trink: Boot Up Club

The Boot Up Club is a computer social club for people who are legally blind in the five counties served by the Lighthouse for the Blind of the Palm Beaches. These include Okeechobee, St. Lucie, Martin, Indian River and Palm Beach Counties. It is also open to members from BlindCafe.net. Members must have either completed training in the use of assistive technology, such as screen reading software, magnification software, braille technologies, etc. or demonstrate a basic level of computer proficiency using any needed assistive technology. Some examples of software used by current members are: Windows accessibility features, Zoom Text, MAGic, JAWS for Windows, Window Eyes, Guide, NVDA, System Access to Go. Many of the current members also use a wide variety of different accessible hardware technologies, such as the Braille Note, The PacMate, the Victor Reader Stream, the Penfriend, and much more.

This group started in August of 2003 at the Lighthouse. Meetings are typically on the same day each month for 2 hours. We have had meetings in other locations and we are now offering options for participants to participate remotely using a conference calling system.

Activities include group discussions, new product information, demonstrations of devices and software by members or the facilitator, as well as presentations from manufacturers and vendors regarding technology for people with visual impairments. In place of standard Boot Up Club meetings, outside vendors or manufacturers will periodically provide presentations on their products or services and these presentations may also be opened to the general public.