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