AFB Blog

I'm not sure how many of you bought Lady Gaga's new album; it just came out a couple weeks ago. Well, I did. A few of the songs offer positive messages, but one in particular stands out. I'm sure you've already heard this song on the radio or seen the video on TV: "Born This Way" (which is also the album's title) has quickly become an anthem for all who are proud of who they are. I think this message needs to be embraced by those with visual impairments (or any disability). Lady Gaga didn't…

Our cable boxes might not be accessible, but the good news is that there is something we can easily navigate using built-in voiceover: Apple TV. The second-generation Apple TV allows you to access iTunes (for movies, TV shows, podcasts, music, and more), Netflix (in an accessible manner), YouTube, Major League Baseball or National Basketball Association subscription services, and Internet radio. Note that you do have to subscribe in order to use Netflix (a basic streaming plan that includes…

In March, during our Josephine L. Taylor Leadership Institute, I was preparing a presentation demonstrating the built-in accessibility of Apple's iPhone and iPad devices when I heard about a new money identifier app: the LookTel Money Reader. LookTel's Money Reader is a $1.99 app available from Apple's App Store, and it is by far the best currency identification tool I have ever used. It is certainly a tremendous bargain compared to the dedicated currency identification gadgets on the market…

By now you've likely heard that AT&T wants to merge with T-Mobile to become the biggest cell phone provider in the United States. This proposed merger must get approval from a couple of government agencies before it is final, and there will be lots of arguments for and against the marriage of these two big carriers. But there is one thing that definitely is important for cell phone customers who are blind or visually impaired. AT&T has been a leader in providing consumers with vision…

"Hello there, do you want to work from home? Do you want a shorter commute?" Working from home is a hot topic and has been for a while. Often people think of all the positives about working from home, but do not grasp the negatives. Most of us receive emails telling us about the latest work-from-home opportunity, but many of these turn out to be scams. I am Joe Strechay and I work for AFB in the CareerConnect program. I write about employment issues. I get the opportunity to look at a lot of "…

Recently, I had the opportunity to attend a viewing of the documentary, Going Blind. As a person with low vision and a professional in the field for over 30 years I am always a bit hesitant to get excited about media that deals with issues related to blindness and visual impairment. But I received some promotional material on the movie, and decided to check it out. In Going Blind, director Joseph Lovett chronicles his own experience with glaucoma. As Lovett's glaucoma becomes more severe, he…

Guest Blogger Helen Selsdon, AFB Archivist I am an English woman who has lived for over twenty years in New York City. Eight of these years have been spent working as the Archivist at the American Foundation for the Blind, where I have organized the over 80,000 items contained in the Helen Keller Archives. I have come to live and breathe Helen and her teacher Annie Sullivan. A few weeks ago I visited Helen Keller's birth place in Tuscumbia, Alabama. It was easily one of the most memorable…

I dropped by my local Apple store on Sunday to see if the iPad might really be as cool as it sounded. Well, it's as cool and cooler. I asked the salesman to turn on Voiceover, the built-in screen reader, for me, and he did and handed me the device. If you're visually impaired and you've gone shopping for home or personal electronics in your life, you already think something is weird here. Screen reader built in? For free? Salesperson who knows it? Knows how to turn it on? This is not science…

AFB Puts Match.com, eHarmony, and Love is Blind to the Accessibility Test By Adrianna Montague-Gray, AFB Communications, and Marc Grossman, AFB Consulting With Valentine's upon us—that time of year when everyone's talking about relationships and dating—I was curious about the accessibility of online dating sites, so I asked my colleague Marc Grossman to help me evaluate a few. We didn't do a formal evaluation of each. Instead we looked at the homepages of Match.com, eHarmony, and Love is…