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The author focuses on how blind people can access information on a drug label. Topics include the difficulties faced by the blind in managing their prescription medication regimens, the effect of medication errors to their health, and the creation of the working group by the U.S. Access Board to provide safe, private, and independent access to prescription label information under the U.S. Food and Drug Administration Safety and Innovation Act

The article offers information on the 2014 Bolotin Awards program. It is stated that Jacob Bolotin Awards are granted each year as funds permit to recognize individuals, corporations, organizations or other entities for their outstanding work for blind in the U.S. It also offers information on Jacob Bolotin, who was a pioneering blind physician in the early twentieth century, and details of the award.

The article offers a report on the presentation of the Advocacy and Policy Department of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) during its 2013 convention on July 5, 2013 in the U.S. The efforts of the department in advocating for the blind are outlined. The responsibilities of the department towards public relations and governmental affairs are highlighted.

While most aspects of web accessibility are technically easy to solve, providing accessible equivalents of data visualizations for blind users remains a challenging problem. Previous attempts at accessible equivalents focused on sonification of population data. This paper describes the creation of two prototypes for providing real-time weather information in a sonified format for blind users. A structured requirements gathering using interviews and surveys led to the development of the first sonification prototype using both keyboard and touchscreen (with a tactile overlay) access to weather data on a PC and Mac. This prototype was evaluated for usability by five blind users. Based on the feedback from the usability evaluation, a second prototype on a new platform (Android tablet computer) was created. We discuss the development and evaluation process for the sonification prototypes, with a detailed description of the usability evaluations performed in the field. The studies show that when working at the intersection of users with disabilities and new technologies, it's important to be flexible and adjust quickly to get the most out of field studies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Information on the results and reports of various meetings related to communities and associations for the blind in 2013 are presented. It states that Dwight Sayer was elected at the National Association of Blind Veterans convention. It mentions the 30 years of service to families of the National Organization of Parents of Blind Children (NOPBC). It adds how Blind Parents Group members can access Bookshare titles during its meeting.

The article presents a speech by Scott LaBarre, National Federation of the Blind (NFB) president in Colorado, delivered at a convention in Marrakesh, Morocco on July 6, 2013, in which he discussed the right-to-read campaign for the blind, production of audio and Braille books, and the Marrakesh Treaty.

The article presents a speech by Fred Schroeder, National Federation of the Blind (NFB) vice president, delivered at the NFB convention on July 6, 2013, in which he discussed the book treaty adopted by the World Intellectual Property Organization (WIPO) for the blind, the Chafee Amendment in the U.S., and production of books in Braille format.

The article presents a speech by doctor Adrienne Asch, Center for Ethics director at the Yeshiva University in New York City, delivered at a convention presentation which was held on July 4, 2013, in which she discussed her views towards the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), promoting the quality of life among the blind, and bioethical treatment of people with disabilities.

The article presents a speech by Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) , delivered at the NFB convention held in Orlando, Florida on July 4, 2013, in which he discussed philosophy of the NFB, the technology that provides information access for the blind, and the strategies to employ change of laws addressing human rights for the blind in the U.S.

Numerous projects have investigated assistive navigation technologies for the blind community, tackling challenges ranging from interface design to sensory substitution. However, none of these have successfully integrated what we consider to be the three factors necessary for a widely deployable system that delivers a rich experience of one's environment: implementation on a commodity device, use of a pre-existing worldwide point of interest (POI) database, and a means of rendering the environment that is superior to a naive playback of spoken text. Our 'In Situ Audio Services' (ISAS) application responds to these needs, allowing users to explore an urban area without necessarily having a particular destination in mind. We describe the technical aspects of its implementation, user requirements, interface design, safety concerns, POI data source issues, and further requirements to make the system practical on a wider basis. Initial qualitative feedback from blind users is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The paper constitutes a summary of the work carried out under the research project entitled The development of the method for marking and identification of the spots dangerous and of special importance for vision impaired persons in the big city with use of the wave-vibration markers. This article discusses key researches conducted during the project, including review of influence of environmental sounds on orientation and mobility of blind and partially sighted people, results of vibration perception threshold measurement taken at the wrist of both hands, measurements of paraseismic vibrations and results of researches on annoyance, recognizability and easiness to learn of selected signals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the challenges, opportunities and rehabilitation of Oklahoma City. It states that the new director of the Department of Rehabilitation Services Dr. J. Michael Jones spearheaded many local programs such as establishment of diabetes network for blind children and worked with international programs to rehabilitate people with disabilities. Moreover, he is also responsible in changing the agency's focus.

In today's rapidly developing digital age and increasingly socially-aware society, the notion of media accessibility is evolving in response to shifting audience expectations. Performing arts and media, such as opera, are called upon to include all audiences, and related audiovisual translation methods are progressing in this direction. These comprise audio description and touch tours for the blind and partially-sighted, two relatively new translation modalities which are consumer-oriented and require an original research design for the analysis of the translation processes involved. This research design follows two fundamental principles: (1) audience reception studies should be an integral part of the investigation into the translation process; and (2) the translation process is regarded as a network. Therefore, this paper explores the unique translation processes of audio description and touch tours within the context of live opera from the perspective of actor-network theory and by providing an overview of a reception project. Through discussion of the methodology and findings, this paper addresses the question of the impact of audience reception on the translation process. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article offers information on the organization of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) affiliates. It states that the NFB consists fifty-two affiliates from each state of the U.S. It says that the continuous development of the Federation, insuring its aim to provide good services to the blind people became an unmanageable task. It adds that to resolve the problem, the Executive Committee has created a group on affiliate standards to define the requirements of a state affiliate.

The article presents a speech by Marc Maurer, National Federation of the Blind (NFB) president, delivered at the First International Conference on Technology for Helping People with Special Needs (ICTHP-2013), held at the Al-Imam Mohammad Ibn Saud Islamic University in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia on February 20, 2013, in which he discussed the blind individual's education, the Braille system, and the laws for persons with disabilities.

The article offers author's insights on the progress of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) movement and the role of labor in his life. The author discusses the similarities of the rights they have in NFB and the rights given to unions. He also mentions that a good union officer must have several abilities including the ability to lead in an equitable and fair manner, to be a good listener, and willing to sacrifice their own time and resources to help the covered employees.

The author offers the author's insights on the encouragement given by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) for the blind person in Buffalo, New York. The author discusses his life achievements as he became a piano tuner and owner of a music store. He also mentions that in the fifty-years of being a charter member of the NFB, several awards has been given to him including the plaques for distinguished service, volunteer service and a plaque for outstanding service working with the blind.

Information on the 2013 Washington Seminar held on February 4, 2013 which tackled the issues on the rights of the blind and disabled persons is presented. One of the topics include the announcement of National Federation of the Blind (NFB) president Marc Maurer of the agreement between the NFB and Monster.com which provides job listings. The seminar also discussed the Pedestrian Safety Enhancement Act to be implemented for the well being of both sighted and blind.

The article focuses on the Code Master Adult Learning System methods for teaching Braille. It mentions that the method compose of five components including the Code Master Adult Learning System manual, a three-ring binder for customized notes and an audio compact discs (CD) or MP3 files for textbook tutorial. It notes that when the students begin the program, they start by learning the dot configurations.

The article discusses the Dr. Jacob Bolotin Awards given by the National Federation of the Blind (NFB). The award recognizes distinguished individuals and organizations based on their excellency on behalf of the blind in the U.S. The award nomination is divided into categories including blind individuals, sighted individuals and, other entities that quality within the given criteria.

This article reports on a mentoring project designed for transition-age youth (ages 16–26) who are persons with legal blindness. Youth were matched with adult mentors who were also persons with blindness but who have achieved academic and career success. Results demonstrate that youth who participated in the project for 2 years had significant increases in career decision-making efficacy, positive personal hope for the future, and positive attitudes about blindness. Implications for practitioners suggest that mentoring is a valuable tool to assist youth with blindness as they prepare for the academic and work world. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

The article offers information on the life and works of Federationist Bob Hunt who died on July 20, 2012 in the U.S. It mentions that Hunt has lost his vision in one eye at a young age, then after two years he lost his remaining sight. It notes that Hunt's life stands as both a positive example and an inspiration for blind people as his principles in life about equality and justice remained.

The author offers her perspective on the work of the founder, Dr. Jacobus tenBroek, of the National Federation of the blind (NFB) and the role of NFB in addressing the legal concerns that were at the center of the founder's life in the U.S. She mentions that the NFB hosts the Jacobus tenBroek Disability Law Symposium in honor of Dr. tenBroek. She notes that the symposium offers disability rights advocates an opportunity to discuss the status of disability law in the country.

In everyday life, people need to move, whether in business or leisure. Navigation requires spatial knowledge and ability to make decisions based on geographic information. Recently, powerful tools have been developed, enhancing the capabilities of geographical analysis and decision-making. This work presents a platform to handle and provide geographic information, including accessibility oriented features. This geographic information system (GIS) is part of a wider project, called SmartVision. The aim of this project is to create a system that allows blind users to navigate in the University of Trás-os-Montes and Alto Douro campus. The GIS platform, together with other modules of the SmartVision system prototype, provides information to blind users, assisting their navigation and giving alerts of nearby points-of-interest or obstacles. Together with the GIS platform, this paper also describes the handling of accessibility information by the SmartVision prototype, namely the Navigation Module, the Computer Vision Module and the Interface Module. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Touch-based interaction is becoming increasingly popular and is commonly used as the main interaction paradigm for self-service kiosks in public spaces. Touch-based interaction is known to be visually intensive, and current non-haptic touch-display technologies are often criticized as excluding blind users. This study set out to demonstrate that touch-based kiosks can be designed to include blind users without compromising the user experience for non-blind users. Most touch-based kiosks are based on absolute positioned virtual buttons which are difficult to locate without any tactile, audible or visual cues. However, simple stroke gestures rely on relative movements and the user does not need to hit a target at a specific location on the display. In this study, a touch-based train ticket sales kiosk based on simple stroke gestures was developed and tested on a panel of blind and visually impaired users, a panel of blindfolded non-visually impaired users and a control group of non-visually impaired users. The tests demonstrate that all the participants managed to discover, learn and use the touch-based self-service terminal and complete a ticket purchasing task. The majority of the participants completed the task in less than 4 min on the first attempt. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article focuses on the development of accessible pedestrian signal in Des Moines, Iowa. It chronicles the challenges of the city in establishing accessible pedestrian signal due to limited funds and the potential conflict it will create to existing traffic light signals. However, city officials and the members of the Des Moines Chapter of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) have decided to create a committee to oversee the development of a workable process.

The article discusses the amended constitution of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) in the U.S. It mentions the purpose of the of the organization which has to do with improving the quality of life for the blind. It notes the membership of the NFB in which the board of directors are required to establish procedures for admission of members. It also emphasizes the officers that comprised the organization and their functions.

The article presents a speech by Mark Riccobono, executive director of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) Jernigan Institute, delivered at the NFB convention, held in Dallas, Texas, July 3, 2012, in which he discussed the science concept of degrees of freedom, establishment of the institute, and the services of the institute for the blind.

The article presents a speech by Eve Hill, an expert on disability rights law, delivered at the National Federation of the Blind convention, held in Dallas, Texas, July 5, 2012, in which she discussed the powerful emotion evoked by the phrase civil rights in the U.S., passage of the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the activities of the Civil Rights Division of the Justice Department for the blind.

The article presents a speech by Scott LaBarre, president of the National Association of Blind Lawyers, delivered at the National Federation of the Blind convention held in Dallas, Texas on July 3, 2012, in which he discussed the means that the U.S. law deals with safety-based custodialism against people with disabilities, importance of his doctrine of direct threat to blind, and the assumption of risk for being blind.

The article presents a speech by Sharon Maneki, chairman of the resolutions committee, delivered at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) convention, held in Dallas, Texas, July 2012, in which she discussed the passage of resolutions that used the term leaving no blind person behind, process of defining policies for the blind, and the progress of the NFB services for the blind.

The article presents a speech by Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), delivered at the organization's convention held in Dallas, Texas on July 5, 2012, in which he discussed the task of the organization, characteristics of one's understanding that support the natural law, and the basis on the occurrence of blindness.

The article presents a speech by Marc Maurer, president of the National Federation of the Blind, delivered at the organization's convention held in Dallas, Texas on July 3, 2012, in which he discussed the accomplishments of the organization since its establishment in 1940, the advocacy efforts of the organization for the blind, and the reauthorization of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act by the U.S. Congress.

The article offers the author's experience on his weightlessness experience at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA). He mentions that his goal on the NASA trip is to explore on how the experience at the astronaut program of NASA would be for a blind person. He states that he experienced summersaults and learned on how to use weightless environment to move and explore during his reduced-gravity flight at NASA.

The article offers the author's insights on the need for enhanced tactile graphics for blind people. He relates his story on how he used the concept of tactile diagrams on his mathematics and physics courses. He highlights the benefits of Senior Experience in Engineering Design (SEED) program, wherein the students were given problems to solve. He adds that electronic communication of tactile graphic images is the logical step for the blind to access professional opportunities.

The article presents the author's views on the need to reevaluate some recommendations about the publication of the "The Braille Monitor." She states that with the emergence of technological innovations, the journal must continue to uphold its commitment as a primary source of reading and writing for the blind people. She further highlights the importance to work together and move the journal forward in order to keep such as an integral part of the blinds for generations to come.

The article offers news briefs related to the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) in the U.S. The NFB invites chapter leaders to take part of its Back to Basics seminar. The NFB also informs members that its reservation for the fundraiser cruise is open and its affiliates are already selling tickets for a prize. National Association of Blind Office Professionals (NABOP) president Lisa Hall unveils that its next division meeting is scheduled for June 30, 2012.

The article focuses on the services offered by the Krafters Division of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) in the U.S. It states that the division is headed by Jose Kane, who actively contacted other blind crafters, to encourage them to share their skills and talents to other blind. It also mentions the division's advocacy of helping other blind people by training them in quilting, pottery, and waving.

The article discusses various technologies that can be used to produce tactile materials for people with vision disabilities. He recognizes the emergence of advance technologies and techniques, which made it possible to produce tactile materials, which have complex shapes and moving parts, with greater speed. A brief overview of the different tactile equipment available in the market is provided.

Customer journey mapping originated as a market research tool to help commercial businesses understand consumers’ motivations and behaviors. More recently, customer journey mapping has been used by the public sector to identify ways of understanding citizens’ experiences of public services, with the aim of both improving the quality of public services and of enabling ordinary people to engage with the political process. This article reports on the first known use of customer journey mapping by a national charity as an advocacy tool, used as part of a program to campaign for improved access to goods and services for disabled people. [ABSTRACT FROM PUBLISHER]

This paper describes exploratory research into automatically describing geo-referenced information to blind people. The goal is to produce texts giving an overview of the spatial layout, and a central concern of such texts is that they employ an appropriate linguistic reference frame which enables blind hearers to ground the information. The research presented in this paper was based on two hypotheses: (1) directly perceivable reference frames are easier to ground and (2) spatial descriptions drawn from composite reference frame systems composed of more than one reference frame are easier to ground. An experiment exploring text comprehension on a range of texts employing different reference frame systems is presented. The main results indicate that the second hypothesis is supported. A prototype of a natural language generation system, which generates texts describing geo-referenced information from data, is described. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]