
> I got this address from the vip-l list, however I am fairly new to email
> so not sure how I would go completing a survey via email. Perhpas you
> could provide me with phone contact details also just in case.
> I learnt optacon at the age of thirteen and have been a great surrporter
> and user of it for the past thirty years - I am up to my third, but the
> battery is failing and I would literally feel like committing suicide if
> it ever does, even though I have learnt to use a scanner.
> For instance, I was an exchange student in Japan for a year. During that
> time I was able to use the optacon to teach me the Japanese script and
> language, and can now read letters written to me in that script. After
> that time I lived for some years in a meditation ashram in India, where
> again I used the optacon to teach myself basic Hindi. I could never have
> accessed these without an optacon.
>
> Beyond that, how much quicker to read a bank statement or account when you
> get one every month and know its layout, so can just immediately go to the
> relevant lines or columns without reading all the crap!
>
> How else would I know where the printing is on greeting cards and
> therefore where the blank space is on which for me to write my message?
> And how could I be sure that the pen had worked properly and my
> hand-written message and addressed envelope are legible?
>
> At school I also used it to follow electrical circuit diagrams and other
> simple diagrams.
>
> And what about reading info on curved surfaces, such as tablet bottles and
> cnas. A bit tricky, but still possible with the optacon.
>
> I've used it on my lap on the train, plus to read printed agendas during
> meetings.
>
> In INdia I used it to read the INdian scr4iptures I had to study, which,l
> although translated into English, contained so many Sanskrit words they
> would have been unintelligible with speech.
>
> I worked for a few years as a legal secretary at the NSW Legal Aid
> Commission. At first I had no speech on my computer for a few months, so
> luckily had two optacons, one on which I had a video lens so I could read
> the computer screen whennecessary, and the other for reading the clients'
> files. These files contained forms filled out in hand printing. I never
> got very good with runningwriting, but could certainly read hand printing,
> which a scanner still could hot do I believe.
>
> I could go on and on, so was ecstatic to see that someone else is showing
> an interest. I can read out loud reasonably fast with my optacon, and have
> once read an entire novel with it, though generally about six pages is
> enough before I become tired.
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you,
> ---- second excerpt ----
> Subject: Optacon
> My name is ---- and I am totally blind. I have
> used
> an Optacon since 1981 when I got training from a former teacher in my own
> area. I think it is the most wonderful thing for independence and
> learning about print formats so I can talk more intelligently with sighted
> people about pictures and formats. I was devastated when I heard that it
> was not going to be available in the US anymore. It was the thing I had
> always dreaded. I have had several jobs where I could do things which I
> wouldn't have been able to do without he Optacon. I can also do fun
> things, too, like reading MY VCR onscreen menu. I read the Owner's Manual
> all through, and I knew how to program it and this was way back in 1987
> when most people didn't know how to program their own VCRs. Anyway, my
> two Optacons are now in disrepair, but I can still use it for a few
> minutes after unplugging it. I found out by using it that my pre-amp on
> my stereo has a light on the left side of the display and one on the right
> side. The goal is to have them both not shining.
> If the balance is too far to the right, the right-hand light will be on,
> and the same with the left-hand light. One of the people at Telesensory
> told me when I called in frustration with their decision that I was a
> "diehard" Optacon user. I don't consider myself a "diehard" because there
> are still things which the Optacon can do that can't be done with any
> other equipment. Try to pull a scanner over to the TV screen and read the
> menu. I think it is quite impossible. Also, in one condominium where I
> lived, the oven didn't have knobs that you turned, but buttons that you
> pressed to control the functions and the temperature of the oven. If I
> hadn't had the Optacon, I wouldn't have been very effective in using the
> oven, because as it got older, you had to push the buttons harder and
> harder, so I really did have to check the display to see if the
> temperature was right. That learning about print format has been so
> helpful to me. Even when I started teaching Windows, with
> my Optacon I was able to see how when you are on a menu with a submenu the
> arrow points to the right and then when you get into the menu, the text is
> there. I'd love to hear from you or help if there is any way I can.
> End of Excerpt
>
>
> ------------------------------------------------------------------------------
> -Catherine Thomas
> braille@xxxxxxxxx /
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
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