Oh yes, just a mention reminder that even though there are audio things on the blog here, you can still post text responses to those audio entries in the usual fashion, if you so wish.
In case you didn’t hear the previous audio rambling, The new paulmigs landline number which I will use via braille tdd for the deaf just in case I need supplemental come February 8 is
3 0 3 4 9 9 9 1 2 5
You’ll be able to reach me on that line by calling 7 1 1 and calling thru relay operator.
I’ll have my left ear and aid on as we are used to now, until Feb 8 when it is immersion time with the implant. Check in for surgery is 5 30 a m and surgery is 7 30 a m Sweedish Hospital, Denver. I’ll stay overnight, then home again Thursday.
Oops!! Lordy hell!! Please foregive the recent entry below. I hope you can read it, even though I seem to have pasted text in oddball places. aah well. The new holiday laptop does have a great wrist rest, but I gather there is also a bottom touchpad that moves the rodent round and round and round. Oh well. I will learn to navigate better soon I’m sure. (smile)
Lots of major upgrades happened in pre preparation for the upcoming cochlear implant surgery and changes. I did take advantage of the offer for a Pacmate pocket PC by trading in the braillenot for the 70 percent discount. I now have a stable portable braille environment, along with the FaceToFace communications package, allowing for braille output. I then can speak in return, or type back in a 2-way fashion. This weekend we put the finishing touches on installing a tdd (telecommunications device for the deaf), so that I can have braille phone capability on the Pacmate as well. ***And, thank you Mom and Dad, for the wonderful gift of a beautiful laptop Dell. After 2 days, it already looks like a great windows machine. 10 years ago, I gave up in total frustration after several attempts at getting windows to run on anything, and it only lasted not even for months. So now, I have the chance to finally learn, and to run things I’ve wanted to run for ages. Games and many a thing to learn, including various c i (cochlear implant) ware. This shall be great fun!! And, I can finally use Freedombox again, and thus the blog is back and the site as well. And thanks to Lynnelle Beaver, a true friend and trooper, for getting all these things pieced together (smile) She is at
kbdnetworks.com
More to follow very soon. Mom and Dad arrive Sunday, pre surgery is Tuesday, check-in Wednesday. Surgery is 3 hours or so, overnight, and then home again with implant, and shaved head!! (grin)conversation via a bluetooth p d a Ipaq, that can be used to type messages, which are then sent to the Pacmate
Glad to be back after 4 months of being away!! Happy new year to all!! That is, new year, that rhymes with new ear!! After 15 years of diligent pursuit, I finally got a “yes” answer and will have the cochlear implant surgery on the right ear I’ve always dreamed of for starters. The journey and adventure begins Wednesday the 24th, at Swedish Medical Center Rocky Mountain Ear Center. You can check out the background there on the bookmarks page; look for
rockymountainearcenter.com
That will be an overnight stay, followed by activation on February 8. What I’ve always wanted is the chance to cover the learning curve on the no risk right ear; that is, the one that hasn’t been usable for 25 years. I’ve wanted to try on that side, and ***then, when the left ear does go and run its course, I’ll be ready for the left ear to be done, when the time comes. Lots of hard work ahead, as one learns to associate the signals the implant is giving you, as well as in this case, also reawakening a rusty ear that has been quiet for so long. While it’s so easy and natural to think this will be an instant cure-all and a 24/7 immediate fix, it could very well take a year for a true pattern of usable consistency to set in. It will be fascinating to note if what I even get at first is even anything representative of anything acoustic. It could very well be a physical impulse feeling and may take some time to kick in as even representing hearing. I look forward to re learning environmental sounds I’ve missed for so long, and I look forward to being able to immitate what the implant produces, to give you all an idea of what I’m getting. Keep a looking here for the latest. It does mean initially that I really do need to totally immerse myself, and only use the implant, and not use the aid on the left side at this time, which I’ve been used to. It’s really the only way the brain can start to get a sense of where you’re processing is coming from. So, while this probably won’t be initially pretty at all, I’m sure it will be a start. All I’ve ever asked for is to be able to try, and have the chance to wing it, go to town with it, and make it do what I want it to do. I’ll use the auditory memory I’ve been using, and open the floodgates and let my brain do all the processing I want!! Stay tuned here as the journey and adventure begins!!
After 5 years since the last time I delved into upgrading braille and other forms of accessabilly, it seems like a good time to assess and see what might be the way to go next. It’s interesting to see 2 competing access tech firms together on the same platform; that is, Freedom Scientific accepting trade-ins on some Humanware products, thus allowing for a 70 percent discount on upgrading to Freedom’s product line. I’m real tempted to look into all that. Especially since the Freedom line runs mainstream applications, not of a proprietary nature, and I’ll be able to get what I want and need in terms of portable hard-of-hearing communications aids for the phone, and face to face. Best to be able to pay like $1500 with the trade-in, rather than over $3500. Yes, just like going to trade in your car, I’m sure. And I remember the good old days when there were no options for financing, and blind folks would go into the nearest bank, and get funny looks when filling out car loan applications, that would instead be used to buy equipment for on the job and everyday life. Sometimes these kinds of upgrades end up being done in big spurts all at once. Been working on a linux laptop for portability and on the road, (thanks Bill for all of that). I’m still additionally looking for a windows laptop to use as well, or, I hope to at least get the upgraded freedombox accessable ware in its take along portable configuration, that can be carried with you and plugged into anyone’s machine and it doesn’t disrupt someone else’s stuff!! Way cool!! I was getting concerned, in that I really can’t hear a lot of the software-produced speech engines that are becoming common. But, for the $500 price from freedombox, they ***do have a voice module I know I can use. And, upgrading braille with some of it’s new interfacing capability with the new braille displays out there is definitely a top of the list priority. Guess I’ll see what falls into places, and hope the computer at home is done falling into pieces (smile).
For whatever it is worth, seems as though this page and blog appeared last year. And quite the year it’s been thus far!! Glad you’ve stopped by, and hope you continue to do so!! I better post this now, as this particular piece of freedomboxware keeps hanging but good. Still hope to be on the lookout for a windows laptop so I can run it properly and with stability (grin) Stay tuned for more in the next year I’m sure!!
All the best to Marc Mulcahy and the Levelstar crew, on the article about the Icon Mobile Manager in today’s Boulder Daily Camera. And also the further availability info regarding the product line. I know this shall be a great thing!!
Check it out on
levelstar.com
Today’s new additions include information about current availability of a Braille TDD (telecommunications device for deaf-blind), available from Computty, and the Deaf-Blind A to Z Resources site.
Many often inquire about this fine item, found on the Bookmarks page of the paulmigs page. Congratulations to Randy Cassingham, for reaching the 1 million card count gone flying out the door!! Read all about this fine necessity all should have in their daily lives. You never know what uses you can find for them!! (grin) Check it out via
goohf.com
Mega many new things added today!! Be sure to start at the top and work your way down to the end, if you haven’t done so in a while. Everything from promotional supplies for your business, organization, or what have you, to fun and games on keychains, to sources for voicemail providers, if you need a voicemail box and don’t run your own computer-based applications. Stay tuned for more as always, as this sometimes updates in droves!!
BlindNews:Braille advocates say decline in instruction is leading to illiteracy
Braille advocates say decline in instruction is leading to illiteracy
6/17/2006
From: Asbury Park Press, New Jersey
By: JOHN FAHERTY
Submitted by BlindNews Mailing List
Arielle Silverman always has loved to read. From “Little Women,” in fourth grade to “Jane Eyre” in high school, books were a constant companion.
She could slide her fingers across the page and feel the world. Those words have done more than make her well-read. They have secured her place in society.
Silverman, blind since birth, has now finished her junior year at Arizona State University with a double major, in biology and psychology, and a grade-point average of 3.9.
She is ambitious, thoughtful and well-spoken. And the 21-year-old is convinced she couldn’t have achieved this without her fluency in Braille.
A generation ago, 50 percent of blind schoolchildren used Braille, according to William M. Raeder, president of the National Braille Press in Boston. Now, he says, it’s less than 12 percent.
Young blind students today are still instructed in Braille, but in the past few decades more students have been mainstreamed and no longer receive daily instruction.
That is significant, because reading and writing Braille is a skill that needs maintenance. The less often a student uses it, the more likely it is those skills will diminish or even disappear.
The reduction in Braille literacy has been mollified by the fact that there are now more ways than ever for the blind to acquire information. Much of the world is moving away from words on a page and toward electronic-digital information. The proliferation of books on tape means blind people no longer have to wait to read the latest best-seller. Talking computers have brought the blind to the world and the world to the blind.
These advances have placed a generation of blind young adults and children in an information paradox: They have more knowledge at their disposal, while their ability to read and write declines.
But proponents of Braille always fall back on the same argument: If reading and writing are important to the sighted, they are important to the blind.
“If the literacy rate for sighted people was 10 percent, that would be a huge issue,” Silverman says. “I think kids aren’t being taught Braille, and they aren’t being given enough time to practice.”
Silverman is sightless because of Leber Congenital Amaurosis, an inherited retinal degenerative disease. But her parents never considered not teaching her to read and write.
“I grew up thinking reading is one of the greatest joys of life,” says Sharona Silverman, Arielle’s mother. “Having a book in your lap is an incredible gift, and I was going to introduce that gift to both of my children.” (Arielle’s sister is sighted.)
Because of her parents’ commitment to literacy, Arielle Silverman was sent as a child to the Foundation for Blind Children in Phoenix to learn Braille. She could read by age 5. Silverman then was mainstreamed into public schools. She is now president of the Arizona Association of Blind Students.
One can argue that it does not matter how you read “War and Peace,” as long as you know the story and the genius of Leo Tolstoy.
“There is no correlation between Braille literacy and educational achievement,” says Joanne Phillips, deputy associate superintendent for exceptional student services with the Arizona Department of Education.
Karen Wolfe of the American Foundation for the Blind strongly disagrees.
“You can’t be literate just listening,” she says
“Literacy helps us think and communicate our thoughts. You will never be truly literate without Braille.”
The AFB says the employment rate for the blind in this country is 32 percent. And Blindinc.org says that 93 percent of the employed blind read and write Braille.
Silverman lives in an apartment on the ASU campus. Her course load includes such classes as organic chemistry with Professor Seth Rose, in which he says things like “Heterocyclic aromatic amines are weaker bases than heterocyclic aliphatic amines.”
When she gets to class, she sits with a BrailleNote laptop that allows her to take notes and review them later. From a distance, the BrailleNote looks exactly like the standard laptop computer used by her peers, but instead of the 26 letters of the alphabet, six keys represent the six-dot system of Braille. Each letter of the alphabet is represented by a combination of the six dots.
Silverman points to this machine and others like it as an example of Braille working hand in hand with technology.
“They are not mutually exclusive,” Silverman says. “If I didn’t know Braille, I couldn’t use my computers to the level I need them.”
But the teaching of organic chemistry is very visual. Formulas and models are used, and Silverman can see none of them.
Rose helps “translate” some of his teaching material into a digital format that will have meaning to Silverman. If a class focuses on a particular compound, he will build a model that she can “see” with her hands. He expresses colors with different textures.
He is glad to do it, he says.
“It gives me a great feeling to know that when I hand a model to a student, that she can ‘see’ exactly what I’ve been talking about,” he says.
I’ve always been partial to Kurzweil products for the past 26 years. Its good to see the company still moving forward. And, where I’m looking for software based speech I can hear coherently, it’s nice to see them using the Neo Speech engine, both voices very excellent. That will be the next voice upgrade for me, as a new laptop is in order, or rather hopefully my first delve into laptops. I’ve had my second Kurzweil for 17 years, and have attempted to keep it rebuilt, with even a new power supply found from a repairman, but I think it is the processor gone away, so no chance for it to be risen from the dead at this point.
You can check out the new Kurzweil press release at
kurzweiledu.com
Gee now!! You’d think I’d provide a better resource for a page here. That is, in all this time, I should really announce new highlights added for your visiting pleasure. At least I remember to try to update the date on the intro page when I make any sort of tweak (grin). On that note, some worthy places to stop by as shown under bookmarks, are the portable players portal, for accessabilly info for portable audio players, and the old version and recycled software sites, for those times you want an old version of something that you like better than the new, or that simply works better for our uses than the current ones. Enjoy!!
While reflecting about fun songs of the past, Curtis and Doris Willoughby and I remembered a romping stomping tune about a very reliable item, that has many uses. And lo and behold, at Ace Hardware, we came across this item, complete with certificate of authentication for its many uses in daily life. And this wonder product is, none other then Grandma’s Lie Soap!! Useful for all kinds of cleansing needs round the house and on a person. And remember: the secret is in the scrubbing!! Useful for all kinds of things; maybe washing away mega tears from broken heart, or, scrubbing ears to cure hearing loss!! But, as you sing the song, it does mention scrubbing ears maybe if you scrub differently, the hearing loss will go away!! (grin) And now let us stand and sing about Grandma’s Lie Soap as follows:
You remember Grandma’s lie soap,
Good for everything in the home.
And the secret was in the scrubbing;
It wouldn’t suds, it wouldn’t foam.
(Chorus)
Let us all sing of Grandma’s lie soap,
For everything all over the place:
The pots and pans, the dirty dishes,
And for your hands, and for your face.
Little Herman, and brother Thurman
Had an aversion to washing their ears.
Grandma scrubbed them with the lyesoap,
And they haven’t heard a word in years!
Mrs. O’Malley, out in the valley,
Suffered from ulcers, I understand.
She swallowed a cake of Grandma’s lye soap;
Has the cleanest ulcers in the land!
(Chorus)and not being able to hear for years. But again,
It is apparently, Be Nice To Cab Drivers Day!! Especially, to your favorites, and reliable regulars, who do really try their best!! I’m greatful for the ones who take the time to know you, and know what’s what. Keith, Myles, Bruce, Dave, Darin, and many others, thanks for being here in town!!
The court signed the final dissolution on May 9. All is final now.
Time to update all things updateable, with a new Paulmigs all around phone number!! Also, remember, it is always on the top of each and every email. The number is
3 0 3 5 5 2 6 9 7 0
Still Verizon, for those who have the same, and can call wireless for free!!
Wonder who got paid to dig this one up. Seems that since Boston beat the curse of Babe Ruth, now, it is realized the Yankees have not won a championship with a republican in the Whitehouse since Eisenhower. Any winnings since that time, 1961, 1977 and ‘78, and ‘96 and ‘98 thru 2000, have all been democratic!! Who would have thrunk that one!! Thrunk?? Hmmmm. I believe that would be the plu perfect something or other of think and drink, all rolled into one!!
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