Charlotte Brown competing on the pole vault event in Austin, Texas (Eric Gay/AP)
I loved Becca’s recent post about high school student Jhaliyah Anderson, who brought the attitude and adaptive skills instilled in her from the Illinois School of the Visually Impaired to her public high school track team. She is now successfully competing in the 100-yard dash and long jump; with the help of her coach, they have come up with training methods and adaptations that work for her. Meanwhile, in Arizona, watch how Aria Ottmueller’s track coach caved in and let her try the pole vault. Yes, a blind pole vaulter – are you kidding me?
Who could turn down that smiling young lady, overflowing with motivation? And her persistence has paid off; after just six weeks of training, she placed 6th in the state meet! Just like these girls, I also competed in track and field in high school but unlike Aria, I wouldn’t touch that one with a 10-foot pole, so to speak. I don’t think pole vaulting was even a girl’s event in the seventies but that didn’t stop me from pondering its audacity. I have canoed solo down the Dead River in Maine but could never even gear up to try pole vaulting. Though I had 20/20 vision back in high school, I remember spending quite some time imagining planting that long pole in the right spot but then not having commitment enough to push my feet up towards the sky in order to get that perfect bend and propulsion to fly over (or into) the horizontal bar. No way.
Aria is not alone. There is also Charlotte Brown, a legally blind athlete from Texas who recently placed 8th in her state’s track and field championship. I hope that all physical educators and sports coaches read these inspiring stories and learn that the enthusiasm and motivation comes from the student athletes themselves. They teach the coach how to adapt, and then the coach in turn gains knowledge that allows them to coach in their area of expertise in new and different ways. It’s really a collaborative effort… from counting steps, to giving audio cues – where there’s a will, there’s a way.
Being a Girls on the Run coach myself, I wonder if these three young women realize the education and gratification they are giving their coaches, as well as the inspiration they provide to all who watch in awe. And soon, that awe will translate into business as usual – the next kid that shows up with a challenge will be welcomed alongside everyone else instead of being brushed aside. Kids always have something that motivates them – find a way to turn their passion into reality.
ZoomText Mac comes with seven preset color filtering modes, similar to what ZoomText offers on the PC. While all of these modes look great, certain users may need to tweak on-screen colors, depending on their eye condition.
In today’s tips and tricks video, we’re going to show you a brand new feature in the latest FREE ZoomText Mac update that allows you to apply a warming or cooling filter to any selected color scheme, even for Normal colors. Now you can fine tune each of the individual color filters as you see fit! Watch the video right here by clicking on the play button below or go onto YouTube and watch it there.
Since winning the show back in September, Christine has been hard at work creating her very own cookbook – Recipes From My Home Kitchen hits bookshelves today. In case you need a little extra push to make this purchase, take it from Gordon Ramsay himself: “Her signature Asian-influenced comfort-food appetizers, entrees and desserts demonstrate an innate connection to flavor and texture that I rarely experience in professional chefs, let alone amateur cooks.”
Congratulations to Christine for breaking down social barriers and helping to spread the word that you do not need sight to be a success in the kitchen or in the literary field. Kudos, and happy cooking!
When I was in high school, I ran track – looking back, I’m not entirely sure why as I really do not enjoy running (at all). Nevertheless, I endured two years of track – those grueling practices, shin splints from the hurdles…until I switched over to tennis, which I must say I enjoyed much more.
But enough about me – how about high school sophomore Jhaliyah Anderson, an athlete who has transitioned from running for the Illinois School of the Visually Impaired to competing for Thornton Fractional South High School in the long jump and 100-meter dash. Jhaliyah has been blind since the age of three from a rare form of eye cancer called retinoblastoma. She hasn’t let this get in the way of her competitive spirit – as her teammate Jasmine Scott states, “It is an inspiration for us to see her out here, knowing she is at a disadvantage, but she doesn’t see it that way.”
When Jhaliyah runs the 100-meter dash, Jasmine is right by her side holding her hand – something which I bet took a lot of hard work and practice to synchronize. For the long jump, people stand on both sides of the runway clapping to help her run straight and give her an indication as to when she needs to make that final leap. She is an inspiration to us all – check out this video or read more about her amazing story:
Before vacationing in Disney in mid-April, I had a lot on my plate. Besides being swamped with tax preparation, I was also in the midst of a kitchen renovation. Key decisions were needed before leaving so that work could begin while my daughter and I were away. This way, we would miss the bulk of the disruption. Given that my kitchen is smack in the middle of our home, you have to go through it to get to any other room in the house. Plus, contractors like to start bright and early; eating breakfast while getting ready for school/work requires a certain flow not achievable in a construction zone.
The kitchen was last touched in about the sixties, sporting a dark, multi-colored linoleum floor, white-speckled counter tops, yellow plastic wall tiles, and poor lighting. Needless to say, it’s been a visual nightmare. To top it off, the previous owners placed the refrigerator in an adjoining room, which just so happens to be my daughter’s bedroom! I suspect this was to make room for the Whirlpool dishwasher, which I certainly can’t give up. Somehow a new fridge must make its way back into the kitchen, and a new stove was unavoidable.
So you’ve got ZoomText ImageReader up and running. You’ve been getting some really excellent OCR results, and you want to be able to email that Sports Illustrated article about the NFL draft to your friend. Luckily, ImageReader gives you a number of different document formats you can export to. PDF and Word retain the actual layout and any graphical elements in the document you’ve taken a picture of, and the plain-text formats allow for easy copying and pasting of text into an email, or for smaller attachment sizes.
Today’s tips and tricks video will show you how to save the text that ImageReader captures to a number of document formats and how each will look after exporting. Watch the video right here by clicking on the play button below or go onto YouTube and watch it there.
I like the idea of sewing but even when I had perfect vision, after each and every project, I would swear to myself that I would never sew again. For those of you who still enjoy the battle but struggle with threading those pesky needles, here is a link with some great low vision sewing and crafting techniques.
If that’s not enough, my low vision sister has her own methods that she’d like to share:
I use a wire needle threader and fine crochet hook to thread needles.
I have a CCTV close by to examine my work and see how badly I just sewed something. Plus, it’s helpful to read directions.
I like doll clothes patterns because they use thick black lines on white paper.
I use my fingers to feel the edge of the fabric when going under sewing machine needle.
I make up my own simpler methods if I can’t do it the way the directions say.
I often use a seam ripper to rip out my mistakes and then try it again.
I stop when I’m frustrated and think about how I can accomplish my task another way.
I don’t do things I know I can’t do.
I have painstakingly organized my craft items so that it’s easier to find exactly what I need.
I ask salespeople to help me find what I’m looking for.
I ask other people shopping or the salespeople to verify thread color.
But most importantly, she advises, “I never sew unless I really feel like it.” That may be half the battle – for me, I’m not sure I’ll ever feel like it
In my recent blog post about my upcoming Disney vacation, I received some advice in the comments that really clung with me throughout my Disney experience: “just let the kid inside of you out – nobody knows you and will remember you.” Thank you. It didn’t take long for me to incorporate this philosophy.
But besides having magical fun with my daughter, my mission was to check out Disney’s handheld device with audio description, intended to give equal access to blind and visually impaired Disney Theme Park guests. The device tells you what’s around you in varying level of detail. I had heard some positive feedback from some Disney guests that are blind, but given my relative ease in navigating due to my normal peripheral vision, I wasn’t sure if this device would benefit me enough to risk an intrusion into our fun. Would this device be like a third wheel?
I must admit, I do not watch Dancing with the Stars (DWTS) – not because it doesn’t look like an interesting show, but I just can’t add ANOTHER one into my repertoire Plus, I did take a ballroom dancing class in college which ended in a concussion so maybe ballroom dancing and I just [...]
We recently added even more in-person training sessions into our schedule! If you are a teacher that needs to know how to use the latest screen magnification technology, an IT professional that assists low-vision clients, a student or current ZoomText customer who is looking to know how to get the most out of ZoomText, then [...]
Did you know that we offer FREE WEBINARS on ZoomText? Here's a list of the ones coming up soon but we can also customize one for you! If you have a group of at least 5 people, we'll work with you to create one that fits your needs. Just send us an email to training@aisquared.com.
Check out the training page to sign up for one of our free "getting started with ZoomText" or "What's new in ZoomText 10?" webinars. They run for about a half hour with an additional 15 minutes for questions. We'd love to see you there!
