Re: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
- From: "Cynthia Handel" <cindy425@xxxxxxxxxxx>
- To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
- Date: Thu, 18 May 2006 08:16:22 -0400
I went to the Western Pa. School for Blind Children. In late 1973 and early
1974, I had Optacon classes. For much of that time, the Optacons had to
stay in the classroom and the only practice we got was in class or if we
arranged to go during a study hall to practice. I was so excited when I was
allowed to take the Optacon out of the classroom and try it out on things in
my dorm. I remember carrying it with the strap across my body and holding
on to it so it wouldn't dare bump anything...like it was gold or something.
Then, at the end of my class, I had the opportunity to buy one for $100. My
parents bought it for me and that was the beginning of my 32 or 33 years
with the Optacon.
My husband took a class in Philadelphia in 1977 or 1978. He said it was
just amazing when he took the Optacon to work and could use it to read
print, in the office. Then, he got a CRT lens and could, for the first time
in about ten years of being a computer programmer, actually read the screen.
Cindy
----- Original Message -----
From: "Pam Drake" <pamdrake@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Thursday, May 18, 2006 3:30 AM
Subject: RE: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
Goodness!
This is a fun thread.
There were three of us from Social Security in my October or November class
of 1975; can't remember which now. There were also a couple of sighted
Optacon teacher trainees.
Four of us went to San Francisco on Saturday and stayed overnight. What a
wonderful memory!
My first week was rough. On Thursday night the head of training asked to
come visit me at the motel. I was sure she was going to tell me I wasn't
making the grade and should go home. I had friends in the area and had gone
to dinner a couple of nights and was sure she was going to tell me I hadn't
been applying myself.
I tearfully told her I would do whatever I needed to do in order to stay in
the class. She told me she had a weekend assignment for me. "I hear some
of you are going to San Francisco on Saturday. I want you to come back here
tomorrow night, plug in your Optacon, go to San Francisco and have a good
time, and don't touch your Optacon till Monday. You're trying too hard!"
What a shock! What a relief! I did as she instructed and had a fantastic
weekend.
From Monday on it seemed that I couldn't make a mistake. I had just gotten
myself too tense and upset.
I had somehow managed to forget money for the final Wednesday lunch and had
borrowed money from Martha, one of the instructors. AT the end of the
training I wanted to try to read something written by hand. Another teacher
was working with me that day; and I had said I wanted to see Martha to give
her money.
The teacher, whose name I unfortunately can't remember, handed me a
carefully printed piece of paper which read, "Pay Martha for lunch.
Sorry if I got a little long-winded, but what memories this thread is
bringing back!
By the way, those of you who have had your optacons since the earlier days
will remember that we were taught to always keep our machines plugged in
when not in use. No one understand the effect constant charging had on
battery packs. I wonder how many packs were replaced prematurely because
they were not allowed to fully discharge often enough.
Pam
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Linda Gehres
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 4:55 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: Re: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
Don, what memories your e-mail evokes! I remember going to Palo Alto in
1975 with several others from Social Security Administration and staying at
a Best Western and being transported to the TSI headquarters. Ironically,
when my brother began working for a company called Catalytica in Mountain
View, he told me that his employer was right nextdoor to the TSI facility
which by the early 80's had moved. But I digress. At the time I was in
class, there were also a couple of sighted people being trained to work with
new Optacon users. One of them wrote a letter to us just after he returned
home, and I remember actually trying to decipher his signature. At last I
understood why even sighted people have difficulty in distinguishing the
handwriting of others.
Linda Gehres
----- Original Message -----
From: "Harry Bassler" <HBassler@xxxxxxxxxxx>
To: <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 9:47 AM
Subject: Re: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
> Don,
> I was in the second class at TSI just behind you.
> Harry
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "don bishop" <w6smb@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> To: "optacon list" <optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
> Sent: Wednesday, May 17, 2006 12:21 PM
> Subject: remembering my first experiences with the Optacon
>
>
>> Just changed the subject from "some comments about the optacon" or at
> least pretty much that subject line.
>>
>> Anyway, I remember the first time I actually used my first optacon.
>>
>> I was in a training class given by TSI in Palo Alto. It was held at a
> motel where we students stayed for a week or two weeks depending on
> people's
>> schedules.
>>
>> TSI also had a suite there where the training was conducted.
>>
>> They brought us into a training room with a long table. In front of each
> of us was this big
>> wooden box and a brand new Optacon sitting inside. I think it still had
> the plastic around the case. In those days the OPtacon came in a large
> wooden
>> carrying case with thick foam padding. (soft packs were not even heard
>> of
> yet.)
>>
>> It was like being at the door of a new world and even just seeing the
>> unit
> without using it was liberating. I can still remember the new smell of
> the
> unit with
>> the leather protective case.
>>
>> And then the fun began. So did the work. <smile>
>>
>> The excitment of actually reading print material, even if it was just a
> training document, was something I'll never forget.
>>
>> Since that day in 1972 I've read virtually every kind of printed material
> at one time or another.
>>
>> I still am a bit in awe when I look at an old book published in the early
> 1900s or before and realize that many many blind people lived in "homes
> for
> the blind",
>> or other institutional or protective settings, and that reading such a
> book independently wasn't even considered possible.
>>
>> It does put the progress in the world in some sort of perspective. I
> think this is largely why I've always felt that the discontinuance of
> Optacon production
>> was truly a step backward from independence for blind people.
>>
>> Don
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