Accessible Insights Blog Posts

Among the top-ranked tools available to entrepreneurs today is a virtual phone solution you should check out. Grasshopper.com has been listed repeatedly on the myriad “Top 10” tech and social media blogs which are so pervasive now. Everyone is looking for that perfect phone app or blog plug-in or social networking productivity tool, and I’ve found several I’ve mentioned here.

The latest, Grasshopper.com, is an inexpensive feature-rich virtual phone service that can provide you with either local or toll-free phone numbers that do just about everything but feed your dog. I’m betting someone is working on that, though. Picture it: A phone app that enables you to phone home and toggle on your lights, small appliances or your automatic dog feeder. It’s coming, I just know it.

I digress.

there is nothing you could possibly want to do with a phone system that cannot be done using Grasshopper. Grasshopper features include faxing, forwarding and phone numbers that you can take anywhere. You can accept phone calls, direct calls straight to voicemail, or have messages delivered to your email inbox. if you really need to be reachable, there’s no place to hide with Grasshopper.

The nice people who work there asked me to compose a guest post for their blog. Since the site happens to be screen reader accessible, they spotted me tweeting about that and asked for a small contribution to their Grasslands blog. Read it here:

grasshopper.com/blog/company/2009/11/18/an-unlikely-entrepreneur/

When you’re done reading, tweet at me just to say hi, then check out Grasshopper phone service.

LL

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Hardly. However, that heading might catch the interest of someone trolling through Google three days from now. In any case, The Virtual Entrepreneur Magazine has published their latest issue, available here:

www.tvemagazine.com/this-issue.html

Edited by Andrea Jackson of Action Jackson Virtual Assistants, the magazine is packed with articles and tips on every aspect of business as a VA. One of the many tasks performed by a VA is to promote their clients. To that end, the cover story in this month’s issue features yours truly in a piece entitled, “A Virtual Hero.”

Embarrassing an overstatement as that may be, check out the magazine and then write to Andrea and tell her how talented she is, then hire her for all of your administrative, marketing and web support needs. Wondering why you would need a VA? Read my most popular article entitled, “Top 7 Reasons to Hire a Virtual Assistant.” Find it here:

eloquentinsights.com/virtualassistant.html

LL

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‘If I cannot do great things, I can do small things in a great way.” -J. F. Clarke

I’m hardly the first person to make this observation, but among the plethora of possibilities presented by the Internet is the opportunity to be unkind without consequence. The anonymity afforded by our screen names and questionable profiles (“fauxfiles”?) gives us the hit and run capability that emboldens the cowards among us.

As an educator and speaking professional for over ten years, one of the so-called “rules” of public speaking is a rule to which I closely adhere. It applies too other aspects of life as well, and I have often found it extremely useful to utilize tenets of other industries in my own. For example, there are principles of in-person networking that can be applied to social media networking. There are principles of real estate investing that can be applied to education. Innumerable coaching and sports analogies can be applied to just about anything.

this philosophy in particular, an admonishment to speakers to “know their audience,” is applicable to marketing.

when I speak to groups about disability awareness, I am quickly reminded that my audience is not stocked with attendees who see things my way. My job isn’t to point my finger at them and say, ‘Be nicer to people who are disabled because it’s the right thing to do.” If the “right thing to do” were sufficient a reason to do anything,we would not have crime. So, my job isn’t to spank my attendees in an effort to shame them into behaving a certain way. Rather, I see my role as more like that of a cultural anthropologist, excavating motives, interpreting the data, seeking to understand how the pieces fit together and how best to improve upon our interactions with one another.

To do this, I must know my audience. Speaking to a roomful of disability rights advocates does not achieve my purpose. Presumably, they already “get it.” Nor is my audience a roomful of individuals with disabilities. They are living the experience about which I speak, they are the proverbial “choir” to whom I would be ‘preaching.”

the same is true in marketing. the goal isn’t to create a market for a product that doesn’t exist, the goal is to identify an existing market and help them meet a need.

The point is, the Insights web destinations are not for the tech-savvy, html-markup sophisticates who are experts in web site accessibility platforms and protocols. My target market are the individuals who are struggling to find practical information about how to cope with their parents who are disabled, or those who are seeking ways to manage their own disability. they would be unlikely to troll the many jargon-intensive, informational tech blogs. they are unlikely to grasp the finer points of- Using tables for structure, layout and design rather than separating style from content using semantic markup ie css and (x)html. If you understood that sentence, my offerings may not be for you. I know my audience. For those who seek to further their own interests at the expense of others, however, this is a matter of no importance. They would simply prefer to humiliate. It’s faster.

Let’s back up and punt, shall we? the bigger picture is that if we do not possess dignity ourselves, we cannot give it to others. Criticism, flaming, ridiculing only weakens our message. Instead, examine the good works of people who take chances every day in guiding others through the minefield of differing viewpoints. the landscape is fraught with bias and resentment and past pain, which only serves to cloud our judgment and permit us to be hurtful. We humans have a long road ahead of us as life becomes more difficult, seems more savage, faster paced. If we allow ourselves to suffer the indignity of the pettiness of those who would silence us, we have no voice to lend to those who have no voice of their own.

It is a profound commentary on just how marginalized professionals with disabilities must feel that for some, it seems necessary to betray or belittle each other, despite our shared goals, our shared drive to improve the lives of others. For those of you who are advocates for people with disabilities, teachers of awareness, accessibility, crafters of assistive technologies and who actively seek to promote our abilities, thank you. If your efforts seem only to garner you scorn, ridicule, humiliation or sabotage, keep up the good work. You must be doing something right.

LL

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In stark contrast to the customer service oriented, enlightened and inclusive attitude demonstrated by the Nutshell Mail staff as described in a previous post, I had quite a different experience with another company. Recently, I had a need to make some inquiries about creating and hosting audio products, so I went to a popular audio site that claims to offer “audio for everyone!’

Apparently, as I soon discovered, not quite everyone.

When I encountered some difficulty in navigating the site, I searched for a phone number to call for assistance in setting up my account. The sales rep who answered the phone informed me that he could not create an account via phone. The web site was the only way. I asked him if he might make an exception, considering that I am visually impaired and using a screen reader that seems to be having some trouble with the registration form.

the sales rep told me no, I must register for the service using the online form. Concerned, I explained that I could not access the registration form, and if the registration form wasn’t accessible, then the actual service might not be, either. this comment was met by dead silence.

So, I just came right out and asked, “Is your service accessible for users who are blind?”

After another few seconds of silence, the sales rep asked, “What does ‘accessible’ mean?”

Incredulous, I really had to check myself. while I find it hard to believe that in this age of technology, anyone who works for an Internet audio production and hosting service wouldn’t know what ‘accessible” means, every day proves to be a new revelation into our culture’s pervasive ignorance about people who have disabilities.
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Trying another tactic, I said, “Does your service work with a screen reader?” Silence. I went on, hesitantly,. “A screen reader is a program that reads text aloud for users who are blind.” Silence.

Finally, he responded. “I really couldn’t tell you. You’ll just have to try it and see.” I asked, hopefully, “Well, do you happen to know if you have any customers who are blind?”” I figured if the answer was yes, there was a strong likelihood that they used a screen reader like my own, and that would answer my questions.

“I really wouldn’t know. All I can say is to try it and see. that’s why we have the free trial period.”

that, I thought regretfully, was the end of that. There was no offer to consult with the tech support person, no attempt to connect with another staff member who might know, not even an offer to find out and give me a call back. Just a complete blow-off.

Now, I will grant you that a ‘free trial period” offered by a company is their way of mitigating returns and dissatisfied customers. However, I often say that attitudinal barriers can be as formidable as physical barriers. what this sales representative, and the company he represents, clearly fails to understand is that the investment of time and frustration required to make a simple determination as to whether or not a service is accessible can be a prohibitive one. A two minute conversation with a more knowledgeable staff member could alleviate this fruitless investment. Instead, I was dismissed, and left with a white-hot hate for this company and it’s product. this sort of uncaring attitude costs businesses in both dollars and goodwill.

In my opinion, this is not an accommodation issue, it is a customer service issue. there is absolutely no excuse for the sales rep’s deplorable attitude. As I am prone to do, however, I vote with my wallet. I’ll simply take my business elsewhere.

LL

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If you are among those who use Nutshell Mail for aggregating all of your social media and email account information, you will be pleased to know that a new version will be released soon. According to Mark, who is with Nutshell Mail support and with whom I’ve exchanged email, the new release will be out sometime in the next two weeks..

When I first heard about the new version, I was concerned enough to write to Nutshell Mail, explaining that I specifically chose the service because it was accessible, and encouraged them not to abandon their users who are blind or visually impaired. Mark admitted that while they may not have specifically set out to achieve accessibility, he was pleased that the service worked well for me, and then invited me to participate in the early beta test group, so that I could provide feedback as to how well the new version functioned with my accessibility software.

Once again, I found myself so pleased that a company would not only care about the issue, but would actually invite my participation and feedback. The willingness to make adjustments so that the Nutshell Mail product can be used by everyone is such a statement about the company’s commitment to customer service.

Mark assured me that if for some reason the new version of Nutshell mail was not a comfortable switch for any user, they could revert to the “classic” version of the service. However, he pointed out that the “whole new Nutshell Mail would give users a much more robust way to message back into Facebook and Twitter.”

So, look forward to the new release soon, and my own updates as to how the new interface works with Jaws and Zoomtext.

Nutshell Mail is another example of my belief that good customer service is an equal opportunity opportunity.

LL

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Being a perfectionist is a nightmare. Seriously. It is not a flattering quality, it is not a characteristic of which I am proud, and it is a trait I have sought to moderate my entire life. If acknowledging the problem is the first step, then simply by virtue of the fact that I’ve acknowledged there is a problem means there is an inherent flaw in my perfectionism that makes for a maddening ‘catch 22.” I’m forever trying to improve upon that which should not be improved. Clearly, I’m insane.

Sure, there is nothing wrong with striving for perfection, as long as you can accept that perfection isn’t possible. I’d like to think that in the failure to achieve perfection, I can arrive at excellence instead.

The way this plays out for me in real life is that I have trouble letting go of things. One of them is my writing. If it is true that writing is ninety-five percent rewriting, then I guess that makes me a bona fide writer. I rewrite endlessly, sculpting each sentence, each paragraph, to the point that I can no longer see any of it, so I have to put it away. I recently read a quote that said something like, “To be a great artist you have to be willing to forget about being a great artist,” or something like that.

The point of this is to say that I have struggled over the first issue of the newsletter to the detriment of my subscribers, and it’s time to send it out. For heaven’s sake, who died and made me newsletter queen? Just send it out, flaws and all. Geez. I’m not going to win a Pulitzer.

So, if you are interested in some tips and tools to help you support a friend or loved one who is elderly, disabled or who endeavors to be a more competent care giver, sign up for the free Bits of Insight newsletter, or send a gift subscription to someone you know.

Subscribe at www.inhomeinsights.comm.

I’ll just take a deep breath and think of it as a growing, evolving work in progress. I look forward to your contribution and feedback. By making the publication a collaborative effort, we will create a broader appeal and gain a broader reach.

Ready or not, here it goes…

LL

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I’ll say this for Twitter: If nothing else, it’s a great place to collect quotes, if you love quotes. there seems to be a significant number of tweeple out there who use Twitter solely to tweet and retweet quotes. Since I have always loved language, the rhythm and musicality of words, I can’t resist a good quote. In some cases, though, I really enjoy the ones that just make me laugh. It requires a finely honed wit to be both humorous and economical. Not long ago I heard a famous funnyman say he would work for an hour to reduce a laugh line from twelve words to eight. That’s true wit.

Here are just a few quotes I’ve run across recently: :

When a man won’t listen to his conscience, it’s usually because he doesn’t want advice from a total stranger. ~ Lindsey Stewart

Arrogance not only prevents you from seeing the big
picture, it makes you think your view is the big picture. ~Sherrin Ross Ingram

“What is a committee? A group of the unwilling, picked from
the unfit, to do the unnecessary.” Richard Harkness

“Dogs like to ride in your car, in case the need arises for them to bark violently at nothing right in your ear.” Barry

What are your favorite funny quotes? Send them my way.

LL

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One problem I’ve observed with some of the cell phones targeted to seniors
is that they seem to be long on marketing and short on real-world usability.
Sure, there are definite advantages to simplicity, especially if
practicality is not compromised. Unfortunately, though, some of these cell
phones for seniors seem limited to the point of pointlessness. Once you
make a cell phone truly accessible, why take away all of the great features?

It’s really cute how some of the manufactures have lasered directly into the
boomers bracket by associating the phone with be-bop and simpler times gone
by, but I find the marketing somewhat repellant. How about a cell phone for
grown-ups? Yes, I’ve heard the expression, “once a man, twice a child’ as
it pertains to aging, but really, is it necessary to be so blatantly
condescending? If you want to buy your loved ones a gift of cell phone
freedom this year, here are some options that range in function and
flexibility, without
hijacking the 1950’s as though older people are somehow all stuck in a time
warp.

Your choices are between a mainstream cell phone to which you can add
accessible functionality, or a cell phone that is purposefully natively
limited. In the first category, I like the combination of Mobile Speak
software and
the Motorola Q phone. It is what I use. I am not a senior citizen but I do
require speech functionality. Mobile Speak is a software download that
can be installed into a variety of cell phones that use the Smartphone
platform. Simply put, it makes every aspect of the Motorola phone
accessible by making the phone speak each feature and function aloud. It
has a full QWERTY keyboard that is tactile and the buttons are not
miniscule. I can text with the best of them.

There is another text-to-speech option, by Nuance, which is based on a chip
that is
installed into a phone. It is called Talx (for my screen reader friends,
that is spelled with an “x” instead of ‘k s”), and it works in the Nokia
6600 series phones. I’ve used this, too, and while it is also very
functional, the phone itself is not current technology, the software
interface that allows you to sync the phone with your PC is not accessible,
and the cable required to do this is proprietary. that means you cannot use
standard USB connectivity. Finding this cable, called the ‘Pop Port,” is
practically impossible, if you wanted it. Not that it would do you any
good, due to the aforementioned inaccessibility of the sync software
interface.

If you do not require speech, an excellent option for seniors is the Doro
326i cell phone. Nothing to add, install or that requires
sighted assistance. It has large tactile buttons and a large font high
contrast screen. You cannot download software into the phone, but it has
enough features to make the phone appealing without being so feature-rich as
to be overwhelming. Best of all, you don’t have to be on one of those
pre-paid minute plans, or be on some sort of closed network that lacks
coverage in your area. It works with several service providers, and is
reasonably priced.

If sheer simplicity is what you’re after, and all you want is one step above
two cans and a string, there are plenty of those from which to choose, too.
In my opinion, though, if you’re going to go that route, you may as well get
that alert button from the ‘Help I’ve fallen, and I can’t get up!” people.
It only calls one number, but if that’s all you need…

LL

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Eloquent Insights www.eloquentinsights.com/

If you need an educational speaker who will bring experience, eloquence and
excellence to your next event, go to Eloquent Insights and complete a
request for service today. Laura Legendary is a speaker, author and
educator specializing in disability awareness, advocacy, accessibility and
assistive technology.

In-Home Insights www.inhomeinsights.com

Bits of insight for greater independent living and compassionate care
giving. You’ll find elder care information and products to make life a
little
easier for everyone. Sign up for the free “Bits of Insight” newsletter for
caregivers by caregivers. You can even submit your own caregiving tips so
that others can benefit from your expertise.

Accessible Insights www.accessibleinsights.info

A site for sore eyes! Products and publications, resources and
recommendations for people with low or no vision. Check out the Accessible
Insights weblog and Laura’s List for tips on the latest assistive technology
solutions.

Legendary Insights www.legendaryinsights.com

Home of the Legendary Insights Foundation, a small private philanthropic
organization established in loving memory of Billy Ray Legendary.
Please make a donation today. Your contribution will be used to purchase
assistive technology devices to help individuals with vision loss to achieve
their vocational goals.

Follow me on Twitter: @insightsempire

Link to me on Linked In: Laura Legendary

Be my fan on Facebook: Eloquent Insights

LL

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It took me quite awhile to become an Amazon shopper. It wasn’t because I
didn’t like to save money, or have merchandise delivered to my door, or
because I felt no desire to join the online shopping revolution. It was
that I was intimidated by the Amazon web site, which for someone who uses a
screen
reader, can seem overwhelming. In an effort to sell nearly everything on
Earth, Amazon has made for a serious time commitment for those who are
unfamiliar with the landscape. I’ve heard even sighted users complain about
the mind-boggling number of choices, and that navigating the Amazon web site
can be as formidable as navigating the actual South American Amazon.

Amazon is serious about getting your business. I know that because I
complained to them about a certain inaccessible feature that had prevented
me from using their site. I was subsequently contacted by a very
solicitous person from the executive customer relations department, who
immediately set about the task of correcting the problem. Further, he asked
me to advise him as to
other areas of the site that could use similar improvements. He thanked me
for my
contribution, and left me feeling as though I had made a real difference for
those who would follow in my screen reading footsteps.

He left me with a few tips, too. One of which has proved to be useful not
only for shopping at Amazon, but other web sites as well. He pointed out
that the mobile version of the Amazon web site was a more accessible version
of the main site, and it could be used by both desktop and mobile users. He
said it lacked the “bells and whistles” of the main site, which I
interpreted to mean the graphics, flash animation and other visual debris
that can interfere with efficiency.

This was very good news.

As it turns out, the Amazon mobile site is the most wonderfully accessible,
easy to use shopping interface imaginable. I can make a purchase at
lightening speed, probably faster than a sighted person could. Fewer
screens, fewer distractions, fewer “rabbit trails” that take you to a screen
leading to nowhere.

To see this accessible alternative, go to;
www.amazon.com/access.

My brother recently pointed out that Facebook also has a mobile version of
their site. Again, it’s all text, no graphics, and lacks the ads and other
happy hoopla that makes the site appealing to the light-dependent crowd.
Go to: www.m.facebook.com.

More sites are now offering mobile versions of their main web properties,
meant specifically for use with mobile phones. However, used with your
desktop, these alternative versions also provide some great accessible
options for anyone who is visually impaired, time-constrained, or who has
anger-management issues and who detests the graphic flotsam and jetsam of
most shopping or social media destinations.

Know of others? Send them my way!

LL

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