Creating a LinkedIn profile with screen reading software

Forms seem to be the bane of our existence.

Filling out forms as a sighted person can be aggravating. Try doing it blind folded and rely on what the software tells you. It takes a tsunami of training to get to the point where you can fill out online forms using Jaws, NVDA, or Narrator. Low-vision people can have a small advantage, but can miss buttons that the screen reading software would have found.

The desktop is best for completing the profile and posting, while the phone app is much better for building your network and searching for jobs.

I once got to show a Google programmer why website accessibility and user friendliness matters. Using Jaws software, I had him navigate and fill out a very accessible form and then had him navigate LinkedIn. He even got visually lost.

So, in teaching Internet with Jaws, my students start with some successes before tackling LinkedIn. Then they can say, "We came. We heard. We conquered."

Free Webinar on Audio Books for people who have Low Vision or are Blind

 Outa Sight Solutions for Leveling Up Your Literacy

Date: Wednesday, February 22, 2023

Time: 4 PM PDT

Join this interactive webinar from the Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc.  as we explore and demonstrate several accessible apps and resources to bring digital and printed information to your ears and fingertips. We will compare the recently released BookShare reader with other mainstream apps including Kindle and Apple Books, and explore a new look and feature set for some familiar favorites. For those who are newly blind or struggling with degenerative eye conditions like Macular Degeneration, we will briefly discuss strategies for figuring out which app or solution may be best for you. Come learn how to read it your way!

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://thelighthousefortheblindinc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_MVC0VwApSLaszwSmhPkbHw

 

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar. Please contact Tim Paulding at tpaulding@lhblind.org if you have any questions or need assistance registering for this event.

 

Free Training Webinar

 

What’s roasting over that open fire, and what’s nipping at my nose?  There’s an app for that.

Wednesday, December 14, 2022, 4 p.m. PST

 

Come explore SuperSense and Seeing AI, two leading apps that leverage artificial intelligence to describe the world around you. We’ll compare these apps in real world scenarios, learn to maximize their functionality, and help you decide which app might best meet your needs in this interactive webinar from the Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. 

 

Register in advance for this webinar:

https://thelighthousefortheblindinc.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_54Ben7JCTBeh66IoXUzzWA

After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

 

Meet the Hosts

Everett Elam, CATIS, is a computer and assistive technology instructor at the Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. Prior to serving at the Lighthouse, Everett worked for a year in St. Louis, Missouri in the k-12 arena and also created and managed a curriculum for Assistive Technology Training. He has served in a variety of roles in the blindness rehabilitation field. He is a technology enthusiast who is passionate about helping people who are blind to reach their fullest potential. Everett believes that learning should be tailored to the learner, easy to apply in real world situations, and should most definitely be fun. In his free time, Everett is an award winning fiddle player and marathon runner and lives in Spokane, Washington. 

 

Timothy Paulding is the services and instructional manager at the Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. He has served in the blindness rehabilitation field for over ten years as a computer and assistive technology instructor and orientation and mobility specialist. He believes that people who are blind can be as independent as they want to be, given proper opportunity and training. Tim has masters degrees in Blindness and low vision studies and is dual certified in orientation and mobility and vision rehabilitation therapy. Tim is a drummer and keyboard player and lives with his wife and 5 children in Spokane Valley, Washington.

 

 Apply for a college scholarship

The American Council of the Blind (ACB) offers educational scholarships ranging from $2,000 to $7,500 for entering freshman, undergraduate and graduate students, and students attending technical college. This program awards students with scholarships to help with educational financial needs such as tuition, fees, room and board, and assistive technology.

To be eligible for a scholarship, applicants need to be legally blind, maintain a 3.0 GPA to be eligible for most scholarships, be a full-time student or a part-time student who works at least 32 hours per week, and be involved in their school and local community. Students must submit their application by February 14th, 2023.

For more information about ACB’s scholarship program, visit ACB's Scholarship page. Learn more about ACB’s 2022 scholarship recipients through a series of videos on our YouTube page.

 Free webinar on how to use Windows Narrator

The Lighthouse for the Blind, Inc. invites you joih us to learn about the Windows built-in screen reader, Narrator. Your hosts, Tim Paulding and Everett Elam, will make it worth your time

When: Wednesday, Nov 16, 2022, 6:00 PM PST

Where: Online or via phone. 

To register visit:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/windows-narrator-not-just-another-voice-in-the-crowd-tickets-454175780987

GiveBig Tuesday, May 4, 2021

This Tuesday is the big fundraiser ofr nonprofits in Washington State. The Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) is participating and could use your help.

Why should you care?

The work of WCB has an affect that goes way beyond the Pacific Northwest. We are an all-volunteer, grass roots organization that advocates for opportunity, equality, and independense for people who are visually impaired.

Do you think the services we have today are available because a sighted peerson thought it was a good idea? NO! Blinded veterans coming back from the World Wars pushed hard to rehabiitation services so they could manage businesses, farms, and live independently. Their efforts resonated with people who were blind. They organized and got vocal. 

We've come a long way with public awareness and accessibility with technology. The unemployment figures tell us we have a long way to go. 

Keep the momentum going. Follow the link below. You can give as little as $10 and make a difference.

https://www.givebigwa.org/washingtoncounciloftheblind

Computer anxiety

Al Yardley told me that a good teacher needs to be a good student. You are always preparing. It's almost impossible to keep all the key commands in your head.

Computer students often experience anxiety--thinking they need to know everything right now and be perfect. That's not how learning works. Instructors also experience anxiety, especially when a situation stumps them. At that point you say,"I don't know the answer, but I will find out."

Studying for the ZoomText and JAWS certification exams definitely prepares a person to be a better informed instructor. Taking an exam is free. You are given one hour and over 80 multiple choice and true / false questions. Purchasing certification is $99.00 and your name is entered on the Freedom Scientific website.

This year I gained more confidence with the products and services. Freedom Scientific offers live and archived training webinars that I find very helpful. For example, the other day, a participant asked for steps in navigating captchas. YES! Those captchas can be a bear. I've requested those steps because my students will benefit.

Studying for these exams also meant developing good study notes that I can load onto my Victor Stream for review.

Now to dive into the scary world of braille displays and Android gestures. Notes. I will take lots of notes and review. Baby steps... like that movie, "What About Bob?"

It never ends.

Sighted people, rise up and rebel!

Last weekend, a friend's car was having major problems and he forgot his cell phone. Fortunately, I had my iPhone. He gave me the number for State Farm roadside assistance. I called and the human-quality voice directed to hit a series of buttons, then retrieve a code from my text messaging app, then go to their website and finish filling out a form.

"You've got to be kidding me!" and I hung up on them.

Even if I were not legally blind using screen-reading gestures, this would have chapped my hide.

This is even more than a usability issue. This is adding insult to injury.

Your car has left you stranded somewhere and State Farm wants you to screw around with three apps and a form? What do you pay this company money for... and why?

Rise up and rebel!

Is LinkedIn worth the hassle?

LinkedIn is a challenge for job seekers using screen-reading and magnifying software. The interface keeps changing and it is complex. Is it worth it? YES!

Just having a complete profile helps manage your online presence when employers do a simple Google search. Recruiters use LinkedIn. You can connect with people in your field. There are many resources on the site. 

So here are some take aways from Andrew LaCivita’s video to get noticed by recruiters.

The search engine on LinkedIn behaves differently than Google. First, what results rank high depends on the recruiter’s behavior. Second, your profile views affect how high you rank in a search.

Here is what you can do from the static side:

1. Complete and update your profile: good photo, good summary, list all the employers, awards, etc.

2. Skills are one of the most popular searches that recruiters conduct, so wax eloquent.

3. Connections, the site is about connecting. How are you developing those relationships? Connections: the more the better. Within that profession or company if possible. Identify them.

4. Use standard titles--just be professional. If your company uses unusual titles, ditch them for what is recognized in the industry.

5. New: check out the Tell Recruiters option, 

Next, take a dynamic approach:

To get more profile views, here is what you do to drive traffic.

1. Share articles, tips, status updates

2. Write your own long-form posts, like a blog, post a photo, build collateral for a career change, post once a week. If you are a college student, post once a month. By the time you graduate, you willl have built a network.

3. Like and comment on posts

4. Respond to your notifications

5. Join a group related to your career path

I will be sharing these tips with my students learning adaptive software.

https://youtu.be/hG9y29SRBm8

Getting up to speed with iOS device

One-on-one instruction is the best way to go and the cost is worth every penny. The instructor usually covers the basics and offers resources to learn more on your own. The amount of new information takes time to absorb. Some falls by the wayside.

In Seattle, the SightConnection agency started an iPhone support group for low-vision and blind users. With this approach, everyone gets a turn to share something they learned. The instructor facilitates the meeting, offers some assistance, and emails notes to the group.

As a volunteer, I come away with some new ideas and appreciate how this supportive approach motivates people to expand their skills. The experience certainly has motivated me to dig in on features I previously ignored. Not only that, but I've been able to help my sighted friends with their iPhones.

AppleVis.com is a fabulous web resource. There are also excellent podcasts from the A.T. Guys, Cool Blind Tech, and Easter Seals.

Camera shake

Being blind or visually impaired, iPhone training usually doesn’t cover the camera. We have challenges. However, we still love to share moments with others. While home recovering from knee surgery I decided to take an online iPhone photography course to see if those challenges could be addressed. Below are five tips to improve results.

Touching the shutter button on the iPhone screen can introduce camera shake. You end up with a blurry photo, especially in low light conditions. The volume buttons on the side of the iPhone can also release the shutter, but this too can introduce shake.

1. Before pressing the shutter, steady yourself by having your elbows close to your body or resting on a solid object like a table.

2. Turn the timer setting on. Once you press the shutter button you have time to steady yourself.

3. Tripods are affordable. You’ll need to get an iPhone mount from Amazon to attach your iPhone to the tripod. Still, pressing the buttons on the iPhone can cause shake, unless you use the timer.

4. Apple ear buds with volume buttons can release the shutter. Combine this with a tripod for a sure-fire way to avoid camera shake.

5. Another good option with your tripod is to use a bluetooth remote shutter release. They are easy to use and pare with your iPhone. Just remember to turn the remote off when done to save its battery.

I'm hoping that when the knee is better I can attend some beep baseball games and get good photos to share. Cowabunga!

Free OCR option for students

Does your professor scan articles and send them as an image in a pdf? If you use screen-reading software you know what a hassle this scenario presents.

Good news: you no longer have to rely on Student Disability Services or expensive software to access the text. Google offers Optical Character Recognition (OCR)!

1. Download Google Drive to your computer.
2. In File Explorer, paste the pdf into the Drive folder.
3. Open Chrome and sign into your Google account.
4. Open Google Drive in Chrome.
5. In Chrome, highlight the file.
6. Press App Key.
7. Arrow to “Open with Google Docs” and press Enter.
Give the process a moment because there is no audio feedback.
8. Press Control +A to copy and open a Word document/
9. Press Control V, and Control T quickly after pasting to clear formatting.
There may still be some clean up.

This tip came from Dr. Denise M. Robinson. She's got a YouTube Channel.

Device curriculum

New venture: Washington State Dept. of Services for the Blind asked me to develop a curriculum to get college-bound students up-to-speed with the Stream by HumanWare. This week the lesson plans were approved. A contract is in the works.

Why would a student use a Stream rather than a small digital recorder or their iPhone?

The Stream is much more versatile than a recorder. It's more rugged, affordable, less obtrusive, and easier to use than the iPhone.

The Stream interface is all tactile--similar to a game controller. A student can load books, their notes, record lectures, find references, bookmark, download podcasts, and listen to Internet radio stations. The recording capability works very well in large rooms.

The Stream lets students search and save Wikipedia references. Since colleges do not allow students to cite Wikipedia, this option is still useful in finding better sources.

The lesson plans will assist me in getting students signed up with the National Library Service and Learn Ally--a great option for accessible textbooks--and in utilizing other online content.

To learn more about the Stream, visit the HumanWare site: http://bit.ly/2d8UxGn
Cowabunga!

King County website

Yesterday, I had the good fortune to sit in with the King County Information Technology management and representatives from the Blind, Deaf, and Deaf-Blind communities to discuss web accessibility.

Back story: The county website use to be very accessible, but got redesigned. This issue came to the attention of Councilman Upthegrove, whose father is now legally blind. A few months ago, Councilman Upthegrove called a hearing where people testified about challenges. The website was a common theme.

I was unsure how this initial meeting would be productive. We were asked to bring suggestions to make the site accessible. Ask 40 different people and you get 40 different answers.

We were asked if there was a state website that serves as a good example of accessibility. No. The State of Washington is tackling the same issue. At the time of this post, their own employees cannot access basic information using screen reading software.

Note that public servants genuinely desire to do the right thing. This is a learning curve that is being addressed across the country.

Thank God we had a seasoned accessibility consultant in the crew to steer conversation toward the best resources and a plan. Below are some of the take aways.

1) The Web Content Accessibility Guidelines are online.
2) WebAIM offers a checklist: http://webaim.org/standards/wcag/checklist
3) The County needs to develop a broad strategy. What areas are priorities? What areas are low-hinging fruit?
4) Then the County should consider hiring an accessibility consultant because this project needs to be done right and ensure that accessibility becomes policy.
5) When the County gets to the testing phase, please consider paying people for their time. The people who came to this meeting already volunteer much of their time.

Accessibility policy will make King County a better place to live and benefit everyone who uses the website. When Major League Baseball made their sites accessible, their web designers discovered that it can improve SEO and made them look cutting edge rather than retro. Web designers need us.

Making the leap to screen-reading software is a tough step for people losing their vision.

I am one of those people.

My job for the last few years has been to train people in screen-magnification software, the Windows environment, and the Office Suite. Very gratifying to see people gain confidence in their abilities.

This past year it's been my good fortune to learn to use JAWs from Freedom Scientific and train two students.  On any given day, teaching the Windows platform can be very humbling because of computer glitches, anomalies, and student challenges.

One nice discovery is that JAWs is more manageable than I once thought.

Teaching screen-reading software with the Internet will be the big test because it will require patience on the student's part. Why? 1) It's all audio, and 2) the software reads the structure and content in a linear manner. Screen-reading software can drive you mad with too much information.

To approach a website, the user arrows down through every bloody link, header, form, text, and table to evaluate the quickest way to the desired content or field. To just blunder your way through could take even longer. (Pass the Valium.)

Today I'm thankful that smart people are developing affordable software such as NVDA. This week I will see if this open-source option handles busy sites as well as JAWs. We use news sites, Orbitz, Google Maps, job posting sites, and Linkedin to prepare our students for school and career.

I'm thankful that web accessibility is gaining more attention because it will benefit EVERYONE. We've got such a long, long way to go in social media and corporate career sites.

Overview on Accessible OCR Scanning

OCR technology (Optical Character Recognition) converts an image of text to editable text and is a huge benefit for people who are blind. People use OCR to scan and read mail, product descriptions, books, school reports, etc.

For a desktop PC, a flatbed scanner and a software program called OpenBook work great. OpenBook is accessible for screen-reading software, but costs about $1,000.

A portable alternative to using a flatbed scanner is the Pearl Camera from Freedom Scientific that works with OpenBook. The Pearl costs $795.

All scanners have a tough time with curved surfaces like the binding of a book. One option best suited for book scanning is the OpticBook Scanner (Book edge scanner).

On the desktop Mac, you can use the Prizmo 3 app for $49.95 with a flatbed scanner.

Other options include ABBYY FineReader for Pro $199.99 and Express for $69.

Evernote on the MAC can be used for OCR scanning, but involves syncing to a server and waiting in queue.

Tablets and smart phones offer more affordable options.

People rave about the KNFB Reader app for a couple reasons. Normally this app costs $99, but sometimes goes on sale for $49.

The view finder option tells you about how much of the page you have in view, so you know whether you need to raise your phone higher.

The next best app for a tablet or smart phone is the Prizmo app for about $20. It does not give you as much information as the KNFB Reader, but does a good job.

Stability is an issue when scanning documents with a smart phone or tablet.

ScanJig Pro is a portable plastic stand that offers stability as you use your smart phone or tablet to scan documents.  ScanJig Pro costs $40 at Amazon. You can probably get it for less at http://www.scanjig.com

Amazon has a photo so people with usable vision can see how ScanJig holds the document and the device.

Thank you to the Washington Council of the Blind and Deb Lewis from the University of Washington  for the lively discussion on our February Assistive Technology forum.

Low vision, low budget experiment

Getting good photos to promote a beep baseball team has been frustrating. We’ve had people with digital SLRs at the game, but that doesn’t make them a good photographer, let alone a sports photographer.

Having worked for newspapers and agencies over the years, I’ve worked with a variety of photographers. Some were great in the studio, some photo journalism, and just a few at sports.

My last managing editor was baseball mad and at that time, Mark McGuire was making his bid for home run history. Our readership was in a baseball frenzy. Several of my weekends were spent producing special sections. Three of our “photogs” always delivered good coverage and AP photos were abundant. People lined up down the block to purchase these special sections.

A dozen or so years later, with no sports photographers to call on, what could I possibly make happen?

My vision in bright sunshine prevents me from seeing anything on an LCD screen. Magnification won’t help. In shade I see enough to compose the picture and rely on AutoFocus. With this kind of vision I’m not going to spend much on a camera.

Armed with Nikon’s CoolPix 20.1 Megapixel, 8X zoom point and shoot, a tripod, and a prayer, I headed for the field.

Game day, the sun was beating down. One dugout provided just enough shade for me to get fairly close to home plate. Fat chance of getting an action shot with this camera and vision. My best bet was to catch batters waiting for the pitch.

The nice thing about shooting beep baseball is that the pitcher turns on the beeper and calls, “Ready, pitch.” On the down side, most of our new blind players need more coaching on stance.

Sorting through photos back home, two okay shots turned up. Knocking out the background in Photoshop is a little tedious but worthwhile. Here's the one photo used: www.southkingcounciloftheblind.org

Next game I’ll tackle the fielding.

Why I am considering migrating a large site to WordPress

1. Accessible WordPress themes have been audited.

Hands down--this is the number one concern for an active organization of people who are low vision and blind. The Washington Council of the Blind (WCB) provides information and resources to the general public largely through its website. Our current website uses old code and looks very dated.

Sure, achieving 100 percent accessibility is almost impossible because there is no industry standard for browsers or adaptive software. And now people access the Internet with many different kinds of devices.

Who has the time to test forms for accessibility? WCB is an all-volunteer organization. Our website committee does well to submit content and edit. When we post a scholarship application it needs to work or credibility is lost.

George Williams posted a great article listing accessible themes that have been thoroughly tested.

2. People using screen-reading software can manage the admin controls.

This means empowerment for everyone. The Cisco Academy for the Visually Impaired offers an excellent online course on managing WordPress sites. Yes, there are blind designers and programmers who do very well.

3. New WordPress themes are responsive.

This means the themes reflow your content to work well on computers, tablets, and phones. You don’t have to build, test, and update three separate layouts.

4. Code is kept up-to-date.

This keeps my back-end programmer and the membership very happy when security is such a headache.

5. Dynamic header plug-ins give a fresh look when good photos are hard to come by. 

This means I can have four or five photo collages that swap out each time the site is visited.

Do blind people really care about how a site looks? Yes, and people losing vision are hyper-sensitive about design and fashion.

Content and authenticity matter with photos.

Visitors to a site need to know there are real people they can engage. Use action photos of real people in your organization, not stock photos. Fresh content tells visitors you pay attention. Using your website as an online brochure will not invite action or repeat visits.

(Of course, provide alternative text so someone using a screen reader knows what content is provided in each photo.)

Seven tips for creating an accessible PDF from InDesign

Accessibility is a hot-button issue for companies with federal contracts and not just from a litigation concern. Why would any business exclude certain consumers and limit profits?

When exporting from InDesign,  go to the General pane inside the PDF print dialog box.

1) Make sure the Create Tags option is on. Tags add additional structure for screen reading software and help rankings with Google and Bing searches (SEO).
2) Turn on bookmarks and links. Most online PDFs are a hybrid optimized for interactivity and printing.
3) Leave Embed Page Thumbnails off. This feature is not really needed anymore.
4) If your document is longer than four or five pages, turn on Optimize for Fast Web View. This allows the browser to download one page at a time.
5) For accessibility, use captions with graphics that contain important content.
6) If you have graphics or photos that use transparency (i.e., drop shadows), use the PDF/X-1a preset. This option flattens transparency that can cause image quality problems.
7) If you are distributing PDFs for other people to print at home, keep your images RGB for better results.

To learn more, check out: www.lynda.com

Explaining logos

Discussing the logic behind logo design is always a challenge. Note the evolution of the Apple logo. The original logo from 1976 was a hippie-dippie illustration--very busy. Then the familiar apple with a bite taken out of it appeared. This logo is withstanding the test of time because it is distinct, compact. and easy to recognize at any size.

Now think about explaining logo design to an organization of people who happen to be blind. Below is a snippet I'm writing for the American Council of the Blind.

What is a logo?

A logo is an easy-to-identify, easy-to-reproduce design element. A logo can be a name, initials, or symbol with specified colors. 

Feel the top of a MacBook Pro or back of an iPad. In the center you’ll find the smooth flat shape of an apple. There’s a bite taken out of the right side and a leaf on top leaning to the right. This is the Apple logo. It’s distinct, simple, and compact—easy for a sighted person to recognize no matter what size.

Logos are everywhere. If you feel the front grill of a car you can usually find the logo. The Seahawks have made a mint selling all kinds of merchandise sporting their logo. Logos are on the sides of trucks. buses, planes, and buildings.

In an instant, the logo represents the organization's image or message and position. A well-designed logo evokes some memory or emotion from the viewer. 

A logo can be a distinct shape (icon), type, or a combination of the two. Companies spend a ton of many to ensure their logo is protected and used correctly. A corporation knows that a cohesive look to their products and communication materials builds credibility.

A logo should be simple, memorable, timeless, versatile, and appropriate. Does a logo for a blind organization have to include the white cane? Probably not. When reduced to business-card size, a cane looks similar to a tiny toothpick.

Think about your region and the qualities you want to project. Is there an indigenous plant that represents growth? Is there a geographical feature like a mountain? A historical monument like the Liberty Bell? Washington State has a distinct shape because of its coastline, Sound, and islands. This works as a logo element if it is a solid color. A thin outline of this shape would not reproduce well or be easy-to-recognize at a small size or at a distance.

Before working with a designer decide the qualities you want to project. If possible, clip logo samples you like and share them with the designer. Better yet, decide on a type family that offers a variety of weights: light, regular, bold, and black. Stay away from script fonts. As a rule they are difficult to read at small sizes.