1552 5-Year Anniversary Show (Dec. 23, 2015)
Show Notes
Nancy and Peter Torpey celebrate 5 years of hosting and producing Eyes On Success! Hear clips from a recent interview that John Shea from the Talking Information Center did with them about the show. Also learn about the various resources on the web site and the many ways you can connect with Eyes On Success. Thanks from us to all of our listeners!
1551 Careers in STEM (Dec. 16, 2015)
Show Notes
Bonnielin Swenor is an Assistant Professor in the Wilmer Eye Institute at Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. She talks with hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey about how her limited vision has affected her career path. She also talks about her research into how the visually impaired prepare for and engage in STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) professions.
1550 Dot Braille SmartWatch (Dec. 9, 2015)
Show Notes
At times it would be convenient for blind people to be able to interact with their smart phones silently, without disturbing others with speech feedback. The Braille display on the new Dot watch now makes that possible. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Eric Kim, founder and CEO of Dot, about what makes this watch special and how it works.
1549 The New Unified English Braille (Dec. 2, 2015)
Show Notes
Readers of Braille have probably heard of the new UEB or Unified English Braille code by now. This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Jennifer Dunnam, Chairperson of the Braille Authority of North America, about what prompted these changes to the Braille code, what changes we are likely to see, and what this means for everyday readers of Braille.
1548 Accessible Comic Books (Nov. 25, 2015)
Show Notes
If you thought comic books were only for sighted people, think again! This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Guy Hasson about the on-line comic book store for the blind that he started called “Comics Empower”. Learn how you can enjoy a variety of comic books in audio format including “Aurora”, a sci-fi adventure series with a blind hero.
1547 Creating a Web Site (Nov. 18, 2015)
Show Notes
Many listeners have expressed interest in learning how to create their own web site, but don’t know where to start. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Mobeen Iqbal about how to do this and which tools are most accessible with a screen reader, covering everything from finding a web hosting service to creating the actual content.
1546 Doing Photography with Limited Vision (Nov. 11, 2015)
Show Notes
Tammy Ruggles is a photographer who got started in the art after her vision had diminished significantly. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with her about how the advent of digital photography has eliminated the need to work in a dark room and also made it possible to edit the photos, even with low vision. Learn how she successfully puts these tools together.
1545 Transitioning to Blindness (Nov. 4, 2015)
Show Notes
Losing one’s vision as an adult can be difficult. This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Susan Krieger about her experiences as she transitioned from the sighted world to using a cane and guide dog. Hear about 3 books she has written in which she documents her journey through a series of entertaining and insightful essays.
1544 BlindSquare Navigation App (Oct. 28, 2015)
Show Notes
Many GPS apps are available for mobile devices. BlindSquare is unique in that it has additional utilities that are specifically tailored to the visually impaired. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Ilkka Pirttimaa, the developer of BlindSquare, and Rob Nevin, the North American distributor, about what makes this app special and how it integrates with other GPS apps.
1543 Distance Learning at The Hadley School (Oct. 21, 2015)
Show Notes
Just because the Hadley School is located near Chicago, doesn’t mean you have to be there to take advantage of their many and varied educational programs. In fact, they are all available as distance learning. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Doug Anzlovar about the school and its programs for people with low vision.
1542 Making Data Visualizations Accessible (Oct. 14, 2015)
Show Notes
SAS develops tools for analyzing and visualizing big data. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Ed Summers, head of the accessibility team at SAS, about how these tools are made accessible. Ed, who is blind himself, also describes methods the visually impaired can use to interact with various types of analytical data and some of SAS’ educational initiatives.
1541 Living and Working Abroad (Oct. 7, 2015)
Show Notes
Elizabeth Schuster Sammons has lived in 6 different countries, either working or studying in each, including a 2 year stint as one of the first blind Peace Corps volunteers. Hosts Nancy Goodman Torpey and Peter Torpey speak with her about her experiences and her advice for other visually impaired people interested in living abroad.
1540 Today’s e-Pub and Accessible Books - Part 2 (Sep. 30, 2015)
Show Notes
Last week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talked with George Kerscher about the first e-books and how standards initially developed for the print disabled were adopted into mainstream publishing. This week we continue that conversation and hear why having uniform standards led to concerns about copyright and distribution and how people worked to resolve these issues.
1539 George Kerscher and the Development of e-Books - Part 1 (Sep. 23, 2015)
Show Notes
George Kerscher created the first accessible digital books and went on to develop standards that are now the foundation of electronic publishing. This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with him about how these standards were assimilated into mainstream publishing. Next week we’ll hear about some of the quandaries that arose as a result.
1538 NFB Performing Arts Division (Sep. 16, 2015)
Show Notes
The Performing Arts Division of the National Federation of the Blind offers many resources and opportunities for people interested in music, dance, and other aspects of performing. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Jordy Stringer and Julie McGinnity about how members can connect and share experiences to improve skills, find employment, or just have fun!
1537 3-D Printer Project at Benetech (Sep. 9 2015)
Show Notes
3-D printers are capable of making tactile representations of figures, diagrams and other pictorials that occur in textbooks and other educational materials. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Anh Bui and Lisa Wadors Verne of Benetech about their work to develop the infrastructure to support the use of this technology and how it might work in practice.
1536 Stem Cell Therapy for Retinal Disease (Sep. 2 2015)
Show Notes
Pam Retzloff was legally blind since birth due to a congenital retinal disease. Starting in her 20’s her vision progressively worsened until she was left with a tiny dim visual field. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Pam about a stem cell treatment she had in late 2014 including what the process and recovery have been like and how her vision is evolving.
1535 NVDA Open Source Screen Reader (Aug. 26, 2015)
Show Notes
NVDA is a free and open source screen reader for Windows. Over the years it has matured to be a viable alternative to commercial screen readers for personal, educational and professional use. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Jamie Teh, one of the founders and co-lead developers of NVDA about some of the new features of NVDA and what to expect in the future.
1534 Ski For Light (Aug. 19, 2015)
Show Notes
Cross country skiing is a fun and active sport that will keep you in shape, and can also be a great way of connecting with other people. This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Scott McCall, President of Ski for Light, about tips and tricks used to make skiing a safe and accessible sport for the blind. Learn how you can join in!
1533 Technology for Low Vision (Aug. 12, 2015)
Show Notes
Depending upon your level of vision loss, there are many types of hardware and software that will enable you to access print, whether on paper or on a screen. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Jenn Mohr, regional sales representative for upstate NY for C-Tech, which distributes many adaptive items. Learn about the options available to people with low vision.
1532 Opportunities for Blind Pharmacists (Aug. 5, 2015)
Show Notes
Arnold Tucker was a pharmacist in a retail pharmacy when his vision began to fade. Despite using various adaptive aids, it became progressively more difficult to perform his job. After obtaining additional training, he found new doors open in his field. Hosts Nancy and Peter talk with him about his journey and opportunities for blind pharmacists.
1531 Learning Ally (Jul. 29, 2015)
Show Notes
Many blind students and professionals rely on textbooks and other specialized material recorded by Learning Ally (formerly Recording for the Blind and Dyslexic – RFB&D). Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Kristen Witucki, community coordinator for students who are visually impaired, about Learning Ally, what services and resources they offer, and whom they serve.
1530 Accessible Games for iOS Devices (Jul. 22, 2015)
Show Notes
No matter what type of games you enjoy playing, you’ll probably find it in the book “Anyone Can Play! Accessible Games for the iPhone, iPad, and iPod touch”. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Judy Dixon, the book’s editor and co-author, about accessible app versions of word games, board and card games, role playing and adventure games, and much more.
1529 Accessible On-Line Games (Jul. 15, 2015)
Show Notes
A number of on-line board games and card games are hosted by RS Games. They are all accessible using a screen reader and can be enjoyable as well as being a great way to connect with friends or meet new ones. Host Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Michael Forzano, a founder and developer of RS Games about how it works and how you can participate.
1528 Sailing Expeditions for the Blind (Jul. 8, 2015)
Show Notes
Imago Maris Foundation hosts sailing expeditions each year, with half the participants being visually impaired and the other half sighted. Each participant does everything from working the ropes to kitchen duty. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Julia Krawczuk, a volunteer with Imago Maris and Robert Zarzecki, a blind sailor. Both participated in a 2014 voyage.
1527 HIMS Blaze Multi-Players (Jul. 1, 2015)
Show Notes
The Blaze ET and EZ Multi-Player devices can play audio and text books in many formats, and also be used to directly download books over WiFi, subscribe to and listen to podcasts, and much more. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Dave Wilkinson, HIMS’ business development manager, about these features as well as the OCR capability using an internal camera.
1526 Becoming and Being a Blind Judge (Jun. 24, 2015)
Show Notes
Last week Michigan State Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein, blind since birth, talked about employment issues faced by the visually impaired. This week, hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey talk with him about the academic and professional path that led him to his position, including some of the challenges he’s faced and accommodations he’s made to be successful.
1525 Employment Issues for the Visually Impaired (Jun. 17, 2015)
Show Notes
Blind since birth, Michigan Supreme Court Justice Richard Bernstein is passionate about improving employment for the visually impaired. This week, hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with him about challenges faced by blind individuals seeking employment and some new initiatives to employ the blind. Next week he will talk more about his own personal experiences.
1524 Sonar GNU Linux (Jun. 10, 2015)
Show Notes
Sonar GNU Linux is a version of the Linux operating system that has accessibility for people with many types of disabilities built into it. Hosts Nancy & Peter Torpey speak with Jonathan Nadeau, its lead developer, about its many features and capabilities, about how and why it was developed, and about how you can get involved.
1523 Composing and Performing Music (Jun. 3, 2015)
Show Notes
Rachel Flowers is a talented young blind musician. Hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey speak with her and her mother, Jeanie Flowers, about how Rachel learned to play the myriad of instruments she’s mastered including participating in a marching band. Rachel also talks about how she currently performs, composes, arranges, and shares music with others.
1522 CakeTalking, TypeAbility and Academy of Music for the Blind (May 27, 2015)
Show Notes
This week, hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with David Pinto, a musician and music educator who founded and runs the Academy of Music for the Blind. He also developed the TypeAbility program to teach blind youth how to type and navigate a computer and the CakeTalking scripts to enable access to Sonar, a sophisticated audio production program.
1521 Blind Golfing (May 20, 2015)
Show Notes
Hitting a small ball into a slightly larger cup that is hundreds of yards away might seem like an unlikely activity for a blind person. With minor modifications to the rules it becomes an enjoyable sport for many people. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey will talk with Ty Thompson, avid blind golfer and past board member of the US Blind Golf Association.
1520 Creating Accessible Graphs and Charts (May 13, 2015)
Show Notes
Richard Ladner is a professor of computer science whose research is directed at enhancing the accessibility of documents and web sites. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with him about his work to make textbook graphics accessible to the blind. The project is aimed at automating the creation of tactile graphics with the embedded text converted to Braille or speech.
1519 Informal Advocacy (May 6, 2015)
Show Notes
If you have special needs, sometimes you need to request adaptations. For years, Kelly Pierce has engaged in informal advocacy resulting in improved accessibility. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with him about his varied experiences with the Chicago transit system, movie theaters, voting system, ATM’s, etc., usually without engaging legal support.
1518 Global Reach of Benetech and Bookshare (Apr. 29, 2015)
Show Notes
Last week, hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talked with Jim Fruchterman, the founder and CEO of Benetech about his early work in OCR and starting Bookshare. This week we talk with him about Bookshare’s global reach and how it has helped to influence mainstream publishing. He also describes a number of other initiatives being pursued by Benetech to improve access.
1517 Jim Fruchterman - Social Entrepreneur (Apr. 22, 2015)
Show Notes
Jim Fruchterman is the founder and CEO of Benetech, which operates Bookshare. This week hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with him about how he became interested in OCR, the founding of Arkenstone, and the inspiration behind Bookshare. Next week we speak more with Jim about the global impact of Bookshare and some of Benetech’s other social initiatives.
1516 J-Say, J-Dictate, and Leasey (Apr. 15, 2015)
Show Notes
J-Say and J-Dictate are designed to make it possible to use the Dragon Naturally speaking speech recognition program with JAWS. Leasey offers novice PC users an intuitive interface and set of tools for performing routine tasks using JAWS. Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Brian Hartgen, developer of these tools, who will talk about his work and demo these tools.
1515 Blind Cricket (Apr. 8, 2015)
Show Notes
G K Mahantesh is the General Secretary of the Cricket Association for the Blind in India and the Vice President of the World Blind Cricket Council. He is also one of the founders of the Samarthanam Trust for the Disabled. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with him about how the blind play cricket as well as about the mission of his organization.
1514 Beep Baseball (Apr. 1, 2015)
Show Notes
Beep Baseball is a variant of American baseball that has been adapted to be safe for its blind participants. Hosts Nancy and Pete Torpey speak with Blake Boudreaux and Stephen Guerra of the National Beep Baseball Association about how the game is played, what special equipment is used and the upcoming World Series of Beep Baseball.
1513 The National Braille Press (Mar. 25, 2015)
Show Notes
The National Braille Press promotes literacy of blind children through Braille and provides access to information that empowers blind people to actively engage in work, family, and community affairs. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Brian MacDonald, president of NBP, about resources available from NBP as well as about some new initiatives including the B2G.
1512 Preparing for Vision Loss (Mar. 18, 2015)
Show Notes
Many sighted people have a hard time imagining how they would tackle life if they couldn’t see. Losing your vision, however, doesn’t mean the end of the world. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk about how you can prepare for eventual vision loss by preparing your home, using adaptive aids, becoming aware of your other senses, accessible technology and more.
1511 Reading MathML with JAWS (Mar. 11, 2015)
Show Notes
The ability to read mathematical expressions in documents and on the web is crucial for those learning math and for professionals in the sciences. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with Rob Gallo, a software developer at Freedom Scientific responsible for implementing support for MathML in the JAWS screen reader. Also hear a demo of JAWS reading MathML.
1510 Chemistry Camp for Blind Youth (Mar. 4, 2015)
Show Notes
Learning about science can be fun and exciting. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Hoby Wedler, a blind graduate student in Chemistry, about a Chemistry Camp for blind teens that he founded and runs annually to share his love of science with youth. We’ll review some of the highlights of each session, including some unexpected things attendees learn
1509 Working With Computer Hardware (Feb. 25, 2015)
Show Notes
Modern screen readers make computer programs and software readily accessible to the blind. But what about working with hardware? Mobeen Iqbal has years of experience repairing both desktop and laptop computers and has even built several computers. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with him about how he achieves each required task in spite of being totally blind
1508 Blind Parenting of Sighted Children (Feb. 18, 2015)
Show Notes
First time parents have many questions. But what if one of the parents is blind? That is the case with Ron and Denise Miller who are raising 2 year old Russell. They talk with hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey who raised two sighted children with one parent being blind. They discuss a variety of topics including feeding, playing, reading, and driving.
1507 Interpretype Deaf-Blind Communication System (Feb. 11, 2015)
Show Notes
The Interpretype Deaf-Blind Communication System enables deaf-blind Braille users to communicate in a variety of situations including telephone communications, texting, instant messaging, internet, VRS and face-to-face conversations. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with its inventor, Ken Gan, about this portable yet powerful tool.
transcript of show 1507
1506 Working from Home – Part 2 (Feb. 4, 2015)
Show Notes
This week, hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey continue last week’s conversation with Ron Milliman, a blind retired professor of Marketing, about working from home, this time from the employer’s perspective, which is good to know so you can present prepared points in your request to begin or continue working from home. We’ll also hear from several people with experience working at home.
1505 Working from Home – Part 1 (Jan. 28, 2015)
Show Notes
Ron Milliman is a blind retired professor of Marketing who has spent years working in and teaching about various employment situations. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey talk with him about the pros and cons of working from home from an employee’s perspective. Next week we’ll explore the employer’s perspective and hear from several people who have experience working at home.
1504 Research on Eye Surgery Equipment (Jan. 21, 2015)
Show Notes
Advances in technology have dramatically impacted how modern eye surgery is performed and what procedures are now possible. This week hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey talk with David Hertweck, a blind senior engineer at Bausch and Lomb. He describes some of the new tools he and his team helped develop and how some modern eye surgeries are performed.
1503 Cochlear Implants for Blind People (Jan. 14, 2015)
Show Notes
Blind people rely on their hearing for navigation, orientation, social cues and much more. For a blind person who has also lost much of their hearing, cochlear implants can restore significant function. Hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Keith Wiglesworth about being blind, losing his hearing, and how a pair of cochlear implants has expanded his horizons.
1502 Product Development at Humanware (Jan. 7, 2015)
Show Notes
Bringing new products to market involves time, planning, and feedback from customers. This week, hosts Peter and Nancy Torpey talk with Dominic Labbé, Product Development Director for blindness related products at Humanware. He describes how the process works at Humanware and how products such as the Victor Reader are shepherded from concept to the marketplace.
1501 Sociology of Disability (Dec. 31, 2014)
Show Notes
Individuals with disabilities including visual impairments have all had experiences interacting with the majority non-disabled society. This week, hosts Nancy and Peter Torpey speak with Tom Behler, a blind professor of Sociology about his studies of how people with disabilities are treated by society in general and how this has been evolving.
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