July/September 2012
A Publication of ACB of Indiana
CONTENTS
Contact Information for Officers, Board and Chapter Representatives P. 2
From Your President ….…………………………………………………….P. 2
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ACBI State Convention Coming Soon!................................................. P. 3
My First National ………………………….…………………………………P. 3
Indiana Vision Expo ……………………….………………………………..P. 4
Circle City News ………………………………………….…………………P. 5
SCAVI News …………………………………………………………………P. 5
Over the Back Fence ……………………………………………………….P. 6
New Report From Prevent Blindness America Shows Sharp Increase in
Eye Disease Prevalence ……………………………………………P. 6
Walmart Pilots ScripTalk Talking Prescription Program through
Walmart Mail Order and in Three Select Stores …………….P. 8
Fleksy Paving the Way for Visually Impaired Touch Screen Typing..P. 9
Renewal/Membership Application ……………………………………..P. 10
President:
Mike Bowman
317-726-0745
Web Master:
Edie Huffman johnediehuffman@hotmail.com hmbowman@sbcglobal.net ACB-I listserv
ACBI Website: http://www.acb-indiana.org
Focus is published four times a year: March, June, September and
December. It is available via e-Mail, in large print, on cassette, and PC disk, with special translated file for Braille output.
Rita Kersh edits this newsletter and can be contacted at hoosierrita@gmail.
com or 1820 G St., Bedford, IN 47421. Cheryl Sparks narrates the Focus for cassette output. Don Koors is responsible for the printing and mailing of hard copies, as well as e-mail distribution and cassette duplication and distribution.
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lease contact any officer or member of the board with concerns, suggestions, or comments.
2012 BOARD OF DIRECTORS
Officers
President
Mike Bowman, Indianapolis
Tel: 317-726-0745
Rita Kersh, Bedford hoosierrita@comcast.net
Sue L’Esperance, Columbia City lcacbi03@embargmail.com
John McCallister, Indianapolis hmbowman@sbcglobal.net
Vice-president
Lynn Powers, Indianapolis
Tel: 317-638-3765 powlynn@gmail.com
Secretary
Edie Huffman, Indianapolis
Tel: 317-228-0496 johnediehuffman@hotmail.com
Treasurer
Don Koors, Indianapolis
Tel: 317-251-2562 donkoors@aol.com
Immediate Past President mac50101@comcast.net
Barbara Salisbury, Bloomington
Barbara.Salisbury@att.net
Dolly Sowder, Bedford mdsowder90@sbcglobal.net
Mike Sowder, Bedford mdsowder90@sbcglobal.net
Chapter Representatives
Circle City:
Gerry Koors, Indianapolis
gerrykoors@aol.com
John Huffman, Indianapolis j73.huffman@comcast.net
Directors
Jeff Busch, Bloomington jeff.busch@aol.com
Lakota:
Sue L ’Esperance, Columbia City lcacbi03@embargmail.com
North Central:
Sandy Lingofelter, Elkhart
Sanken3@juno.com
South Central:
Robert Easterling, Columbus rteasterling@comcast.net
Pam Evans, Indianapolis psevans430@att.net
Mike Sowder, Bedford
mdsowder90@sbcglobal.net
Heartland Association Chapter:
Barbara Salisbury, Bloomington
Barbara.Salisbury@att.net
From Your President
By Mike Bowman
What a summer so far! I hope that everyone has enjoyed the "Heating Up" of this dry, warm record setting summer as much as I have. I also hope that you have not been short on water. Speaking of "Heating Up", the
ACBI / ACB 2012 activities certainly are also. The planning and arrangements for our 2012 ACBI State convention in September are finalized and being published! Thanks to this year's Convention Planning
Committee and a very productive face to face July ACBI Board meeting.
Finalized details on the September ACBI State Convention are elsewhere in this Focus issue and will also be posted on our ACBI web site. Plan on attending and bring lots of new people with you! Take advantage of the
Early Registration and place your reservations at the hotel before time
"Slips Away".
Several ACBI members were involved in the National 2012 convention, but
I will let some of them communicate that great event to you themselves.
We can always use more people getting involved. Be sure to ask your
Chapter Leadership where you can help to grow and move forward the
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ACB, both at the state & national levels and how best to support the progress of the National Initiatives.
Thanks to all that were involved / contributed to the contact blitzes that have taken place for the different National Initiatives to ensure their progress to date. At the National level, ACB has seen significant positive progress in accessible prescription labeling / information and DVS movies
(described video services). Watch for future "Call to Action" messages and request from your local chapter leadership and “Rise Up” and support the ACB sponsored initiatives moving forward. The ones that rise up & speak up are the only ones that will be heard. Be sure to check both the
ACB National web site, www.acb.org & our state web site, acb-indiana.org frequently for updated information on events and involvements. Be sure to plan, prepare, & attend the September 2012 ACBI convention and get involved in the other ACBI state & local chapter activities this year.
The survival and growth of the ACB depends on each of us doing our part to ensure successful ACB efforts to engage new people and ideas.
Hope to see you in Fort Wayne in September!
ACBI State Convention Coming Soon!!
By Rita Kersh
Tell one! Tell all! The ACBI state convention is almost here! September
21st through 22nd, are the dates for this year’s convention in Ft. Wayne.
If you’ve not already done so, make your hotel reservations at Don Hall’s
Guesth ouse in Ft. Wayne, where this year’s state convention will be held.
The phone number is: 1-800-348-1999, or make reservations on-line at www.donhalls.com. Be sure to give them the block number of 1209 to get the convention rate. Reservations must be made no later than August 21 to get this rate.
Our theme this year, “Plug into Knowledge with ACBI”, focuses on all aspects of accessibility we as visually impaired encounter every day.
Everyone will find our speakers very informative and will gain a better understanding of how to make sure all materials and devices can be independently utilized.
If you would like to attend the state convention and have not received a registration form, please contact Don Koors at 317-251-2562 or donkoors@aol.com for more information.
Don’t forget…this year is our first convention auction, so bring your bucks and make the bids!! We’re also looking for auction items to bid on.
Individuals and chapters, please donate. Send your auction item descriptions to Barbara Salisbury at Barbara.salisbury@att.net or call her at 812-287-8006. Barbara needs the item descriptions no later than Sept.
5 in order to have them in accessible formats for the auction.
My first National!
By Barbara Salisbury
My first time at the ACB national convention, and it was exhilarating! I loved it, and allow me please, to “count the ways”!
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First, I have never been with so many blind people in one place. I am told that there were 1,500 in attendance and the gridlock in the hallways was amazing, but what was even more interesting, everyone was congenial about it! There were scores of guide canes, and dog guides galore! Just the logistics of getting around the hotel, running in to people (sometimes literally) in the hallways, getting to know people and discovering old friends, while you consulted one another regarding directions to the elevator or to the ballroom, was in itself fun!
The roll call of the states in the opening ceremony was exciting, hearing from each state regarding their delegates, number of votes and the number of chairs they would need in their consortium, brought energy and enthusiasm to the convention kick off! Since all the attendees are organized and seated by state or affiliate, I immediately knew what I had to do. I visited Virginia, where we lived for 8 years, Kentucky, where I grew up, and the ACB students to say hello to a couple young ladies I met last year at the Midwest Leadership Conference and to give my support to their efforts.
The vendors were many and varied from dog guide schools and technical aides, to creative handmade crafts, and even a pharmaceutical company studying sleeping disorders in totally blind individuals. One of the most interesting, especially for my engineer husband, and new item for me, was a guide cane that uses sonar technology, made in the United Kingdom, pretty neat! And very pricey, at $1,300! Oh, yes, there was artwork as well, made by people with vision impairments, associated with Friends in
Art, gorgeous pottery and wall hangings.
The sessions were interesting and informative. I attended a session with all the dog guide schools presenting, and learned, emphasized by each presenter, that apparently food reinforcement in training is controversial!
Of course, it is hard to beat the Google team with their new driverless car, which everybody is so jazzed about, but hold on, there are lots of hoops yet to jump through before we can pick one up from our favorite auto dealer i.e. insurance companies, legislators, just acceptance by the general sighted public! But, wow! Imagine! Check it out on UTube!
Finally, it was fun visiting over meals with fellow board members and getting to know a few new folks from other chapters. Also, as president of a new chapter down south here in Bloomington, The Heartland Association of ACBI, I was proud that several of our folks made the trip to Louisville for their own first national convention experience. There were 8 all told from our little chapter; and, to top it all off, our chapter was the third place winner in the Braille Forum raffle drawing, $500! I’ve gone on long enough, but what a trip, and I plan to make it again next year to Columbus!
Indiana Vision Expo
Saturday, SEPTEMBER 29, 2012, 10:00 a.m.
—3:00 p.m.
INDIANA STATE LIBRARY, 315 W. OHIO STREET, INDIANAPOLIS, IN
46204
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Please join us for this year’s Indiana Vision Expo, the Midwest’s largest event for people with visual impairments! Brought to you by the Indiana
Talking Book and Braille Library, the Indiana Vision Expo brings together vendors and nonprofit agencies from throughout the United States who provide cutting edge adaptive technology and independent living aids, as well as service and resource information for people of all ages. This year’s event will again be held in conjunction with the annual Foundation Fighting
Blindness VisionWalk, which will be held on the downtown canal adjoining the State Library prior to the start of the Expo. For more information about the Expo or VisionWalk, contact us at 317-232-3738 or 1-800-622-4970, by email at mansty@library.in.gov, or visit our website at www.indianavisionexpo.org.
If you would like to join the South Central Indiana ACBI team in the
Indianapolis Vision Walk, contact either Rita Kersh (editor info at top of newsletter) or Ted Boardman at tedboardman@yahoo.com
and let us know your contact information so we can tell you how to join our team.
CIRCLE CITY NEWS
By Gerry Koors
Happy Summer. As I write this summer has not officially arrived. But yet it has with its heat and humidity. We’ve had an interesting year thus far.
January was cancelled because of the weather. In February Edie and
John Huffman gave a delightful program about their visit to the Lockport,
New York section of the historic Erie Canal. In March we heard from
Maggie Ansty who has been appointed the new regional librarian for the
Braille and Talking Book Division of the Indiana State Library. She talked about coming changes in library services and her desire to reach more potential users. April found us meeting at Taste Restaurant because there was a fund raising cancer walk downtown. We just enjoyed each other ’s company as it was too noisy to discuss anything. Some had breakfast while others just had a snack. In May we were back at the State Library downtown. Our speaker was Joshua Towns from Civic Resounds which is a company hoping to eliminate barriers to access of information on the local level. This means having information from the City County Council and other committees put into accessible formats. We won’t meet now until September other than our summer picnic August 4 th at the Indiana
School for the Blind and Visually Impaired. Until I write again I leave you with this thought: “A smile is the gentle curved line that sets a lot of things straight.
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SCAVI News
By Rita Kersh
Whoa, talk about a hot summer…July is here as I write this and it’s scorching outside . I hope the rest of the summer isn’t this hot. We’re dealing with a burn ban and water conservation now.
Well, we at SCAVI have been enjoying some interesting programs and fellowship. June was our annual picnic, which took place at Thornton Park in Bedford. There ended up being about 21 people attending. We were able to reserve an air conditioned building and everyone enjoyed the food
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and the American history trivia game with Mike Sowder as emcee. We all went home with a “white elephant” prize.
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We voted not to have a July meeting due to the Independence Day holiday and the national convention. We had six of our members attend the national convention during the week.
We’ll be starting up again in August by moving our monthly meetings to a new location. We’ll be meeting in the community room at Cambridge
Square Apartments. Our usual meeting place has moved to Mitchell and we decided we’d rather meet in Bedford. Our August 6 program will be by
Marcey Phillips with Healthy Balance and she’ll be teaching the group some exercises they can do at home.
So, until we at SCAVI catch you in the next issue, try to stay cool!
Over the Back Fence
This column is for readers to submit announcements, poems, recipes, etc.
My Diet
By James A. Roberts
(Submitted by Gerry Koors)
Because I’ve developed a middle-age spread,
My doctor has warned me that I’d better shed,
With a wag of his tongue, he soon let me know
That the sweets and the starches would all have to go.
All the foods I enjoy are a no-no now,
I can only consume what the list will allow,
My intake of calories has slashed to the core,
I can eat just so much, not one morsel more.
No sugar or cake, no ice cream or pie,
I have to hide all of my favorites Good-by!
And try to survive on the leanest of fare —
If I don’t watch my diet, I’ll look like pear.
I know that my doctor had the best of advice,
But the belt he was sporting would have circled me twice,
It would be retribution if he’d do the same,
For he had a pouch that would put me to shame.
New Report From Prevent Blindness America Shows Sharp Increase in
Eye Disease Prevalence
Chicago, IL (PRWEB) June 20, 2012
More adult Americans are facing the reality of eye disease than ever before. According to the 2012 update of the “Vision Problems in the U.S.” report, a study released today by Prevent Blindness America and the
National Eye Institute, the number of those ages 40 and older with vision impairment and blindness has increased 23 percent since the year 2000.
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The study, conducted by researchers from Johns Hopkins University, provides prevalence rates and estimates cases of age-related eye conditions. A full version of the study is available at preventblindness.org/visionproblems.
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In addition, a preliminary update to the 2007 Prevent Blindness America
“Economic Impact of Vision Problems” report shows a $1 billion increase in costs of excess medical care expenditures, informal care and healthrelated quality of life related to visual impairment and blindness. Further cost information is being developed and a full updated report on the economic impact of vision problems will be available at a later date.
Overviews of both reports will be presented today at the Prevent Blindness
America “Focus on Eye Health Summit” in Washington, DC. The Summit will also feature a number of other key public health updates and presentations from national leaders, including reports on eye health surveillance efforts and NEI planning activities for vision research.
Statistics from the 2012 Vision Problems in the U.S. report on the four most common eye diseases highlight alarming increases since 2000, including:
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2,069,403 people age 50 and older have late AMD (age-related macular degeneration), a 25 percent increase
24,409,978 million people age 40 and older have cataracts, a 19 percent increase
2,719,379 million people age 40 and older have open-angle glaucoma, a 22 percent increase
7,685,237 million people ages 40 and older have diabetic retinopathy, an 89 percent increase
“It’s no surprise that the numbers of those affected by eye disease are continuing to climb, especially due to the aging Baby Boomer population,” said Hugh R. Parry, president and CEO of Prevent Blindness America.
“What is exceptionally concerning is the dramatic spike in diabetic retinopathy cases, a consequence of the diabetes epidemic that this country is experiencing with no end in sight.”
Diabetes is the leading cause of new cases of blindness in adults 20-74 years of age. According to the Centers for Disease Control, diabetes affects 25.8 million people in the United States. Although there is no cure for diabetic eye disease, annual eye exams for diabetes patients are essential to help slow the progression of the disease.
All data from the Vision Problems in the U.S. report can now be obtained through a new searchable database housed on the Prevent Blindness
America website at preventblindness.org/visionproblems. This unique tool enables users to research a wide range of information including eye disease and condition numbers broken down by state, age, sex, and race, and provides comparisons across disease conditions. Added Parry, “It is our hope that this new data will provide those in the health community, the public and our nation’s leaders with the vital information they need to address these troubling numbers through programs, research and funding.”
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For more information about the 2012 Vision Problems in the U.S. report, the Prevent Blindness America “Focus on Eye Health: A National Summit,” diabetes and other eye diseases, please visit preventblindness.org or call
(800) 331-2020.
Walmart Pilots ScriptTalk Talking Prescription Program through
Walmart Mail Order and in Three Selecg Stores
Bwentonville AQRK. (June 8, 2012)
Walmart (NYSE; WMT) announced today that it is piloting a test program with En-Vision America to offer ScriptTalk, a talking prescription system that provides those who cannot read standard print a safe and easy way to access the information on their prescriptions. ScriptTallk is currently being offered to customers with visual imppairments across the country through
Walmart Mail Order and in three test stores. The program is free to
Walmart pharmacy customers who are blind or visually impaired.
ScriptTalk is currently available nationally through Walmart Mail Order and in the pharmacy at the following stores
214 Haynes Street, Talladega, AL 35160
2270 West Main Street, Tupelo, MS 38801
601 Englewood Parkway, Enjglewood, CO 80110
Walmart is committed to offering affordable healthcare solutions to its customers, including those with disabilities. The retailer is always testing new programs to meet customers’ needs and is working closely with the
American Foundation for the Blind, the American Council of the Blind and the California Council of the Blind to pilot this service for customers with visual impairments.
“For more than 21.5 million Americans living with significant vision loss, properly identifying and taking prescription medications is challenging because they can’t read container labeling.” The Walmart pilot program addresses this often overlooked public health challenge.
---Paul Schroeder, vice president for programs and policy, American
Foundation for the Blind.
Today’s announcement demonstrates Walmart’s significant leadership in serving its customers with visual impairmets. The pilot is an important step in ensuring that peop[le who cannot read standard print get the information they need to safely take prescription medications. – Mitch Pomerantz, president, American Council of the Blind.
A rescription provided with ScriptTalk has an electronic chip embedded in the standard print label. To hear the information on the chip, the customer simply places the prescription container on the ScriptTalk device and presses the button.
Interested customers who either presently fill or would like to fill prescriptions through Walmart Mail Order or at the pilot stores liusted can contact En-Vision America at 800-890-1180 to request a free ScriptTalk
Talking prescription reader.
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Fleksy Paving the Way for Visually Impaired Touch Screen Typing
As costs have fallen recently, many of you have entered into the smart phone world by way of the iPhone and its wonderful VoiceOver software that comes standard with each device. While VoiceOver is an incredible piece of software that allows a visually impaired individual to interact with a non-tactile phone, there are still companies looking to accent the software and make the overall iPhone experience even easier for the visually impaired user. Enter Fleksy, a new touch typing text input app designed with the visually impaired in mind. Fleksy works similar to other predictive text input apps in that it can guess what you're typing as you type it out.
For instance, if you were to start typing the word "house," by the time you typed the letters "h" and "o," the program would already be well on its way to finishing the word, allowing the user to type faster. But Fleksy has taken this process a step further. Their algorithm not only predicts the word you're going to type, but predicts it based on what letters are near the word you're intending to type as well, making it an even "smarter" program choice for the visually impaired. In a product demo, they show someone typing the word "arrange" to be sent in a text message. The word appeared on the screen quickly, but the user typed the letters z w y s b h r.
The program recognized that all the letters of the word "arrange" were within close enough proximity to the letters that were typed and so that's the word that was displayed, rather than the jumbled text. Now, while predictive text is not perfect, and certain words are typed close enough to each other on the keyboard that there may be mistakes, this is a very large leap forward in touch typing and it should enable anyone who knows the general layout of a classic QWERTY keyboard to type faster than they would normally be able to while using the iPhone. Fleksy will allow the user to send the text via text message, email, or copied for use in other apps. The makers of Fleksy, Syntellia, have submitted the app for Apple's approval and hope to launch it in the app store soon. They're also hoping that Apple likes the keyboard option enough that they may consider building it into their VoiceOver system. For those of you with iPhones, check the app store in the coming months for any updates. If you try it out, let us know your impressions in the Reader's Forum.
Source: http://appadvice.com/appnn/2012/06/fleksy-fosters-flexible-typingfor-visually-impaired-people
NOTE: Any mention of products and services in this newsletter is for informational purposes only and does not imply endorsement of any such product or service by the American Council of the Blind of Indiana.
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RENEWAL / MEMBER APPLICATION
Persons interested in becoming a member or renewing their membership need only to send their check for $7, payable to ACBI, to Donald Koors,
5885 North Central, Indianapolis, IN 46220, along with the following information:
Name _________________________________________________
Address: _______________________________________________
City/State/Zip: __________________________________________
Phone Number: (____)____________________________________
E-Mail Address: _________________________________________
Occupation: ____________________________________________
Newsletter Format Preference:
____ E-Mail ____ Audiocassette____ Large Print ____ Computer Disk
ACB of Indiana Free Matter For
Attn: Donald Koors The Blind
5885 North Central Avenue
Indianapolis, IN 46220-2509
April-June 2012
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