BlindOnlineSuccessSystem.com

Archive for May, 2009

On April 30, the National Library for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
(NLS), a division of the Library of Congress in the United States, entered
the first phase of its transition to a digital playback system, as well as
releasing an upgraded version of its pilot download website. Beginning with
the testing of 5,000 digital players by NLS patrons in their homes, NLS is
preparing to launch full-scale production and distribution of 26,000
machines per month this year, ensuring continued access to reading materials
for more than 500,000 registered users.

New to the NLS program is a state of the art online component, called the
Braille and Audio Reading Download (BARD) site. This new site for blind and
physically handicapped patrons of NLS now provides better than ever access
to digital audiobooks and magazines. The BARD digital books and magazines
are in the ANSI/NISO Z39.86 2002 format, the specification for navigable
digital talking books. Readers may press buttons on the NLS digital
talking-book player and compatible players to jump from chapter to chapter,
section to section or page to page. This ability to quickly navigate the
book structure, combined with the high-quality human recording, make the new
digital NLS download books one of the most significant advancements in the
provision of talking books for blind and low vision people.

"The high quality navigable digital books from the new NLS BARD service
represent a major advancement in access to books, magazines, and electronic
braille for Americans who are unable to read print due to blindness, low
vision, or physical disability", says Gilles Pepin, CEO of HumanWare. "With
BARD, NLS brings its library into the home of its patrons. Not only do NLS
patrons now have access to thousands of digital books but they can find
their book of interest and download it in minutes independently and from the
comfort of their home computer."

HumanWare manufactures the popular Victor Reader Stream, a DAISY NISO
compatible digital talking-book player designed in collaboration with the
National Federation of the Blind (NFB), which several thousand NLS patrons
already use to play the new digital NISO books. The NLS digital books on the
BARD site are protected by encryption and compatible digital book players
must be authorized by NLS for eligible patrons to play the books.

The ability to press buttons on the Victor Reader Stream to easily jump
between chapters, pages, or magazine articles, like the NLS digital
talking-book player, provides a rich audiobook reading experience never
before experienced by audiocassette readers. For reference books such as
cookery books the user can even enter a page number from the table of
contents on the Stream telephone-style number pad and the playback will move
immediately to that page. With the NLS player, Victor Reader Stream, and the
NLS BARD books, users now have immediate access to thousands of books and
can navigate them just like they would navigate the equivalent print book’s
structure.

The new BARD download audiobook and magazine service is available free of
charge to eligible blind and physically handicapped individuals in the U.S.
and to citizens living abroad, who have access to a computer and high-speed
Internet connection, and who have a free NLS digital talking-book player or
own an authorized compatible digital talking-book player such as HumanWare’s
Victor Reader Stream. To learn more about the new BARD service visit
https://nlsbard.loc.gov/

About HumanWare

HumanWare is the global leader in assistive technologies for vision,
including products for the blind and visually impaired. HumanWare’s products
include BrailleNote, the leading productivity device for blind people in
education, in business and in their personal lives; the Victor Reader
product line, the world’s leading digital talking book players; and
myReader2, the new version of HumanWare’s unique "auto-reader" for people
with low vision. For more information visit
www.humanware.com

Random House Has Denied 15 Million
Print-Disabled Americans Access to its Books

New York City (May 20, 2009): The Reading Rights Coalition, representing more than 15 million print-disabled Americans, has denounced publishing giant Random
House, which has turned off text-to-speech on all of its e-books available for Amazon s Kindle 2 reading service.

Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, said: When Random House turned off the text-to-speech function on all of its e-books
for the Kindle 2, it turned off access to this service for more than 15 million print-disabled Americans.  The blind and other print-disabled readers have
the right to purchase e-books using this service with text-to-speech enabled.  Blocking text-to-speech prohibits access for print-disabled readers and
is both reprehensible and discriminatory.  We urge President Obama, whose e-books are now being blocked from over 15 million Americans, to either demand
that access be restored or to move to a publisher who does not engage in discrimination.

Dr. Cynthia Stuen, Senior Vice President of Policy and Evaluation for Lighthouse International, said: "Having the technology available to give people with
impaired vision and other print disabilities equal and timely access to the printed word should be celebrated and encouraged in a civil and just society
for all."

Andrew Imparato, President and Chief Executive Officer for the American Association of People with Disabilities (AAPD), said: Random House is callously
disregarding the right of American consumers with disabilities to get access to the same content at the same price at the same time as everyone else.
Random House s decision to turn off the feature that makes this content accessible to millions of print-disabled Americans is a bad business decision with
real human consequences and it must be corrected immediately.

Mitch Pomerantz, President of the American Council of the Blind, said: "The recent action by Random House disabling text-to-speech on e-books is the latest
and most egregious discriminatory action against the nation’s 15 million print-disabled individuals.  Random House either doesn’t care or doesn’t understand
the impact this will have on those who would otherwise have equal access to books and other printed materials in the same manner as our non-disabled peers.
 We must work collaboratively to do everything possible to assure such access for this growing constituency."

James Love, Director of Knowledge Ecology International (KEI), said: KEI is disappointed that Random House is turning off text-to-speech on its Kindle 2
e-books. In a world where access to knowledge is central to everything, Random House certainly understands this action will isolate and marginalize many
persons with reading disabilities.

K. Eric Larson, Executive Director and CEO of National Spinal Cord Injury Association, said: "All Americans have the right to equal access and many people
living with paralysis use text-to-speech capabilities in order to gain that access.  Our members are also consumers and turning off text-to-speech means
that some will not buy books they would otherwise purchase."

John R. Sheehan, Chairman of the Xavier Society for the Blind, said: The Xavier Society for the Blind is committed to the notion that ALL books should be
accessible to all people. When a book about Mother Teresa is among those whose text-to-speech functions have been disabled, we fear that we are seeing
the beginning of a blanket cut-off of a function that should be open and available to all, especially (but not exclusively) to those with visual impairments
or other problems that limit access to printed materials.

When Amazon released the Kindle 2 e-book reading service on February 9, 2009, the company announced that the device would be able to read e-books aloud
using text-to-speech technology.  Under pressure from the Authors Guild, Amazon has announced that it will give publishers the ability to disable the text-to-speech
function on any or all of their e-books available for the Kindle 2 service.  Random House is the first publisher to turn off text-to-speech on all of its
e-books and thus deny the rights of print-disabled people across America.

The Reading Rights coalition includes the blind, people with dyslexia, people with learning or processing issues, seniors losing vision, people with spinal
cord injuries, people recovering from strokes, and many others for whom the addition of text-to-speech on the Kindle 2 promises for the first time easy,
mainstream access to over 270,000 books.

For more information about the Reading Rights Coalition, please visit
www.readingrights.org.
To sign our petition, go to
http://www.thepetitionsite.com/1/We-Want-To-Read.
If you are an author who supports our cause, please send your contact information to
readingrights@nfb.org.

I have just located what I think is a pretty compelling article on what is needed to help the  blind and visually impaired to become truly free in today’s society.

As most of us know, when it comes to blind or visually impaired people, it seams that they are  treated like second class citizens in many situations.  While the blind community as a whole is  not as large as other minorities, it still deserves attention, but in the right way.

For so long now, the blind have been treated as second class citizens, given lower paying jobs,  or in many situations; no jobs at all.  It is not that the blind lack in the proper job training  and independent living skills.  The problem lies within the private job sector where there are a  lot of people who are still ignorant as to what the blind are capable of today.

However, even in the face of knowing what the capabilities are of the blind, some employers are  still reluctant to hire blind people, even if they have all the needed skills and meet all the  criteria that the job requires.

The Problem could lie in personal opinions of the employer and the company, or it can be  something as simple as their misunderstanding of the capabilities of blind people today.

Job discrimination is going on, even in the twenty-first century.  At least 70 to 80% of all  blind persons are without employment, not because they don’t want to work, but because of the  system and how it operates.

You would think that job discrimination would go on in places like third world nations, but not  in the United States.  Well it does go on here, and that’s a fact whether we like to hear it or  not.

So the ability for the blind to live what most call the american dream is pretty much out of  reach, and for the most part; unatainable, unless those individuals are employed and are able to  support themselves without having to rely upon government money.

However, the problem lies in the fact that so many blind and visually impaired relie upon a  system that basically gives them scraps to live on that only allow for them to barely make it  from month to month.

Let’s face it, $600 is not enough to really live on these days.  Sure, it is just enough to  scrape by, but that’s what most blind and visually impaired people are doing these days, just  scraping by off of a system that is broken and inefficient.

One of the other reasons why so many blind and visually impaired people aren’t working actually  has to do with them themselves and their relationship with this broken down system that they  draw their monthly income from.

Because so many blind and visually impaired people are recieving income such as SSI, many of  them just get used to the system,  and continue to rely on that system for their life support, thus loosing the  desire to work or to even get off the system altogether.

A matter of fact, there are individuals today who are so attached to the system that they are  afraid to get off of it in fear of loosing what little independence they may have.  However, do  you call living off of government income true independence?

It seams easier for a nation to just simply hand out monthly incomes to the blind, rather than  properly train them to live independent lives.  That is why many state agencies for the blind  send the blind and visually impaired to vocational rehabilitation centers for such training.

However, in spite of that training, the blind still are being treated like second class  citizens, and many of them aren’t even employed with the newly found skills that they now  possess from these training facilities.

So is there an alternative solution?  Yes there is and it is called the Blind Online Success  System, and you can check it out here below.

http://www.blindonlinesuccesssystem.com/info

Ok, now onto the article that I was talkingabout earlier.  The link below will take you directly  to the article.

This is one powerful article that you must read, and then after you read it come back here to  learn more about the Blind Online Success System and what it has to offer.

<a  href="http://www.thefreelibrary.com/Freedom+for+the+blind:+the+secret+is+empowerment-a0126791482 ">Freedom for the blind: the secret is empowerment.</a>

Ok, so what did you think of that article?  Do you agree with it?  Don’t you think that the  blind deserve more in the way of equality and independence?  Well that’s what the Blind Online  Success System attempts to deliver through its in depth traning and mentorship.

We don’t just give them a fish and feed them for a day, we teach them to fish and feed them for  a lifetime.  The Blind Online Success System is designed in such a way that we properly educate  the blind and visually impaired to properly run and manage their own online businesses by giving  them a chance to obtain new skills and mentorship that can only be given through a program such  as this.

Those who are already a part of this program say that this type of thing has been a long time coming.  They also wonder why anyone else hadden’t thought of it before.  Well I don’t know why they didn’t think of it before, but at least we did, and now we have such a program available today.

Our goal is to help to provide a more independent lifestyle for the blind by training them to run and manage their own online businesses.  We pride ourselves on the fact that we’re the only program of this tipe in the entire world.  Sure there might be some copy cats along the way that try to immulate what we’re doing, but we have already cornered this market, and therefore, we hold the highest position.

Those that have joined us have already experienced a wealth of training and information that they say is the best that they have ever recieved from anywhere.  Our members are happy to be a part of this winning team, and we are looking forward to new members as well.

Online skills are a must in today’s society, and we can give you such skills through our comprehensive training.  We are thorough and complete when it comes to training people how to effectively run and manage an online business.  Our goal through this program is to create more independent blind and visually impaired individuals by allowing them to make their own choices and make their own incomes through their own business online.

Having your own business means that you do not have to worry about descrimination issues, transportation issues and a whole host of other negative issues that society can dish out.  We want to focus upon making sure that those in our program can not only develop new skills and use them, but we want them to use these newly found skills to their advantage.  As an alternative to traditional employment training, the Blind Online Success System is rising to the challenge of providing quality mentorship and training.

These skills that are taught through our program can be transferred to traditional employment if need be.  Not only that, but if an indivdiual is already in our program, and is currently working in more traditional employment, the skills that they recieve from us can instantly be used in their place of work as well, thus improving upon their productivity and so on.

We already have individuals in our program who are currrently working in more traditional employment settings and they are using the skills that they learn from us to greatly improve their status at their place of employment.

As an upcoming organization, the Blind Online Success System has already proven that people can do the work.  It just takes action and that’s what at least 8 to 9% of our members are doing.  They’re all taking action and doing what is required of them to begin their journey down the road of success.

Ok, I usually don’t do any selling here on the BOSS blog, but I have run across a pretty unique product that I think outdoes the Victor Reader Stream.  Not only that, but this is one of those few off the shelf products that also supports the blind and visually impaired.  Off the shelf meaning that it can be purchased from a regular consumer retail outlet, and not from a specialized company that specializes in products for the blind.  Could this mean that regular retail outlets and manufacturers are starting to come around to the blind and visually impaired?

Who knows, maybe more and more manufacturers will be developing off the shelf products that also cater to the blind and visually impaired.  One such product that automatically comes to mind is the Olympus digital recorder line, and I am speaking of the Olympus DS-30, DS-40, and the DS-50 series of recorders that have built-in speech capabilities.  Olympus is the only other main stream manufacturer that builds products that are blind friendly thta I personally know of at this time.  There may be others, and if there are, please let me know of this so that I can take note of them here in the blog.

If you have a Victor Reader stream, you may want to check this out.  This recorder does something that the Victor Reader Stream cann’t do,  and that’s record in CD quality stereo.  The company that supports this product is called Sound Professionals, and I have personally purchased products from them in the past, and their products are outstanding.

The purchase that I had made was for a pair of binaural microphones to use on my Olympus DS-30  digital voice recorder.

This recorder is called the, PLEXTALK, and it has a whole host of features that you just need to check out by clicking on the link here below.

http://www.soundprofessionals.com/cgi-bin/gold/item/PT-PLEXTALK-POCKET-PTP1