Message-Id: <20050116153315.IHZR1992.imf20aec.mail.bellsouth.net@[68.212.104.94]>

n7i wrote:
   >I actually have no problems providing reasonable proof of
   >disability to join Handiham.  It is an excellent organization.
   >Like all organizations dealing with those of us who have
   >disabilities, Handiham staff need to take all reasonable steps to
   >be accessible to us, including making the membership process as
   >accessible as possible.  This is just a matter of common sense. Why
   >not join Handiham?
Cassette and audio reading are fine for light reading such as a novel,
but I've not cared for refernce material in that format since I was a
student in the 60's and '70's but it was often the only game in town.
I can skim material in braille or electronic formats.

Why not join?  I don't see with a lot of what they offer I'm getting
that much.  I know, it's partly my activist bent.  I know blind folks
who are very active with the organization with their radio camps etc.
A couple are good friends of mine.  I just don't have a need for what
they offer.  Part of it is as you said, I think the league leans to
heavily upon them for acessibility to materials and then we're not
really consulted on how this is done.  AGain I site the manual for the
piece of radio equipment which they had on cassette.  By the time I
went through any hoops to join and finally got the cassette manual
back I'd have already found out the info I really wanted about setting
up the equipment which I bought for less than a hundred bucks at a
hamfest <grin>.

TO me their first option for accessible materials should be machine
readable with cassette as the second choice offering.  wHen I was a
student I much preferred braille to tapes, then mostly 7 inch reels
btw.  FOr the latest tOm Clancy novel an audio only edition is fine
but for anything which is intended as a reference work tapes are an
inferior method of accessing information.




Richard Webb

Electric Spider Productions
                                            "They that can give up essential liberty to obtain a little temporary
safety deserve neither liberty nor safety."

--- Benjamin Franklin, NOvember 1755 from the
Historical review of Pennsylvania