AFB Blog

Have you ever wondered if other people can hear your babbling talking smart phone? Have you ever wondered why the "buttons" on the screen sometimes don't work? First, yes, those polite people at the next table can hear your iPhone or Android phone babbling as you search for a contact and make a call. Solution? Headphones. I run into people now and then who never took the headphones out of the box when they got their device. They just didn't seem like a useful option to them. But the…

The True Meaning of the Value of Education by Helen Keller,The Home Magazine September 1934 It is September. Vacation time is over, and the children of the nation are going back to school. We spend more money on education than any other nation on earth. In the last thirty years the high school enrolment increased fifteen times as fast as the population, and our college students about seven times as rapidly. Yet thoughtful observers of our national life are appalled by the lack of culture…

Helen Keller was a voracious reader. She describes her love of reading in her second autobiography entitled Midstream, published in 1929. "More than at any other time, when I hold a beloved book in my hand my limitations fall from me, my spirit is free. Books are my compensation for the harms of fate. They give me a world for a lost world, and for mortals who have disappointed me they give me gods. I cannot take space to name here all the books that have enriched my life, but there…

Get into the swing of things and play some beep baseball! Beep baseball is an adapted form of the traditional sport. It consists of a ball that is larger than a softball, which beeps consistently so players are able to hit it when pitched, and find it in the field. There are two bases rigged with a buzzing sound that are triggered when the ball is hit, so the runner knows which way to go. Beep baseball is a great opportunity for people who are blind or visually impaired to run without a cane…

Take a Hike! It's a great time of year to get outdoors and get moving, so AFB is talking about hiking as a recreational activity for people who are blind or visually impaired. VisionAware's Ashley Nemeth shares her love of hiking and offers helpful tips on hiking with a cane and with a guide dog. FamilyConnect blogger Emily Coleman shares a parent's perspective on hiking with her son who is blind, and the things they learned on the trail. Then, get inspired by Randy Pierce and his guide…

Lots of websites have a real and urgent need to keep bots and spammers off their sites. One partial solution is the CAPTCHA. What Is a CAPTCHA, and Can It Be Accessible? Really, a CAPTCHA is any technique that can be used to tell a computer (bot) from a human. But the most common technique is to put a fuzzy bunch of characters on the page and ask the user to type them into an edit field. A human, theoretically, can decipher the fuzzy characters, but a bot cannot. This has some obvious flaws…

At a conference recently, I received a free money identifier. What is this? How did it happen? The saga is long and complicated. And, your real questions might be: How do I get in on this? But wait, what happened to the accessible money? If you are reading this from another civilized country, you might be puzzled. Accessible money? What is inaccessible about money? In the United States, the bills are all the same size and have no (OK, don't quibble, no practical) tactually discernable…

Come on in; the water's fine! AFB continues our summer recreation series with a look at swimming. Swimming can be an excellent activity for people who are blind or visually impaired. Whether you are looking to swim some serious laps, get a great workout, or just cool off on a sweltering day, get the latest on the quintessential summertime activity. Before you head to the beach or the pool, read up on VisionAware's Tips for Swimmers Who Are Blind or Visually Impaired. Children or beginning…

Helen Keller loved the ocean, but her first swimming trip as a young girl took her by surprise... "My most vivid recollection of that summer is the ocean. I had always lived far inland and had never had so much as a whiff of salt air; but I had read in a big book called Our World a description of the ocean which filled me with wonder and an intense longing to touch the mighty sea and feel it roar. So my little heart leaped high with eager excitement when I knew that my wish ...was at last to…