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Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
Show Notes:
Alisa Brownlee — RESNA 2014 in Indianapolis www.RESNA.org/conference
Robotic furniture brings the dinner table to you – CNET http://buff.ly/1lG7vUw
Getting started with ARIA – The Accessibility Project http://buff.ly/1lG74cN
Accessibility and Technology Take Center Stage at the 2014 Ability Summit – Microsoft Accessibility Blog – Site Home – MSDN Blogs http://buff.ly/1jGiVMi
Universal Design Can Improve Voting for Disabled Voters – Kansas City infoZine http://buff.ly/Sk4emB
Mac keyboard shortcuts – Matt Gemmell http://buff.ly/1lRe6N2
Wegmans, Kroger add Caroline’s Cart | Community Service content from Supermarket News http://buff.ly/1lRczGQ
Vitality-About GlowCaps and GlowPacks http://buff.ly/Sk0Ms7
App: Dice World www.AppleVis.com
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——-transcript follows ——
ALISA BROWNLEE: Hi, this is Alisa Brownlee, and I’m the conference chair for the 2014 RESNA conference, and this is your Assistive Technology Update.
WADE WINGLER: Hi, this is Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana with your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up-to-date on the latest developments in the field of technology, designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs. Welcome to episode number 156 of Assistive Technology Update. It’s scheduled to be released on May 23 of 2014. RESNA is coming to Indy. We are the media sponsor for the event, and we’ve been talking about it a lot. Today we have an interview with Alisa Brownlee, who is the conference chair this year, and she’s going to give you some details about what you can expect at the RESNA event in Indianapolis this summer.
Also we have information on aria and web accessibility; how universal design can improve accessibility for voting; some really cool Mac keyboard shortcuts; and an app called Dice World from AppleVis.
We hope you’ll check out our website at www.eastersealstech.com. Shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAProject, or give us a call on our listener line, ask your questions, give us your feedback. That number is 317-721-7124.
Have you ever thought of your coffee table as a robot and an accessibility tool? Well there’s a group of scientists in Switzerland at the bio robotics laboratory who are creating a thing called Roombots. Roombots are modular, robotic balls that can roll around and join with furniture to make it mobile. So there’s a picture on CNET, and I’ll pop a link in the show notes where you can see it, where they are taking furniture and they are adding these Roombots, little robotic balls that will roll around and let it move, go where it needs to go, raised to an appropriate height and go back. They are programmable, and they have the intention to be able to bring a table to somebody with a disability and make it adjustable height and move around the room and maybe even take your dishes away when you’re done eating. Again I’ll pop a link in the show notes and you can check out this new, promising idea about robotic furniture designed to bring the dinner table to you.
The web is changing, and accessibility is a big part of that. Have you heard of Aria? Aria is the Assistive Rich Internet Application specification that comes from the W3C, the folks who make the will about how the Internet works. There is a great, new blog post from Monica over at the A11Y project. That’s the accessibility project. It’s a Github site where developers are talking about accessibility stuff all the time. They talk about the attributes, the roles, states, and properties and maybe even more important, when to use Aria. They provide some examples on how you can learn more about how to make your dynamic web content more accessible. I’m going to pop a link into the show notes and you can learn more about how to get started with Aria.
Just last month, Microsoft had their second ability summit. They had their first one in 2010 and only 80 people got together at Microsoft to talk about accessibility in technology and disability. But just last month, they had another accessibility summit where hundreds of people including employees, politicians, disability rights advocates, educators, public officials and more, got together for a full day. There were panels, talks come and he rewards family. Governor J Ensley and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella were all there, and they spent some time talking and forecasting about the importance of accessible technology for people with disabilities. I’ve got a post here from the block at MSDN and I’m going to include that in the show notes so you can learn more about what happened at the accessibility summit at Microsoft.
Here in the US, we often take it for granted that we have the ability and the rights to go to the polls and vote to influence our social situation. Well, I’m looking at an article from the Kansas City Infozine entitled, “Universal design can improve voting for disabled voters.” There’s an interview with Mark A. Riccobono, who is the executive director of the Jernigan Institute at the NFB, and he recalls some of his early voting experiences that didn’t give him the independence that he was looking for, and then goes on to talk about in this article about how some of the assistive technology and universal design that might make voting more accessible. Some of the things that they talk about is a voting joystick designed to help folks who have mobility challenges to better handle the ballot, and then also an iPad app with a special stand that might make voting also more accessible. I’m going to stick a link in the show notes over to this blog post and you can read more about accessibility, universal design, and voting.
I use Apple products a lot. I spend most of my time working on a Macintosh computer, and I was recently turned onto a blog post by Matt Gammel about Mac keyboard shortcuts. Now, a quick note of disclaimer, this is a highly graphical blog post so it’s not going to probably work very well with a screen reader, but for those who are relying on the visual side of Mac shortcuts, it’s a great cheat sheet that has dozens and dozens of keyboard commands. It talks about how to navigate using the keyboard, advanced features of the Spotlight searching, how to customize keyboard shortcuts, working with save sheets, how to handle your email box with key shorts, ways to use a dictionary and looking up words, as well as typing special characters and emoji. Check our show notes. I’ll have a link to this very extensive list of Mac keyboard shortcuts.
Here on Assistive Technology Update, we get our news from all kinds of sources. A good friend of mine on Facebook said, “Hey, Wade, you got to check out this thing called Caroline’s Cart that’s coming to Wegmans and Kroger grocery stores.” Now I stop at Kroger here in central Indiana, and apparently that grocery chain as well as Wegmans and some others are adding a thing called Caroline’s Cart to their grocery cart lineup. Now, I have little kids in my house, and it’s pretty common for me to go to the grocery store and set my kiddo and the child section of the cart. You know, they face you and their legs hanging down in front of you.
Well, Caroline’s Cart is a modified version of the shopping cart that can accommodate a person up to 250 pounds and it has a lock mechanism on it so that it can be stopped. It basically allows somebody to sit facing the rear of the cards and face the person pushing the cart but a lot larger child. If you have a smaller person with a disability or a kid with a disability who is a little too big for a standard shopping cart, but you still want to put in that situation, Caroline’s Cart is a thing to do.
So I’m going to pop a link in the show notes over to an article from supermarket news and it shows a picture and a description of Caroline’s Cart and maybe this is coming to a store near you. Check our show notes.
NARRATOR: Life is busy. It’s no wonder half of us forget to take a prescription medication. If only there was a tool to help.
WADE WINGLER: And what you’re hearing there is an excerpt from a web-based video about a product called GlowCap. Now, you guys might have known about this for a while, but I just learned about this prescription bottle cap that can work with your pharmacist and the quantity of pills in your bottle to remind you and let you know that it’s time to take medicine. It can make a sound, it can blink a light, it can even let you know on your smartphone when you forget to take your medication. Then there’s even a button right there on the pill bottle to order a refill so that you’ll have more medication because you’re taking it on time.
It’s from vitality.net, and it’s an interesting thing that works with CVS, Walgreens, and other retail pharmacies. Again, it’s called GlowCap, and I’m going to pop a link in the show notes and you can learn more about this cool device to help people remember to take their medicine.
For the first time ever, the annual RESNA conference will be in Indianapolis, Indiana, right here in our backyard. It’s going to be June 11 through the 15th of 2014 in downtown Indianapolis, and we have asked some of the folks at RESNA to call in and let us know what they are excited. So here’s one of those calls.
RICK SIMPSON: Hi, this is Rick Simpson, and I’d like to encourage you to join us for the RESNA conference the summer. I’m excited about the scientific platform sessions and hope you’ll join me there. Visit www.RESNA.org/conference to learn more and register.
WADE WINGLER: Each week, one of our partners tells us what’s happening in the ever-changing world of apps, so here’s an App Worth Mentioning.
SCOTT DAVERT: From AppleVis.com, I’m Scott Davert with this week’s App Worth Mentioning. This week were going to take a little break from the more serious apps that are in the News category or maybe the Productivity category and were going to talk about an app that’s a game. This game is Dice World. Dice World is a free download in the Apple App Store as well as the Android Google Play store. It’s fully accessible for those who use voiceover or braille displays.
Dice World consists of four games. They’re all dice games of course, that’s where the game gets its name from. Those games are Farkle, Yatzy, Balut, and Pig. What’s really great about this suite of games is that you can play head to head with as many people as you want. I know a lot of people who actually play of different games. It’s actually a great educational tool, because it’s fun and it also allows people to play games while learning how to use their iDevices.
As I said, the app is free, although there is a $.99 charge if you wish to have the ads removed which I did, because after each turn, there is a pop-up ad that you have to dismiss before you can take next turn or play your next game, which gets removed. This app has been accessible for quite some time, and the developer is very dedicated to making sure that it stays that way.
For more information about Dice World, you can check it out in the App Store. If you’d like to hear a podcast from a voice over user’s perspective on Dice World, you can check out AppleVis.com. We also have an interview with one of the developers of Dice World. If you’d like more information about accessibility for those who are blind, low vision, or who are deaf/blind who use Apple devices, whether that be the iPad or the Mac or any of the others, or the associated application with either platform, feel free to check that out as well paired again, the website is AppleVis.com. From AppleVis.com, I’m Scott Davert.
WADE WINGLER: So I’m so excited about this summer. I’ve got a lot of things going on this summer related to family and vacations and work and those kinds of things. But one of the things that I’m terribly excited about is the fact that the RESNA conference is coming to Indianapolis. Now most of you know that the INDATA Project is housed in the central Indiana. We’re on the northeast side of Indianapolis. But in June at the JW Marriott, which is one of the nicer hotels in downtown Indianapolis, the RESNA conference is going to come and it’s the first time that we had this conference or any major assistive technology conference that we didn’t put on here in Indianapolis.
So we are excited today to have Alisa Brownlee on Skype, and she is the conference chair for RESNA’s 2014 conference. We’re going to talk about that a little bit today. Alisa, are you there?
ALISA BROWNLEE: I am. Thank you.
WADE WINGLER: Good. I know we’ve had a little trouble with Skype so far, so I’m hoping the connection will hold up, and if not, we’ll switch over to the telephone. Can you first tell us a little bit about your role and then we’re going to talk about the conference and what’s coming up?
ALISA BROWNLEE: Sure. I am the conference chair for the 2014 RESNA conference. I chair a meetings committee, which is made up of a variety of different RESNA members from all different backgrounds. We are responsible for planning the content for the workshops, the instructional courses, the plenary sessions, and the social sessions. We are also real fortunate to have a local committee, which you sit on, to help us educate our RESNA members about what’s available in Indianapolis and what is there to do fun and make sure that they have a great time attending this conference.
WADE WINGLER: And I’m confident the folks are going to have a great time at the conference. I’m having a good time being involved in a local planning committee. That a lot of fun. Can you tell us a little bit of the logistical things, kind of the when, where, how and that sort of stuff related to the conference?
ALISA BROWNLEE: Sure. This year’s annual RESNA conference is June 11-15, and as you said, it is in Indianapolis, Indiana, at the JW Marriott. As normal, as a RESNA conference, we have a jampacked three day event with over 40 workshop sessions. We have three plenary speakers, workshop sessions, poster sessions, and a whole lot of time to network with your RESNA members and friends.
If attendees can arrive a few days early, we have a preconference session which is scheduled for June 11-12, and that will include the two day fundamentals in assistive technology course, and an additional nine instructional courses that take place on June 12.
One of the events that I’m really looking forward to is the CanWheel open meeting, which is Thursday, June 12, at 1:30. I encourage everyone to try to attend this event. CanWheel is a Canadian government-funded project to improve power mobility for older adults. The CanWheel team is comprised of 15 clinical researchers and scientists from across Canada, and they will be on hand to provide an overview of the project and describe their interdisciplinary approach to enhance the health, functioning, and quality of life for older wheelchair users. And we know we have a society of folks that are aging, so this is really important for RESNA members to understand about the power mobility issues with older adults. It’s also a great opportunity for an international collaboration and discussion of this important issue. So arrive early if you can to take advantage of it.
WADE WINGLER: And that sounds like an interesting event. A lot of times we don’t necessarily think of aging in the field of assistive technology. But you’re right; it certainly is becoming an important thing.
ALISA BROWNLEE: Correct. I think this is really going to be an interesting discussion. I’m really looking forward to it. There are many of the reasons to come to RESNA. First of all, it’s an Indianapolis, as you said. Indianapolis was named by the New York Times as the top place to visit in 2014. It really does have something for everyone. Attendees can go listen to the blues at the Slippery Noodle, which is one of the top blues club in the country, taste the legendary shrimp cocktail at Cinema steakhouse St. Elmo’s Steak House, and drive a race car around the iconic Indianapolis Motor Speedway. We also have heard that they can hop a gondola. Really? A gondola?
WADE WINGLER: In Indianapolis.
ALISA BROWNLEE: And floats through the city on the central canal.
WADE WINGLER: That’s exactly right. You can do that.
ALISA BROWNLEE: Well, it sounds really exciting. In addition to having fun, RESNA offers a lot of CEU’s for this conference. So the conference registration includes your CEU costs. So for the general conference, attendees can earn up to 1.5 CEU’s, depending on how many sessions they attend. Of course, if you want more CEU’s, you can come in for the preconference instructional courses. The registration fees for this year’s RESNA conference are still at $390. We have not changed that price in the past, at least three or four years.
WADE WINGLER: Wow.
ALISA BROWNLEE: That $390 is good until May 10. That’s when the earlybird deadline expires. So if you’re going to register, please do it by May 10 to save some money. And this year, as an added bonus, United airlines is offering discounted fares for conference attendees. So if you get onto the RESNA website, and you go under conference, you will see a link to United Airlines, and there’s a code that you put in when you order your ticket.
This year’s conference, in addition to the 40+ workshops and the instructional courses, we are also doing a few things that we have never done before. So we are offering a plenary — the opening plenary speaker is Sam Schmidt. Sam is a racecar driver who raced in three consecutive Indianapolis 500s. He netted his first victory from the pole in Las Vegas Speedway, 1999. In that year, he actually finished fifth in the series points.
During the off-season, in January of 2000, when he was testing and preparation for a race, he crashed his car at the Walt Disney World Speedway and ended up being a quadriplegic. Once Sam left the hospital, he realized he was not able to drive a racecar anymore, and he needed to find a new passion, and he followed that passion. He was inspired by a paraplegic Formula One driver named Sir Frank Williams, and so with that, he founded Sam Schmidt Motorsports, which has become the most successful team in the history of the Indy Lights series, winning the 2004 series championship. So not only does he run this Sam Schmidt Motorsports, but he also established the Sam Schmidt Paralysis Foundation to further the cause of paralysis research, treatment, and quality of life issues. He’s going to be a wonderful opening speaker. We are delighted that he’s going to be there.
WADE WINGLER: I’m so looking for to that. Sam is legendary here in the Indianapolis community. Most folks know who he is and what he stands for. I’m looking for to that.
ALISA BROWNLEE: That’s going to be so exciting. Our closing speaker is Dr. Cole Galloway. Cole is the co-director of the pediatric mobility lab and design studios. He’s professor and chair of physical therapy at the University of Delaware.
Dr. Galloway began focusing on young children following a postdoctoral fellowship. His research focuses on how neuro, biomechanical behavior and environmental factors contribute to the emergence of human behaviors. His current project focuses on advancing the technology and training to assist children and adults in maximizing their daily exploration. So specifically combining low-tech and high tech into something he calls go-tech, which I love. Dr. Galloway’s lab includes adults and children interested in fashion, engineering, fiscal activity, rehabilitation and business. So it’s a wonderful mix of all those elements. He’s going to be really fascinating to listen to.
WADE WINGLER: Well, I think we have tentatively got him scheduled to also be a guest on the podcast between now and the RESNA conference, because we’ve been selected as a media sponsor. A few of our guests between now and the conference are going to be some folks were speaking at RESNA. We’re going to get maybe a sneak preview on our show with some of those folks. That’s what I know I’m looking for to.
ALISA BROWNLEE: That’s great. I think people who haven’t been to RESNA before don’t realize that we had a lot of fun at RESNA to. Let’s face it. We like to party. We kick off the conference with an opening reception which is Thursday night. We have a walkabout lunch in the exhibit halls the next day. There is also the developers’ forum, which I don’t think a lot of people know about, but it’s wonderful to set one-on-one with these engineers and assistive technologists that have developed products and talk to them about why they developed the product and what they perceive the use of this product being. I just love the developers’ forum. Then we also have an awards luncheon.
And then for social events, we have a deal with the Indianapolis Indians. We have a reserved box section for Friday, June 13. The team will be playing the Durham Bulls as a bonus, and it’s also fireworks night. So tickets are $13, plus $1.50 service fee. That’s going to be wonderful. I understand — hopefully, you can tell me if I’m right, Wade — this is right near the JW?
WADE WINGLER: It is. The first thing I’ll say is I plan to be there and bring my family, so I’m looking forward to the game. The victory field is an almost brand-new ballpark, but it’s built like an old-fashioned ballpark. You’re going to feel feel new and nostalgic when you’re there. The interesting thing about the location is you can actually stand just outside the exhibit halls at the JW Marriott and see into the outfield of the ballpark. So I have been at the JW before while there is an afternoon game going on, and between sessions, looked out the window and watched the game a bit. It’s literally across the street. If you can throw a ball to the glass window, you can throw it from the JW Marriott into the stands.
ALISA BROWNLEE: That’s awesome. That’s really awesome. It’s going to be a fun time. Saturday night, we’re doing something that we’ve never done before. We’re doing movie night. We are showing Fixed, the movie. After the movie, we’re going to have a Q&A with Gregor Wolbring. Gregor is a biochemist wheelchair writer who played a key role in developing the concept for the film and is its star. Gregor will also be our plenary speaker on the second day of the RESNA conference.
If folks don’t know about Fixed, the movie, first of all, they can go to the website. It’s fixedthemovie.com. Fixed is a movie about the science fiction of human development. From bionic limbs and neural implants to prenatal screenings, researchers around the world are hard at work developing a myriad of technologies to fix or enhance the human body. The movie takes a close look at the drive to be better than human and the radical technological innovations that may take us there. It’s really fascinating. One of the questions asked in the movie is what does the disabled mean when a man with no legs can run faster than most people in the world?
WADE WINGLER: Right.
ALISA BROWNLEE: So I think it’s fascinating. If you go on to their website, fixedthemovie.com, you can actually see a trailer for the movie, and I encourage everyone to go watch that trailer. It is just fascinating. That 10 minute trailer had me hooked in a minute. I said we have to have this.
WADE WINGLER: Absolutely.
ALISA BROWNLEE: We’re really fortunate that Gregor is going to be there. We’re also going to show the movie.
WADE WINGLER: I watched the trailer too and I am so excited. I can’t wait for that.
ALISA BROWNLEE: Isn’t it fascinating?
WADE WINGLER: It really is. It makes you think. It really does.
ALISA BROWNLEE: It really does. I’m reminding attendees that the earlybird registration is up till May 10. It’s $390. You can register www.RESNA.org.
WADE WINGLER: excellent. Now, Alisa, I understand that there is not tons of details yet, but there is an app that’s been developed for the conference?
ALISA BROWNLEE: Yes. We’re actually using a specific company. All they do is develop apps for conferences like this. It will be — the app will enable you to connect to other attendees. It will also obviously have an electronic format of the conference proceedings there, room assignments, etc. We are very excited. This is again the first time we’ve ever offered that.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. For folks were local and maybe hearing our show and maybe not interested in the entire conference, they can still come to the exhibit hall, is that right?
ALISA BROWNLEE: That’s correct. The exhibit hall is open to the public on both days, and they are free to comment, talk to the vendors, go and explore some different wheelchairs. They are welcome at any time.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. I will be there throughout the conference during the exhibit hall time, and between sessions, you might see me wandering around with my Assistive Technology Radio microphone interviewing people. Between now and the conference, we’re going to have some interviews with the pickers who are going to be there. We’re kind of building up to the conference. It’s an exciting time. One more time, if folks are interested in learning more registering, what’s the website again?
ALISA BROWNLEE: www.RESNA.org. At the top, you’ll see a pull down menu for conference.
WADE WINGLER: Excellent. Alisa Brownlee has been on our show a few times. She is the conference chair for the RESNA 2014 conference. Alisa, I appreciate you being in our show today.
ALISA BROWNLEE: Thank you, Wade.
WADE WINGLER: Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? Call our listener line at 317-721-7124. Looking for show notes from today’s show? Head on over to EasterSealstech.com. Shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAProject, or check us out on Facebook. That was your Assistance Technology Update. I’m Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana.
