----- Original Message -----
From: "Peter Meijer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Cc: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, November 21, 2002 5:51 AM
Subject: [The vOICe] Specialist creates laptop package for disabled
students
Hi All,
For your information.
The subject line is the title of a nice article about
Philip Kragnes, today in the Minnesota Daily. Philip
is blind himself, and I knew that he also maintains
a website named "Kragnes Corner" that lists The vOICe
at his "Products & Adaptive Technology" URL
http://members.tcq.net/pkragnes/prat.html
Now find today's Minnesota Daily article appended.
It appears that Philip is arranging for technology
that is very similar to that needed by users of
The vOICe.
Best wishes,
Peter Meijer
Seeing with Sound - The vOICe
http://www.seeingwithsound.com/winvoice.htm
November 21, 2002.
Specialist creates laptop package for disabled students.
By Branden Peterson.
Some people take it for granted, but the computer screen and
humming box a person uses for hours a day has become a
necessity for completing assignments and tasks.
Most students can stand at a University computer kiosk or walk to
computer lab to reach the World Wide Web. But for some, it's not
that easy.
It's Philip Kragnes' job to make sure anybody with a physical
impairment isn't left behind. Kragnes has been an adaptive
technologies specialist for Disability Services since 1998, helping
disabled students and faculty use University technology.
Blind since age 17, Kragnes understands how hard it is to have
limited access to technology in a computer-driven world.
Four adaptive technology laboratories on the Minneapolis campus
give University students and employees access to computers,
regardless of their impairments. Meanwhile, the St. Paul campus
doesn't have any facilities.
Last spring, Kragnes set out to place a lab on the St. Paul campus.
But he ran into a snag.
He had $45,000 set aside to construct a new adaptive technology
lab in St. Paul, but nowhere to put it. Some room was available,
but it was inaccessible during peak usage times.
Kragnes found the answer in a black leather backpack.
Designed specifically for students and faculty on the St. Paul
campus, Kragnes put together packages with a laptop, a scanner
and accessories that can be carried on backs or rolled along the
sidewalk like a suitcase at the airport.
Launched during the last week in October, six computer packs are
available for loan to impaired University students and faculty.
Users get a powerful laptop with wireless internet, 15-inch
display, 512 MB RAM, an interchangeable CD-ROM/zip-drive, a
DVD/CD-RW combination drive, a flatbed scanner, a headset and
more gizmos.
Sure, the computers will have all the bells and whistles, but will
potential users know how to use everything the Lab in a Bag has
to offer?
Kragnes says yes, even if it means personally training them is
necessary.
State-of-the-art software also accompanies the powerful laptops.
Pre-installed programs include voice recognition software that
types documents and text-reading programs telling users what is
displayed on the screen. For people with deteriorating vision,
text magnification software is included.
Lab in a Bag units can be rented on a per-semester basis at no
charge by any disabled or physically impaired University
employee or student with obligations on the St. Paul campus.
Kragnes said he thinks he has covered nearly every angle in
creating the computer packs.
"Anything you can find in our sites, you'll find in our bag - with
a few exceptions," Kragnes said.
Six computer bags now rest inside Kragnes' office while word of
their existence spreads. Now it's up to students and faculty to
begin using them.
"For people sustaining injuries or living with disabilities, if
I can set them up with the right technology, that's what's really
satisfying," he said.
Branden Peterson covers the St. Paul campus and welcomes
comments at [log in to unmask]
Source URL:
http://www.mndaily.com/new_site/article.php?id=4208
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