you don't have to join handihams to get the material, and I'm surprised
that's not in MP3 format, the extra manual is, in fact I still have my copy
somewhere in MP3 format, also, if joining handihams is the only issue for
what ever reason, RFB&D has now you're talking on cassettes too though I
like the MP3 CD's much better.
----- Original Message -----
From: "Darrell Shandrow" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Saturday, January 15, 2005 6:01 PM
Subject: Revisiting accessible amateur radio study materials.


> Hi all,
>
> I'd like to seriously revisit the current state of affairs of available,
> accessible amateur radio study materials.  I am aware of the Now You're
> Talking book being available from Handiham on cassette.  Though no offense
> toward Handiham is at all intended, I consider this level of accessibility
> to be insufficient if that's all there is.  The material is read on to
> cassette rather than available in accessible electronic format.  That
> means
> all presentation of the information has been controlled by the reader, not
> by the user of that information as can be the case with electronic
> formats.
> A person on Handiham's staff has told me that the League is
> "uncomfortable"
> with making this material more accessible to us.  This is, obviously,
> never
> a sufficient reason for ongoing inaccessibility.  If we accepted that
> reason, then blind people would have virtually no success at all in
> society,
> be it education, employment or anything else.
>
> If necessary, I'll begin a campaign to battle the League over this
> inaccessibility of their amateur radio study materials.  I know I am
> determined and I will ultimately succeed with this, but a lot of feelings
> will be hurt and many otherwise good people in the amateur radio community
> will be deeply offended.  I'd thus like to get the job done in a
> constructive manner.
>
> I have some ideas for making this work.  First, the League could sell a
> copy of this material in BRF format.  These "Braille ready files" are
> useless to sighted people but could be used by the blind with Braille
> displays or certain other accessibility software applications and devices
> that can successfully back translate these files.  Second, someone could
> scan Now You're Talking and other study materials, clean up the OCR
> results
> and submit them to Bookshare.org for legal distribution to those with
> print
> disabilities.  Third, we could explore obtaining greater cooperation from
> other providers of amateur radio study materials like Gordon West.
>
> Any other ideas or information on materials that might already be
> available
> would be extremely helpful.  Karen would like to study for her ham
> license,
> but she currently has no interest in going through the bureaucratic
> process
> required to join Handiham just for the privilege of obtaining study
> materials which the sighted may purchase and read without such
> requirements.
>
> Thanks and 73.
>