Hi Tom,
Bookshare certainly is not perfect. NLS would probably be better. I wonder
if they would consider adding materials such as Now You're Talking to their
collections in Braille and on tape. Of course, one of the big problems with
NLS is that the materials tend to become outdated. I will check in to this
possibility.
Again, as I have stated elsewhere, I am not blaming Handiham here. It is a
great organization that has helped me in the past, when I was becoming
involved with ham radio in the 80's. If I were going to name a culprit
here, I believe it would be the ARRL. The person I corresponded with about
the accessibility of amateur radio materials last year stated that the
League would be "uncomfortable" with making their materials more accessible.
Well, I am "uncomfortable" with a lot of things, but that doesn't mean I
don't have to deal properly with such situations.
I think that what is going on here is that the League is depending on
Handiham to make everything accessible and thus they feel as though they are
completely off the hook. Like just about everyone else in the world, it is
no skin off their back whether or not anything is ever made accessible to
us. We represent a small percentage of all hams and thus, well, we don't
count and that's that.
Because of the statement about being "uncomfortable" and because of the
League's apparent dependence upon a scheme that isn't working for all blind
hams, I think I'm going to push forward with my quest for greater, more open
accessibility to the materials that are required to be studied for entry in
to the amateur radio service.
----- Original Message -----
From: <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 6:34 PM
Subject: Re: Revisiting accessible amateur radio study materials.
> Darrell, while I doubt seriously that "full access" as you define it is
> "critical" as many hams have their licenses and are blind, your point is
> well
> taken. Remember that Handi-Hams is an organization which requires
> membership
> just as any other. The fact that they provide books to members for a fee
> means
> they are not required to follow ADA or related guidelines as would be the
> case
> if the materials were open to all. You have discussed Bookshare as a
> source for
> a scan of materials but they are also a fee based service. I don't see
> any
> difference except in the product they sell. To obtain the kind of access
> you
> want does require specific and often expensive equipment thus making it
> accessible to those who can afford the appropriate gear in large part.
> Braille
> or distribution through NLS would seem to be the way to go with this.
>
> Just as the blindness community cannot agree on many things it is likely
> they
> will not agree on this particular question but I very definitely agree
> that at
> the very least if a book is made available the complete book should be
> available
> from study aids to the index to title page information so that it can be
> used as
> a reference if appropriate etc. Bookshare seems an iffie source for
> accessible
> texts available nowhere else as its use requires both that the user have
> an
> accessible computer and know how to use it. It also requires that the
> user be a
> Bookshare member. Such does not constitute accessibility to many people.
> In
> fact, most blind people do not use computers. I do use a computer but,
> for
> several reasons, do not belong to Bookshare. If we are going to talk
> accessibility, let's talk real accessibility and talk about availability
> via
> NLS. Books are available through their web site if you wish to go that
> way.
>
> Tom
>
>
> Tom Brennan KD5VIJ, CCC-A/SLP
> web page http://titan.sfasu.edu/~g_brennantg/sonicpage.html
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