Gayle’s September Low Vision and Blindness Products Newsletter
Summer is coming to an end. Somehow having Labor Day on September 1st feels like we are being cheated out of a summer weekend. I have tried to make the most out of the summer I hope you have as well.
Gayle’s Monthly Book Review
I will start this month’s newsletter with another book review. I read this book on my easy-to-use Victor Reader Stream. As usual, I like to select something that could lead you to other great books by the same author. I really enjoyed reading The Boys in the Boat by Laura Hillenbrand. If someone else had not told me about this book, I might not have even noticed it. Why would I ever need to know about crewing? Although this is kind of a big deal in Boston, it has always just meant a time to avoid the city. Well, you would be surprised how interesting crewing can be when the writer gets so close to her subject. She actually spent time with the last man standing, so to speak, from the 1936 Olympic crewing team that competed in Hitler’s Germany. Like her other books, Unbroken and Seabiscuit, this book takes you into a world you might know nothing about and leaves you spellbound with how much you begin to care. Laura Hillenbrand widened my world once again.
Adaptive Equipment for Students, Schools and Universities
September is here and students of all ages have returned to classrooms. Some of you were able to get everything you needed for your students earlier in the summer. Some of you were not aware of what students might actually need, and there will always be those new students that show up and surprise you.
Low Vision and Blindness Equipment for Standardized Testing
Standardized testing is playing a larger part in the school year, and in many states the adaptive equipment that can be used for these standardized tests is specified. Duxbury braille translation software and 40 cell braille displays are among these specified products. New England Low Vision and Blindness carries these along with other devices and has experts on hand to answer your questions and provide training.
Low Vision and Blindness Adaptive Equipment for Universities
More and more visually impaired students are entering the world of higher education. They are following a wide range of degree tracks. Math is becoming more important to more visually impaired students. These students will often need adaptive technology to help them and to help you produce course material.
Every college or university should have at least a few low vision and blindness products. Computers open to public use by students should all be equipped with speech output and large print software. A braille embosser and braille translation software should be available for student use and for those who need to prepare hand-outs and other materials.
New England Low Vision and Blindness carries a range of these low vision and blindness products as well as video magnifiers, such as the DaVinci. This video magnifier is an essential part of an accessible computer workstation.
Low Vision Product Spotlight – Acrobat Mini HD
Teachers, do you know about the new Acrobat Mini HD, which has a six hour battery, and is only 12 pounds. This product can meet many of the needs of your low vision students. Please contact us for a demo or more information on all the products I have talked about in this newsletter.
Unified English Braille
Those of you, who are involved in the world of braille either as braille producers or readers, have been hearing a lot of buzz about UEB. This stands for Unified English Braille. After many years of meetings and conversations between braille experts in English speaking countries, a unified braille code has been created so braille can be easily shared in the English speaking community. Although there are not too many changes, there are enough that you will need to know and recognize them. Here are a couple of sources for information on the new code.
http://www.brailleauthority.org/ueb.html
You can learn all about the new codes at the above link. Duxbury Systems also has a braille chart available at no charge that includes the changes.
If you wish to learn about how to use UEB on your Apex Note taker, Michelle Perkins is the resident expert at New England Low Vision and Blindness.
Contact us to learn more about low vision and blindness products and training services.
Once again, if you would like more information, a training or a demo on any of the low vision and blindness products I have discussed in this newsletter, please email us at info@nelowvision.com or call us at 888-211-6933.
*Photo of girl with backback taken from FreeDigitalPhotos.net
