Covid-19 handwashing advice described for people who are blind

March 29, 2020

You should wash your hands after going to the toilet, before preparing food and before and after eating, after blowing your nose, coughing or sneezing, after touching animals, before touching your face, and when you return home after being out.

Basically you want to wash your hands thoroughly using either liquid or bar soap – they both work just as well – for around 20 seconds or as long as it would take to sing Happy Birthday, through twice.

Here are the ten steps to follow:

  1. Turn on the tap and wet your hands. Turn off the tap.
  2. Apply enough soap to cover your hands.
  3. Rub your hands together lengthways palm to palm.
  4. Interlace your fingers and rub your palms together from side to side.
  5. Place your right palm on the back of your left hand, interlacing your fingers and rub your hands up and down against each other lengthways. Repeat with your left palm on the back of your right hand.
  6. To clean your fingertips and nails: point your elbows out to the sides. Hold your left hand in front of you across your body with the palm facing up. Place your right hand palm down on top of your left in the opposite direction. With palms together, slide your hands slowly apart until the tips of your fingers touch the bottom finger joints on the other hand. Roll your fingers in together to make opposite facing interlocking fists, knuckles fitting snugly into the palm of the other hand. Rub the tips and nails of your fingers firmly into the palm and fingers of the other hand.
  7. Clasp your left thumb in your right fist and rotate to clean the thumb including the nail. Repeat with the other thumb.
  8. Clasp your left wrist in your right hand and rotate to wash the whole wrist. Repeat with the other wrist.
  9. Turn the tap back on and rub your hands together firmly under the running water. The friction helps to remove oils and therefore viruses and bacteria.
  10. Shake off excess water and dry your hands on a clean single use towel using firm lengthwise towel strokes. Use the towel to turn off the tap.
Filed Under: Information

A Free, Libre, Open Source, dictation solution at last!

March 30, 2018

The DictationBridge team is delighted to announce the immediate release of DictationBridge version 1.0!

For years, the community has been asking for a free, libre, open source dictation solution it can use with the screen reader of its choice. Today, the wait is over: meet DictationBridge 1.0, the dictation solution for screen reader users created by and for the community.

Building on a modest goal shared by three people in three wildly divergent timezones communicating by email as far back as 2011 all the way through the success of a community fundraiser in 2016 and its resultant two-year development and testing process, and with encouragement from the community, the talented members of the DictationBridge team have been working hard to deliver a dictation solution that will meet the needs of many and open up opportunities for millions more blind people around the world.

DictationBridge is a fully featured add-on for the world’s two most commonly used screen readers. Serving as a gateway between you, the NVDA and/or Jaws screen readers and either Dragon Naturally Speaking or Windows Speech Recognition, DictationBridge will change how you work with computers using voice recognition.

For more information, please go to: DictationBridge website

Filed Under: Assistive Technology, Information

AAP distributes media release for “Outrunning the Night”

October 1, 2017

Australian Associated Press (AAP) distributed a media release for Scott Hollier’s book Outrunning the Night: A life journey of disability determination and joy’ on 20 September.

Digital accessibility specialist Scott Hollier is well educated, loves computers and gadgets, is a husband and father, goes to church regularly and has set foot on all seven continents. He is also legally blind.

It is an Inspiring memoir of struggle and triumph.

Find the release on Scott’s book here

If you’ve aren’t familiar with Scott’s book, all the details including a sample chapter can be found at www.outrunningthenight.com

Filed Under: Assistive Technology, Information

Vision Australia Radio set to bring Perth landmarks to life

August 22, 2017

Some of Perth’s most well-known tourist attractions are set to be brought alive for people who are blind or have low vision thanks to an upcoming radio program, The Tourist.

The Tourist will air on Vision Australia Radio (VAR) during August and September and will provide listeners with an entertaining and informative account of the Fremantle Prison, the WA Maritime Museum, and Scitech.

Developed by Murdoch University Sound & Radio student Ethan Kavanagh, each episode of The Tourist will feature staff interviews, behind the scenes tours and audio descriptions from each location.

VAR Program Coordinator Gemma Sidney said Ethan’s work is something that will have a positive impact for many people who are blind or have low vision. “The locations that Ethan has documented in The Tourist are all popular for a reason and it’s important that people who are blind or have low vision are given every chance to experience and enjoy what they have to offer like anybody else,” Ms Sidney said. “Each episode really is an immersive account of each location, whether it’s a description of what it’s like to enter a submarine, taking people on a trip to the gallows or audio describing a puppet show, we really think The Tourist is something that will support our listeners in experiencing each location.”

Each episode of The Tourist will also be available as a podcast to allow the wider blind and low vision community to experience each attraction and Ms Sidney said VAR hopes to expand the program’s offering in the future.

“We’re fortunate that during his placement with us Ethan put as much time and effort as he did to produce the first three episodes and he’s indicated that he’d like to do more to help people who are blind or have low vision to experience the other attractions Perth has to offer.” VAR is an important outlet for the blind and low vision community to access a wide range of information and it’s great that we can expand what we offer our listeners with more content that is produced with them in mind.”

The Tourist air dates on Vision Australia Radio:

  • Episode 1: Fremantle Prison – 10.30am Monday 28 August (repeated 10.30am Friday 1 September)
  • Episode 2: WA Maritime Museum – 10.30am Monday 4 September (repeated 10.30am Friday 8 September)
  • Episode 3: Scitech – 10.30am Monday 11 September (repeated 10.30am Friday 15 September)

Vision Australia Radio broadcasts in Perth on 990AM and on digital under VA Radio. The Tourist will also be available online as a podcast via http://radio.visionaustralia.org

Filed Under: Audio Description, Information

The Eclipse Soundscapes Project app

August 16, 2017

Below is a link to an interactive app made for VoiceOver users and others with vision loss.
It uses a combination of sound, vibrations and audio description.

The Eclipse Soundscapes Project app is specially designed so that people who are blind and visually impaired can share in the awe and wonder of astronomical events in real time with their sighted peers.

The app is a joint effort between The Smithsonian Astrophysical Observatory (SAO), NASA’s Heliophysics Education Consortium (HEC), the National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM), and the National Park Service (NPS). Features include an interactive “Rumble map”; audio descriptions of key features of the eclipse; a play-by-play description of the total solar eclipse as it is happening in the user’s area; and a countdown clock to the next upcoming eclipse.

The “Rumble Map” gives the user the sensation of “feeling” the Sun during an eclipse. the technology translates images of key eclipse features into a series of unique frequency modulated tones that map out variations in light and dark as the user explores the image with their fingertips. These tones are specially designed to make the user’s mobile device shake, or rumble, in response to the changes.

After the eclipse, the Eclipse Soundscapes app will provide access to a database of soundscape recordings from U.S. National Parks and other urban and rural locations so that users can experience how eclipses change the behavior of different species, including humans. During the next five years, the app will expand to include other eclipses and astronomical objects of interest giving people who are blind and visually impaired – and everyone else – a new way to engage with the universe around them.

Eclipse Soundscapes by Henry Winter

Filed Under: Assistive Technology, Information