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anabatica posted:What jobs do other blind people you know do? If you're talking about all the possibilities, that question is probably better answered by this website. https://www.careerconnect.org
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 21:06 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 18:26 |
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Greefus posted:
edit: is a circle with two eyes and a wedge taken out on the side for a mouth. It's reminiscent of someone with a cheeky grin or similar. has a kind of "well, hmmph to you too" feel to it, while is more like "what an idiot". edit2: having been blind from birth, do you actually make standard facial expressions given that you haven't seen them yourself? ShardPhoenix fucked around with this message at 21:19 on Apr 24, 2007 |
# ? Apr 24, 2007 21:13 |
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ShardPhoenix posted:is better for more of an "I'm joking" kind of thing. is good for "mean" sarcasm and is good for what you describe. Helping me to fit in, one icon at a time. Thanks!
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 21:17 |
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How do you cope with losing or misplacing things around the house? For example, what if your cell phone wasn't where you remembered leaving it? Ever lose your keys? edit: great thread by the way
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 21:22 |
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I've been trying to keep up with the thread, but I'm not sure if this has been covered or not. What do you do about paperwork? Like bills, bank statements, etc. Do you have it transcribed into braille or have you just found other ways to deal with them? It might be a problem if you get some letter or form in the mail from a place that didn't know you were blind. I kind of wondered about this when I was stuffing envelopes for a mass mailing at work today.
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 21:40 |
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geera posted:How do you cope with losing or misplacing things around the house? For example, what if your cell phone wasn't where you remembered leaving it? Ever lose your keys? Usually I leave things in the same place, and everything is fine. I have a set place where I drop my keys, for example. Of course sometimes I'll misplace something; then I swear some and start looking. I use things like keys all the time, so they hardly ever become lost. I'm not so lucky with other things. and of course, when you find something, you have that "Oh, I knew it was there all along" moment.
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 21:41 |
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NaturalLow posted:I've been trying to keep up with the thread, but I'm not sure if this has been covered or not. What do you do about paperwork? Like bills, bank statements, etc. Do you have it transcribed into braille or have you just found other ways to deal with them? It might be a problem if you get some letter or form in the mail from a place that didn't know you were blind. I'd be surprised if any of the places that send me bills know that I'm blind. They provide a service, I provide money, and that's that. Different people have different solutions for this problem. I use a scanner and OCR software to reade my mail--I figure that the only person who really needs to be reading my mail is me. This works for everything except handwritten things, and I don't know when the last time is that I got something like that. I've discussed how I organize bills and track who's been paid a bit earlier in the thread.
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 21:46 |
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Caffeinated Sloth posted:I'd be surprised if any of the places that send me bills know that I'm blind. They provide a service, I provide money, and that's that. Different people have different solutions for this problem. I use a scanner and OCR software to reade my mail--I figure that the only person who really needs to be reading my mail is me. This works for everything except handwritten things, and I don't know when the last time is that I got something like that. Yeah, I didn't think until later that the braille idea would be a confidentaility problem for your mail and stuff. It sounds like there's some very cool technology out there to help you out. This thread has been quite a learning experience for me because I didn't know some of this stuff existed until now.
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 22:11 |
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Sloth, this has been probably the most interesting thread I've read so far, anywhere. I'm a software developer also - I write server-side code so there's no GUI's to muck around with, but even so, I can't imagine being able to not see what I'm working on - all the developers at my company have at least two monitors, just because they make things so much easier. I know you mentioned you make a lot of use of debugging statements printed out, and I know a lot of sighted developers also use the same technique to debug, but do you often come across the situation where there are too many variables to work with at a time, and keeping track of the problem in your mind gets a bit complicated? Following on from that, do you think you have a better memory than average? How does your screen reader handle things like IM/chat applications? For instance, if you're reading the forums, and someone sends you an instant message, do you have your IM client set to make a sound whenever you get a message? or does JAWS notify you somehow? I'd imagine it wouldnt just start reading the new message that came through, until you specifically activated the chat window. Also, visually, a chat window contains a bunch of text, which gets lines added each time someone in the conversation says something. Does the screen reader have to restart the entire conversation each time? Or does it know enough about chat programs to only read out the new lines that have been added? I've been contemplating laser eye surgery because my moderately thick glasses are becoming annoying now, but this thread has appreciate my crappy sight a lot more now... Thank you.
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 22:57 |
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Caffeinated Sloth posted:[SA] seemed interesting, but in order to log in you had to pass a CAPTCHA (type the letters in the box) test. There was no audio alternative, so I just shrugged and went on my way.
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# ? Apr 24, 2007 23:43 |
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First I know it was sort of touched on in the last page, but how do you need computer science concepts described to you in order to learn them effectively? Most of my explanations to others, and the explanations that taught me were of the "boxes and arrows" variety, which would probably have little to no meaning to you. For instance, how do you visualize a tree, or a bridge table in a rdbms? Second Do you make any gestures or otherwise move around to indicate things to sighted people?
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 01:00 |
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I'm back from the gym, so let's take care of some more questions.beuges posted:I'm a software developer also - I write server-side code so there's no GUI's to muck around with, but even so, I can't imagine being able to not see what I'm working on - all the developers at my company have at least two monitors, just because they make things so much easier. I know you mentioned you make a lot of use of debugging statements printed out, and I know a lot of sighted developers also use the same technique to debug, but do you often come across the situation where there are too many variables to work with at a time, and keeping track of the problem in your mind gets a bit complicated? beuges posted:Following on from that, do you think you have a better memory than average? beuges posted:How does your screen reader handle things like IM/chat applications? For instance, if you're reading the forums, and someone sends you an instant message, do you have your IM client set to make a sound whenever you get a message? or does JAWS notify you somehow? beuges posted:I've been contemplating laser eye surgery because my moderately thick glasses are becoming annoying now, but this thread has appreciate my crappy sight a lot more now... Thank you. wntd posted:Continuing on this, do you find that a lot of web sites are outright inaccessible due to CAPTCHA without backup or other poor design decisions? wntd posted:And, do you find the lack of coherent alt text on websites (like this one) to be a barrier or just an annoyance? LOLLERZ posted:I know it was sort of touched on in the last page, but how do you need computer science concepts described to you in order to learn them effectively? Most of my explanations to others, and the explanations that taught me were of the "boxes and arrows" variety, which would probably have little to no meaning to you. LOLLERZ posted:For instance, how do you visualize a tree, or a bridge table in a rdbms? LOLLERZ posted:Do you make any gestures or otherwise move around to indicate things to sighted people?
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 02:42 |
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Caffeinated Sloth posted:If you're talking about all the possibilities, that question is probably better answered by this website. No, I recognize that many jobs would be options for blind people. I'm wondering what the blind people you know actually do. You have said that you know some other blind people, so a brief description of some of their occupations (along the lines of describing yourself as a database guy or programmer) would be interesting. Thanks for this thread, by the way, it's been great.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 03:07 |
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Three questions: 1. Do you have any problems with staying awake when you're tired? Tired sighted people can usually force themselves to stay awake by keeping their eyes open and receiving visual stimulation, but will tend to fall asleep quickly with closed eyes, unless there is really lound or really annoying audio stimulation. Is there a method you use to keep yourself awake when you're tired if you don't have things like coffee or an MP3 player to help you out? 2. Does JAWS have any kind of a visual interface? Due to its function and intended use, it can obviously get away without one, but it's just weird to think about writing an application that takes keyboard input but doesn't display anything. 3. You mentioned earlier that when you get non-braille paper documents like mail, you scan and OCR them to read them. How do you know how to orient the document on the scanner so that you don't scan it upside-down or scan the blank side? Just trial and error, or is there some hueristic?
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 03:12 |
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Do you ever "see spots?"
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 03:26 |
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anabatica posted:No, I recognize that many jobs would be options for blind people. I'm wondering what the blind people you know actually do. You have said that you know some other blind people, so a brief description of some of their occupations (along the lines of describing yourself as a database guy or programmer) would be interesting. Smackbilly posted:1. Do you have any problems with staying awake when you're tired? Tired sighted people can usually force themselves to stay awake by keeping their eyes open and receiving visual stimulation, but will tend to fall asleep quickly with closed eyes, unless there is really lound or really annoying audio stimulation. Is there a method you use to keep yourself awake when you're tired if you don't have things like coffee or an MP3 player to help you out? Smackbilly posted:2. Does JAWS have any kind of a visual interface? Due to its function and intended use, it can obviously get away without one, but it's just weird to think about writing an application that takes keyboard input but doesn't display anything. Smackbilly posted:3. You mentioned earlier that when you get non-braille paper documents like mail, you scan and OCR them to read them. How do you know how to orient the document on the scanner so that you don't scan it upside-down or scan the blank side? Just trial and error, or is there some hueristic? mohay posted:Do you ever "see spots?"
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 03:34 |
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I'm the umpteenth person saying this but I mean it when I say that this is one of most fascinating threads I've ever read. I was so taken back imagining you living without any lights on and using a computer without a monitor. Of course doing these things make perfect sense, but they are so foreign to my way of life, that these ideas along with plenty others from this thread have had me completely enthralled. Someone asked about your favorite smells, but do you have any favorite sounds?
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 04:32 |
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Would you like to have children someday? How much of an impact has the Internet made in your life? I'm assuming its similar to having a TV, because you're just hearing stuff as you are with JAWS. But I'm sure its made some other things easier for you and more accessible? If you don't mind me asking, what was your longest relationship (as in, Girlfriend)? Do your parents live near you? How often do you visit them? Do they get worried a lot? Am I right in assuming movies with a ton of action (like, the Matrix for example) aren't as enjoyable because of the 5-10 minute fight scenes. I know you could have someone describe the action, but am I wrong in assuming you appreciate movies with more dialog? Like say, Batman Begins. Sort...of. And yeah, for the billionth time, what an awesome thread. I've learned so much about blind people from hearing your experience. This is very interesting. I also have to commend you, you appear very content and happy with life---thats awesome.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 10:50 |
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Any chance of you posting a picture of yourself? We'll pick apart your sister's fashion sense for you
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 14:00 |
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Toastmaker posted:Any chance of you posting a picture of yourself? We'll pick apart your sister's fashion sense for you He didn't release the name of his dog because he wanted to remain anonymous. I can't imagine him posting a picture that would do much more then that.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 14:52 |
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buns of molybdenum posted:Someone asked about your favorite smells, but do you have any favorite sounds? Glad you're enjoying the thread. The only sound that immediately comes to mind is the "swish, swish" of passing cars. I find it calming for some reason, even moreso if I'm listening to it from within a moving vehicle.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 15:03 |
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Ramseyk posted:Would you like to have children someday? slim maybe though. I like kids and seem to get along well with them, but I also like handing them back to their parents after a while. Ramseyk posted:How much of an impact has the Internet made in your life? I'm assuming its similar to having a TV, because you're just hearing stuff as you are with JAWS. But I'm sure its made some other things easier for you and more accessible? Ramseyk posted:If you don't mind me asking, what was your longest relationship (as in, Girlfriend)? Ramseyk posted:Do your parents live near you? How often do you visit them? Do they get worried a lot? Ramseyk posted:Am I right in assuming movies with a ton of action (like, the Matrix for example) aren't as enjoyable because of the 5-10 minute fight scenes. I know you could have someone describe the action, but am I wrong in assuming you appreciate movies with more dialog? Like say, Batman Begins. Sort...of. Ramseyk posted:I also have to commend you, you appear very content and happy with life---thats awesome.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 15:17 |
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IDigress posted:He didn't release the name of his dog because he wanted to remain anonymous. I can't imagine him posting a picture that would do much more then that. True, though I've given that some thought. It's not like I've posted anything that I wouldn't say in person. Unfortunately I don't have any recent pics.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 15:20 |
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How do you open those insane plastic box contraptions that most electronics manufacturers place their products in these days? I swear I need scissors every time for them. Do you have someone else do it?
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 16:18 |
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What is your perception of body language like? Can you tell in intimate conversation when someone gestures, do you notice more subtleties in things like handshakes and hugs?
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 16:45 |
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Cool thread! Watching a movie recently, we were playing with the sound options and came across one obviously designed for blind people. Some person was describing everything seen on the screen, such as descriptions of the characters as they're on screen and things like 'a stormy sea' which makes me think it might have been Das Boot. I don't know how many movies have this option but were you aware that this even exists? It would be awesome if every movie had that option. Also, you say you like Nickleback (among other music) but if you saw how cheesy and phony those people in that band looked you might not. It's probably good that you can enjoy music without being put off by superficial things so I don't know where I'm going with this. On another tangent, colours tend to have emotions tied with them in case nobody ever mentioned it. Some colours are supposedly warm, some are cold, some can drive you insane, some are supposedly depressing, some make you want to puke. Some are calming, some are full of energy. If you like, this could be expanded on but I wouldn't blame you at all if you didn't care less. With your text reader programme, does it read in a monotone or does the voice tend to go up if there's a question mark at the end, and does it sound excited if there's an exclamation mark? Or does it just tell you that those things are there. Do you have a braille keyboard or the usual one with the upraised things on the F and J keys? Thanks again for the excellent thread!
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 17:17 |
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Do you know how to swim? I imagine that it would be impossible to tell when you are nearing the end of the lane unless you had somebody with you
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 18:29 |
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sulley posted:How do you open those insane plastic box contraptions that most electronics manufacturers place their products in these days? I swear I need scissors every time for them. Do you have someone else do it? I use scissors, or a knife. Depends on how annoying they are.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 19:02 |
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Harry Krishna posted:What is your perception of body language like? Can you tell in intimate conversation when someone gestures, do you notice more subtleties in things like handshakes and hugs? It's really easy to notice subtleties when none actually exist. I've found that trying to pick up on to much using only tone of voice leads to a lot of misunderstandings--that or I'd pick up on emotions that the other person would rather I not notice. "What's wrong? Nothing's wrong. You sound unhappy. I'm fine. Blah blah blah." Communication is better than guesswork IMO. I try to pick up on peoples' boundaries and pay attention to those. For example if someone doesn't normally hug people, a hug means more than if they hug everyone they come across.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 19:27 |
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Do people ask you or tell you beforehand they are going to hug you?
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 19:29 |
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Harmony In My Head posted:Watching a movie recently, we were playing with the sound options and came across one obviously designed for blind people. Some person was describing everything seen on the screen, such as descriptions of the characters as they're on screen and things like 'a stormy sea' which makes me think it might have been Das Boot. I don't know how many movies have this option but were you aware that this even exists? It would be awesome if every movie had that option. Harmony In My Head posted:Also, you say you like Nickleback (among other music) but if you saw how cheesy and phony those people in that band looked you might not. It's probably good that you can enjoy music without being put off by superficial things so I don't know where I'm going with this. Harmony In My Head posted:On another tangent, colours tend to have emotions tied with them in case nobody ever mentioned it. Some colours are supposedly warm, some are cold, some can drive you insane, some are supposedly depressing, some make you want to puke. Some are calming, some are full of energy. If you like, this could be expanded on but I wouldn't blame you at all if you didn't care less. Harmony In My Head posted:With your text reader programme, does it read in a monotone or does the voice tend to go up if there's a question mark at the end, and does it sound excited if there's an exclamation mark? Or does it just tell you that those things are there. Harmony In My Head posted:Do you have a braille keyboard or the usual one with the upraised things on the F and J keys?
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 19:36 |
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baboon posted:Do you know how to swim? I imagine that it would be impossible to tell when you are nearing the end of the lane unless you had somebody with you I know how to swim. I tend to use strokes that will involve my arms being in front, so they're more likely to hit the end of the lane before I do. Backstroke was never one of my favorites.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 19:39 |
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Polpettina posted:Do people ask you or tell you beforehand they are going to hug you? No, they just hug me. It's never been an issue.
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# ? Apr 25, 2007 19:41 |
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Caffeinated Sloth posted:Thanks. I don't really consider my writing to be all that exceptional. It really is. This thread is incredibly clear and vivid. I hope you aren't getting tired of questions about judging people's appearances, and I hope this isn't too personal, but... One of the most important indicators of beauty is facial symmetry. The human eye can detect very small assymsetries (or their absence). We do this because symmetry indicates a strong immune system (fighting off infections at a young age that can deform bones), and therefore, good genes to be passed to the next generation. So, do facial features matter to you? Can you discern symmetry by touch? What makes a beautiful face, to you, if anything? I don't mean to misprepresent you, but reading this thread, it seems like you associate physical appearance almost exclusively with someone's body. Is this the right reading? Also, what do you think of optical illusions? Have people tried to describe them to you? Is their such a thing as an aural illusion, or a tactile illusion?
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# ? Apr 26, 2007 00:03 |
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Escher posted:It really is. This thread is incredibly clear and vivid. Escher posted:I don't mean to misprepresent you, but reading this thread, it seems like you associate physical appearance almost exclusively with someone's body. Is this the right reading? Escher posted:Also, what do you think of optical illusions? Have people tried to describe them to you? Is their such a thing as an aural illusion, or a tactile illusion? This is a great thread. I've learned a number of new things.
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# ? Apr 26, 2007 01:35 |
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Caffeinated Sloth posted:Optical illusions have been described. I think they're rather facinating. I tend to assume that it's impossible to trick the sense of sight and that's not so true. I'm not aware of auditory or tactile illusions. The only thing I can think of that's similar is a tactile illusion where you place one hand on a hot surface and one hand on a cold surface for a while, and then put both on the same warm surface and they feel different temperatures. They're just means of tricking the body and the mind.
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# ? Apr 26, 2007 01:49 |
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Caffeinated Sloth posted:I'm not aware of auditory or tactile illusions. Someone could probably make an aural illusion by faking a doppler shift.
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# ? Apr 26, 2007 02:25 |
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Caffeinated Sloth posted:
Have you ever used a program called Wynn? It's what our blind students use at my university. I quoted your post because I work at my resources for disabled students office, and I'm the person in charge of all textbook conversions. Scanning them, copying them, converting graphs, proof reading (which takes FOREVER), as well as turning them into Mp3s in the end for the people who need them. It's odd though, we have way fewer blind students who use the Mp3s than we do students with learning disabilities. Normally our blind students want everything in braille. Does your DS have a braille printer for things that don't makse sense in Mp3 format?
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# ? Apr 26, 2007 02:52 |
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DataCloset1306A posted:Have you ever used a program called Wynn? It's what our blind students use at my university. I quoted your post because I work at my resources for disabled students office, and I'm the person in charge of all textbook conversions. Scanning them, copying them, converting graphs, proof reading (which takes FOREVER), as well as turning them into Mp3s in the end for the people who need them. It's odd though, we have way fewer blind students who use the Mp3s than we do students with learning disabilities. Normally our blind students want everything in braille. I graduated in 2004, and I'm not sure of what they have currently. They had a braille printer of some type. They mainly used braille for things with math, and scanned everything else. I'd much prefer electronic text to mp3s--you can't use the Find command in an mp3. If I remember correctly, WYNN is a reading program used more by people with learning disabilities. I haven't actually seen it in action.
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# ? Apr 26, 2007 04:01 |
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# ? Apr 25, 2024 18:26 |
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I've made an mp3 to let you all hear what the speech synthesizer sounds like when reading an SA post. Here it is: http://csloth.nfshost.com/synth.mp3 Forgive my nervousness.
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# ? Apr 26, 2007 04:03 |