I'm back again. The first thing you'll notice is I changed my blog a little. I really didn't like my last template, but just now got around to changing it some. There are still some changes I'd like to make, but I'll get there eventually.

Anyway, things have been pretty busy lately. I have lots going on at work now. I'm actually starting to get some customers interested in our equipment coming in. I think we have around 5 customers now, and more should be coming soon which is great. When we started, there weren't any at all. Some are interested in learning Dragon, but most are interested in the Blind and low vision stuff, which is cool because I know the most about that...

On MLK day the Accessibility and Usability committee teamed up with the Programming Committee and presented a workshop to other Americorps members. The programming committee showed some pretty cool resources and technology for training people to use computers, and where to get other assistance. Our part of the presentation covered some useful tips for effective presentations and training. I was really impressed how it turned out. We didn't get many people to come, which was kind of unfortunate, but the people who were there really seemed to get into it and ask a lot of questions. We even had someone tell us later that we were the best one there.

I have also started my spring semester in my masters degree program. Last semester we created a layout for a training module, so this semester we have to actually create the instruction. What I'm realizing every time I look at the course is how much work there really is to do. I may have bitten off more than I can chew with this one. In the end, the training will be how to create a basic accessible web page with Dreamweaver. But it's amazing how much you actually have to cover before you can even teach people that. I have gotten a lot of interest from a few of the people at work and in the CTEP program, so I may suggest this as another project I can work on for work, because this will be useful for pretty much any organization, business, or individual creating websites. Maybe it can even be included in our CD toolkit.

All that stuff is keeping me really busy. I'm pretty much working on something all the time. It is cool though because we're slowly getting a group of gamers together in the CTEP program. We play a little Nintendo DS on training days, and will probably get together more in the future.

I also wanted to continue what I was talking about last entry. There are many cool programs and events for people with disabilities, and I've been fortunate enough to participate in some. The first one I want to talk about is the DO-IT Program at the University of Washington. DO-IT stands for Disabilities, Opportunities, Internetworking, and Technology. It's a program for high school and college students with disabilities who are interested in a career in science, math, or technology. The program has gone though a few changes since its first year in 1993. Originally it was only open to Washington residence, but but then included Origon, Montanna, and North Dakota, which was when I started. I was accepted in 1995.

Basically how the program works is, for the first 2 years, you are considered a DO-IT scholar. For two weeks in the summer, you get to go to the University of Washington. Here you meet everyone, learn about cool new technology, get college and job raining, and do all kinds of fun stuff. We went to the science museum and really secret virtual reality lab. Both were very very cool. After the first two years, you become a DO-IT Ambassitor or Mentor. I actually attended the summer session for a third year to help out with everything.

The summer sessions are just the basics of the program. During the rest of the year, you keep in contact with everyone in the program online. One of the coolest things about the program is, if you didn't have a computer, or a decent one to get on the Internet, you got one through the program, including the assistive technology you needed to use the computer. I had a computer, but it was super old, nowhere near what I needed. Although I made old technology do things it was never meant to, which is another entry... I got a new computer, Jaws, Zoomtext, and scanner with scanning software. We also got an E-mail account for the program. All this was available to us as long as we were active in the program.

I really enjoyed going through the program, meeting all kind of interesting people, learning about all kinds of disabilities, etc. I still keep in contact with some of the people today, although I haven't been very involved lately. I hope to get back into the program again as a mentor and meet all the new scholars.

The other event I'll talk about before signing off again is Ski for Light. This is a yearly event in South Dakota. It's actually probably coming up here at the end of January. This program is for people with all kinds of disabilities who want to try skiing and other fun snow activities. I have only gone once, back in 2003, but it was a lot of fun. It's a week long event. Everyone stays at a hotel during the week, and goes to the mountain every day to ski. There was downhill and cross country skiing, snowshoeing, tubing down the mountain, and an interesting form of sledding. I did some cross country skiing, but no downhill. I figured I had a hard enough time staying up on fairly level ground. I'd kill myself trying to downhill ski. The sledding was fun though. They were basically some cool sleds that looked like snowmobiles called Sharks. They had a 1 and 2 person model. You would be pulled up the mountain with a snowmobile, and then fly down on your own. It was really cool. There was a little joystick thingy to turn, and you could go alone or with a friend. Those were the most fun during the week. On Friday we had little competitions for skiing, and I actually won the cross country one. We basically had to write down a time for the circuit, and then try and finish as close to that as possible. I was only 17 seconds off. Woohoo!

At nights we'd have some activities or we could just wander around town doing whatever. One thing I noticed is everyone loved to drink. People often hung out around the casinos, and they even had a tent at the foot of the mountain with some drinks during the day. It was a lot of fun, and I'd like to go again some day when I have time.

Both of these were great experiences. I learned a lot, and had a lot of fun. But that's enough for this entry.

Well, I'm back for another entry, and I have a lot to talk about this time, so here we go. First of all, I now have my new laptop. I picked it up last week, and love it. I'ts a Dell Inspiron 9300, and it has all kinds of great stuff like a DVD burner, very nice widescreen display, and plenty of RAM and processing power. I also got upgrades and a couple pieces of assistive technology software. I got an upgrade for Jaws that will let me finally try Terminal Services/remote access, MAGic, Zoomtext, and Kurzweil. This is great because I have uses for all of them, and a lot of it's on the library computer, so I can demo software anywhere now.

Then the next day, the outreach department got their laptop, with Jaws installed, so now I have Internet access at my desk. Woohoo! This will help a lot. I just found it funny that I get 2 new computers to play with in one week.

And as I said last entry, I've been doing some reading for the CTEP book club. First, what I read last time. The first book was Career Perspectives, Interviews With Blind and Visually Impaired Professionals, by Marie Attmore. I saw this book, and thought it might give some good tips and ideas for Blind and low vision people working or looking for work. It was mildly interesting, but the title was kind of deceptive. There weren't really any interviews in this book. Instead, there were short descriptions of a person, and what they did followed by an interesting quote or thought on a topic. Some of these were interesting, but far from the interviews I was expecting. The book is short, so it might be a good book to quick check out from the library, but the next books I'd recommend reading instead.

The next book was What color is the Sun by Kenneth Jernigan. This was another pretty short book. It mainly told some stories from different Blind people and shared some thoughts on different topics. This one was a bit more interesting to read.

The most recent book I read was called What Blind People Wish Sighted People Knew About Blindness by Harry Martin. This book was a bit longer and rather interesting. It covers a variety of topics that might help sighted people understand Blindness and what to do when they encounter a Blind person. I like this book because it explains things in plain language instead of a lot of medical mumbo-jumbo. The book covers things like transportation, daily living, guide dogs, and even being a spouce of a Blind person. Some of the things I agreed with, while others I didn't so much. It was an interesting read though, and this would be the first book I'd recommend reading out of all of these.

One common theme all of these books touched on, which I totally agree with is how Blind people are just that, Blind, and nothing else. Sure there are some things we can't do like drive, fly a plane, etc, but most everything else is fair game, even many things people think we can't do. People often seem to feel cautious around Blind people, and don't talk to them like they would anyone else. Here's my thoughts on the subject.

First, I think Blind people should live a normal life like anyone else. Specialized training is very important like mobility, daily living, and technology training, but overall, I believe going to a public school is also important. Blind children shouldn't be sheltered and waited on all the time. There are definitely times where they will need help. I know when to ask for help when I can't do something, and have no problems asking for assistance. However, I grew up with a family that really pushed independence and self-reliance. If I needed something done my parents thought I could do or learn, they definitely wouldn't be doing it for me. "You want it, figure it out." is what they'd say. Of course they'd help if I had questions, but I learned a lot on my own as well, and I'm glad I did.

I also attended public school most of the time. In 7th grade I went to the ND School for the Blind for a year to learn Braille and some technology, but otherwise I went to school with everyone else in my class. This is very important because Blind people should also learn how to socialize with everyone else besides family and other Blind people. This might seem like common sense, but I've seen a lot of Blind people who really don't have good social skills simply because they never got the opportunity.

Finally, I'll briefly talk about some of the things I've done, that many people might not think Blind people would be able to do. I guess I should mention, and probably should have earlier, that I'm low vision, and not completely Blind. I have enough vision to get around pretty well by sight, watch TV and play video games, etc. I grew up on a farm, and often helped with a lot of the farm work like dealing with chickens, sheep, and cows. I didn't like it, but I did it anyway. I also biked a lot. I'd often bike to the nearest town about 3 miles away a couple times a week, and sometimes another town about 11 miles away. I also drove the ATV all the time for both work and fun. I did all kinds of crazy, probably stupid stuff, all farm kids do. I've also done some cool things I'll post about in the next post like attend the 2003 Ski For Light week in SD and the DO-IT Program at the University of Washington. These were excellent activities, and I'd recommend people looking into them for themselves or someone they know with a disability. But I'll talk more about that stuff next time. This entry is long enough already.

Well that about does it this time. If you actually made it through this entry, congratulations. Sorry it was so long this time. I'll try and keep them a bit shorter in the future. Any feedback or thoughts you might have, feel free to post them in the comments section. Till next time...