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Your weekly dose of information that keeps you up to date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
Show Notes:
An informal and off the cuff interview with Vision/Sensory Team Lead, Belva Smith from Easter Seals Crossroads | www.EasterSealsTech.com/staff
Jamie and his Lion: The adults who take their soft toys to work – BBC News http://buff.ly/2dcUepq
“www.BlindAbilities.com” http://buff.ly/2esxsyU
On the Hill with Audrey Busch – www.ATAPorg.org
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BELVA SMITH: Hi, I’m Belva Smith, and I’m the team lead for the vision team here at Easter Seals Crossroads, and this is your Assistance Technology Update.
WADE WINGLER: Hi, this is Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals crossroads in Indiana with your Assistive Technology Update, a weekly dose of information that keeps you up-to-date on the latest developments in the field of technology designed to assist people with disabilities and special needs.
Welcome to episode number 282 of assistive technology update. It’s scheduled to be released on October 21, 2016.
Today we do something a little bit different. I interviewed our staff member and my friend Belva Smith who is the vision and sensory team lead here at Easter Seals Crossroads in the assistive technology program to learn more about her and how she came to be in the role she is in today.
I’ve got a story about Jamie and his lion who is using a stuffed animal as assistive technology; and an interesting thing about keyboard ninjas from blind ability. We also have a story from Audrey Busch about what’s happening with the federal government related to disability and assistive technology.
We hope you’ll check out our website at www.eastersealstech.com, send us a note on Twitter at INDATA Project, or give us a call on our listener line at 317 70 17124.
I don’t normally think of stuffed animals as assistive technology, but the BBC news headline reads Jamie and his lion, the adults who take their soft toys to work. Jamie lives in London and is a developer for the BBC. He’s somebody who has autism and uses a four foot long start lion to help them cope with some of the impacts of his autism throughout the day. He says there are times when “my sense of shape is sometimes a bit floaty. I can lose the edge of my body and feel I am floating apart. Hugging the lion, I pulled him to my chest, provides the input my body needs to stop the floaty feeling.” He also goes on in the article to talk about how he relies on the familiar texture and smell from the line to help him do with sensory overload throughout the day. He’s not alone. There is a group of individuals who are using stuffed animal throughout the day as adults in the workplace and in school to help you with some of the challenges of their autism. Jamie says that the reaction to his lion is often minimal to nothing. “I think to everyone else it’s a much bigger deal than it is to me. In fact, lion has been really cool for my career accidentally.” He’s really memorable and that has helped people remember him. Fascinating story with lots of details. I’ll pop a link in the show notes and you can read more about these stuffed animals as assistive technology. Check our show notes.
SPEAKER: Do you hear all these underline, underline, underline? That’s what we are going to get rid of. That’s what we are going to fix here. So what we are going to do is hit CTRL-H.
WADE WINGLER: What you are hearing there is Cheryl from the blind abilities podcast as part of her keyboard ninjas series. She’s talking about JAWS commands that will help in this case get rid of underlines in a form to navigate those a little bit better. It’s a cool podcast with all kinds of things related to assistive technology, blindness and vision impairments, working, school, and that kind of stuff. I’m fascinated by this particular episode because as a series it’s going to cover a whole lot of things keyboard driven and screen reader related. If you haven’t checked out blind abilities, I’m going to pop a link in the show notes over to blind abilities.com where you can check out all of their podcast. Great stuff over there. Check our show notes.
It’s time for on the Hill with Audrey. Audrey Busch is the director of policy and advocacy for the Association of assistive technology act programs. In her update she lets us know how the power of politics is impacting people with disabilities and their use of assistive technology. Learn more about Audrey and her work at ATAPorg.org.
AUDREY BUSCH: This is Audrey Bush , policy and advocacy director of the Association of assistive technology act programs car coming to you with your Washington update. Congress returns to Washington the first week in September after what was almost a six week recess. With only a handful of legislative days in September before Congress was scheduled to leave again and not to return until after the elections, they were certainly lucky there were only two big-ticket items that needed to be addressed. First, they do to ensure the federal government was funded beyond the expiration date of what was the current fiscal year on September 30. And second, they needed to provide funding to combat the Zika virus, which was a lightning rod issue for many members constituencies. While ensuring funding for the federal government was not in place without some pickups – in fact it included much back and forth over whether or not to provide funding for the Flint water crisis – a funding measure finally was passed at the end of September and time to stave off the government shutdown. Congress passed a continuing resolution that would level fund the federal government at fiscal year 2016 levels until December 9, and it also included $1.1 billion for funding to fight the Zika virus. In a separate bill, Congress also passed for funding for the Flint water crisis. All parties were able to walk away with a win under their belt and they quickly disappeared from the nation’s capital to return to the campaign trail. As I mentioned, Congress is not expected to return until after the November elections which will also determine what Congress will do once they return as well. Only time will tell if a longer term continuing resolution will be negotiated or a final fiscal year 2017 budget is in our future.
Look forward to your next Washington update in November and don’t forget to register to vote in the meantime.
WADE WINGLER: So today on the show I’m going to do something a little bit different. I realized that a lot of people who listen to assistive technology update are new to the field of assistive technology and some of them have been in the field for a wild. They’ve seen a lot of things change and a lot of perspective in the field of assistive technology. I asked my dear friend and coworker Belva Smith who is our team lead on our vision and sensory team here at Easter Seals crossroads to step into the studio and sit down and visit with me a little bit. You might recognize your voice from the popular AT FAQ show. He represents all of the vision stuff on that show. Today we are going to talk to Belva about her and get into how she got into the industry and what her motivation was for doing this kind of work and some of the things she has seen and some opinions which you might have accumulated over time. Belva, I know you hate it when people are asking about your opinions, right?
BELVA SMITH: Right.
WADE WINGLER: First of all, tell everybody a little bit – I’m fascinated by your story. How did you learn about the word assistive technology? How did you get into the field?
BELVA SMITH: First of all thanks for having me on the show today. I would say that assistive technology came along after I started living about a screen reader. Because I had a very dear friend who was totally blind, and she was asking me lots of questions about, you know, I was trying to send an email the other day and I found myself answering her question but at the same time going, wait a minute, how are you using a computer? I had just started using a computer myself, and of course there was like Windows 95 at the time so the introduction of the GUI interface so it was all visual and point-and-click. She explained to me that she used it through a screen reader and I was just so fascinated with that. I started letting go of the mouse a little bit more and putting my hands on the keyboard a little more and eventually found myself realizing that this was assistive technology and that there’s a whole lot of people in the world that use it for lots of reasons to make their lives better, to do the same thing a sighted person does. I got so interested it was like one of those really good books that you pick up and just want to put it down until you’re done. I don’t know what done is yet.
WADE WINGLER: Because you are not. What was the first screen reader? What was the first AT that you got hands-on expense with?
BELVA SMITH: It was JAWS 3.5. That’s not as old as it could be. What was it, DECtalk or something like that?
WADE WINGLER: DECtalk was the synthesizer that was pretty popular back then.
BELVA SMITH: I think she had just graduated from that to JAWS because I remember she had – that was one that was a little white box that connected to the computer, right?
WADE WINGLER: I think you are thinking about a doubletalk synthesizer made by GW micro probably using vocalize back then.
BELVA SMITH: That’s exactly it.
WADE WINGLER: So there was a DECtalk that was a high-end synthesizer that was an external thing that had the best voice of the day. I bet she was moving from vocalize, a doubletalk, to JAWS with some —
BELVA SMITH: I think that’s because he was going from the Windows 3.1 to the GUI interface.
WADE WINGLER: Probably.
BELVA SMITH: I played around with her computer until I could get it on mine at home. The first three years I used JAWS was in demo mode. That’s really frustrating for anyone that has ever had to do that. Then from there I just had a living about all of the other assistive technology that was out there. Wade, you kind of opened my eyes to all the different technologies because I had only worked with things that were vision related before coming here to Easter Seals crossroads. That’s when I realized that this is a ginormous world and what a large need that there is out there for assistive technology.
WADE WINGLER: It’s a big industry.
BELVA SMITH: It is.
WADE WINGLER: You started off helping a friend and you haven’t always worked here at Easter Seals crossroads. Tell me a little bit about that time from this is cool too I’m doing this for a living.
BELVA SMITH: As I got more interested in the screen reader and helping her a little bit more, she also had another friend she told about me. Can I say her name?
WADE WINGLER: Sure.
BELVA SMITH: That was Lisa Becker. She actually had a small independent company where she was doing training for people that were visually impaired using screen readers. We do some magnifying, or some of our clients had magnifiers, but it was primarily just screen reading. Or at least that was all I was doing. It was a lot of folks that were homemakers or working from home. She and I got to talking and she was getting ready to do a big class and needed a right hand, so she asked me if I would be interested. I was more than interested. I stepped in, green to technology, still kind of green to assistive technology, but stepped in with both feet and haven’t looked back. I love my job, I love what I do. I’m very blessed to be able to do it and to meet the people that I meet. When you and I first connected, I was in Lala land when you first brought me into Easter Seals crossroads. I didn’t realize all they do, or I guess I can say we do now.
WADE WINGLER: Because you’ve been here how many years?
BELVA SMITH: I think going on 12.
WADE WINGLER: It wasn’t just yesterday.
BELVA SMITH: It’s been a while. I have dabbled with it off my passion is still with the vision stuff. I really can’t tell you why. I don’t know if that’s because that’s where I started or what it is. I like the other stuff and I’m glad that it’s out there and I like to learn about it but it just seems that the vision stuff is where my heart is really at.
WADE WINGLER: It’s funny because you and I disagree about the first time we met. We remember it differently. I remember very clearly being called in to set up some computer equipment for some people who are blind or visually impaired, going through some vending training. They were learning how to run their business to sell soda pops into meetings and stuff like that. I’m a very clearly walking into this room and there was a maniac instructor at the front of the room wearing a bright red shirt with no shoes, walking around. I had heard that this lady was doing a really good job of training. In fact, we were competing with you in a couple of different ways. I thought I need to meet this Belva woman. You don’t remember it that way. You are convinced it was Brian that walked into that room that met you for the first time, and you didn’t meet me until we set come and have lunch with us and meet us so we can talk about lining up and pardon on providing services.
BELVA SMITH: I dismember when I went home after meeting Brian, I went home and was talking to my friend. I was like, it’s so crazy because he and I think the same way. We both agree on this and we agree on that. It’s just crazy when you meet someone that’s on the same path that you are on. Who knew that later he would be my boss, right?
WADE WINGLER: Exactly. So you came to work with us at Easter Seals crossroads doing specifically technology for people who are blind or visually impaired. Fast forward a few years later and you are the team lead. You actually are teaching other people to walk in your footsteps and learn how to do what you are doing. What is the express like now to sort of be grooming others to do the stuff that you learned to do over the last dozen or 15 years or so?
BELVA SMITH: It’s kind of scary. This is a job where you are constantly learning. I never really feel like — the title “Team Lead” makes me feel like I should know everything and I don’t. I never really feel like I know all the answers. In fact, just the other day Josh sent me a text that said, “What’s the key command to do an “@” sign?” I was like, uhhh, I don’t know. I’m trying to look it up really quick. It’s an honor to be — instead of team lead, it’s like I’m the oldest one on the team.
WADE WINGLER: I got here first?
BELVA SMITH: Exactly. The one thing about this position, and this is one of the things I do like along with just being helpful for the people, is learning. It is always changing. New stuff is coming out, thank goodness, because it just keeps getting better and better. I think we talked about on ATFAQ just a couple of weeks ago about the size of the scanners that we used to have to use. Everything has gotten so much better. The screen readers are better, the magnifiers are better, the tablets, the iPhones, everything is so much better than it was when it first came into the world.
WADE WINGLER: I think that’s a great segue into the next question I had in mind. You’ve seen a lot of technology change. Assistive technology, but IT stuff as well. When you started here, you are managing a major computer repair program here in Indianapolis and you are managing that service department. Technology has changed a lot. From the IT perspective or from the AT perspective as well, what have been some of the biggest changes you seen?
BELVA SMITH: The biggest change I’ve seen is going to be the K NFB reader. When that device first came out, it was literally a flip cell phone with a camera attached to it with a rubber band. It was $5000 but how cool was it that you could, in the right lighting, with the right distance, with the right print, capture the text and have it be read back to you? Now it’s a $100 app that we can get on our iPhone or $40 app if you’re using android. Lighting doesn’t have to be perfect, print it doesn’t have to be perfect. You just have to be distanced correctly and snap a picture and have that text read back to you in a split second. That to me is amazing. I’ve got to say that’s — I keep going back to the K NFB reader because that is one of the things to me that makes me go wow, how cool is this. To be a blinded individual sitting in a meeting work sitting in a classroom where suddenly you are faced with paper and you know it’s pointless to you. Now with your smartphone or tablet it’s not. It’s not $5000 like the original one.
WADE WINGLER: I think that’s a great specific example of assistive technology. What you think about smart phones and portable devices, computers and tablets in general? That’s sort of the foundation for a lot of these new things that are happening. Has that been a good deal in your estimation?
BELVA SMITH: It absolutely has. Just yesterday I was working with a lady who is older and she is both visually and hearing impaired, so I’m working with her through the I Can Connect program. She had used a computer in her life. She said she had emailed and did Word documents. This was several years ago when she worked. She is currently got a computer but doesn’t use it because you can’t see it. I told her there were ways that we could make it so that she could probably see it, but I showed her my phone and how easy it was going to be to do texting and emailing and to check her temperature in the house. She said, I just don’t know what to do. I said I never tried to tell my clients what is right or this is the thing you need to do. I said , honestly if you were my mother I would tell you to get a tablet, because within minutes you are going to send your first text. You’re going to be emailing again. If we do a computer we’ve got a whole learning curve that we’ve got to face. I put my phone in her hand and had her navigating the screen instantly, opening apps. Of course you can use theory to send your text and emails. I just think the iPhone and tablet and accessibility. Another good example, I had a consumer client call me a couple of weeks ago. She’s a student. I got to have a talking financial calculator. I said why? Because I needed for my class. But you have an iPhone. I said have you looked for an app? She said no. Immediately I pulled open the App Store and start looking. I found two free financial, regulators, turn on voiceover, boom it’s working. They may not be exactly appropriate for her class but we won’t know that until she tries it. What I do know is that for free in her hand in seconds she had that little calculator accessible.
WADE WINGLER: We have new folks starting here. In fact, we have a young lady on our team your mentoring and teaching about how to do this job. What kind of advice do you have for people who say, what you said years ago, assistive technology I’ve got to do this. What advice do you have for the newbies?
BELVA SMITH: Take it slow and be ready for things to always change. Take it easy. In this position I thought I was going to come into it as a trainer. Now I’m doing evaluations and I’m doing assessments. I never expected to do that. I thought I was always going to sit down and show someone how to send an email attachment. It has grown and developed. That’s the way the job is. You come and kind of easy and before you know it you are doing the big stuff. For example, the gal that you are just speaking of, right now she’s doing the training piece. I know it’s not going to be long before she’s ready to do assessments and evaluations. She’s got the heart. That’s the big thing. You’ve got to have the desire and have the heart. This isn’t a job where you hit your time clock and work your eight hours and go home and forget about it at the end of the day. I am constantly thinking about the new technology, and this client is doing that, because my heart wants to help these people to do whatever it is they are trying to do even if it is just being at home but communicating via email or texting with their friends and family. I still remember one of the proudest moment I had was helping an older lady send an email to her kids and grandkids that were in California. She had never done it until that moment. Sitting with a gentleman who had received an email for the very first time brought tears to my eyes. My advice is just take the show and keep your heart and mind open. You’ll meet some amazing people. I have worked in some crazy places, been on a tugboat. Who would’ve thought?
WADE WINGLER: We just got another minute or so in the interview. If you had to identify some gap in assistive technology that you would like to see resolved or something that you would like to see developed that just really need to be there that you haven’t found yet, what would it be?
BELVA SMITH: Something that’s not there that I really want to see there is a way for people who are both deaf and blind to be able to call 911. That is not available to us in this area. I know that texting 911 is available in some areas but not here. For me that is a huge concern that I have for the individuals that I work with. We all take for granted that in an emergency we are going to pick up our phone and call nine and one, but I know I worked with plenty of individuals that some of them even live alone. They’re not going to be able to get 911 in case of a fire or medical emergency. I’d really like to see – I know that there are companies that are out there working on it, but I would really love to see that develop and grow.
WADE WINGLER: Before we finish up the interview, I’d like to say thank you because not only have you been my friend and somebody who I’ve learned a lot from over the years, you’ve been an amazing resource to Easter Seals crossroads and the people you serve. Thank you someone for what you’ve been doing over the last 12 years. Thank you for what you brought to the industry and sharing that with us today.
BELVA SMITH: Thank you. I’m very grateful to have met you and to have the great team that we having to do what I do and be part of the team at Easter Seals.
WADE WINGLER: Belva Smith is the team lead over our vision and sensory team here at Easter Seals crossroads and the clinical assistant is not a program. If you’d like to learn more about our staff and Belva, head on over to www.eastersealstech.com/staff. You can read the bios and check everybody out. If you have a question for Belva, send it on over to tech@eastersealscrossroads.org. We’ll get to her and she will have a chance to respond.
WADE WINGLER: Do you have a question about assistive technology? Do you have a suggestion for someone we should interview on Assistive Technology Update? Call our listener line at 317-721-7124, shoot us a note on Twitter @INDATAProject, or check us out on Facebook. Looking for a transcript or show notes from today’s show? Head on over to www.EasterSealstech.com. Assistive Technology Update is a proud member of the Accessibility Channel. Find more shows like this plus much more over at AccessibilityChannel.com. That was your Assistance Technology Update. I’m Wade Wingler with the INDATA Project at Easter Seals Crossroads in Indiana.
***Transcript provided by TJ Cortopassi. For transcription requests and inquiries, contact tjcortopassi@gmail.com***