BlindOnlineSuccessSystem.com

Blind Japanese woman receives IBM’s top award
June 5th, 2009 in Technology / Business
US computer giant IBM’s Japanese researcher Chieko Asakawa

US computer giant IBM’s Japanese researcher Chieko Asakawa in Tokyo, 2003. IBM has named Asakawa as the first blind engineer — as well as the first Japanese
female — to receive the company’s highest technical honour.

US computer giant IBM has named Chieko Asakawa as the first blind engineer — as well as the first Japanese female — to receive the company’s highest technical
honour.

Asakawa, 50, was named this week as one of eight Japanese to win the title of IMB Fellow for her achievements in making the Internet widely accessible for
visually impaired people.

It is the company’s most prestigious honour for an
engineer
, a title given to only 218 technicians in the company’s more than century-long history.

“Asakawa’s crucial contributions in the area of accessibility technology have enabled IBM to become a worldwide leader in the field,” the US-based company
said in a statement.

“She has helped to establish awareness, both within and outside
IBM
, while leading the creation of technologies that have changed the way disabled individuals communicate and interact.”

Asakawa developed accessibility software called the “Homepage Reader” which reads aloud words that appear on an Internet window and is now available in
11 languages including English and Japanese.

“I am very happy about the nomination,” Asakawa said in a statement. “I will continue working hard towards an even more accessible society.”

Asakawa, who lost her vision as a teenager, joined the
computer maker
in 1985 and has since worked to increase computer accessibility not only for the disabled but also for the elderly and novices.

(c) 2009 AFP

ACBT, American Council for the Blind of Texas is holding their annual conference in Houston, and BOSS will be there!

That’s right, this year’s conference in houston will hopefully bring in more great members into the BOSS program. I will be promoting BOSS in the exhibit hall alongside vendors of adaptive equipment and adaptive software from a wide variety of specialties and backgrounds. People like Freedom Scientific, Humanware, Kirtzwhile, and many others will be in the exhibit hall at this year’s conference in Houston Texas.

The conference will be held September 24th through the 26th. BOSS will be there for all three days. This will be a great promotional venture for BOSS, and it will be the first live promotion of the program since BOSS has been in operation since July of 2007.

Our first big promotion was in July of 2007 when we launched our first membership campaign by sending out emails to both the American Council of the Blind and the American Federation of the Blind. Now, we’re taking this live at this year’s annual state conference of the American Council of the Blind in Houston Texas.

What this could mean for BOSS is more members and more successful marketers. As with any program, growth spirts do happen, and this is perhaps one of those times when we will gain a great influx of new members who are ready to build their own online careers through our extensive, and accessible training.

I sincerely hope that we’re successful at bringing BOSS to the many people who will be attending this year’s conference in houston. This will indeed be a milestone in how we promote the program, plus it could help to lay the groundwork for future promotions.

Here’s a great list of ways to increase your influence online:

Online Influence

House acts to improve Internet access for disabled – Yahoo! News

The House on Monday celebrated the 20th anniversary of the Americans with Disabilities Act by approving legislation assuring that the disabled
have full access to the Internet and television.

“The ADA mandated physical ramps into buildings,” said Rep. Edward Markey, D-Mass., sponsor of the bill. “Today, individuals with disabilities need online
ramps to the Internet so they can get to the Web from wherever they happen to be.”

The bill, which passed 348-23 and now moves to the Senate, takes such steps as making it easier for the blind to access the Internet from smart phones,
providing deaf people with the ability to watch new TV programs online with captions included, and requiring that telecom equipment used to make calls
over the Internet be compatible with hearing aids.

The measure also:

_Gives the blind a fuller TV experience through audible descriptions of on-screen action.

_Makes cable TV program guides and selection menus accessible to people with vision loss.

_Mandates that remote controls have buttons or similar devices to easily access the closed captioning on broadcast and pay TV.

_Provides financial support to help the low-income disabled buy accessible Internet technology.

The legislation does not require manufacturers and service providers to install particular technology, but it does set new federal standards that the telecommunications
industry will follow.

The House took up the measure immediately after paying tribute to the achievements of the Americans with Disabilities Act, the landmark bill ensuring the
disabled equal access to public places that President George H.W. Bush signed into law two decades ago.

“Fifty million Americans have taken advantage of the ADA’s promise and have lived richer lives as a result,” said House Majority Leader Steny Hoyer, D-Md.

Presiding over the debates in the speaker’s chair was Rep. James Langevin, D-R.I., the first quadriplegic to serve in the House. It was the first time Langevin,
a five-term congressman, had served as speaker pro tempore.

At the White House, President Barack Obama marked the anniversary by promising to boost government efforts at recruiting, hiring and retaining people with
physical and mental limitations. He signed an executive order requiring the federal personnel agency to develop model guidelines for hiring people with
disabilities.

Obama also announced that the Justice Department is publishing stronger rules to prevent discrimination against people with disabilities by state and local
government agencies and private businesses.

___

The bill is H.R. 3101.

Could a blind person drive a car? Researchers are trying to make that far-flung notion a reality.

The National Federation of the Blind and Virginia Tech plan to demonstrate a
prototype vehicle
 next year equipped with technology that helps a blind person drive a car independently.

The technology, called “nonvisual interfaces,” uses sensors to let a blind driver maneuver a car based on information transmitted to him about his surroundings:
whether another car or object is nearby, in front of him or in a neighboring lane.

Advocates for the blind consider it a “moon shot,” a goal similar to President John F. Kennedy’s pledge to land a man on the moon. For many blind people,
driving a car long has been considered impossible. But researchers hope the project could revolutionize mobility and challenge long-held assumptions about
limitations.

“We’re exploring areas that have previously been regarded as unexplorable,” said Dr. Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind. “We’re
moving away from the theory that blindness ends the capacity of human beings to make contributions to society.”

The Baltimore-based organization was announcing its plans for the vehicle demonstration at a news conference Friday in
Daytona Beach
, Fla.

Maurer first talked about building an automobile that the blind could drive about a decade ago when he launched the organization’s research institute.

“Some people thought I was crazy and they thought, ‘Why do you want us to raise money for something that can’t be done?’ Others thought it was a great idea,”
Maurer said. “Some people were incredulous. Others thought the idea was incredible.”

The vehicle has its roots in Virginia Tech’s 2007 entry into the
DARPA Grand Challenge
, a competition for driverless vehicles funded by the Defense Department’s research arm. The university’s team won third place for a self-driving vehicle
that used sensors to perceive traffic, avoid crashing into other cars and objects and run like any other vehicle.

Following their success, Virginia Tech’s team responded to a challenge from the National Federation of the Blind to help build a car that could be driven
by a blind person. Virginia Tech first created a dune buggy as part of a feasibility study that used sensor lasers and cameras to act as the eyes of the
vehicle. A vibrating vest was used to direct the driver to speed up, slow down or make turns.

The blind organization was impressed by the results and urged the researchers to keep pushing. The results will be demonstrated next January on a modified
Ford Escape
sport utility vehicle
 at the Daytona International Speedway before the Rolex 24 race.

The latest vehicle will use nonvisual interfaces to help a blind driver operate the car. One interface, called DriveGrip, uses gloves with vibrating motors
on areas that cover the knuckles. The vibrations signal to the driver when and where to turn.

Another interface, called AirPix, is a tablet about half the size of a sheet of paper with multiple air holes, almost like those found on an air hockey
game. Compressed air coming out of the device helps inform the driver of his or her surroundings, essentially creating a map of the objects around a vehicle.
It would show whether there’s another vehicle in a nearby lane or an obstruction in the road.

A blind person, who has not yet been chosen, will drive the vehicle on a course near the famed Daytona race track and attempt to simulate a typical driving
experience.

Dr. Dennis Hong, a mechanical engineering professor at Virginia Tech who leads the research, said the technology could someday help a blind driver operate
a vehicle but could also be used on conventional vehicles to make them safer or on other applications.

Advocates for the blind say it will take time before society accepts the potential of blind drivers and that the safety of the technology will need to be
proven through years of testing. But more than anything, they say it’s part of a broader mission to change the way people perceive the blind.

Mark Riccobono, executive director of the NFB’s Jernigan Institute, said when he walks down the street with his 3-year-old son, many people might think
he, as a blind person, is being guided by his son.

“The idea that a 3-year-old takes care of me stems from what they think about blindness,” Riccobono said. “That will change when people see that we can
do something that they thought was impossible.”
=========================
The article above depicts what could be the future of total independence for the blind and visually impaired.  Instead of the blind and visually impaired relying upon public transportation which isn’t always reliable, the blind of tomorrow could be driving down the road in their own cars.

As was stated, some people think that this is some far-fetched idea that will never come to pass, but as researchers show, it is not only possible, but it is likely to happen within the next couple of decades or so when the technology has been greatly improved.

When computers first came onto the scene, blind people weren’t able to really use them, but look at what we have now?  Blind people do programming, write books, create web pages and much more on the computer thanks to speech technology.  So why can’t they drive a car?

The concept of a blind person driving a car sounds quite dangerous, and blind people from all over had joked about the idea by saying, “Stick your cane outside the window to navigate.” or “Have a sighted person go along with you to help you to navigate.”

Of course, the latter of these two things is more acceptable, but a human isn’t really the best option for this.  That is where technology needs to come into play.  So be on the look out for blind people driving on our interstates soon.

WASHINGTON – U.S. health officials have approved a first-of-its-kind technology to counter a leading cause of blindness in older adults — a tiny telescope
implanted inside the eye.

The
Implantable Miniature Telescope
 aims to help in the end stages of incurable age-related macular degeneration, a creeping loss of central vision that blocks reading, watching TV, eventually
even recognizing faces.

The idea: Surgically insert the Implantable Miniature Telescope into one eye for better central vision, while leaving the other eye alone to provide
peripheral vision
. The brain must fuse two views into a single image, and the Food and Drug Administration warned Tuesday that patients need post-surgery rehabilitation
to make it work.

There’s little to help such advanced patients today aside from difficult-to-use handheld or glasses-mounted telescopes, while the new implanted telescope
— smaller than a pea — can improve quality of life for the right candidate, said Dr. Malvina Eydelman, FDA’s ophthalmic devices chief.

But it’s only for a subset of the nearly 2 million Americans with advanced macular degeneration, Eydelman warned: Those 75 and older, with a certain degree
of
vision loss
, who also need a cataract removed. In fact, the FDA took the highly unusual step of requiring that patients and their surgeons sign a detailed “acceptance
of risk agreement” before surgery, acknowledging
potential side effects
 — including corneal damage and worsened vision — and the need for lots of testing to determine who’s a candidate.

“We’re not giving people back 20-year-old eyes,” cautioned ophthalmic surgeon Dr. Kathryn Colby of Harvard and the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary in
Boston. She helped lead manufacturer
VisionCare Ophthalmic Technologies
‘ study of the implant.

But by magnifying images onto more of the retina than its diseased center, someone who before couldn’t see an entire face might now miss only the nose,
Colby said.

In a 219-patient study, the FDA said 90 percent of telescope recipients had their vision improve by at least two lines on an eye chart, and three-quarters
went from severe to moderate vision impairment.

Concern about damage to the inside lining of the cornea, the eye’s clear front covering that helps focus light, held up FDA approval for several years.
In that study, 10 eyes had serious corneal swelling, five that required corneal transplants. FDA’s Eydelman said the company proposed candidate restrictions
to minimize that risk, and will study how an additional 770 recipients fare after sales begin.

VisionCare, of Saratoga, Calif., is seeking
Medicare coverage
 for the surgery and rehab costs, a package that it calls CentraSight. The company wouldn’t estimate total costs but said the device itself costs $15,000.
==========================
As technology greatly improves, we will see more and more devices, and surgeries that will greatly enhance the vision of the visually impaired, plus give new site to the totally blind.  We ahve already made great strides, and we ahve some so far, but we still have a very long way to go before blindness becomes a thing of the past, or at least recognized as a very minor inconvenience.

We here at BOSS fully understand the blind and visually impaired, and our aim is to see these people succeed not only in life, but with their own businesses as well.

We provide these articles to show you that there are many new advancements made in technology that aid the blind and visually impaired to live better, more independent lives.

We urge you to continue to read these articles, and please tell anybody else that you may think would be interested to come and have a great read.  We aim to inform, educate and help in any way possible.

If you want to know more about us, you may contact the following here below.

Donald Brown
Founder
Phone: 409-225-5239
Email: dbrwn@aol.com

Lori Steffen and Jeff Wark
Founders
Phone: 410-433-5943
email: support@netcontentsolutions.com

Dozens of people who were blinded or otherwise suffered severe eye damage when they were splashed with caustic chemicals had their sight restored
with transplants of their
own stem cells
— a stunning success for the burgeoning cell-therapy field, Italian researchers reported Wednesday.

The treatment worked completely in 82 of 107 eyes and partially in 14 others, with benefits lasting up to a decade so far. One man whose eyes were severely
damaged more than 60 years ago now has near-normal vision.

“This is a roaring success,” said ophthalmologist Dr. Ivan Schwab of the University of California, Davis, who had no role in the study — the longest and
largest of its kind.

Stem cell transplants
offer hope to the thousands of people worldwide every year who suffer chemical burns on their corneas from heavy-duty cleansers or other substances at
work or at home.

The approach would not help people with damage to the optic nerve or
macular degeneration
, which involves the retina. Nor would it work in people who are completely blind in both eyes, because doctors need at least some healthy tissue that they
can transplant.

In the study, published online by the New England Journal of Medicine, researchers took a small number of stem cells from a patient’s healthy eye, multiplied
them in the lab and placed them into the burned eye, where they were able to grow new corneal tissue to replace what had been damaged. Since the stem cells
are from their own bodies, the patients do not need to take
anti-rejection drugs.

Adult stem cells have been used for decades to cure blood cancers such as leukemia and diseases like sickle cell anemia. But fixing a problem like damaged
eyes is a relatively new use. Researchers have been studying cell therapy for a host of other diseases, including diabetes and heart failure, with limited
success.

Adult stem cells, which are found around the body, are different from
embryonic stem cells
, which come from human embryos and have stirred ethical concerns because removing the cells requires destroying the embryos.

Currently, people with eye burns can get an artificial cornea, a procedure that carries such complications as infection and glaucoma, or they can receive
a transplant
using stem cells
from a cadaver, but that requires taking drugs to prevent rejection.

The Italian study involved 106 patients treated between 1998 and 2007. Most had extensive damage in one eye, and some had such limited vision that they
could only sense light, count fingers or perceive hand motions. Many had been blind for years and had had unsuccessful operations to restore their vision.

The cells were taken from the limbus, the rim around the cornea, the clear window that covers the
colored part of the eye
. In a normal eye, stem cells in the limbus are like factories, churning out new cells to replace dead corneal cells. When an injury kills off the stem
cells, scar tissue forms over the cornea, clouding vision and causing blindness.

In the Italian study, the doctors removed scar tissue over the cornea and glued the laboratory-grown stem cells over the injured eye. In cases where both
eyes were damaged by burns, cells were taken from an unaffected part of the limbus.

Researchers followed the patients for an average of three years and some as long as a decade. More than three-quarters regained sight after the transplant.
An additional 13 percent were considered a partial success. Though their vision improved, they still had some cloudiness in the cornea.

Patients with superficial damage were able to see within one to two months. Those with more extensive injuries took several months longer.

“They were incredibly happy. Some said it was a miracle,” said one of the study leaders, Graziella Pellegrini of the University of Modena’s Center for
Regenerative Medicine
in Italy. “It was not a miracle. It was simply a technique.”

The study was partly funded by the Italian government.

Researchers in the United States have been testing a different way to use self-supplied stem cells, but that work is preliminary.

One of the successful transplants in the Italian study involved a man who had severe damage in both eyes as a result of a chemical burn in 1948. Doctors
grafted stem cells from a small section of his left eye to both eyes. His vision is now close to normal.

In 2008, there were 2,850 work-related chemical burns to the eyes in the United States, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Schwab of UC Davis said stem cell transplants would not help those blinded by burns in both eyes because doctors need stem cells to do the procedure.

“I don’t want to give the false hope that this will answer their prayers,” he said.

Dr. Sophie Deng, a cornea expert at the UCLA’s
Jules Stein Eye Institute
, said the biggest advantage was that the Italian doctors were able to expand the number of stem cells in the lab. This technique is less invasive than
taking a large tissue sample from the eye and lowers the chance of an eye injury.

“The key is whether you can find a good
stem cell population
and expand it,” she said.

The Texas School For The Blind and Visually Impaired is having a makeover!

The Texas School For The Blind and Visually Impaired in Austin Texas  is totally renovating their entire campus.  We have all seen the show, Extreme Home Makeover which features none other than Tie Pennington who is the show’s host tearing down people’s houses and building them new ones.  Well the Texas School For The Blind and Visually Impaired is having its own version of that, accept for the fact that Tie Pennington isn’t there, and neither is that huge bus that is so imphomous with the show.  so that means that we can’t say, “Move that bus!”

However, just like the show, buildings are being torn down and new ones are being erected.  That’s right, the entire campus is getting an extreme makeover, and I do mean extreme!

The original buildings have served the blind and visually impaired for many many years now, and now it is time for a change.  New state of the art buildings are being erected where the old ones once stood.  There are even new buildings that weren’t originally there being erected too.

On June 12 of this year, there will be a fare well to the main building event.  This event will feature a tour of the main building, refreshments in the cafeteria and an open mike later on that afternoon for those who wish to express their memories of this fine campus.

The Texas School For The Blind and Visually Impaired is located at 1100 West 45th Street in  Austin Texas. you can visit their web site at the following here below to find out more on this major renovation.

http://www.tsbvi.edu

The new and improved Texas School For The Blind and Visually Impaired will be a state of the art campus.  It will feature the latest in technology and services designed with the blind and visually impaired in mind.  State of the art dormatories, along with state of the art educational buildings and state of the art food service and medical facilities will help to greatly enhance the education of all blind and visually impaired students across Texas.

Watching Matt Gilman use his bike like a two-wheeled pogo stick, bouncing from giant wooden box to slightly smaller wooden box, your heart is in your throat waiting for a nasty
spill.

When he rears up on his back wheel on the highest box, like the Lone Ranger on Silver, you instinctively look away.

The ballet that Gilman dances on his bike requires strength and balance, but, apparently, not sight, because Gilman is a blind bike trials rider.

Gilman, 30, who grew up in Mount Washington and now lives in Reisterstown with his wife and son, was performing at Sunday’s annual BikeJam in Patterson
Park. The event drew 800 riders — from kids to pros — and thousands of spectators to raise money for Patterson Park and World Bicycle Relief, which provides
bikes for transportation in Africa.

Gilman lost his sight about six years ago as the result of Type I
diabetes
, but quickly threw aside his doctor’s orders to give up riding.

“I trip over my own two feet, but I feel like I can do anything on my bike,” said Gilman, exhausted after three stunt performances during a long, hot and
humid day in the park. Behind him, the sighted pro cyclists raced at terrific speeds.

“The first time I got on my bike after I lost my sight, I fell over instantly. I was like a child again,” said the former BMX rider. Gilman works at Joe’s
Bike Shop in Mount Washington, where he has taught himself the tricks and shortcuts he needs to repair bikes without vision.

Gilman performed before a noisy crowd, many of them youngsters who fancy themselves trick riders and who peppered him with questions as he waited to begin.

But his friend of 15 years, Gary Lessner, a pro trials rider from Parkville, went first. Wearing a blindfold. He stumbled with the bike and didn’t seem
to know where the obstacles were.

“It was very hard,” said a winded Lessner. “I have no idea how he does it.”

Gilman says he uses his hands and feet to place himself on the oversized wooden boxes. And he uses the tires like two more hands. He will “feel” his way
around a course before attacking it, but he can’t see the gaps or the drops once he begins.

His years as a BMX bike rider gave him a control of the bike that he employs now. “It was 16 years of banging around.”

His brother-in-law, Louis Gingher, who announces for him, will occasionally give him verbal cues to go left or right on the blocks and triangles. Gilman,
who is miked, tells the crowd what he will attempt next and asks for their encouragement.

During a demonstration for a diabetes research fundraiser, Gilman was so charged up by the cheers from the kids that he jumped from the top of a 5-foot-tall
box, skimmed past another box that was equally as wide and landed on the pavement. It was his first time for such a stunt.

“My mother didn’t look,” he said, laughing.

Gilman rides rocks and mountain trails, too, following a friend who puts a clicker on his wheel so Gilman can follow the sound. “That’s actually the scariest
thing I do.”

But the big news for this blind bike star is the birth seven weeks ago of his son, Evan, who will be getting his first bike, his father says, by the age
of two.

“As soon as he can walk,” said Gilman.

Blind people directing movies?  Is that really possible?

An innovative film crew in Jeruselam is working on a project that may possibly change the views of blind and visually impaired people playing the role of film director and camera man.

According to one of the film crew, whose sight is quite limited was always told that he shouldn’t film that somebody else would film because he couldn’t do it due to his bad vision.  He never dreamed that he could actuly do it because he felt that he and the camera were two different things and that it would not be plausable for him to work behind the camera.

However, with this special film crew, they’re making waves in the blind community, proving that just because you’re blind; doesn’t mean that you can’t make a film.

Sure they use adaptations to make things work for them, but the main thing is; is that they find a way to do the things that other people think are virtually impossible for them to do.  For example, the camera man said that he uses cues from the people that he is filming.  He uses sound to tell him where the people are in the presentation, and he simply aims the camera in their direction.  He also tells the actors to use certain sounds to give him other cues that he needs to control the camera.

Who knows, maybe a blind film crew just might put out the next blockbuster film in theatres soon.  It is all very possible and it can be done, and this special film crew is paving the way for this to be possible for anyone who is blind or visually impaired.

So if you have always wanted to direct, and film, then this just might be the ticket for your success as a filmmaker.  So don’t ever think that just because you can’t see doesn’t mean that you can’t do it because blind people from all over the world are proving otherwise.

Sure, it may take adaptations and innovation, but the fact is, if you have the desire to do something, don’t let the sighted world tell you any different.  Prove them all wrong by actually doing it and doing it with the means by which you’re able to use to make it happen.

It is not the process that really matters, it is the fact that you had set out to do it and you had accomplished your task, and done it with the tools, techniques and innovations that you need in order to make it happen.  Blind and visually impaired people have already proved that they can do a lot of things that the sighted world thought to be virtually impossible for them to do, and they did it with innovation, techniques and strategies that they themselves have invented, or have borrowed from other sources to make it work for them.  There’s always more than one way to skin a cat, so don’t let someone tell you any different.

Pretty soon, blind people will be driving cars, flying planes and a whole lot more.  Who knows what the future will bring to the blind and visually impaired community.  Technology has definitely paved the way in many situations for the blind and visually impaired, and it will prove itself again when we hear about yet another blind individual accomplishing something that is normally sight related.

So Hollywood; get ready to begin working with blind film crews and blind film directors and such.  They’re coming!