Microsoft Outlook, with or without JAWS

Most of these steps will work in Outlook 2003, but will definitely work in 2010, so if you were thinking of upgrading but were unsure how you would learn it, here are some quick easy tricks.

Microsoft Outlook – opening, reading and replying to messages with JAWS

1. Open Outlook
2. Hit the command CTRL+Y, which is the –go to folder—
3. Down arrow to inbox and hit ENTER to open
4. Your inbox opens with all the people who have written you
5. Down arrow and move through the people’s messages
6. Now up arrow to the first message
7. Down arrow again at least 5 times
8. Now, hit the command CTRL+HOME to quickly jump to the first message
9. The first message is highlighted
10. Hit ENTER and the message will open
11. INSERT+DOWN ARROW and Jaws will begin reading the whole message
12. Hit the CTRL key to stop JAWS from reading
13. CRL+HOME to get to the top of the message
14. Now, just down arrow, one row at a time so JAWS reads slower and very controlled
15. After you listen to the email hit ALT+R to reply to the message
16. The cursor is at the top of the message. Begin typing your reply
17. When you are done typing your message hit ALT+S to send
18. You land back in you inbox
19. Down arrow to the next message
20. This time hit F6 to jump to the pane at the right where the message is contained
21. Down arrow and listen to the text or INSERT+DOWN ARROW and quickly listen
22. ALT+R to reply to the message
23. The cursor is at the top of the message. Begin typing your reply
24. When you are done typing your message hit ALT+S to send
25. You land back in you inbox
26. Continue to practice

Education Nation -WHO & WHAT

There are more than 350 people meeting in New York this week to talk about the education of American children. Our nation's children are falling behind in many areas. Why is that occurring?

I have had the great pleasure of working with many incredibly dedicated teachers, but I also have parents who have actually said, "my child will not have or do homework at night." Sadly, the parents prefer not to have homework because they do not have an education and they do not want their child asking for help. When the child asks for help, it makes the parent feel inadequate. Alternatively, the child does not want to do the work because partying is far more important in their lives than studying.

I have known, unfortunately, teachers who put books in front of the kids and basically told them to just learn themselves. They have told me point blank, they are not going to learn anymore and are waiting for retirement.

I have had and have great parents that despite what is going on at school, make sure their child does their work, helps them when needed and gets them into activities to help them be well rounded.

I have also seen parents who have their children into everything and the child is overwhelmed and burned out, but will not tell the parents because they do not want to disappoint them.

I see kids putting far more importance into how they look, what they wear, and who is famous instead of thinking about the ideals of what education can do for them.

I see kids that prefer to stay up late, watch TV, and not want to come to school the next day because they are tired and the parents say okay.

I have seen children achieve despite all the other horrific things going on in their lives.

I have seen parents and schools working together to the greatest achievement of their children. A fine-tuned, well-oiled system, which involves the parents active participation with the school and their child and the parent and teacher have communication often about goals reached and new goals created.

I have seen such a wide range of reasons why or why not. I am a big believer in stopping the finger pointing and blaming everyone else and instead looking inside ourselves. As long as you point fingers and blame, that is where your energy will be going and it won't be in helping your child make the right decisions in their lives, enabling them to go on and do even better than you did.

Yes, if there are egregious errors, they must be corrected, but are you doing your part within the errors being made?

I tell my students, parents, teachers and Para educators that they do not have to know everything, just keep growing and when you do not know, ASK. Our goal is to make the next generation better than ours. That takes all of us to keep learning. Only together, helping each other and everyone doing their part, will we be able to rise above the ashes.

Are you doing your part?

JAWS, Inserting Symbols & Office 2010

Office 2003 and 2010 both offer thousands of symbols to insert into documents. However, if you were to go into the symbols option (Alt+I, then S in Office 2003) and (ALT+N, then U in Office 2010), you will see that Jaws cannot talk the majority of the symbols. However, Office 2010 offers an additional feature that has become invaluable.

Every week or so, we go through the list of symbols the students need for math class. Last week one of my students needed the angle for her geometry class. We first located it by following this path: Alt+N, then U, then M for more options, ALT+F to font, sy and down arrow to symbols and enter to open the symbols, TAB into the symbols options, down arrow to the angle and hit enter and close. Yes, an angle inserted into the document, but more importantly, it also inserted into the "20 most used symbols box." Check it out. ALT+N, then U to symbols, there in the first spot is the angle. Now JAWS will call it symbol 208. Fine for now as everyone works on accessibility issues. The student knows as they arrow around their document that symbol 208 ABC is angle ABC. JAWS will talk everything within those 20 symbols, so no sighted person is needed after the initial insertion of the 20 most needed symbols.

So the sighted person helps the blind person insert the 20 most needed symbols and the blind person now becomes independent in the class in typing our their work. Go back and insert the Greek pi π, then try inserting other symbols and notice how JAWS will talk everything within the 20 most used symbols.

Another additional feature with the symbols is when you open the symbol box, look down or TAB to the bottom and it will give you the shortcut key for the symbol, for example, if you hit these numbers and letter, using WORD, then do an Alt+X, it will turn into a pi: 03C0, Alt+X =try it, then go back and discover other shortcut keys for other symbols.

Another fast way to insert these symbols: smiley face, black smiley face, heart, diamond, club, spade, bullet, white bullet and hollow dot, is using the alt key with the numpad: alt1, alt2 and so on...try them out ☺☻♥♦♣♠•◘○

Install a Free Version of Talking Software

There are many types of talking software from PC to voice over and Snow Leopard on Mac, but the one I prefer is JAWS talking software, though Snow Leopard on Mac is coming in close.

I have used JAWS (by Freedom Scientific) since the late 1990's. Several things I appreciate greatly about the company is that they are constantly working to update their product so it is always compatible with other new products. This causes great chagrin to many as a new license runs about $1000. I highly recommend getting the SMA (software maintenance agreement), which is a fraction of the cost and can keep your software up to date far less expensively. You really need upgrades to keep up with the constantly changing software products you want on your machine and Internet.

Another huge feature of this company is the support. If you need help loading this product or it has developed a hiccup--unexpected problems while using--they will help you resolve the problem.

However, the biggest feature is the ability to go anywhere and do anything. Truly, I can go anywhere on this machine and access anything I need. They are also constantly finding more ways to access those nasty Internet sites, where web designers have no idea how to use accessibility features...well JAWS is still inaccessible there too, but the additional commands they come up with make navigating the Internet a great experience.

For the person who wants to try before they buy, you can go to this link JAWS and download a free 40-minute version for yourself right now. When you run out of time, turn off your computer and every time you turn it back on, you get 40 more minutes. Make sure you learn some of the basic commands to truly give this a go. There are several lessons in this blog to help you on your way. Even if you have an older version than JAWS12, update an additional copy anyway to try the differences. You never know, you might have an upgrade you did not even know about, When you install, if you do, JAWS will just take over the old JAWS and do the upgrade for you.

Have fun!

Learning How to Sew Blind

A blind person learning how to sew puts a new spin on the term blind stitch. I want all my students to learn to sew but it really is up to the individual. If they want to do anything, I want to find a way for them to do it. Astonishingly, I have had many students who want to learn to sew. Therefore, to set up a class, I went through lots of legwork and work and work and there will be more work in getting permission for this, but it is worth it. A class is set up where I teach the students adaptive methods.

We start with needle and thread. You can get a self-threading needle at any fabric store or online (go to self-threading needle). They made these special needles for people who had difficulty putting thread through the eye of a needle. Well, they are perfect for anyone who cannot see. Use a thimble at first also, so the child can poke the needle through the material and be able to feel the needle coming through without drawing blood on the other side. They will get to the point where the thimble is no longer needed, but to begin with, is a great tool. The basics are learning how to hem pants and sew on buttons. For practice, we take a piece of fabric and just start sewing buttons on, then when they are ready they usually have buttons they need re-sewn on their own clothes. The lesson allows them to now be able to fix their clothes.

Then we move onto the sewing machine. You can go to any sewing store and also buy a needle threader, which enables the blind person to easily thread their own needle--you can get one the size of a dime and very inexpensive to very fancy, costing much more, all work well. Next, I braille a large 11 x11 paper with lines from top to bottom: The student practices putting the sheet of paper in the sewing machine and lining up the braille line with the needle. They practice sewing the braille line repeatedly until they can sew a straight line. It does not take long. Once they have mastered that, we move onto material and a pattern. Depending on capability, it may be pillows or a skirt or vest pattern. They gain enough skills so they know if something rips, they can at least repair it.

I have had girls go onto jewelry making and design, making beautiful beaded necklaces' and bracelets. It is all a matter of attitude. If you want to do it, there is a way.

Enhance your SIGHT--see more at any distance

Think of space age technology or "Star Trek" and you describe the JORDY (Joint Optical Reflective Display)

The JORDY™ headset, "when worn like a pair of glasses, enables people with low vision to see objects at any range."

Whatever your eye condition is and you are having difficulties with seeing print, watching TV or watching people play sports, this could be the headset for you. It is not glamorous and you will need a bit of self-esteem to put it on, but it could be well worth it. Yes, people will turn and look but more out of believing you may have just beamed down from outer space.

This piece of equipment is especially advantageous for older adults who do not want to pursue learning Braille or computers or any other type of technology. It is simple and easy to use and has a small control panel that is quick to learn.

The older adults I work with find this very easy to learn and describe the above situation. They want to continue life visually and the JORDY allows them a quicker transition into options for low vision.

Low Vision- get a LARGE cursor & find it FAST

Low Vision – Increase the cursor size and add effects so you can find it FAST

1. Turn on Computer
2. Go to the Internet by clicking Find large cursor
4. Click on the link Large Color Cursors
5. When the dialog box opens, hit S for SAVE and save to your desktop so you can find it easily
6. Go to desktop and right click on it to exact the file—a wizard will automatically open and take you through the process—if you need more help, it is on the web page under this link: ScreenShots.asp
7. Now, Hit the START KEY
8. On XP, Hit C until you jump to control panel and enter to open
9. Hit M until you jump to mouse and enter to open
10. On Windows 7, after you hit the START KEY, type in MOUSE and down-arrow and enter on it
11. CTRL+TAB to pointers for both XP and 7
12. ALT+B to jump to Browse and enter to open
13. Your cursor options will open—SHIFT+TAB up into your list view of files and go to BIG CURSORS—they will start with BIG BLUE
14. Double click or arrow to and enter on the cursor you want to use
15. You will automatically go back to your pointers dialog box when you do this
16. ALT+A to apply your choice
17. Windows will ask you if you want to replace your original scheme
18. Hit y for yes and your cursor will now be the selection you choose
19. CTRL+TAB to POINTER OPTIONS
20. ALT+S to – Show location of pointer when I press the CTRL key
21. Now, if you cannot find your cursor, all you have to do is hit the CTRL key and you can immediately see it—try it now after you select this option
22. TAB to ok to close dialog box

Now you have a large cursor that you can see well. RED has been the most popular with my students. They can easily find that cursor by hitting the CTRL key. You try it now. Find your cursor quickly by hitting the CTRL key. Even if you want to use a smaller cursor, keep the CTRL key option and be able to find it FAST anytime.

Low Vision - simple ZOOM effects in WORD

Here are some Low Vision tips to see Words in Word better

1. Open Word
2. CTRL+N to open another new document, and ALT+TAB between these two documents
3. In Document1, Type: We can become bitter or better through tests and trials.
4. Hit ALT+V for view and Z for zoom
5. Up arrow to 200% and press enter
6. Your document is now at 200%
7. ALT+TAB to Document2
8. Type: There is a test in all testimonies.
9. Hit ALT+V then Z again for zoom
10. ALT+E to jump to percent that you want to increase and type in 500 and hit enter—hint: you can type any size in this box
11. Your page is now at 500%
12. ALT+TAB between both documents to compare document size
13. ALT+V, then z again and hit 1 for 100%
14. ALT+V, then z again and hit 2 for 200%

It is better to increase the zoom versus the font as the font will become distorted on the page as you type and if you forget to decrease the font size when you print it out, you will waste a great deal of paper. By increasing the zoom, you can see what you are doing and then print it out at the 12 or 14 sized font which is the typical font size of reading material.

Brailler that Talks and has Easy Keys to Press

I have taught many Little People with little fingers and many children who just did not have strong fingers because of a health condition or something similar.

Enter the Mountbatten Brailler (MB).

Even at 2 or 3 years old, young children can press these keys. It is ideal for young learners because as they press the keys, the MB will give you verbal feedback on what letter you just hit. If the braille is correct, you move on. If it is not correct, with a quick keystroke, you can erase and rebraille the letter all with one movement or you can do it in two if the child needs to work on more finger dexterity. You use paper in this brailler, so as the child brailles, he gets the verbal feedback he needs, and he can place his fingers on the braille that he just embossed on the paper, giving him that perfect cause and effect of his actions.

I have also had children who were using two fingers on each key of a regular brailler and really struggled with pressing the keys. As soon as they were put on an MB all the problems disappeared and they were able to successfully braille with ease.

So any child that needs easy keys to press and/or who needs that cause and effect of pressing a key and getting the verbal and tactile feedback they need to understand what they are doing, this could be the machine for them.

Basic Orientation & Mobility for Elementary School

As the school year begins, there are many things to do, but one of the most important at the beginning is getting our children familiar with their surroundings so they can walk anywhere they need, safely.

Ideally, they can come in before school begins the school year. That way it is quiet uninterrupted time for them to focus. I meet them in the office and we start walking to their room. As we walk, I have them touch easily identifiable parts of the wall, as my elementary kids, I know, will be running into them periodically and I want things familiar. I point out the water fountain and they take a drink feeling everything around it. The bathrooms are usually right next to it, but I want to keep them focused on walking directly to their room.

When we get to the room, I have them start at the perimeter, walking all around it, feeling all major obstacles and how to get around them when they come to them: Like the dictionary cart that perturbs about 2 yards from one wall, or where the teacher's desk area is and how to walk on the outside of it and around to the next wall. Then I have them go to the middle of the length of the wall (every wall) and walk from side to side so they get the idea of the length straight across and how big the room is. Then they start at the front of the room and walk through touching each desk so they know all placements. The names of the students will be on the desk, so they can learn where "Bobbi" or "Suzy" is sitting. At last, they will practice going from the front door to their locker, to their seat. From the teacher's desk to their seat. From Bobbi's seat to their seat and so on.

Then we walk back to the office and redo those steps until I can say, "OK, I will meet you at your room,” and they meet me there by themselves. When they do this successfully, we work on the bathrooms if they are not in the room, the cafeteria, library and so on in the building. Practicing one path at a time until success, then adding more. Then we go outside and practice these redundant skills until they are comfortable walking anywhere in and outside of school. This usually occurs over several days and that is best for their knowledge base to grow accordingly.

I am not O&M certified but I have been in so many areas where there were none. Fortunately, I have many classes in O&M and only lack a few credits from certification. I believe all Teachers of the blind need this type of background so if there is no one, we can at least be teaching the basics so our children can get to where they need to go, with confidence and safety.

Making PDF Files Accessible

Can I see a raise of hands of how many of us wanted to scream at inaccessible PDF files? I see 100% of our hands on the site.
For those of you who are not sure what PDF files are, they are files you open and JAWS says "no text found" or "blank". They are image files of text. In general, sighted people do not know this. All they see is the text. When I open one, I see a picture of words and then it is my quest to put it into text for talking software to read.

Yesterday, some of my most gifted Protechs-who used to be paras but have gained that training that has made them highly skilled, came to my place. I love it when people can come to my home as I have many tools of the trade that people can immediately see and use to their benefit. One of the main topics was how to access those PDF files. Most books come electronically or downloaded from the Internet, but they are in PDF format. They had been putting these through a scanner to process them into text, which was taking vast hours and one Protech was assigned to the task because of the quantity of students they have.

With a big smile, I said. let me show you something faster that will save you hours. I had one of those inaccessible PDF files sitting on my desktop from a teacher's email the day before. It was in Spanish however, which makes the scenario even worse. With a quick START KEY+M to access my desktop then an A (first letter of the icon I was going to) to access the PDF file, I hit that applications key (see lesson on this key in blog) and down arrow to open with, right arrow and down arrow to choose default program (now once you have your options in this menu, you can automatically go to it and if you arrow around you will see other programs there, most likely Adobe or other PDF programs) Once I open the dialog box, I go to browse and pick the program Openbook--Kurzweil will do this also. I hit enter a couple of times to confirm everything and the PDF file is immediately opened into Openbook.

I turn around from my desk and all mouths are open then a huge burst of smiles. I LOVE that! Making life easier for someone! They all immediately got the vast hours of time that would be saved using this method and couldn't wait to get back to school to tell the others.

In another method that will open many otherwise inaccessible PDF files is a Gmail email account. I send these PDF files to my Gmail as an attachment. When I open it, bring up links, I hit v for view and open a view of it in the internet. Once this is open, you can go to view option and view it as an HTML document. VIOLA, within seconds you have text that Jaws will read. VERY VERY fast...and free.

Of course, you always have the options of buying a PDF file converter. That lesson is for another time.

JAWS Power Keys

Have you ever gone to a page and sat there wondering what you should do to get to where you want to go. Have you ever been ready to shoot your computer because you hit a key and it got you lost on the URL express highway? Well, here is a way for you to take control of JAWS and get him to do what you want to do.

On any page, you go to, and for now as a learner, any page...you need to hit INSERT+F1. The command will give you all the keystrokes of that page. It will tell you information that you need to know to get around and do what you want to do.

Next, when you open an Internet page and JAWS starts gabbing along, just know that his cursor is moving very quickly down that page. That typical command that you use and sometimes does or does not work is because the cursor has moved beyond that command. So hit the CTRL key to shut him up. Get him to the top with a CTRL+HOME. Now your cursor is at the top of the page and you can move according. In the Internet, hit the letter H to jump to your headings, then SHIFT+H to move back. Bring up your links and notice that you are exactly in your links as where you are on a header. If you stop some place in a page, your links will follow your cursor, or vice versa. CTRL+HOME again. Now it B for button and move through finding all the different buttons; CTRL+HOME; Now hit; and move to your landmarks.

Now INSERT+6. Major commands are here to tell JAWS what you want done. For now, just TAB and arrow around to see all the features. A lesson could easily be written everywhere you stop in this dialog box.

Practice taking control with the above commands to start on your journey of "Being the Boss of JAWS"

Applications Key is Faster than the Mouse

Many people do not know that this key even exists. It is very powerful and enables you to move around your computer quickly, giving it commands and taking control in every window. I am talking about the APPLICATIONS key, if you do not have one, SHIFT+F10 works also. The applications key is like hitting your right click on a mouse to get sub-menus. On a desktop, it is the third key from the right of the space bar...on laptops; well it can be any place, so hunt it down, either on the bottom or top of the right side of the keyboard.

Let's practice some commands to see this power. START KEY+M to minimize everything on your computer: all your windows drop to the task pane and you now have access to the desktop icons. Hit the letter J for JAWS. If you are not a JAWS user, hit the letter of any icon on the desktop. You jump to the icon and it is highlighted, hit your applications key and up arrow to properties. TAB to shortcut key and hit the letter J. CTRL+ALT will automatically be inserted with the letter J. If you are doing an icon other than Jaws, hit the letter of the program you want to make a hotkey for, but be aware you can not use the same letter as another keystroke that has been used. ENTER to close the box. You have now made a hotkey or shortcut key for JAWS. Turn off Jaws with insert+F4; now turn him back on with CTRL+ALT+J. So when JAWS gets a nasty hiccup on you in the middle of going somewhere, turn him off and turn him back on and the hiccup disappears.

Next magic: Open Word. Misspell a word. Arrow into the misspelled word and hit your applications key. You will have the correctly spelled word in the list (if you did not butcher the word too badly---WORD needs to have the spelling somewhat close to figure out what you wanted). Misspell several more words to see the power in this key.

Now let's make a list. Type the word cat, hit ENTER, type dog, hit ENTER, type fox. NOW, shift+up arrow and select all those words. Hit your applications key. If using Office 2010 , hit N for numbering and right arrow to the number and enter and everything will be automatically numbered. For Office 2003, after you hit the applications key, hit n for bullets and numbering, CTRL+TAB to Numbered and right arrow to numbers and enter to select. Your list is now automatically numbered.

Hit your applications key again and down arrow through all your options to see what is available to you every time you hit that key. It will change as you go through different windows.

Lessons to help you learn more, click on link below


technology help

Control Your Computer Using Your Voice

Are you one handed and wish you could type faster? Are you missing your hands or arms? Are your hands shaky and it is difficult to type? If you have any difficulty typing at all, this may be a solution for you.

Office 2003 does have a speech recognition built into it to use. You speak and the computer types out what you are saying.

However, Windows 7 has taken a leap in speech recognition abilities. By speaking to your computer, you can get it to open any menu and go anywhere. You can dictate letters, do your homework and print it off or go into the Internet and email it. You can surf on the Internet and scroll through pages of information. With a quick "Start Listening”, the computer listens to your voice and commands. With a "Stop Listening”, the computer stops listening.

If you are using talking software, you will need assistance in setting up the program as nothing else can be talking while you are training the program. Once the computer gets to know your voice, you can control it anyway you need. If you want to dictate in Word, you will need to limit JAWS ability to talk until you want him to, a quick hit of the CTRL key is enough to control him, but you may want to restrict him even more. You begin talking and a dialog box opens where you say all your sentences. Once you finish dictating, you say "insert" and the text is inserted into the document, you can make corrections as needed with F7 to spell check with Jaws.

Click on this link to go to: Common commands in Speech Recognition

If you need a really serious program that packs all the power of combining speech to text then giving feedback with JAWS (as they actually work together), go to JSAY

The Emotional Toll of Passing as "Sighted"

Many of my low vision students could tell the next story, but Jody W. Ianuzzi has shared her personal experience with me that fits so many. She has gone through the experience "passing as sighted, of not using a cane and not learning blind skills" and how it almost killed her and her 4 year old son from not seeing a car. She has come out the other end to confidently travel and do anything she needs with blind skills. She now has a son 36 years old and a 26 year old daughter, who can attest to her "trying to pass as sighed."

Trying to pass as sighted takes a "tremendous emotional toll" on a person, as Jody explains, "They feel they have a horrible secret to hide and if it is found out they feel like they are a failure. They feel they must pick between being an incompetent blind person or a competent sighted person. They don't realize they can be a competent blind person with skills to succeed. So much effort goes in to 'passing skills' they miss out on learning the blindness skills they really need to succeed. Then when they can't succeed as sighted, they hate themselves and they feel like a failure.

I got past all this myself but it took years. I look back and I am angry at my parents and teachers for not teaching me what I needed to learn and for expecting me to be something I was not. On one hand, peope did not label me as blind, and was allowed to do more because I was passing and did not have that blind label follow me! Children labeled blind are often restricted on what they can do because the ignorance of those over them stops them. My self-esteem is intact now, but at what price. I know other blind people who had the same experience growing up in the 60s and they didn't do as well emotionally."
-- Thank you Jody for this except

Changing an Administrators Mind about Services

It is easier to change the mind of an administrator if they have no past experience working with teachers of the blind or blind students. However, even if they had and did not have a good experience, this is a way to change their minds to get more services and tools for the blind students in the district.

I have hundreds of videos and pictures from the last 20 years of children working on all sorts of equipment, reading braille, flying on a slate n stylus and using dozens and dozens of different types of technology that has enabled them to find their independence and succeed in school. I have walked into meetings with as many as 50 special education directors of all types of experiences and turned on a light bulb of understanding that burned through the room by showing these videos of blind and deaf/blind students on the technology that helped them.

After the general meetings, I go independently to the directors and talk to them about their students and what they need. They have me make a list of the equipment, where to get it and the cost. Because the videos have come from me and they know I can teach the tool, they are not concerned it will sit in a closet and collect dust--this is one reason why administrators can be hesitant about ordering expensive technology-it gets ordered and no one knows how to use it. Orders are placed, equipment comes in, and it gets setup and the students start learning...exponentially.

Because there is only one of me, I have both the Para educator and student there learning the lesson, so they can help each other when I am not there. As typical, the blind students learn the commands very quickly and it is them that are helping the Para educators learn their skills.

The directors will come around and observe us working, but I have changed the observation into lessons. The director sits at the computer and I have one of my students give them a lesson on the computer using talking software. I love it when the student begins the lesson by placing their hand on the mouse and saying: "We will just be getting rid of the mouse"...and they move it behind the computer. I have had students take the director through scanning, embossing, brailling, and all types of computer lessons. With this knowledge, the directors will help you as the teacher of the blind get the necessary equipment that is needed.

Start collecting those videos and pictures. BUT FIRST make sure you have a signed statement from the parents saying this is ok.

Coming to Grips with your Child Losing Sight

I believe the parents take it harder than the child about losing sight or being born blind. I have been in so many meetings where the mom is sobbing and the father sits stoically as they listen to the vision loss report. I have had moms stand up in the meeting and shout "My son is NOT blind!" and the dad turns away. I have simulation glasses of vision loss and have moms refuse to look through them because then they would have to admit their child really does NOT see well. I have had parents tell their child "you see well enough so try harder to see better." I have seen depression climb on top of a child and bring them to the lowest points in their lives over the fact they cannot see as well as their parents want them too. I have both sides of the story because the kids talk to me about what they cannot talk to their parents about. I see and hear what the parents are telling the kids every day. I have also noticed that the child gets their attitude from the parents about sight loss. Children want to please their parents, even if it hurts themselves in the process.

I also have parents who accept the low vision diagnosis and both parents and child go full into learning both low vision skills and blind skills to get the best of both worlds and become confident in all abilities. These children go onto become confident in who there are, as they know they can't see well, but can see an enlarged map with magnification, while reading from a braille book and typing their answers out on a computer with talking software.

I have had parents and children who are very low vision or even have moderate vision loss try to pass as sighted. Let me tell you that EVERYONE else knows you can't see well, so evoke pity from others as you try to fool yourself. They see the large print books on your desk with your nose 2 inches from the paper. They see you cannot do all your work or your work in general. They see you trip in the halls. They see you hunched over while you walk to find your way. Everyone is seeing that. Alternatively, they see that you are a confident traveler with a cane standing straight and tall. They see you easily reading braille books sitting up straight. They see your fingers on the computer, typing faster than the wind and outputting work faster than they. They see you as proud of who you are and what you are achieving. For a great story on one's own personal experience with low vision attitude, click on this link Customize Your Cane

With the parents who see blindness as a characteristic and not as a travesty and that their child will just need different tools to succeed in life, the child is well adjusted and learns along with her peers. People STOP seeing you as "this poor blind person," and begin being very impressed with your abilities and who you are becoming.

THINK about what attitude you are projecting

How to Acquire a Free Computer and other Blind Tools

Every district I have gone in to, the children do not have computers, or I had a couple students who had computers but no idea how to use them.

My first quest is to get computers to every child and into every child's home: Nothing fancy, the basic machine will do. I start with the quest for desktop computers because they are the most prevalent. I want children to go from starting work at school, saving it to a memory card, taking it home and finishing the work.

I also know that these children will test the stamina of this machine, so, in general, I never seek out new machines. I don't want anyone to feel badly when it goes down and it will for any number of reasons.

I place an ad in the local newspaper or send out requests in my email looking for machines. I will take any type of PC. If I take in many machines, then I can take from one machine and add to another where something is broken. Then I end up with one good machine. The communities have always been very generous and most had this machine sitting in a corner and they had replaced it with a new one so they were grateful to get rid of it. I always tell them that I wipe the machines clean and I do for everyone's safety. As much as I would like to say all my students are angels...they are not, or they have a sibling that is not. This is usually the case. It is the sibling that ruins the computer...so just a head's up on that one.

Give your youngest to oldest student one of these coputers to practice those touch-typing skills. Once the student has gone through a couple years with this machine and they have proven they are responsible with it, and have successfully kept their siblings away from it, we head to groups that can help them purchase their own tools, especially if they are ready to graduate. Lions Clubs have always been a great resource; where the parents work, their companies have yearly budgets of giving, Microsoft donates thousands of machines all over and so many other avenues, but also people in the community who want to help in some way. They are retired and looking for worthy people who could use their financial support.

I want the student to be working for this equipment somehow also. It is hard to perfect this because you are depending on others to get the child where they need to be in order to help around the company who gave the money or help the couple who bought the equipment. More than anything so many of our students have not gained even the most basic skills of how to sweep a floor or do basic cleaning.....this issue is for another time---parents doing too much for their child

The child acquires the new technology, which is now something portable like a laptop, braille note, etc. that they can take anywhere. The school districts see this is the equipment they need and provide it at school for them. I can tell you that administrators are concerned about buying expensive equipment because so often something is bought then not used because no one knows how to use it. If you can show the school district you have the knowledge to teach it and know where to get it fixed, you will have a lot of support behind you.

So go put an ad in a paper, send an email, bring some basic computers in and start teaching those touch-typing skills with a free download of JAWS talking software to get them going. Alternatively, if you are blessed with a rich relative, tools make a great Christmas, Hanukkah or birthday gift.

Quick Scan, Spell Check and Translate into Braille

Quick Lesson on scanning, spell checking and using a braille translation program: You need a scanner that is configured correctly to open in Word in addition to its other features, Duxbury braille translation program. Click on highlight words above which are links to find these programs.

1. Place the sheet of printed text on the scanner. If the scanner was configured correctly then open WORD, you should have a feature under your File menu (if you are using office 2003) Office 2010 deleted this feature so scan using your scanner options.
2. In Office 2003, hit ALT+F to go to your file menu and down arrow and you will see scan (with whatever OCR program you have) and enter and it will scan into WORD (if this is not configured correctly just call in the school tech and they can config this for you)
3. If you have Office 2010, scan then copy and paste the document from your scanning OCR program into WORD to spell check--CTRL+A to select all, CTRL+C to copy, go to WORD and CTRL+V to paste
4. Hit F7 to do a spell check, which will quickly take you through the corrections (ALT+C in spell checker to say change or backspace over the mistakes and type the correct word in then alt+c to change your correction)--far faster than doing it by hand--when finished with spell check--you can save it but this next way is faster right now. Do a CTRL+A to select all of the text, then do a CTRL+C to copy it
5. Open Duxbury, do a CTRL+N for new and enter on print layout,
6. To enlarge windows quickly do a START KEY+UP ARROW--it works faster than even ALT+SPACE then hitting x--this will give you a full visual field
7. Hit the command ALT+2 for contracted braille
8. Then hit CTRL+V to paste the text
9. CTRL+T to translate and it translates into contracted braille
10. CTRL+E to emboss--if embosser is not configured correctly, call your school tech people also to configure it correctly

Practice those hotkey commands again to remember them

Quick Easy Internet Commands to Know

For all those who are a bit unsure about accessing the Internet, I want you to try these few commands

Computer and JAWS 11 or 12 on--do not try this with an older JAWS--it will not work well, you need to upgrade (you can download a free 40 minute demo in the meantime)
Open Internet Explorer (IE). In general, you can do a START KEY+M to access your desktop and hit the letter I until you come to Internet Explorer and ENTER to open--try that feature first.
Once IE is open
ALT+D to jump to your address bar. It is highlighted, so type in google.com and enter to open Google (you can do all these commands up to this point even without JAWS)
JAWS will hopefully say, "edit, type a text" if it did not say that, hit the letter e until you hear something close to that and enter for forms mode on--a form is an area where you can type information
Type: blue angels and enter to open selection
Hit the letter H for headings to jump to each heading--you will hear your search choice, landmarks then your headings
Keep hitting H several more times
Now hit SHIFT+H to go backward until you reach: Blue Angels: Official site and enter to open--listen for awhile and then we will go somewhere else
That is only one way to do this
Now CTRL+O to open a dialog box
type: gmail.com and ENTER to open
You are now in gmail to set up an account if you want or sign in if you have an account
ALT+F4 to close all windows
START KEY+M to access your desktop and hit the letter I until you come to Internet Explorer and ENTER to open
ALT+D to go to your address bar and type in: hj.com and ENTER to open
Freedom scientific now opens
Bring up your links with insert+f7 and hit the letter d for downloads and enter to open
Next page, bring up your links again with insert+f7 and hit j to listen to where jaws link is, then down arrow to Real Speak voices and enter to open
TAB through this page and try out all the real speak voices by hitting enter on the voice and a media player will open and play the voice
After you listen to the voice close it with, CTRL+F4 and TAB to next voice
When you find a voice you like, just TAB to the download button after the voice you like and ENTER to begin download. Just follow the wizard and the real speak voice will automatically install in your JAWS
ALT+F4 to close out of everything when done