News:
Please, in taking steps to stop spam, please don't take steps that shut
out the disabled from Internet access. See:
"
Spam-bot tests flunk the blind | CNET News.com".
Special Announcement for Disabled Americans!
A Possible Exemption for Greyhound Threatened Accessability
but people rallied in protest against it.
Read about the results in
"Over-The-Road Bus Victory:
Boarding Everyone"
Lawsuit:
NEWS! The National Federation of the Blind sues AOL -- and wins.
AOL settles out of court.
Going down? You can skip around the Jars article and go directly to
the start of the other resources.
News! The jars have been discontinued!
The text below is still here for historical purposes until I can
find the time to move the information to another page. Sobey's has
discontinued the sale of their house brand of instant coffee and the
easy-opening jars are no longer available. I am going to try to find out
who made the jars so I can continue to promote them. Wish me
luck.
If you have difficulty opening jars and you live in Eastern Canada,
you might check out the jars that Sobeys brand instant coffee comes in.
The small (50 gram) jars have the ordinary screw-on caps but the 100 gram
and 200 gram jars have a lid that:
- is oval so it is easier to grip.
- can be twisted off clockwise or counter clockwise with about an
eighth of a turn. The lid then pops up. To replace the lid, just put on
square and press down.
- cannot be overtightened (see above).
I have bugged the manager of the Sobeys store where I shop and asked
him why Sobeys does not advertise this. Someone designed this jar to be
easy opening but it can't help anyone who doesn't know anything about it.
They continue to advertise their "aged for flavour" beef which seems like
another way of saying "our meat is not fresh" but fail to let their
customers know about one of their items that the physically handicapped
might be able to benefit from.
By letting people know about this jar, I hope to:
- help those who might benefit from this to know about it.
- make it harder for Sobeys to change their jars back to a hard-to-open
one.
- encourage other companies to look into containers that are easier for
the handicapped.
Three things that might make things easier:
The 200 gram jars are easier to open than the 100 gram jars.
If you scrape the foil remaining from the freshness seal away from
the edge of the jar after it is empty, the lid becomes even easier to
use. Save the old jars after cleaning the edges and transfer the
contents from new jars to the easier-to-use older jars. (Note that this
may not be necessary anymore as the packagers have changed from
paper-backed foil to plain foil that is easier to peel off the jar -- but
there may still be a few of the older jars out there.)
If you do not have anyone else in the house to do it
for you and you DO have trouble opening jars, get the sales clerk to
break the initial vacuum seal on the jar when you buy it. I'm sure he or
she will oblige.
One warning:
These jars are glass and, therefore, breakable. If you have problems
with dropping jars, you may want to look elsewhere.
Comments appreciated:
If anyone out there tries these jars, I would appreciate your comments
about them. It would be nice to hear from anyone who found this helpful.
My mail address is on my home page and my e-mail address is at the
bottom of all of my HTML pages.
Going up? Skip up to top of article on Jars.
- The Web-Site for
Louis Perrochon mentions that he has worked on implementing
WWW access for the blind. If you are or know someone who is visually
impaired, this might be a site worth investigating if you are interested
in web browsing.
-
Abilities Foundation
- INDIE
(Integrated Network of Disability Information & Education)
- Kathy's Independent Living & Disability Resources Page contains a
very comprehensive list of resources for the disabled. Her site has
moved recently. You may wish to change your bookmarks.
- Web-ABLE -- an on-line resource centre and magazine for the disabled.
Their site at http://www.webable.com is no longer valid. The
new address is
http://www.yuri.org/webable/ so you might want to update your
bookmarks. (Thanks to Dan Comden and Linda Baker at the Adaptive
Technology Lab, University of Washington for helping me find it again.)
-
CNIB -- Canadian National Institute for the Blind
-
RNIB -- Royal National Institute for the Blind
- China Vision
- Supporting Visually Impaired People in China
- Adobe has come out with something they call
"Adobe Acrobat
Access" as an add-on for Windows that allows the visually
impaired to access sites with Adobe Acrobat files. I don't know how good
it is but you might want to check it out. They make it available at no
charge. "Thanks Guys!"
- The National Center for Accessible
Media has some information on web access for the visually impaired.
-
The Kentucky Assistive Technology Network has quite a few good
resources dealing with AT resources, funding, inclusion in special
education plans, and products and services available. While the
emphasis is on Kentucky, many of the resources and informational pages
are applicable to anyone.
- The DO-IT
Program at the University of Washington is aimed at better
self-sufficiency for the disabled.
- In Belgium,
The Information Society disAbilities Challenge
is an organization active in promoting information accessibility and
the employment in the field of Information Technology of those with
disabilities. This is really working for self-sufficiency.
A quote from their web site:
- ISdAC wants to
- challenge Europe and its nations to make the Information Society
fully accessible to people with disabilities (PwD), and
- challenge people with disabilities to demonstrate their abilities
in an Information Society context by playing an active role in
building a fully accessible Information Society in Europe.
- The Mac has its Easy Access control panel. Windows 95 has the
equivalent in its control panel. Free software is available for DOS and
Windows 3.1 from
ftp.microsoft.com/softlib/MSLFILES/ACCP.EXE.
- The National Library Service for the Blind and Physically Handicapped
has information on books in Braille and recordings for the blind. They can
be found at
http://lcweb.loc.gov/nls/nls.html.
- The
vzw PIEKERNIE Homepage is a new site for the disabled in Europe.
The three main links on his main home page are:
- Jim Lubin has a web site that includes a large collection of
"disABILITY Information and Resources".
- Peter Verhoeven in the Netherlands has put together a site devoted to
the subject of Screen Magnifiers
for those with limited vision. If your browser does not support frames,
you might want to go directly to the
Non-Frames Version
of his site. There is also coverage of two text-to-speech programmes on
his site. (NOTE: The site has moved AGAIN recently -- the domain
has changed from "www.magnifiers.demon.nl/" to "www.magnifiers.org/".
You may wish to bookmark the new addresses above.)
- Do you, like me, have trouble recognising faces? Do you have trouble
telling people apart? Do you frequently mistake one friend for another?
I have always thought that my problem was unique. I recently heard about
and visited Bill's
Face Blindness (Prosopagnosia) Pages [UPDATED URL]. Hmmm!
Perhaps there is some neurological reason for my difficulty and
I'm not just stupid after all! Maybe I just have prosopagnosia. Note:
the link has been updated. The site is no longer at
"http://www.slip.net/~lkenney/faceblnd/intro.html" so you may wish to
update your bookmarks. (This from someone who didn't notice that the page
moved in January, 1998.)
- Kevin Walsh
has some Attention Deficit Disorder links on
his "Work Page".
He also serves as the webmaster and the host for
The Alt.Callahans Home Page (for details on alt.callahans, see my
"mutual support" page below).
- Need to talk to someone who knows what your problems are like? I have
made a list of those newsgroups I could find and an Internet Relay Chat
channel that are dedicated to mutual support
for those with medical, physical, or psychiatric problems.
- Do Search Engines give you trouble? Everybody and his hamster seems
to have a link somewhere on their site pointing to their favourite search
engine. Unfortunatly, many of the search engines have forms which can be
difficult for the blind to use. At
CAMERA OBSCURA,
another good resource for the blind, something has been done about the
problem. On that site you can find a page of
Speech Friendly Search Forms for some of most popular search engines.
You can also find there, the most comprehensive list of
Blindness Related Resources I have ever seen with more than a thousand
links. Those who are not blind but need speech-to-text or dictation
software for other reasons might also want to pay the site a visit as
the site includes a number of speech-related links.
- Bradley
Olson's home page has links to a lot of resources, related newsgroups,
and chat sites for those coping with autism in the family.
- A helpful individual posted this information to misc.handicap for
those who might be travelling to France:
<QUOTE>
There is an excellent book, in French, which describes tourism
services for persons with disabilities in France called "Touristes,
Quand-Meme." You may wish to inquire about this book from the French
national tourist office.
Have a pleasant trip
<END QUOTE>
- Speaking of travel, the
Family Village website
includes a page on their site devoted to
Travel information for the disabled. For the graphically-challenged, a
text-only version
of their home page is available.
- Bibles for the Blind and
Visually Handicapped International can provide Bibles in braille,
on tape, or in large print form.
(I am not a Christian BUT many people visiting my site will be.)
- Mike Pegg's Homepage is a
site designed specially for students studying in the field of disability.
It announces that it is "An Online Resource for Students Seeking
Disability Information and Opportunities" and is well worth a visit.
Note the new address, "http://www.abilityinfo.com".
The old url was "http://www.geocities.com/CollegePark/8426".
You might want to change your bookmarks.
-
"Jerry's Diary of a Madman and Interests Page" may be a
rather long and disconcerting title for a home page but the title of
"Jerry's SCI Page" is less wordy. This page not only has
resources about Spinal Cord Injury but also points out the dangers of
drinking and driving. I think it's worth a visit.
- Speaking of SCI, you might want to drop in on another interesting
site,
"Browsing With KeyBored" (formerly "Steve's SCI and
Win95 Links") and see what he has.
-
Kids Together, Inc. (Formerly Kids R Kids, Inc.)
has information and resources for children and adults with disabilities.
- "Esmerel on the Web"
is a family-oriented page that not only includes Esmerel's List of
Disability Resources but makes
available Unicorn Quest, an
MS-DOS text-based typing tutor for children with one or two hands. If
you have a disabled child who needs to learn to type with one hand, this
may be a fun way for him or her to learn.
- WWW/Internet Deaf & Hard of Hearing Resources:
- International Web of Publication of the Deaf
- Gallaudet University's Home Page
- The Signer's Network
- Deaf Business
- Deaf Queer Resource Centre
- P.A.H., M.D.
- Promoting Awareness in Healthcare, Medical & Deaf
- In bridging the void between the Deaf Community and the Medical Community
- Can subscribe network/discussion group
-
http://views.vcu.edu/amsa/pah.html
- Deafblind UK's Scottish office
- From a signature block:
A recent email message gave me some links to screen-reading demos.
Being lazy at times, I will just reproduce it here with the senders'
addresses snipped to avoid the addresses from being harvested by
spammers.
<QUOTE:>
Date: Mon, 01 Feb 1999 07:09:58 -0400 (AST)
From: [snip]
Subject: Forwarded E-mail Regarding FTP Sites For Screen Readers For The
Visually Impaired
To: af380@chebucto.ns.ca
[snip]
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 15:10:28 -0500
From: [snip]
To: [snip]
Subject: Re: Windows User Survey Results (fwd)
Hi, Guys,
Download your free demo of JFW for the Henter-Joyce website at
http://www.hj.com/
It is a time-bombed demo that runs for 40 minutes and then warns you to
close down and exit Windows so the program can bomb. You then restart
Windows andcan run JFW demo for another 40 minutes as many times as you
like. You can also find it at the anonymous FTP site,
ftp://ftp.hj.com/
Demos of Window-Eyes and other GW-Micro stuff is at,
http://www.gwmicro.com/
ftp://ftp.gwmicro.com/
Snarf demos of WindowBridge from,
http://www.synthavoice.on.ca/
ftp://ftp.synthavoice.on.ca/
Get Hal 95 demo from
http://www.dolphinusa.com/
YOu can also find demos of Artic's WinVision and WinSolo, and Alva Access
Group's OutSpoken, on the net.
The fully-functioning demo of ASAW version 1.34 for Windows 3.1X and Windows
95 is at:
http://www.microtalk.com/
along with the latest ASAW32 Beta version for Windows 95 and Windows 98.
Pick up the fully-functioning, non-time-bombed demo of ASAP, the ultimate
DOS screen reader at that MicroTalk website also.
[snip]
<END QUOTE>
You might want to check out
my "Links...", "Health" page
for more resources concerning health and
my "Computer Hints and Tips" page for links
to some information for the visually impaired on how to set up
Microsoft Windows to make it more usable and links to some computer
accessories for the physically impaired. My
HTML Sampler page has some pointers to sites with design tips for
designing web pages for better access by the visually impaired.
Commercial Products for the Handicapped:
Seedlings.
If there is a blind child in the family (or a blind parent who wishes
to read to his or her child) you might be interested in visiting the
site of
Seedlings Braille Books for Children [NEW ADDRESS!]
and find out what they have available.
Braille-Books.com.
Braille-Books.com also
carries a selection of children's books in braille -- as well as books
for adults.
National Braille Press.
Another source for braille books -- including children's books --
is the National Braille Press.
Pride.
The Pride company manufactures lift chairs, scooters, and I have seen
good reports on their Pride Jazzy Powerchair on the misc.handicap newsgroup.
You can visit them at
http://www.pridehealth.com.
Access Unlimited.
Access Unlimited specializes in Adaptive Vehicle Modification such as
powered seats and lifts and accessories for hand control. You can find
out about their conversions at
http://www.accessunlimited.com.
They also have a collection of other links called "The Disability
Link Barn" at
http://www.accessunlimited.com/links.html.
Vantage Mini Vans.
A source for adapted Chrysler vans and Ford Windstar conversions
can be found at
http://www.vantageminivans.com/.
Design Communications.
These people have some books available that could be useful to you.
Subjects vary from designing a barrier-free home and cooking tips for
disabled cooks to coping with a bed-wetting child. Their web site
is rather poorly designed (they appear to be new to the Internet and
HTML) but may be worth a visit to see what they have to offer. It can be
found at
"http://members.aol.com/designpubl/index.html".
The Disabled and the Law.
The Canadian Department of Justice.
One page on their site announces (shouts in capital letters) in its title:
"Federal
government proposes changes to meet the needs of persons with
disabilities." New accessibility guidelines are to go in effect.
The American Department of Justice.
For those wanting to learn more about the Americans with Disabilities
Act, the American
Department of Justice ADA Home Page would be a good place to start.
Social Security Disability Secrets:
Disabled Americans may find it useful to visit a site that
provides SSD, SSI tips and
advice to win benefits when you apply and appeal.
Webmaster: Norman De Forest,
<af380@chebucto.ns.ca>