Blind Abilities Podcast

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Walter Waranka:   Walter Waranka  Employment Specialist Lifetrack Resources  Earlier in his career, Walter founded the nonprofit agency CHANCE (Challenged People Having Abilities Needing Competitive Employment), which educates disabled people in job seeking skills and potential employers about the advantages of hiring disabled people. He has been an Employment Specialist at Lifetrack Resources for 22 years, assisting peo

Show Summary: State Services for the Blind hosted a Career Expo for high school and college students who are blind, low vision, or DeafBlind. The event took place on Saturday, April 27. Throughout the Expo students had the opportunity to: Connect with adults with a vision loss from a variety of professions and careers. Hear from college representatives about what college is like. Learn why diversity matters from an employer’s point of view. Share and learn about assistive technology Sign up for individual informational and/or mock interviews. In this interview, Jeff Thompson caught up with Bobby Binns:   Robert Binns Package Handler, Fed Ex Smart Post   Robert was walking to a college class when he lost his sight in 2012.  He fell into a depressed stage, believing that the only thing left for him was channel surfing and listening to television shows. One day he realized that he didn’t want to just sit at home for the next 40 years. He wanted to live. Because he was a new United States citizen, however, Rob

Show Summary: Welcome back to That Blind Tech Show with Brian Fischler, AT Specialist from New York, Allison Mervis, VR Counselor extraordinaire, from Ohio and Jeff Thompson, Wood Worker, Teacher and Just an all around good guy. I also write the show notes and Jeff is me, so, no bias here. This show is faster than spelled water, funnier than squeaky shoes and audio described for your listening pleasure. There is nothing quite like Described Audio! Did you know, Amazon wants to have an Assistive competitor to Siri, Alexa and John Legend. Yes, John Legend, the new voice on your Google devices. Or, your neighbors Google device. Jeff’s got the Legend rocking on his Google devices. What about Apple and the Apple Events settings? Listen in because basically, they are and will be all knowing. Big Brother was soooo 2010, HAL. Can we call Voice Dream Scanner, VD Scanner? Let us know. Hulu, is starting a bit of some Audio Description and they don’t even know if they are really doing it either. Everybody's still lookin

Show Summary: Simon Bonenfant, a transition age student in high school and our Teen Blind Abilities correspondent, went to Washington D.C. to educate Representatives and Senators on the legislative goals of the National Federation of the Blind during the annual Washington Seminar. Simon took time to interview Gabe Kaiser, Manager of Government Affairs for the National Federation of the Blind. Gabe tells us about the 3 legislative priorities the NFB is highlighting during their visits to Capital Hill. Blind Abilities Logo Simon has attended the Washington Seminar for the last 7 years and shares with us his enthusiasm and his reporting skills. The experience Simon has gained is going to stay with him for years to come. From speaking skills, learning the priorities in detail and navigating Capital hill. Simon will not hesitate to bring the concerns and issues to the attention of our State and Federal leaders and carry the voice of organizations, groups, and of course, his own. You can find out more about Washin

Show Summary: Upon popular demand, we bring you the SeeingAI Update. This demo was previously published on That Blind Tech Showand to break it out and let it breathe on its own, we bring you the iPhone101 SeeingAIUpdate. You can find all the iPhone101 seriesin our extensive library of over 500 episodes and you can find That Blind Tech Shows there as well. Remember to subscribe and stay up to date with all of the episodes from Blind Abilities. In this episode of iPhone101we demo the Channel moving feature and the object recognition in a Scene. Yes, the Swiss Army Knife of an App just got a bit bigger, and that is not a bad thing at all. You can find all of our SeeingAIpodcast and listen to the developers talk about SeeingAI from the beginning. Be sure to check out our Facebook pages, groups  and communities where we share ideas, give advice and learn from others. Job Insights Support Group, the Blind Abilities page, Blind Abilities Communityand the Assistive Technology Community for the Blind and Visually Im

Show Summary: NCSAB Keynote speaker: Paul Schroeder, Director, Public Policy & Strategic Alliances at Aira Tech Corporation,and spent over 22 years at American Foundation for the Blindin charge of Programs and Policy and Government Relations and more. Paul was asked to speak before the National Council of State Agencies for the Blind in Washington D.C. Paul spoke about his schooling, his training challenges with limited expectations and how together we can all make a positive impact on enhancing the opportunities for future generations and today as well.   Join Paul in this lunch hour speech as State Agency Directors, Policy Specialist, Officials from RSA, the Department of Education listen on. And yes, grab a snack because this is an Academic Luncheon Speech event. Blind abilities NCSAB coverage is sponsored in part by Be My Eyes. Be My Eyes is a free app that connects blind and low-vision people with sighted volunteers and company representatives for visual assistance through a live video call. Downlo

Show Summary: In this Tech Abilities podcast we talk with Monte from Orcam. The maker of the MyEye 2which reads text, recognizes faces, identifies products and more. Monte tells us about how Israel equipped  polling booths with the Orcam MyEye 2 during the elections to assist Blind and Visually Impaired voters cast their vote independently. Monte gives us a brief demo of the MyEye 2 and talks about the uses and multiple features packed into this wearable device. Read the paper with OCR built right into the MyEye 2 without the need for internet or data. Recognize faces, products with a simple gesture or voice command. You can find out more about Orcam on the web at www.Orcam.com About NCSAB: The National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB)held their Spring conference in Washington D.C., This is a conference attended by Directors and Administrators from the State Agencies and Vocational Rehab Centers across the United States. The attendees share successes and discuss the challenges with leaders fro

Show Summary: In this Tech Abilities podcast we talk with Timothy from Eschenbach. There are many opportunities in our everyday life when a vision aid can be beneficial and help improve one’s quality of life.  When you’re reading a newspaper or a bill or watching television or at an outdoor event, do you often find that the object being viewed is too small or difficult to see? If so, Eschenbach can help! In this Tech Abilities podcast, I met up with Timothy from Eschenbach at the NCSAB conference in Washington D.C. If you are a teacher of the Blind/Visually Impaired or Counselor or Tech Specialist  at an agency, then Eschenbach may have the Low Vision solution you have been looking for. Timothy talks us through two electronic magnifiers that are portable and loaded with features that can enhance the classroom experience for Low vision students. The Vario digital Desktop Foldable  The Vario Digital FHDis a foldable desktop video magnifier with outstanding image quality and compact design. It features a 15.6”

Show Summary: In this Tech Abilities podcast, I met up with Sprint Outreach Specialists Diane and Rob during the NCSAB conference. Sprint will provide Bills in Braille and large print, a discount on a plan and help BVI customers maximize the accessibility of their smart phone. It is nice to see Sprint at and sponsoring conventions such as NFB, ACB, AFB and more, and to have Outreach Specialist like Diane and Rob available to ask those accessibility questions right at their booth. Plus, Sprint brings the Vision Store to the events offering up Bluetooth speakers and headphones that are accessible and at a very nice price. Next time you are at a convention, stop by the Sprint booth and see what plans they can offer you. You can find out more about Sprint and accessibility on the web at www.Sprint.com/vision Contact Sprint by phone at 855-885-7568. About NCSAB: The National Council of State Agencies for the Blind (NCSAB)held their Spring conference in Washington D.C., This is a conference attended by Directors a