ATFAQ024 – Q1. Are there free or low cost alternatives to paid screen magnifiers? Q2. Which is cheaper, buying Microsoft Office outright or via subscription? Q3. Is there a program that will allow me to view multiple calendars? Q4. Can I restore my iPhone to factory defaults without the password? Q5. How do I get my 5th grader’s text books in an accessible format? Q6. Wild card: What will driverless cars mean for people with disabilities?

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ATFAQ024-02-22-16
Show notes:
Panel: Brian Norton, Mark Stewart, Belva Smith, and Wade Wingler
Q1. Are there free or low cost alternatives to paid screen magnifiers?
Q2. Which is cheaper, buying Microsoft Office outright or via subscription?
Q3. Is there a program that will allow me to view multiple calendars?
Q4. Can I restore my iPhone to factory defaults without the password?
Q5. How do I get my 5th grader’s text books in an accessible format?
Q6. Wild card: What will driverless cars mean for people with disabilities?
Send your questions: 317-721-7124 | tech@eastersealscrossroads.org | Tweet using hashtag #ATFAQ

——-transcript follows ——

WADE WINGLER: Welcome to ATFAQ, Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions with your host Brian Norton, Director of Assistive Technology at Easter Seals Crossroads. This is a show in which we address your questions about assistive technology, the hardware, software, tools and gadgets that help people with disabilities lead more independent and fulfilling lives. Have a question you’d like answered on our show? Send a tweet with the hashtag #ATFAQ, call our listener line at 317-721-7124, or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. The world of assistive technology has questions, and we have answers. And now here’s your host, Brian Norton.

BRIAN NORTON: Hello everyone and welcome to ATFAQ episode 24. I want to welcome to the studio today Belva Smith who is our guru for all things vision related. Belva?

BELVA SMITH: Hey everybody.

BRIAN NORTON: Also have Mark, the guru of many different things but guru of mobility and cognition.

MARK STEWART: Hey everybody. Good to see you again.

BRIAN NORTON: Excellent. And Wade Wingler.

WADE WINGLER: I’m tired today. It’s middle February, a lot of snow on the ground here in central Indiana. Frankly I think we all were and more of a hibernating mood today. I drank a little coffee so we will see if that kicks in here.

BRIAN NORTON: It’s really hard to come to work when it is Presidents’ Day and all of our funding sources don’t work. Our government shuts down.

MARK STEWART: Here in central Indiana we really get all four seasons. February is the deep winter for us. People have it worse but we get to really picture a full summer and it is rough on us.

BELVA SMITH: Friday, 66 degrees.

WADE WINGLER: Good. I’m ready for that.

BRIAN NORTON: I’m raring to go after Valentine’s Day this past weekend. It was super nice. I took my girl out to McDonald’s and got a big Mac and fries.

WADE WINGLER: You big spender.

BRIAN NORTON: I know.

MARK STEWART: True story, I built a bed for my wife yesterday. That counts, doesn’t it?

BRIAN NORTON: Nice. Awesome.

WADE WINGLER: We started a different show today. It’s frequently asked questions but I’m not sure if we are going to have an assistive technology show today.

BRIAN NORTON: It is a little off-topic. Let’s get back to the regular stuff.

If you are a new listener to our show, just a little bit of information about how this show works. It is a question and answer show, so we collect questions throughout the week and then we sit around in a panel forum and we try to answer those questions as best we can. We invite everybody to give us a call if you have questions and leave those for us on our listener line at 317-721-7124. You can email us as well at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. We also monitor twitter if you send anything out with the hashtag #ATFAQ. We collect those as well. We also invite everyone, if you have feedback, if you have answers to some of the questions that we toss around here in the room, we would love to get your feedback, hear what you have to say. We will play that on the show. In fact we have folks who called in. We’re going to play some of those as well. Before moving on too far, we’ll jump into some of that.

WADE WINGLER: So we have a piece of listener feedback. Ryan is actually friend of the show who calls it occasionally. He is calling us out a little bit on what the conversation we had last week. The question was a wildcard question about an AT user who wanted to have his own assistive technology created and was going to be expensive and we had some questions about what would it be effective or not. It really got to the heart of what do you do when an AT user is looking for assistive technology or wants to have his own assistive technology created and the AT evaluator may not totally be on board with that whole situation. It was a great conversation that we had here. Here’s what Ryan had to say about it.

RYAN MALONE: How are you doing? My name is Ryan Malone calling in reference to the Assistive Technology Frequently Asked questions episode 23, which was available on February 8. I was calling about the wildcard question, because I found that discussion very interesting where we were talking about how the evaluator relates to a client that is wanting to develop their own technology and what kind of conflicts that gives the evaluator. I think that’s really significant, and you all had very appropriate and reasonable and professional responses.

I think the one thing that was not discussed is that – and this is me as a person with a disability saying it – that the ability to create and develop a technology solution for myself, and AT solution for myself, would be the ultimate form of independence, that that would be a dream. Like I wish if I had the ability and resources to develop my own technology solutions, that would be incredible. That would give me a level of independence that using tools that already exist in our mast produced could never do. I think that that’s a very real, emotional thing that I don’t think is always considered in the field. It comes from a good place, but I don’t know if we always consider that a very real emotional place that the people we serve are coming from. If you could solve your own problems, that would give a sense of passion and pride in yourself that using other tools just can’t do. That’s it, love the show, thanks guys.

BRIAN NORTON: That is great feedback. I hear him really loud and clear. The ability for folks to kind of create their own AT solutions, I agree, it would be an incredible bolster of their independence, being able to solve some of their own issues and the fact that.

BELVA SMITH: Also two things I would like to add to what he said. Number one, he probably knows what he needs better than anyone else, so if he has the mechanical engineering ability to come up with what might solve those problems, that’s amazing. And then better yet, what if what he needs helps other people? I love his comment.

MARK STEWART: Me too. I’ll accept his noting and interpretation that what he spoke about was something that was not emphasized last time. In terms of, okay, now you do bring up a great point that really hits home with me as well, that’s very interesting. The referral sources that we work with, voc rehab in Indiana, sometimes for example can be very progressive, and things like understanding that sometimes there needs to be some provision to allow for independence is included, but wait a second, what a fascinating point. Do I, do they always think – can we not provide the technology and then teach them to teach themselves, but can we actually provide the components to the technology to allow them to develop it themselves and go through the process? I wouldn’t say that we are always thinking that progressively. That’s really fascinating.

BRIAN NORTON: Right. I think we all, in evaluations and as we work with folks, are consumer focused, and we seek input and look for feedback and we want them to be actively involved in the process. But going back to what you’re saying, Mark, the development of assistive technology and how that all works, that’s an interesting perspective.

MARK STEWART: I don’t have much except one example that might stir something up with someone else. Aren’t there being more tools that are coming around that will allow these things? For example, 3D printers? Where it will be, as long as the mindset is there, it’s like wait a second, there now are cost-effective things that will do mind blowing things.

BRIAN NORTON: Things are getting easier and easier.

BELVA SMITH: Are harder and harder however you want to look at it.

BRIAN NORTON: But I think of webpage development. A few years ago you had to be a programmer and do all this kind of stuff. Now there is a webpage in a box. You get into a templated website development tool and you pull things from here and there and everywhere to make these really sophisticated looking webpages, but they were pretty basic in the background as long as you can pull in the different elements you want.

***

BRIAN NORTON: So we have another piece of feedback. This is from John. John just had some information about the show, thinks that he has gathered along the way.

JOHN WINSTROP: Good morning. My name is John and I’m calling from Maryland. I just wanted to let you all know how much I enjoyed both shows. A lot of times the information is very interesting but is not usable for me. I am a completely blind and partially deaf person, but but I enjoy all of the programs, especially the last ATFAQ episode 23. I thought that was the best discussion you had. I really have no questions at this time, but I have a couple in the back of my mind I’ll formulate more specifically. I’ll be back on the phone. I just wanted to express my thanks for your podcast. I live in a remote area, so there’s not much services here. In fact, as strange as it seems, I do not know personally another blind person in my area. I am supported by Salisbury Maryland, but that is more of a blind industry approach. At my age, I’m not interested in that, but I do have a lot of needs. I was supported by the federal program with very nice equipment, but sometimes the equipment doesn’t tell you a exactly how to use it. That’s why I like your podcast. Have a great day.

BRIAN NORTON: That’s just a great example of a listener of ours giving us some feedback. If you guys have feedback like that, we would love to hear it. If you have questions, obviously don’t help hesitate to send us those questions. Hopefully John will call us back and have some questions for us. We would love to be able to gather together and try to answer those.

***

BRIAN NORTON: Without further ado, we will jump into some questions for today. The first question is, are there any free or low-cost alternatives to Zoom Text, but which is a screen magnification software. The person recycles used computers and would like to offer free screen magnification as an option to the folks that they provide computers to. They mentioned that their computers have Windows 7 on them. I would assume processing speed and RAM and hard white hard drive space aren’t really an issue. He specifically mentioned Windows 7. I’ll throw the out there for folks.

BELVA SMITH: Over the years, I have looked for a free program similar to Zoom Text. Unfortunately I have not found one yet that I found to be suitable for someone who may need some Zoom Text. For this particular question, I guess my first recommendation would be to use the accessible features that are in Windows which would be the magnifier, and of course you can also do some of the screen enhancements. So that would be my first one. I did find a website, and I’m sure Wade can put this in the show notes. I probably won’t remember it. Its List of Freeware. They have 10 of the top best screen magnifiers. However, keyword in that sentence is screen magnifiers. Zoom Text is not just a screen magnifier. These programs are not going to probably offer the enhancements that Zoom Text would offer, but they are alternatives to the Windows magnifier.

BRIAN NORTON: I think you will be hard fast hard-pressed to find something as robust as Zoom Text is for the computer. There are others, magic, expensive and costs the same.

BELVA SMITH: He is doing refurbished computers. What I would also suggest, and I think this is reasonable, perhaps if you find an individual who really does benefit or need the Zoom Text, go ahead and put the demo on there. That way they can get 60 days of use of the Zoom Text is software and then maybe they can purchase it themselves or get it for a birthday or Christmas or find some means of purchasing it.

BRIAN NORTON: Right. I know in Windows 7, the screen magnifier, it’s not going to blow your socks off, but it does have some good functionality. You can do different views, magnifying glass, full view. It has some basic features. I think the challenge with some of that free stuff is what I think Zoom text and many of the other ones bring, is some real clarity, so that when you blow things up you can see them crystal-clear. I think that has gotten a little bit better. Belva, you might be able to answer this. As Windows Vista came out and now we have Windows 10 and Windows 8, I think that screen magnifier has gotten better as you gone past Windows 7. It was still kind of basic back then. Is that right?

BELVA SMITH: Right. But I think for most of the Zoom Test users, they are not just looking to make things bigger. They are looking for visual enhancements, so they want their cursor to be a different color. They need their pointer to be a different color. They need cursors focus enhancements and those kinds of things. That’s the stuff that I have never been able to find in any kind of a free software. I wish I could. I look for it.

BRIAN NORTON: What was that website?

BELVA SMITH: ListofFreeware.com.

BRIAN NORTON: I will also throw out another one that folks can go to. There has been one around for a long time called oatsoft.org. They have a ton of free resources, not just magnifiers but really anything and everything accessible software-wise. They have basic uses. The challenge with it is you have to be really specific. Some of it may be outdated depending on what your operating system is. Some of the things I found on there are a little bit older so I wonder if they are compatible with newer operating systems. They have a good resource for tools available for folks.

MARK STEWART: Just a couple of points as a listen to the discussion between Belva and Brian. On the Windows magnifier they speaking to, you can get to that through the control panel, and then it is called the ease of access center. Or you can hit the Windows key and the U simultaneously and that will take you there. It’s called start magnifier. You have a full-screen view, lens of view, dock view, can increase by 25 percent, some very minimal settings, but not the things that you guys were speaking about beyond that.

BRIAN NORTON: I would say if you are looking for something free, the one that is built into Windows, in my opinion, is probably the best one you will run across.

BELVA SMITH: That’s the one I would suggest. I would throw keystroke out there that anyone can use without any adaptive software on a webpage or in your Microsoft programs. Your control key and your wheel on your mouse, if you push it up it will make it bigger, push it down will make it smaller.

WADE WINGLER: And if you don’t have a mouse you can do control plus. A lot of programs work.

BRIAN NORTON: I will also say they mentioned free or low cost. I don’t know if it is still around and maybe that is something I need to Google or look for, but there used to be something called big magnifier out there. Do you remember that? It did some real basic magnification for folks.

WADE WINGLER: Bigshot?

BRIAN NORTON: That’s what it was.

BELVA SMITH: I think that’s gone.

BRIAN NORTON: I do think doesn’t, Zoom Text have a very stripped-down basic version?

BELVA SMITH: They do. As you may recall, we had a gentleman here last week from AI Squared. They don’t so that very often because it is so stripped-down that it doesn’t offer much. But it is very cheap, I think $199.

WADE WINGLER: I think Zoom Text Express used to be Bigshot.

BRIAN NORTON: How much is that?

BELVA SMITH: It is either $199 or $299. I think you’ll just get a little tool to help you zoom on webpages and possibly a pointer enhancement.

WADE WINGLER: $49.

BRIAN NORTON: Is that correct though, just a pointer enhancement?

BRIAN NORTON: It is some basic tools. I’ve installed that before and I think you are right. It’s got some real basic magnification only tools, no speech, no nothing.

WADE WINGLER: It seems that they may be dropping support for it because only works on Windows XP and Windows 7. It does not run in Windows 8, 8.1, or 10.

BELVA SMITH: So in his case he is asking for Windows 7, so it would work for him. Again, before I would bother with that, I would just put a demo on the Zoom Text on there for 60 days and let him see what they can get from a full-blown program.

BRIAN NORTON: Great.

***

BRIAN NORTON: Don’t forget, if you have your questions, you can give us a call at 317-721-7124. Or send us an email at tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. Our next question for the day is from a VR counselor here in Indiana. The question was, would it be cheaper to purchase Microsoft Office outright or pay a subscription fee for it? The background to the question is – and I got this from the email – the counselor had a client who is attending a Microsoft training at Work One, which here in Indiana those Work Ones are employment offices. They didn’t have the software at home, Microsoft Office software at home to practice and wanted VR to assist her with the purchase. But I don’t know about your state. In our state, local rehab doesn’t typically pay for monthly ongoing costs. So the monthly fee for the type of office software that the client needed was $6.99.

WADE WINGLER: The monthly fee, seven dollars a month?

BELVA SMITH: And I wonder is that can you just do that for 60 days, or do you have to do it for a year?

BRIAN NORTON: I think you can get it monthly or you can pay for a year suspension that is essentially what you can do.

BELVA SMITH: I get that you can play for monthly, but do I have to sign up for a year to pay for monthly or can I get it for 30 days or 60 days? And then I wonder what version of Office are we talking about, because if we are talking about 2010, you might be cheaper to buy it. But I think it is the latest version of Office.

BELVA SMITH: Then it would probably be cheaper to do it. The next suggestion I would’ve had for this particular question, especially to one of our VR counselors, would be to contact INDATA and possibly borrow a computer with Microsoft Office on it for the 30 days that this person will be taking the classes so that they can have it at home to practice. I do believe having it at home to practice is very important.

BRIAN NORTON: INDATA is our Indiana tech act, assistive technology act project. We have a loan library that’s a part of that that folks can borrow equipment including laptops with software on it if need be. In my response to the counselor via email, my first question was I’m not sure what the policy is about paying for subscriptions, like what is your policy about paying ongoing cost. Because my understanding was that that wasn’t the case, that they don’t do that. But then I also related to it. She was asking for pros and cons, what is better, how do I go about that? I gave her the analogy of it is like leasing a car. There are lots of pros about leasing a car. You will always have a car that is the latest and greatest, will not have car trouble, or hopefully less car trouble than what your other car would have. But on the flipside, if you buy a car out right, there is also a lot of pros and cons to that, less ongoing costs, you will pay something often have that extra monthly income.

BELVA SMITH: I just saw here, it is Office 2010 that you can rent for seven dollars a month.

MARK STEWART: But is that the student version or does it have Outlook?

BELVA SMITH: I don’t know.

WADE WINGLER: So you can rent office 2016 for $6.89 a month. What you are getting is the personal addition. That is the one that includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint, the One Note, Publisher, Access, OneDrive, and Skype. That is one that is fairly well loaded up. You can rent it for $69 per year, $6.99 per month, but I think that is one you can buy out right for $399. It may be the version you’re talking about that is $69. Depending on what they need, you can buy office, home, and student, a one-time purchase, the 2016 version, for $150. There is an option that is not an ongoing price. It really speaks to this ongoing issue of more and more companies are moving to an monthly subscription as opposed to an outright purchase of product. It is not just with home user software. We are seeing that kind of in the world in general. Everyone is moving to renting instead of buying.

BRIAN NORTON: We have tackled the question periodically throughout all of these.

MARK STEWART: Another variable to this that we address all the time with voc rehab, and there will be something similar with funding sources in other states or even other countries, it’s really being aware of multiple funding sources. Being able to study before you go to college, especially with certain disabilities, is an extremely important point. But many universities now offer free versions of the software, and voc rehab counselors are interested in those types of options as well.

BELVA SMITH: Wade, where you found it for $6.99, it’s that something I can do for 30 days or 60 days, or am I stuck to doing it for a year?

WADE WINGLER: I’m assuming. It says $6.99 per month, so I assume there is not a limit on the number of months, or you can do it for $69 for the whole year.

BRIAN NORTON: I think ultimately my suggestion was why don’t you pay for a one month or two months subscription – I’m sorry, a one year or two year subscription. And depending on how long she would be in the class. But then now, noting that for $150 you can get quite a few of those basic Office programs, that might not be another bad option for them.

MARK STEWART: Student won’t have Outlook in it, but sometimes students don’t need it.

BRIAN NORTON: True.

BELVA SMITH: My students need usually do, because my students are usually using a screen reader.

BRIAN NORTON: Or are blind or visually impaired.

BELVA SMITH: We need Outlook.

BRIAN NORTON: Plug in their web-based email into more of the Outlook version to get a more consistent control.

BELVA SMITH: That’s why often times we had to get the more expensive version to get the Outlook included.

***

BRIAN NORTON: if you have a question, you can send that to us over twitter with the hashtag #ATFAQ. We keep our eyes out for any questions that come over the platform. Our next question today is I am looking for a good scheduling program where two separate calendars can be shared and viewed. The need stems from a client who owns a cleaning business and wants to have separate calendars for his commercial business and his residential business. Yet they would like to use them together or separately at times depending on who is looking at that. A couple of episodes, I want to say we talked about a very similar question and thought we would reiterate some of the answers. Or if there’s anything new we can hit that as well.

BELVA SMITH: My first answer is Outlook. Outlook will allow you to do that.

BRIAN NORTON: Multiple calendars?

BELVA SMITH: Side-by-side or one at a time.

MARK STEWART: That’s where I am. I’m a little concerned that I might be missing some depth here, but I use Outlook. I have two Outlook calendars, one for personal stuff and one for my work stuff. You can have them side-by-side, one translucent behind the other one, the overall themes can be different colors, and you can also color particular appointments and things like that and see them through the other one and switch back and forth.

BRIAN NORTON: That’s great. If you’re looking for maybe even web based ones, Cozi calendar I think we talked about before, Google calendar will do the same thing. Those allow you to have very much the same thing that Outlook, what you guys were describing in a web-based available from anywhere. Just a couple of ways to get those calendars shared.

WADE WINGLER: The really nice thing is you can have as many as you want because most of them are free. Then you can share them, so my calendar is set up where I have one that is my work stuff based on our exchange server, then we have a Google calendar we share among this group that shows who our visitors will be for staff meetings, and then my wife and my 18-year-old daughter and I share another one so that we know who is working and what is going on at church or what kind of events we might have in our lives. For me I can turn those calendars off and on throughout my day so if I’m scheduling something just in the middle of my workday, I don’t need to know if my kid is working that they are not. But there are times when maybe something late in the day that might impinge on an evening of family, obligations, it’s nice to be able to look and see what’s going on and set them on and off. We share calendars here. Brian, you and I are on each of those calendars pretty regularly to see if we can do a meeting.

MARK STEWART: Sometimes I will look down on my calendar, and in my mind I’m thinking I had two calendars open and I’m really checking everything, but I only have one open. I find out later in the day that I’m missing things.

WADE WINGLER: Sarah is going to be mad.

BRIAN NORTON: That’s great.

BELVA SMITH: I was just going to reiterate what Mark said. I’m afraid we may have missed something here. If we did, I would just asked them to maybe give us a call back and go a little bit more in depth.

BRIAN NORTON: I would also tack on to what Wade said about those web-based calendars, Google calendar, Cozi calendar, and other kinds of things. Those allow for people to edit back and forth. You can share the editing features, whereas if I am on my local Outlook and things like that, it’s good for me and I can do the editing, but other folks may not have access or permission.

BELVA SMITH: You can set it up so they can. You can give them permission to add or change existing appointments.

WADE WINGLER: It would be chaos.

***

BRIAN NORTON: Our next question today is, I have an iPhone 5S, and I’m trying to get it back to factory defaults, but I forgot my password. What should I do? I think you should put the phone down and pray.

BELVA SMITH: I have actually had this problem.

BRIAN NORTON: I think we have all run into the issue with trying to get things reset without passwords. That can be challenging at times.

BELVA SMITH: Apple is very good about helping you with it. You hope that, when you set it up, you answered your three security missions –

MARK STEWART: And you remember them.

BELVA SMITH: – and that you remember them, exactly. And that means if you capitalized a word, you need to remember that you capitalized that word. Because if you did, it is pretty simple. You can go answer your security questions and reset your password. Or maybe you set up – what do they call it when you can get a text?

WADE WINGLER: Two factor authentication?

BELVA SMITH: Two factor authentication. That is kind of new so you may not have set that up. But if you did, then you can reset your password and they will text you a code, and you can put that in. You say you forgot your password, and they send you a code to the alternate phone number. Last thing, if you didn’t do either one of those, call Apple tech support and they will help you get it reset. Have about an hour when you call them. It’s not because they won’t answer, but it is because it’s just that long of a process because they really drill you to give you the ability to reset a password if you don’t know your security questions and you didn’t set up –

BRIAN NORTON: On the one hand I like that, but if I’m being the honest person and I really need it reset cut that can be a really big pain. Lesson learned, make sure you have your information and put it someplace you remember where you put it.

BELVA SMITH: One of the tricks I tell people, especially when you’re setting up something where your password is so important, is to write it down somewhere and maybe tape it under your keyboard or make yourself a document – I know that sounds crazy – where you keep your passwords, print it out and put it in a special drawer, because no one is going to remember password that they don’t have to use. I just had this with my Starbucks. I set up my new phone and for some reason it kept all of my passwords except for my Starbucks password. I set that up two years ago. I don’t remember it. But I was able to get it reset finally.

MARK STEWART: You could put it in a safe deposit box if you have two. I think there are those folks that are on the fill fence. I should not have to write it down. I think I can remember it. We always agree with that, it is a good argument, but no. We need to write them down and put them in a very secure place.

BELVA SMITH: I do tricky things. I won’t give away my tricks, but I do tricky things and I have to write down a password. I don’t write down Starbucks username and password. I do tricky things that I know what it means, but if you guys were to find it, you wouldn’t know what it was.

BRIAN NORTON: Interesting.

WADE WINGLER: I have moved pretty wholeheartedly into a password management system. The one I use is Last Pass. And not only keep track of websites and usernames and passwords, but it has something called secure notes. I got my medications in that. So I go to the doctor, open my medications list. It’s password or thumbprint protected on the phone. I put all kinds of information in there. So the stuff I would normally write down and pop into a safety deposit box, I do that. You can also scan stuff and put it in there. I’ve been very happy with that.

MARK STEWART: what is that called?

WADE WINGLER: The one I called his Last Pass. Their competitor is One Password. They are equally good. There is a free version, a low-cost annual version. I think I pay for the one that gives me a little more oomph in terms of being able to use it. I also like them because they generate random passwords for you. If you’re on a website and you need to set up a password that is 8 to 12 characters with upper and lowercase and all those different rules they use, you can set those criteria and it would generate a password and remember it for you so you don’t have to put that in.

But one of the things I think is interesting about the question, the caller says I have an iPhone 5S and am trying to get it back to factory default but I forgot my password. I took it easier than that. We don’t have to find the password. We just need to reset the phone. If you just take your iPhone and turn it off, hook it by cable into the computer where iTunes is installed and hold down the home button. When you hold down the home button and look in the cable, it will reboot into the same mode as when you are updating or going into a software change and it will ask you do you want to restore to factory defaults on iTunes. If you do nothing else, shut off your iPhone, hold down the home button, plug in the cable with a computer that has iTunes installed, and the computer will prompt you to reinstall from factory default.

BELVA SMITH: Without asking for your password?

WADE WINGLER: It will go right past it.

BELVA SMITH: Does it matter if I am not backed up to the iTunes?

WADE WINGLER: That does matter. If you haven’t backed up, you may or not may not be able to restore. There’s also the question of whether you have iCloud turned on that may change that procedure a little bit. But a little bit of googling will show several videos and instructions. I’m sure if you called Apple they will walk you to the process. Holding on the home button while you hook up the USB cable will get it to go into a restore mode.

BELVA SMITH: Interesting.

BRIAN NORTON: Very interesting.

***

BRIAN NORTON: Our next question is I have a child in fifth grade and I’m trying to figure out how to get her textbooks provided to her in electronic format. She has difficulty reading which makes it hard for her to keep up with her students. Are there resources, school resources, or outside sources who can help? Obvious she is in the K-12 environment. I’ll just jump in here. There are a couple of other resources for you. Every state should have a center on accessible materials that is available in the K-12 environment. If you’re looking for what source there is for your state for those materials, you can go to the National Center on Accessible Educational Materials. They will list out state contacts for every state. Essentially what that is, is they provide accessible materials, whether you are blind or visually impaired or any kinds of prints need. If you have a need and you qualify for the program, I think there is an application process for it through the school. They can provide you accessible materials. Those materials, I think, often come from NIMAC, which is the National Instructional Materials Access Center. They turn all sorts of educational materials into things like electronic text or audio format or lots of different options no matter what your disability is.

BELVA SMITH: So if I have a fifth grader whose difficulty is reading, I can’t just go to the teacher or the principal and say I have noticed that my son or daughter does really well one stuff is read to them. Can’t they pick it up from there and run with it? Or MI as the parent responsible for doing the research and filling out whatever forms might need to be filled out?

BRIAN NORTON: I think a lot of times, folks that qualify for the program have an IEP in place, and individualized educational plan. I think probably the first way to engage this type of material is through the IEP process. So you bring that up in your IEP reviews and let them know that there is a need there. Ali said they would probably have to agree. There may be some back and forth with what that need really is and what kind of materials are needed. But then they would actually then engage that process and help you apply and work through getting those materials to you. Is that right?

BELVA SMITH: The reason I asked that is I did have a question last week from a parents whose child doesn’t have an IEP. She wanted him to know what she does to get her child one of those.

WADE WINGLER: Those are two questions. I will handle the first one and dodge the second one. How about that? The last time I looked at it, NIMAC is a national database that has all the accessible format books the publishers are required to create and make available. Like Brian said, each state that has a state contact. Indiana happens to have the patens project. They are the state authorized agency who can then log into the database and pull down materials as necessary. Here is the secret: at the school level, each school system should have someone whose is digital rights manager. It may not be there title but they are the designated digital rights manager. They interact with the state program. In Indian it would be patens. They work with the teachers to get the books to the individual student. Students don’t interact directly with the center or even the state center. The school has a digital rights manager. So the question about IEP, I’m not sure. This is something I’m sure my mistress can chime in on. I know that the student has an IEP, that process is fairly clear-cut. I don’t know if there are situations where schools grant access to those materials for students who don’t have an IEP. I’m going to guess probably not.

BELVA SMITH: I don’t think so.

WADE WINGLER: Baby copyright law figures into that. I’m not exactly sure, so I will push back in the listeners and ask our educators who listen to the show to tell us what happens when there is a kid who’s would certainly benefit from having an accessible textbook but doesn’t have an IEP. Does it happen? How does it work?

MARK STEWART: To use the same words but put a twist on it, we are really interested in that feedback. Wade jumped right in and said feedback from the listeners. Of course our assistive technology and broader business knowledge covers all age groups and what have you. For the clinical team here in Indiana that Brian and Belva and I are on, you focus on transition students and adults. We would love to hear from AT folks working with these kids and stuff at that.

BRIAN NORTON: In reference to your other question, Belva, about how to get one of those, maybe also reaching out to our listeners as far as what our qualifications. If there are special educators out there or other folks who are relationally with the process, that would be great information to provide to folks.

MARK STEWART: As far as the answer already given, that was perfect. I got nothing. A couple things are related but not as directly related to the question. I think I should throw out book share.org and learning ally are two nonprofits sites that have good resources for a modest fee if you have a documented textbased disability. You can get some really good resources.

BELVA SMITH: I think textbooks is what she specifically is looking for. Learning Ally does have a lot of textbooks. I don’t know about the primary grades, but I know they do for high school, college and that kind of stuff.

WADE WINGLER: Book share has some as well. I’m looking at a website that leads me to believe that if you don’t have an IEP, you aren’t eligible to access the NIMAC materials. You might be looking to one of those other resources.

MARK STEWART: Like I said, my answer was directly related and a good part of the overall answer.

BELVA SMITH: That was a good question that stirred up the need for more information. Hopefully we get some people to chime in on that.

***

WADE WINGLER: And now it’s time for the wildcard question.

BRIAN NORTON: Our next question is the wildcard question which is always good stuff. I’m going to throw the mic over to Wade who will send us a question.

WADE WINGLER: give you a wildcard question. I got one. In the news, we hear a lot these days about driverless cars, semi autonomous driverless cars, cars that are driving themselves. We have had cruise control for generations now so the evolution of vehicles moving towards doing more stuff on their own is just part of it. Almost every time I hear a new story about the Google driverless car or the Apple driverless cars that may be coming, they would always talk about people with disabilities. They talk about people who have a vision impairment or people who have some mobility challenges in terms of hand control or don’t have the ability to drive. My question, a couple of questions here. What do you think driverless cars will mean for people with disabilities? Which kinds of disabilities do you think might benefit the most? And I have a couple more questions. Do you think we will see them? The last question is, will you drive one? Will you personally use an automatic car when the time comes? A start with what do you think it will mean for folks with disabilities and what kinds of disabilities?

BRIAN NORTON: I think it is huge. I think it can make a huge big difference being able to independently get from one place to the next without having to necessarily rely on a driver. I think about folks were blind or visually impaired. I think it could really be a good thing for folks to have greater independence.

BELVA SMITH: My question is are we going to own these driverless cars, or are we going to pick up our smartphone and, like ordering and Huber, I will order a driverless car to shop at my house?

WADE WINGLER: Both files are being talked about. It may be like cars and taxis.

BELVA SMITH: Okay. So I think it could be major for people that are visually impaired. Possibly other folks that are not able to drive for whatever reason, to be able to be independent, to get to the doctor, to get to work on time and not have to make 29 other stops to get there. Mark? I don’t want to go to the next part until you have entered the park.

MARK STEWART: I will answer my part now. Could to answer it in the sense that, so it’s an all or nothing, okay, they were pretty well and they are here – not answering how well they work. They are here in the work. I think it is unbelievable for about anybody with a disability or anyone who has a deadline or some stressed during the day. Cognitive disabilities, physical disabilities, anything like that, so if somebody with a given disability is okay doing something here and the whole issue is about they need to get over there to do the next part, and if you eliminate that in this whole broader field of disability services, that would be unbelievable. I can only assume while there won’t be some instructions and things like that, the whole thing about adaptive transportation and busing systems and people with disabilities waiting for two hours to get there right in spite of people trying to get funding and driver’s trying to do their best and those sorts of things. If those things are eliminated and there is more independence a lot for, I just think it could serve people with all kinds of disabilities and be really helpful.

BELVA SMITH: Physical disabilities could be challenging though. If it is driverless, that means there’ll be no driver to get out and help me get out of my wheelchair to get in to pick up my wheelchair and put it in the car. Physical disabilities could still be challenging.

WADE WINGLER: And is envisioned it like a van with a ramp on the side. Car pulls up, ramp comes out, you drive your chair into the vehicle just like you would drive your chair into the classroom or your office and maybe it locks her wheelchair down and off you go.

BRIAN NORTON: Voice activate where you want to go.

BELVA SMITH: Huber is working on that. In Chicago in New York, they are doing it as a demo where they have wheelchair accessible, so when I call I can say that this is what I need. They are working to make service animals be allowed in all vehicles, because some of them are not currently allowing them.

BRIAN NORTON: I like what Mark said, anyone that has a deadline. I think your last question was will you use one? Yeah, I’m going to use one.

BELVA SMITH: Know. I get nervous if I’m not the driver. I’m not going to get in a car that is driverless. So this upcoming Thursday I’m headed three hours north and coming three hours back. I’ve got plenty on my plate, things are needed for me. I would much rather sit back with a Wi-Fi enabled white laptop running around and writing my stuff while my car gets me someplace. I’ve got six extra hours of my day to get things done.

BELVA SMITH: I need to control the break. I need to control the steering.

WADE WINGLER: I’m a Brian. I’m all over it. I drive about an hour each way every day to and from the office. I would love it. My ideal is my semi-autonomous car where I drive it to the edge of the neighborhood can’t get it out of the neighborhood, and the figures out the rest of the way. I can be working or reading or doing whatever I want as opposed to monitoring traffic and having to drive all the time. The Mac how about you, Mark? Will you write in one?

MARK STEWART: Absolutely.

BELVA SMITH: I’m the only one that won’t do it.

WADE WINGLER: Why is that, Belva?

BELVA SMITH: I don’t know. As Todd would say, it’s because I’m a control freak.

BRIAN NORTON: It may not get you there fast enough.

MARK STEWART: Who in this room used to drive stock cards?

WADE WINGLER: It’s true. Belva used to be a racecar driver. That’s an interesting concept because this is all about independence. Disability, I think, is one of the patent factors where the value and benefit will show up. Mark, you made a really good point. It’s for anyone with a deadline. Disability isn’t a big thing. But independence is a huge thing in the situation. Belva, what I hear you saying is you feel more independent when you are in control, when you have a high level of control or the environment, the experience, the city and all that stuff. Brian, but what I hear you saying is you are more independence if you can delegate that to technology and do can be independent and doing your work or doing other things that you want to do. I think big picture is just about how do you want your independence.

MARK STEWART: I will go that philosophy route. Disability, right? Disability is relative. We all have disabilities if we raise the stakes beyond what humans can do. You get an issue that is a little more challenging statistically than the norm, but if you – sometimes it is the person only really has a physical disability functionally when it relates to getting to and from a place. You bring something like this in and they can function like anybody else. That applies to all different assistive technology tools and stuff like that, but there is transportation piece is a huge piece in this field.

WADE WINGLER: one of the pieces of the question that we sort of dropped off a little bit is the one part. When I was a kid, I used to watch the Dixons and science-fiction and think about these technologies that would be available. I always get hung up on the George Jetson cartoon where his principles up into his briefcase and basically takes him back and forth to work. Is this going to happen in our lifetime? Is this going to happen in the next 10 years, in the next five years? Will be all at once, there is a new bird that covers and is an R2-D2 car that comes and pick you up and take you, or will it be incremental? What do you think the when and how look like?

BRIAN NORTON: I think the technology is here. Google has been driving around driverless cars doing mapping for what seems like forever. So the technology is here. I think what the challenge and hang up is litigation about who is responsible and who is liable if something happens and all that kind of stuff. I think we are getting that worked out. The man and who has insurance. Is it the driverless car or is it the person who is riding in the car? Usually I am the first person to say, oh, not in my time but I do think this is coming. Isn’t it Ford that has partnered with Google now? I’m pretty sure it is Ford that has partnered with Google. I really seriously feel like within the next five years it could be happening.

MARK STEWART: What if television is only allowed for people with disabilities? Product I don’t know.

WADE WINGLER: It’s too small of a market. Not enough money.

BRIAN NORTON: Wow. Interesting topic. I can’t wait personally. Thanks everyone, thanks Belva, thanks Mark, thanks Wade. I appreciate all of our listeners today. If you are looking for our show, you can find it by searching assisted technology questions on iTunes. You can look for us on stitcher or visit us at ATFAQshow.com. Also please do send us your questions, give us your feedback, enlighten us with answers if you have additional answers for us. We had several on that IEP question earlier. If you have any feedback on that, we would love to hear it. You can call our listener line at 317-721-7124. You can send a tweet at hashtag #ATFAQ. Email us at tech at Easter Seals crossroads.org. We would love to hear from you. Thanks everyone. I appreciate it.

BELVA SMITH: You can Google us, ATFAQ. See you next time.

MARK STEWART: See next time folks. It really is nice to hear other people’s faults from around the world from ATFAQ community. Take care.

WADE WINGLER: We love the feedback. Take care guys.

BRIAN NORTON: Have a good one.

WADE WINGLER: Information provided on Assistive Technology Frequently Asked Questions does not constitute a product endorsement. Our comments are not intended as recommendations, nor is our show evaluative in nature. Assistive Technology FAQ is hosted by Brian Norton; gets editorial support from mark steward and Belva Smith; is produced by me, Wade Wingler; and receives support from Easter Seals Crossroads and the INDATA project. ATFAQ is a proud member of the Accessibility Channel. Find more of our shows at www.accessibilitychannel.com.

 

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