Deafblindness Awareness Week: The Modern Helen Kellers

David Faucheux will be back soon with audio commentary. He's awaiting a computer upgrade and, beyond that, has been feeling under the weather. Enjoy his past posts while you're waiting. One of my favorites is his audio essay on guide dog etiquette, an MP3 file which includes fond memories of Nader, his much-misssed yellow Lab. "He seemed to like to snooze under the table," David recalls of his library visits with Nader, "while bits of knowledge rained down on his slumbers." Elsewhere on this page you can find a lists of older postings by headilne and by date range.

Meanwhile here is a news story on Deafblindness Awareness Week in the U.S.. Apologies, but I don't see a mention in the story of the sponsoring organization at the national level. Could it be the American Association of the Deaf-Blind or another group mentioned on an Internet Resources Page for the deaf blind and their families? The most famous person with deafblindness, of course, was Helen Keller. One can imagine how much the Internet would have meant to her.

But back to the news story. The subject of the story, Clara Johnson, 39, of Anniston, Alabama, is learning to use the Internet for email and other purposes. The computer also teaches her English--her first language is American Sign Language. Some 40,000 Americans are deafblind. Although legally blind, Ms. Johnson can see partly with the aid of eyeglasses.

Might the article have been even more intesting with a subject who was totally blind? Any inspirational stories to report involving deafblind people whom you know? As usual, David F and I welcome your letters. You can write him at trivaguy@bellsouth.net, and I'm at dr@teleread.org.

Related: Deafblind Awareness Week as reported by the BBC, as well as a deafblind-related story out of Canada. Apaprently the U.K. version of the Week is different from the U.S. version as reported in the article on Clara Johnson. The U.S. version is June 27-July 3, while the BBC reports the U.K. version as June 21-25. The BBC story contains a link to Deafblind UK, which estimates that 24,000 people in the U.K. are deafblnd or dual senstory impaired. Other useful links could be the pages of the Australian DeafBlind Council and A Deafblind Web Resources Guide.

--Written and posted by David Rothman

Spam and the blind

Spam is a bad enough waster of time for the sighted. Now imagine the problems that spam creates for blind people who must listen to it with their speech synthesizers.

Related: FTC says no to anti-spam registry.

--Written and posted by David Rothman

Now on the Web: NLS-related chatcast and '70s' book discussion

You can now enjoy an online recording of an eBookWorm discussion with Michael Moodie, Deputy Director of the National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped (NLS), a division of the Library of Congress. Last Thursday he discussed the future of digital books for the blind and others with disabilities. The audio file is in WMA (Windows Media Audio) format.

Also online is an Audio Avenue Meeting of the Minds discussion about Bruce J. Schulman's book The Seventies: The Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics. Here's the WMA audio link for discussion of the '70s book.

Due to a medical emergency--my mother broke her hip--I couldn't tune in real time but I look forward to hearing both recordings.

Coming up:

July 14, 7-9 p.m. Central Daylight Time: A Meeting of the Minds discussion will take place about The Collected Short Stories of Isaac Bashevic Singer, published in 1982 by Farrar, Straus, and Giroux.

July 22 at 3 CDT: The featured guest on eBookWorm will be Geoff Freed, Project Manager of the Beyond the Text Project at the CPB/WGBH National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM).

"The book discussions we will hold on Saturday, Sept. 11 should be interesting, too," says Tom Peters, the moderator for eBookWorm and Meeting of the Minds. "We'll get to discuss another of my favorite books, Huck Finn." Huck should be especiallly meaningful in a 9/11 context. What a contrast between him and the medieval mindsets of the terrorists.

All of the online programs are scheduled for the "OPAL Auditorium" which can be accessed through the following URL:

http://www.tcconference.com/lib/?auditorium&nopass_field=1

A small, safe chat program will end up on your computer if you haven't visited the site before. Just type in your name when asked, and you're all set as long as you have a sound card (and a mike if you want to speak out, not just type).

Questions? Contact Tom Peters (chatcast moderator) or Lori Bell for details on particpating in the discussions. While mainly for the blind, they're open to all and are free.

Fan in California

When I felt that I was reaching no one and that my blog didn't say anything fresh and original, I received an email from a fan in San Jose, CA. She was supportive and hoped I'd continue blogging, blogging about anything in my life--from the sublime to the ridiculous. I have excerpted some of her email nelow.

Like me. I guess what I am trying to say is thank you for letting me into a world I would otherwise never know and please never think that you have nothing to say or could run out of ideas. When you feel you have run out of ideas just talk to us. Tell people about your life. No matter how small you think a detail is it could be something wonderful to someone else.

You never know what talking about your life will do to change the world we live in, or just one person's life. Either way, it is worth it. Thank you. S.... C......

Click the audio link to hear my screen reader verbalize the excerpted portion and my thoughts that introduce the synthetic voice.

--Posted and written by David Faucheux

Cell Phones--Ring Polyphony

TELLME had the neatest technology report today. (See the blog entry on
TELLME for contact info.)

You can customize your cell phone ring with a 30 second clip from a favorite
CD. I'd love to sample the Schubert Ave Maria as sung by Andrea Boccelli
and let my phone ring in church. Or have a Disco sample.

Check the audio link to hear what Disco sample I would use. And it's not "I
Haven't Stopped Dancin' Yet Since We Met on Our First Date." No one
remembers that one--anyway!!!

--Posted by David Faucheux

Did I Win an Online Lottery?

Today, I received an interesting email claiming to be an announcement that I
won $2.5 megs US. The lottery drawing had occurred on January 21, 2004.
Guess it takes time to notify everyone!

The audio link contains more from the text of the unique email. Drat! I'd
have loved 2.5 meg of money. Be better than my annual approx. 5k income.
My home biz ain't exactly taking off!!!

--Written and posted by David Faucheux

The Seventies: An interview with author Bruce Schulman

Today I interviewed Dr. Bruce J. Schulman, author of The Seventies: The
Great Shift in American Culture, Society, and Politics.

The interview proved interesting despite numerous technical problems I had
with my phone and blogger. I hope the audio can be heard relatively well.

--Posted and written by David Faucheux

Update: This was David's very first taped interview, and he had audio difficulties, as noted--problems feeding the sound into the phone. We're going to work on this before posting other taped interviews. Meanwhile thanks to Bruce Schulman, who was indeed most informative. We hope to repost a clear verson of the interview at some point. Any suggestions from listeners about audio? Actually my blogroll friend Dave Slusher, aka The Evil Genius, who's an old radio hand, may have ideas. But we'll welcome others' advice as well. - David Rothman

Audio Description & a Presidential Funeral

Last Friday evening, several friends and I were watching (listening to) the
Reagan funeral. There were pauses and gaps when the newsmen remained
silent. One could hear assorted sounds, shufflings, clopping of hooves,
rustlings, ...

Click the audio link to hear a conversation I had with my friend, Colleen,
an instructor of the deaf-blind, about audio description.

--Written and posted by David Faucheux

TELLME: Voice Recognition Software

For nearly a year now, I have used and enjoyed a free information-provider
called TELLME. By calling 1-800-555tell (8355), one can access weather for
any locality in the United States, hear business news, stock quotes,
entertainment news, technology news, play blackjack, and even get a taxi.

Click the audio link to hear me live in an actual session on the telephone!

--Written, recorded, and posted by David Faucheux

Book list: So does this mean I'm obsessive?

I realized that last Saturday, June 12, marked an anniversary of sorts. 17.5 years ago, I began keeping a consecutive book list. To learn more, check out my audio link below.

Do you think I'm obsessive?

--Written and posted by David Faucheux

Flag Day and a Poem

Earlier today I submitted a post that included the entire recorded version
of a poem, "Ragged Old Flag" by Johnny Cash. Upon reflecting and talking to
several friends, I became concerned that my desire to share a narration of a
patriotic poem, however well-meaning, might fly in the face of copyright
legislation. I have, therefore, pulled this poem and substituted my reading
of a very brief section of said poem with a summation of the remainder.

Click the audio link to learn more and to discover where I located the
excellent narration.

--Written and posted by David Faucheux

Young Adult Fiction: A Sampler

Young Adult fiction reminds me of that favorite snapshot. It shows you
things, can take you to strange and unusual places both historical and
fantastic, and can show you what it's like to be young again.

Click the audio links to hear mini-descriptions of several books I recently
received.

--Posted and written by David Faucheux

Lots of dots--for marking typewriter keys, microwave ovens and plenty else

To learn more about my dots, and they aren't Braille dots, click the audio link. To visit the web site yourself, see:

www.exceptionalteaching.com

--Written and posted by David Faucheux

Linguistics and the blind

Recently I read a sci-fi book that got the college memories going. Click on the audio link in the post below to learn what book, what memories, and more.

Strangely, the John McWhorter book I recently read, THE POWER OF BABEL: A Natural History of Language, did not do this!  I enjoyed McWhorter and wish his book on African-American idiomatic English were (subjunctive mood) available in Braille or cassette from NLS or RFB&D.

Links:

www.rfbd.org

www.loc.gov/nls

--Written and posted by David Faucheux

An access horror story--starring a linguistics professor

Should teachers go out of their way to help blind students? In a detailed message sent to a mailing list, David Faucheux told what happens when the blind do not enjoy sufficient access to the books and other material they need to "make the grade." No favoritism requested. David didn't get full access to the books he needed. "I asked the professor for some additional help," he wrote, "and was told in no uncertain terms that this would not be fair to the other students in his class. He said that perhaps blind people had no business in English linguistics anyway." David wrote his post in 1996, but despite anti-discrimination laws, it is not entirely out of date. In fact, he cited his experiendes in a recently sent letter to Newsweek in response to a column complaining that professors were cutting students too much slack.

My own take: David F's experiences are a powerful argument for a well-stocked national digital library system using a format friendly to speech synthesizers and Braille printers. "If TeleRead had been around," David notes, "any book would be available in electronic format thus negating the delays in waiting fro the book to be prepared in an alternate and usable fromat for the blind."

Indeed! A good, economical way to mainstream the blind and reduce their unemployment rate of more than 70 percent is to think of them from the start when designing libraries, e-bookstores and other sources of information. That would not just be compassion by the sighted--it would be enlightened self interest: insurance. Most blind people today have started life with seeing eyes.

Scrabble for the blind

Curious to know how the blind play Scrabble???

Check out the audio link below to learn about tactile boards and more.

P.S. I'll let you in on a secret; we play Monopoly, too. Tactile board and Braille money and cards. (Poker, too. Braille playing cards.)

Now if only someone would fabricate an adapted trivia game!!!

--Posted by David Faucheux

Meeting of the Minds--a different kind of book discussion group!

Discussing books is only a computer away.  Check out The Meeting of the Minds Thursday, June 17, 7:00-8:00 pm CDT.

To participate in the discussion, go to http://www.talkingcommunities.com/entrance.pl?LIB-Auditorium&nopass_field=1. Type in your name, and press the Enter key.

C U there!

-Written by David Faucheux.

Blind Chance honored on Audioblogger's home page

Congratulations to David F. The home page of Audioblogger currently includes Blind Chance among "interesting audio blogs." For sighted types, I'm reproducing a screenshot.

Housekeeping note: David himself is now posting text via email. We're still warring against the startup glitches. At least for the moment, due to the way this blog is set up, my name will appear on Faucheux-written text posts. I'm trying to see if there's an easy way to change that. Meanwhile I've asked David to type in his credit line the old-fashioned way in cases where there might be confusion.

- David Rothman.

Royal Romance

First, let me implore all historical fiction writers out there to consider writing a long novel about Empress Eugenie of France. None exist to my knowledge--not in English anyway. So I didn't discuss her on the blog.

Maybe I should blog about the books that need to be written. What do you think? Listen to my posts below and learn more.

Who are some noted authors in the field? What can digital books do for me as regards Byzantine fiction? Keep on listenin'!

- Written by David Faucheux

The MI-DTB Project

WHAT IS THE MI-DTB PROJECT?

Visit my audio link to hear more about this new project that explores digital media and will get talking books into the hands of blind people.

And go to www.loc.gov/nls to learn more about libraries for the blind and print impaired.

--written by David Faucheux