One of the nice things about Netflix is the opportunity to revisit movies from the past. I used the extended holiday weekend to watch one of those movies I’d seen as a kid that had stuck in my mind as one of those “great” movies that I always wanted to see again. It has probably been at least 20 years since I saw “…And Justice for All” on some cable channel. The final courtroom scene…
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I noticed an article talking about how Brazil was going to start production of braille writers in the country. Likely you can pick any population demographic and see the striking difference between the haves and have-nots on the planet. Each time I read one of these articles about an accessibility technology being built or used in a place that hasn’t had it in the past, I’m thankful for the education and experiences I’ve had. I…
Comments closedEarlier today I read this article from the New York Times Magazine talking about society’s efforts to arrive at the “good death”. As I sat down to write about the article I happened to turn on the radio and heard the news that Peter Jennings had died. There’s a strong temptation to write my memories of Jennings and all the news brought to me through his coverage. Although journalism isn’t my profession today, Jennings and…
Comments closedAnd yet again I read another reminder of that frightful day almost four years ago. Tears, fear, shame, blame, anger, danger, pain, and all so impossible to explain. Thankfully the result for my being hit by a car as the result of a driver’s inattention and failure to yield” was much less serious than death–the outcome for 103 pedestrians during the period this article describes. “Inattention and failure to yield is what you are pleading…
Comments closedBob Regan of Macromedia has a great post talking about Flash accessibility and a newly relaunched J.K. Rowlin site that is a model for Flash accessibility. How nice to see accessibility of such a high profile web site being taken seriously. Harry Potter books are not on the top of my reading list but having played with the site a bit I’m really impressed to see how well the Flash works with several screen readers.…
Comments closedSF Gate has an excellent article on, well I’m not exactly sure what you’d call it. The functional name is Bookshare. I could call it a web site, a volunteer service, a non-profit or something else and none of those would do it justice. Bookshare is in short to me a revolutionary way for people who are blind to read. Short of publishers making electronic versions of all books not only available but also accessible,…
Comments closedWe are back in the midwest for the holiday weekend. This time it is Minneapolis to visit a long time friend. Even though it has been 11 years since I’ve called the midwest home, a summer thunderstorm reminds me just how much a part of me this weather and climate are. In 11 years of living in California, Oregon and Washington, I don’t think I’ve experienced a true thunderstorm once. My definition isn’t the few…
Comments closedRichard Nixon’s presidency is one I know largely through history. I was seven when Nixon resigned and the only memory I have of his presidency is watching his announcement that he would resign on television at summer camp. The story related in The Assassination of Richard Nixon is one I hadn’t heard until renting the DVD. The movie features Sean Penn as Samuel Bicke, a man that finds life slipping away. A failed marriage, job…
Comments closedI moderate two e-mail lists related to different aspects of disability. WebWatch, which has been around in one form or another for 10 years, deals with web use for people with disabilities. Disability-news is a place to share news coverage about disability. Both lists can now be found on the AccessPlace home page.
Comments closedGrowing up I had the occasional newspaper written about this or that school function I was in. Back then the parents would buy a few extra copies of the paper to clip and send the article to relatives. Funny to see how times have changed when today it is an e-mail with a link telling me that my niece made the newspaper.
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