Blind Bargains Awards for 2011

Hey folks. This is just a quick entry to let everybody know who doesn’t, that Blind Bargains is now accepting award nominations for 2011. My apologies to the good folks at BB for a somewhat delayed post but there you go. I am a busy guy too. Anywho, the submission deadline this year is Friday, January 20 at midnight.

Thanksgiving and Accessibility

Well, hopefully. First off, I’d like to wish all Klangons, Klangonettes, tweeple, and all others a most happy Thanksgiving. Second and finally, please go to http://www.a11ybugs.org and sign the petition for better web access.

A Death in the Family

Hi folks. I hope you all are well and staying out of trouble. I would like to devote this entry to remembering Steve Jobs, co-founder of Apple. As most if not all of you will recall, Mr. Jobs lost his battle with pancreatic cancer last week at the young age of 56. Although I did not know him personally, I would like to offer my tribute. I first became aware of Apple back in the 80’s, in the days of the AppleII line of computers. I used a few of them at home and in grade school, and they of course had speech. I can remember using a little program called Textalker, which was a watered-down screen reader. It was a lot of fun having it read back things that were typed into the computer. Although the voice was rather robotic and not quite up to today’s standards, I had a lot of fun playing around with the thing. Unfortunately that ended up being my only experience, more or less, with Apple products. I did get to use a sister’s iPod Shuffle for a day, but only briefly. That also has speech. But whether or not people agreed with Steve Jobs and liked his ways, there is no doubt that he was a great man with a wonderful vision of accessibility for all.

Another Blog Hiatus and Some Experiments

Hi everyone. First off, I want to let y’all know that I’m still here, alive and kicking. I wasn’t eaten up by the Klango monster or any such thing. Just been very busy with other things, plus I went on vacation last week to visit some relatives. But here I am back again. I’ve been thinking about adding some things to this blog, such as social-networking capabilities. I’ve recently come across some ways to do this, which may or may not be accessible. Of course y’all are probably aware by now that I have been posting my blog entries to Twitter. This is automatically done via Klango once each entry is complete, but users can opt out of posting to Twitter if we wish. But I’m hoping for other social-networking capabilities such as Facebook.

The Audio Description Project

Hey everyone. I’ve been doing some website maintenance lately, and I’ve been trying to find the entry where I mentioned the ACB’s Audio Description Project. Apparently I neglected to give out the website, which is just as well ’cause it has changed. The Audio Description Project is located at http://www.acb.org/adp . This is a project which seeks to mandate these descriptions everywhere.

Happy Fourth

I would like to take this time to wish all my American and Canadian readers a very happy and safe Independence Day weekend. They say writing’s good for the mind. That’s perfect because I just stuffed myself practically to the core. I swear, this organization needs a new name. Instead of Center for Independent Futures, why not just call it the Center for Impeccable Food. But anyway, I suppose that’s up to the powers that be to make this decision. I hope all of you are having fun celebrating your independence this weekend, just as I am doing. Actually, independence for those of us with disabilities comes in a few weeks. But that’s a story for a future entry.

Trains

What is a train? A train is a vehicle that goes along a set of tracks. These trains can either be powered by electricity or gasoline. Electric trains include the L here in Chicago. Gas trains include Amtrak. Trains can take people far across the country.

(Airplanes)

What are airplanes to me? Well, an airplane goes high up in the sky. It takes people to destinations near and far. Some of these destinations are national, such as Disney World in Florida or Disney Land in California. Others, however, are international such as the Eiffel Tower in France or the Taj Mahal in India. Airplanes travel at very fast speeds, and they can carry a whole lot of people. Some folks do not like flying while others–myself included–really enjoy it.

The Social Challenge

Hi everyone. I wanted to post a link today that I thought was pretty important. I’m sure most if not all of you have heard the word “retard,” or “retarded,” at some point during your lifetime. Perhaps you’ve even used this word yourself. I know I have. Well, there is now a website where you can take appropriate action to end the use of this derogatory word. The website is http://www.thesocialchallenge.org . Let’s change the R-word to “RESPECT.”

Is It Really Spring?

Well you tell me. Here in the Windy City spring is honestly not here yet but I think it’s trying to come. But that’s okay. I’ve been waiting with baited breath, as I’m sure many of you have. In the meantime, I’ve been keeping pretty busy.

Next Page »