Listen to Serotalk Podcast 176: A Format and a Good Cry
Welcome to this froggy edition of the podcast where show host Jamie Pauls fights with a scratchy throat but prevails nonetheless. Ricky and Joe lend their support as the team talks about the top news stories of the week. Then, a less raspy Jamie Pauls visits with Buddy Brannan about his experiences using the new Kindle Fire HDX with built-in Accessibility. Stories covered in this episode include:
Papa Sangre II on the App Store on iTunes
FSCast Episode 83, October 2013
Announcing: Braille Sense U2 MINI
A Demonstration of Some of the English TTS Voices Available to VoiceOver users in OS X Mavericks
A Picture’s Worth A Thousand Words
FCC adopts TV rules for blind and deaf
Beyond a gadget: Google Glass is a boon to disabled
Which Android smartphones and tablets will get the KitKat upgrade?
Apple testing Mail update for OS X Mavericks to fix Gmail, stability, and smart mailbox issues
Google donates 17,000 Nexus 7s to Hurricane Sandy communities
Apple admits iPhone 5S battery problem, replaces phones
Southwest & Dish to provide passengers in-flight entertainment via Apple’s iPad 2
Amazon increases free shipping minimum to $35
Amazon Offers Low-Cost Kindle Versions of Print Books with “MatchBook”
Amazon will now donate part of your purchase to charity
Roundabout
The Adventure Blog: Blind Adventurer Erik Weihenmayer Temporarily Detained In Peru
The Blind Have A Hard Time Getting Jobs Because Of Social Stigma
Dell has been selling Ultrabooks that smell like cat urine
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
This is in reference to the fascinating discussion regarding the cited article concerning difficulty in obtaining jobs by the blind. I can’t prove the veracity of this statement but I have heard that, with good vision, a single lighted candle can be seen from a 10 mile distance. This feat can in no way be approached using hearing. If you were a cave person, you would have much more time to flee a very big critter coming after you if you saw rather than heard it! Therefore, vision is and, indeed must be, the king of the senses. I believe this explains why people covet vision the most. If not mistaken, I have read that people fear blindness more than public speaking or death. The question of transportation, brought out in the context of an employer asking how an applicant got to the interview, is valid, inasmuch as the employer needs to know if the blind potential employee can get to work on time, since driving by the potential employee is not possible. I used to take my local para transit to a non work-related meeting and the service was usually late and the driver dropped me off at the wrong house once, so this topic is very important. Pity, as was cited as a possible reaction to an Apple ad featuring a blind person, stems from sadness or sympathy regarding someone or something, in this case, the condition of blindness. Can any of you guys say that you have never felt pity toward someone with a disability? I recall that, when describing having Christmas early for a boy with a terminal disease, it was stated that it would be very difficult not to cry while singing carols outside his window. True enough! It would be fitting to feel sad that someone probably will not live to see another Christmas. This is pity and sympathy, to be experienced, not to be groveled in. Why, then, should we rail against sighted people who show the same feelings? I am recovering from the crud and I have, hopefully temporarily, lost my senses of taste and smell almost entirely. One of Serotek’s staff has publicly stated that she has no sense of smell and I am disappointed that she can’t enjoy the most wonderful odors in our world but I do not obsess over this. When the employment article mentioned expenses which might be borne by an employer of a blind person, this also is essential, as products such as screen readers and Braille displays can be very costly. The individual as ambassador for the blind community was underscored. Blind people are not a community, this is also true of the sighted, we are all different in myriads of ways. We are all the world. I am therefore an ambassador for myself. My choices are just that, mine alone, not to be foisted on anyone else, just there for my well-being and for others’ consideration, if they wish. It must be pointed out that all the legislation, whether regarding employment or some other life activity, cannot change hearts. Each person can change opinions, if they think it advisable. Thank you for this blog, allowing us to post our thoughts and I look forward to more discussions regarding this thread on the Serotalk Podcast.