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A little light laughter
May. 7th, 2010 02:09 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
roserodent
Text description: Clearly posted on the door of the disabled toilet is a notice saying the toilet is closed for cleaning and please use the disabled toilet instead.
Doh!
roserodentText description: Clearly posted on the door of the disabled toilet is a notice saying the toilet is closed for cleaning and please use the disabled toilet instead.
Doh!
Deaf on wheels
May. 7th, 2010 01:18 pmroserodentI am getting tired of the number of places you have to be hearing in order to be mobility disabled. You can't possibly be both. And the fact that the equalities people who deal with enforcement of disability legislation (when it suits them!) are still ACTIVELY advocating the use of push-button intercoms as an adjustment. Places I can't use:
*Local college where my daughter goes to nursery - used to have push button for wheelchair access door, but becuase (shock and horror) non-wheelies sometimes pressed the button, they locked it up and you now have to press an intercom and wait, usually gesticulating wildly that the noise they are trying to locate is the door intercom.
*University library - epic fail! During renovations work the library got a temporary lift because entry was due to be on the second floor. All well and good, but to use it you had to press the button and (as informed by the notices hung around the lift) "be prepared to wait up to 20 minutes" for someone to come out and insert a key into the lift so you could use it. Yes, 20 minutes to go "there you go" with a book return, on your way to a lecture, or to return a 1-hour loan book that has overdue fines by the *minute*. And nowhere to sit if you don't have a wheelchair, and no cover so you are out in the snow. Not great when you are less than mobile. They also closed the disabled parking spaces, and alternative parking is over 500m across badly maintained cobbles. And that is if I could actually hear them when I pressed the intercom.
*Local hospital - for free disabled parking push the button and read out your badge number when prompted.
*Other far away hospital I have to use due to poor access at local departments - push-button to enter disabled parking area for - wait for this, it's good - the hearing aid clinic!!
*If you become trapped in this lift press the button and you will be able to talk to the Otis (etc.) control centre - great, thanks. So nobody *inside* the building will know I am in here so not to lock the main doors and go home, and I am stuck shouting "I am deaf and stuck in lift number 808-A/224" for the next n hours.
*University student union building - press button if you need help to use the lift. Well, I don't need help to use the lift, actually, I just need you to put in a key. How difficult would it be to let us each have a f'ing key on a deposit?
*If your hearing aid breaks you have to phone an answerphone to arrange a repair. OK, nothing to do with wheelchairs, but just ironic that if you have a broken hearing aid you have to be able to use the telephone to inform them you have a broken hearing aid.
And many more I long since forgot.
*sigh*
*Local college where my daughter goes to nursery - used to have push button for wheelchair access door, but becuase (shock and horror) non-wheelies sometimes pressed the button, they locked it up and you now have to press an intercom and wait, usually gesticulating wildly that the noise they are trying to locate is the door intercom.
*University library - epic fail! During renovations work the library got a temporary lift because entry was due to be on the second floor. All well and good, but to use it you had to press the button and (as informed by the notices hung around the lift) "be prepared to wait up to 20 minutes" for someone to come out and insert a key into the lift so you could use it. Yes, 20 minutes to go "there you go" with a book return, on your way to a lecture, or to return a 1-hour loan book that has overdue fines by the *minute*. And nowhere to sit if you don't have a wheelchair, and no cover so you are out in the snow. Not great when you are less than mobile. They also closed the disabled parking spaces, and alternative parking is over 500m across badly maintained cobbles. And that is if I could actually hear them when I pressed the intercom.
*Local hospital - for free disabled parking push the button and read out your badge number when prompted.
*Other far away hospital I have to use due to poor access at local departments - push-button to enter disabled parking area for - wait for this, it's good - the hearing aid clinic!!
*If you become trapped in this lift press the button and you will be able to talk to the Otis (etc.) control centre - great, thanks. So nobody *inside* the building will know I am in here so not to lock the main doors and go home, and I am stuck shouting "I am deaf and stuck in lift number 808-A/224" for the next n hours.
*University student union building - press button if you need help to use the lift. Well, I don't need help to use the lift, actually, I just need you to put in a key. How difficult would it be to let us each have a f'ing key on a deposit?
*If your hearing aid breaks you have to phone an answerphone to arrange a repair. OK, nothing to do with wheelchairs, but just ironic that if you have a broken hearing aid you have to be able to use the telephone to inform them you have a broken hearing aid.
And many more I long since forgot.
*sigh*
Healthcare parking fail!
May. 7th, 2010 12:23 pmroserodentThe following lovely images come from my local healthcare centre. I was referred there because the hospital has no parking, and I have been unable to get there to have treatment. They send me to the community healthcare centre, which has parking, nay even has disabled parking! Wow! And here it is.
And from a slightly different angle:
You will perceive, because you are not totally devoid of thought like the person who painted a wheelchair symbol on this parking bay, that it is impossible to open the door to the left (UK passenger) side. On the right side is a nice pillar against your driving door (there is another of those white collar things as seen in the rear pillar), with another pillar against the rear door, and to prevent you from using the "wide" area to the right of the bay to actually get OUT of the bay and into the healthcare facility, being unable to teleport thorugh the car parked to your right.
Luckily I am able to stagger interestingly to the rear of my car, but have to operate the hoist and hold myself vertical with one hand, because the boot hits the roof if you let go after you open it. Good job I have good clearance and don't need to drop a ramp out the back of a van, then, as it would not go past.
I am also standing as far back as it is possible to stand in order to take this picture, which might give some indication of the ease (or otherwise) of actually pulling into said bay in the first place. Last time I think it took 9 separate maneouvres. (Spelling, spelling, why do I have to use the word "manoeuvre" about 5 times a day?)
Marks for providing parking at all - 3/10 as it's a legal duty. Marks for thought process on disabled bay - 0/10.
And from a slightly different angle:
You will perceive, because you are not totally devoid of thought like the person who painted a wheelchair symbol on this parking bay, that it is impossible to open the door to the left (UK passenger) side. On the right side is a nice pillar against your driving door (there is another of those white collar things as seen in the rear pillar), with another pillar against the rear door, and to prevent you from using the "wide" area to the right of the bay to actually get OUT of the bay and into the healthcare facility, being unable to teleport thorugh the car parked to your right.
Luckily I am able to stagger interestingly to the rear of my car, but have to operate the hoist and hold myself vertical with one hand, because the boot hits the roof if you let go after you open it. Good job I have good clearance and don't need to drop a ramp out the back of a van, then, as it would not go past.
I am also standing as far back as it is possible to stand in order to take this picture, which might give some indication of the ease (or otherwise) of actually pulling into said bay in the first place. Last time I think it took 9 separate maneouvres. (Spelling, spelling, why do I have to use the word "manoeuvre" about 5 times a day?)
Marks for providing parking at all - 3/10 as it's a legal duty. Marks for thought process on disabled bay - 0/10.
pauraqueAs most of you are probably aware, it's election day in the UK. jady_lady on LJ reports that the UK's voting system for blind people is very poor, forcing them to rely on a sighted person to cast their votes, and not providing any way for the voter to check that their ballot is correct. Her post about it is here.
DW disability meme
Apr. 30th, 2010 04:42 pmlightgetsinForgive the slight off topic, but I'm holding a people with disabilities and allies friending meme for Three Weeks for Dreamwidth.
Facebook Deactivation Fail
Apr. 14th, 2010 07:38 pmphoneutria_feraNow I don't remember whether Facebook had a CAPTCHA upon registration - probably it did -, and I don't care, since I already got an account. But for fuck's sake why do they have a CAPTCHA if you want to deactivate your account?! I bet it's something like them not only not wanting spammers to register, but them wanting to continue to spam everyone who isn't a spammer themself. I only have three "friends", but I get E-mail messages multiple times a week inviting me to events I don't want to attend and sending me messages asking whether I had a nice week-end - the last time I called the person who obviously sent that message to all of her "friends" in one click, she hung up on me, so I don't think she wants to know. And I don't want any more Farmville gifts either. Apparently, however, I have to prove that I am not a robot or disabled before they will stop bugging me. Note that they do provide audio CAPTCHAs, but those not only leave out the Deaf-Blind, but also don't always work on my very slow, mobile connection.
For want of a 'menu' button...
Apr. 12th, 2010 11:50 amcodeman38(I just posted about this in a comment on this older thread about having to ask people about non-obvious accommodations, but figured it'd probably be worth a post of its own.)
The student center building at my university has a couple TV lounges set up for students to use. Through no fault of the student center, the manufacturer of the TVs did not include any sort of 'menu' button on the front of the TV itself-- so it's impossible to turn on captions without the remote, for viewers who may need it.
Now even this didn't necessarily have to be a huge issue. What the student center easily could have done is chained or otherwise tied the remote to one of the couches so that it couldn't be stolen.
But no, that's not what they did. What they did was make it so that you have to go to the information desk and ask them to turn on the captions. Good luck if you can't speak and have to use a pen and paper to ask; of course, it's equally awkward if, like me, you can speak perfectly clearly but can't hear well. And of course, there's nothing posted anywhere indicating that the information desk has the remotes in the first place.
I've started just bringing a universal remote that I picked up on a clearance rack for $5; that's far less of a hassle...
The student center building at my university has a couple TV lounges set up for students to use. Through no fault of the student center, the manufacturer of the TVs did not include any sort of 'menu' button on the front of the TV itself-- so it's impossible to turn on captions without the remote, for viewers who may need it.
Now even this didn't necessarily have to be a huge issue. What the student center easily could have done is chained or otherwise tied the remote to one of the couches so that it couldn't be stolen.
But no, that's not what they did. What they did was make it so that you have to go to the information desk and ask them to turn on the captions. Good luck if you can't speak and have to use a pen and paper to ask; of course, it's equally awkward if, like me, you can speak perfectly clearly but can't hear well. And of course, there's nothing posted anywhere indicating that the information desk has the remotes in the first place.
I've started just bringing a universal remote that I picked up on a clearance rack for $5; that's far less of a hassle...
killing_roseLike jesse_the_k, this one's inspired by lightgetsin 's post.
I'm a college student at a residential liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts. And while I manage to work around all of these things, they are still a pain in my ass on an almost daily basis. I've got chronic migraines and celiac, plus a possible other autoimmune issue that no one has put a label on.
1. I live on the third floor of a 80+ year old dorm. There are no elevators, and on the days when I feel like hell, I can't go out either of the main stairwells because they're steep, tax my spoons, and get heavy foot traffic that protests slow moving humans. My solution: either a) limit my trips out of the building--or even to the kitchen, which on the first floor or b) use the fire escape, which is just outside my door. The fire escape isn't as steep and it's easy to go down slowly because very few actually use it.
2. Our college has no disability office. There is a carefully hidden portion of our academic resource center that will, if you come in with all the appropriate documentation and go through a committee hearing, discuss possible accommodations. They do not consider chronic migraines or celiac to be disabilities, as per their page on the campus website. Much less the fun "we don't have a diagnosis for it, but we can guess!" stuff. (Which I would like to point out that after two years of banging my head against a wall and talking to the woman apparently in charge of this three times, I found out that the hidden section that is not a disability center, but a committee, existed about 10 minutes ago.)
This means that if you have problems, you have nowhere centrally located to go. I get around it by talking directly to professors, spending time in our deans' office, and bitching out the specific places that screwed up. Before you ask, yes, this does use up more spoons than it saves and I'm convinced that the nice folks do it on purpose.
3. Our health center is located two and a half blocks from the edge of the campus class buildings. That is, at best, three blocks from the dorms. And from my dorm, that's at least 6 or 7, if I manage a direct route. (Which I do only occasionally.) I have to be at the health center for standing appointments at least once a week, and occasionally two or three times a week, usually when I'm too out of it to get there. Security will only give you a ride there if someone intercedes for you. Most of the time, I make it as far as the deans' office, collapse, and the dean intercedes. Sometimes, it's my boss, since I've literally almost fallen in our workplace because of migraines. And let's not discuss what happens if you have to go to a specialist or the ER. (Hint: Security complains the whole way, if they can't figure out a way to wiggle out of their obligation.)
4. Our dining halls have no idea what cross contamination is. They have a tendency to mislabel ingredients. At the best of times, I can eat in two of eight dining halls. At the worst of times, I end up so ill that it takes every spoon I have to get back to my dorm, much less participate in class. Most of the time, I get around the fact that the next bite will put me out of commission by not eating in the dining halls. I take food with me so that I can still hang out with friends. At one point, I kept a chart of how many days I managed without eating something I was allergic to: the chart never got past six days without restarting.
5. My professors don't actually understand light sensitive migraines. I have to go to class or else I will fail. I started wearing sunglasses inside to avoid hurling in the middle of a discussion, and wasn't that a fun discussion to have with my professor, who had not previously realized that my chronic migraines is more, "At least two a week, and that's the good weeks when the preventatives and abortives work" and less, "Infrequent and medically controlled with like, Advil." (Oh, I wish.)
jesse_the_k, this one's inspired by lightgetsin 's post.I'm a college student at a residential liberal arts college in the middle of nowhere, Massachusetts. And while I manage to work around all of these things, they are still a pain in my ass on an almost daily basis. I've got chronic migraines and celiac, plus a possible other autoimmune issue that no one has put a label on.
1. I live on the third floor of a 80+ year old dorm. There are no elevators, and on the days when I feel like hell, I can't go out either of the main stairwells because they're steep, tax my spoons, and get heavy foot traffic that protests slow moving humans. My solution: either a) limit my trips out of the building--or even to the kitchen, which on the first floor or b) use the fire escape, which is just outside my door. The fire escape isn't as steep and it's easy to go down slowly because very few actually use it.
2. Our college has no disability office. There is a carefully hidden portion of our academic resource center that will, if you come in with all the appropriate documentation and go through a committee hearing, discuss possible accommodations. They do not consider chronic migraines or celiac to be disabilities, as per their page on the campus website. Much less the fun "we don't have a diagnosis for it, but we can guess!" stuff. (Which I would like to point out that after two years of banging my head against a wall and talking to the woman apparently in charge of this three times, I found out that the hidden section that is not a disability center, but a committee, existed about 10 minutes ago.)
This means that if you have problems, you have nowhere centrally located to go. I get around it by talking directly to professors, spending time in our deans' office, and bitching out the specific places that screwed up. Before you ask, yes, this does use up more spoons than it saves and I'm convinced that the nice folks do it on purpose.
3. Our health center is located two and a half blocks from the edge of the campus class buildings. That is, at best, three blocks from the dorms. And from my dorm, that's at least 6 or 7, if I manage a direct route. (Which I do only occasionally.) I have to be at the health center for standing appointments at least once a week, and occasionally two or three times a week, usually when I'm too out of it to get there. Security will only give you a ride there if someone intercedes for you. Most of the time, I make it as far as the deans' office, collapse, and the dean intercedes. Sometimes, it's my boss, since I've literally almost fallen in our workplace because of migraines. And let's not discuss what happens if you have to go to a specialist or the ER. (Hint: Security complains the whole way, if they can't figure out a way to wiggle out of their obligation.)
4. Our dining halls have no idea what cross contamination is. They have a tendency to mislabel ingredients. At the best of times, I can eat in two of eight dining halls. At the worst of times, I end up so ill that it takes every spoon I have to get back to my dorm, much less participate in class. Most of the time, I get around the fact that the next bite will put me out of commission by not eating in the dining halls. I take food with me so that I can still hang out with friends. At one point, I kept a chart of how many days I managed without eating something I was allergic to: the chart never got past six days without restarting.
5. My professors don't actually understand light sensitive migraines. I have to go to class or else I will fail. I started wearing sunglasses inside to avoid hurling in the middle of a discussion, and wasn't that a fun discussion to have with my professor, who had not previously realized that my chronic migraines is more, "At least two a week, and that's the good weeks when the preventatives and abortives work" and less, "Infrequent and medically controlled with like, Advil." (Oh, I wish.)
Daily Access Irritations: The Moan Meme
Apr. 5th, 2010 05:53 pmjesse_the_kInspired by lightgetsin's wonderful post, What I talk about when I talk about inaccessibility,
I thought I'd rant a little about the access irritations I encountered today.
Today I'll complain about inaccessible elements of the environment which nominally increase access. Otherwise known as "access theater," or access done wrong, it's particularly infuriating.
curb ramps Today I traveled around 45 of 'em which a manual wheelchair user, a 3-wheel scooter user, and many 4-wheel scooter or powerchair users couldn't navigate to save their lives. We're talking alpine slopes (up to 45°) *plus* cross slopes, which require the chair wheels to move at different speeds. That's bad, but the street-curb ramp intersection is even worse: imagine the cross section of a 8 inch pipe. Slice out the bottom two-fifths. That's what connects the edge of the street to the bottom of the curb ramp. Unless the chair tires are really big, they're just gonna jam and stick. Happily my new chair is back heavy and has super motors, so I can basically perform a wheelie to goose myself out of these chasms.
railroad tracks six-inch gaps between the pavement and the rail, and a vertical difference of five inches. See above for jam and stick.
bus stop announcements For reasons I can't fathom, our bus company refuses to provide "next stop" announcements. Instead, they attempt to announce the street name as it's crossed. So if the bus is running fast (almost always) then the announcement comes after we've passed the street. If I want to get off at stop B, I must ring the bell when I hear the announcement for stop B minus 1. But when we're running fast, B minus 1 is announced five seconds before it's time to ring for stop B. When I hear "stop B" announced, it's too late to get off at stop B. For experienced riders, it just means paying attention. While originally provided to meet ADA guidelines since human drivers rarely could be counted on to announce stops, thie automatic announcements are great for new riders and sighted riders busy texting or reading or fussing with the baby.
misplaced door openers If you're gonna put in a door opener, please put it where I can reach it before I go through the door! Several times today I had to cross two lanes of traffic to push the opener. At a university library, that's a steady stream of folks who are not really looking where they're going.
I thought I'd rant a little about the access irritations I encountered today.
Today I'll complain about inaccessible elements of the environment which nominally increase access. Otherwise known as "access theater," or access done wrong, it's particularly infuriating.
curb ramps Today I traveled around 45 of 'em which a manual wheelchair user, a 3-wheel scooter user, and many 4-wheel scooter or powerchair users couldn't navigate to save their lives. We're talking alpine slopes (up to 45°) *plus* cross slopes, which require the chair wheels to move at different speeds. That's bad, but the street-curb ramp intersection is even worse: imagine the cross section of a 8 inch pipe. Slice out the bottom two-fifths. That's what connects the edge of the street to the bottom of the curb ramp. Unless the chair tires are really big, they're just gonna jam and stick. Happily my new chair is back heavy and has super motors, so I can basically perform a wheelie to goose myself out of these chasms.
railroad tracks six-inch gaps between the pavement and the rail, and a vertical difference of five inches. See above for jam and stick.
bus stop announcements For reasons I can't fathom, our bus company refuses to provide "next stop" announcements. Instead, they attempt to announce the street name as it's crossed. So if the bus is running fast (almost always) then the announcement comes after we've passed the street. If I want to get off at stop B, I must ring the bell when I hear the announcement for stop B minus 1. But when we're running fast, B minus 1 is announced five seconds before it's time to ring for stop B. When I hear "stop B" announced, it's too late to get off at stop B. For experienced riders, it just means paying attention. While originally provided to meet ADA guidelines since human drivers rarely could be counted on to announce stops, thie automatic announcements are great for new riders and sighted riders busy texting or reading or fussing with the baby.
misplaced door openers If you're gonna put in a door opener, please put it where I can reach it before I go through the door! Several times today I had to cross two lanes of traffic to push the opener. At a university library, that's a steady stream of folks who are not really looking where they're going.
pneA wheelchair user's view on sidewalk cutouts and how they could be made more accessible (includes pictures of some reasonable-though-not-great and some bad situations)
Accessibility question
Apr. 1st, 2010 09:53 amstarwatcherI will soon be moving my fanfic to Archive of Our Own, and to a Dreamwidth fic-site. When moving the fics, I'd like to ensure that my code is accessible for screen-readers. I know some things, but have questions about others. I asked the questions in a post at my Studio, but have had no responses; apparently no one in my reading circle uses a screen-reader.
If you do, I'd appreciate it if you could drop by and educate me. Or perhaps point me toward a site that has the answers. Feel free to pass the link on to anyone who might know the answers. After I've learned what I need to know, I'll make a new post to share with my friends, and anyone else who needs or wants the information.
Thank you.
If you do, I'd appreciate it if you could drop by and educate me. Or perhaps point me toward a site that has the answers. Feel free to pass the link on to anyone who might know the answers. After I've learned what I need to know, I'll make a new post to share with my friends, and anyone else who needs or wants the information.
Thank you.
Looking at hotels for future conferences
Apr. 1st, 2010 09:03 amjenettSo, a friend and I did two hotel visits yesterday to look at possible sites for a new small convention for spring of 2011. One of them is a hotel I've worked with before (for another small convention in a different area of interest), and who continued to be fantastic in this conversation.
The other hotel we looked at because people kept bringing it up to us. And .. not so much a success. I include details for amusement, and in case they're useful to anyone else looking at this kind of thing.
( Details )
The other hotel we looked at because people kept bringing it up to us. And .. not so much a success. I include details for amusement, and in case they're useful to anyone else looking at this kind of thing.
( Details )
Movie Theater Fail
Mar. 27th, 2010 11:18 pmnorabombayI went to the Northbrook AMC 14 tonight, in a suburb of Chicago.
What they didn't mention: It's a three/four story theater. Two large flights of steps from the level where you get tickets to the level where many of the theaters are.
And all the directions anyone gave were to walk up the steps.
It turns out there was an elevator in the facility- it was unmarked, painted to match the walls and generally hidden. No one was going to any effort to tell people it existed. You apparently had to know about it in advance.
But without this knowledge? Enjoy walking up several flights of stairs while being overcome by a herd of five year olds who were attending a birthday party there.
The entire problem could have been solved with $5 of signage and a bit of training of staff.
Crossed off my list.
What they didn't mention: It's a three/four story theater. Two large flights of steps from the level where you get tickets to the level where many of the theaters are.
And all the directions anyone gave were to walk up the steps.
It turns out there was an elevator in the facility- it was unmarked, painted to match the walls and generally hidden. No one was going to any effort to tell people it existed. You apparently had to know about it in advance.
But without this knowledge? Enjoy walking up several flights of stairs while being overcome by a herd of five year olds who were attending a birthday party there.
The entire problem could have been solved with $5 of signage and a bit of training of staff.
Crossed off my list.
marinessDear government official:
When I call you to complain that the road repairs on State Road 50 have made the State Road 50 and S Park intersection unsafe for wheelchair users, pedestrians and bicyclists, and has already resulted in injuries, the proper response is not, "I guess you'll just have to drive for awhile."
:: head thunk ::
When I call you to complain that the road repairs on State Road 50 have made the State Road 50 and S Park intersection unsafe for wheelchair users, pedestrians and bicyclists, and has already resulted in injuries, the proper response is not, "I guess you'll just have to drive for awhile."
:: head thunk ::
killing_roseBecause the library stairs are steep, I've noticed that I have more of a tendency to nearly fall while using them than I do on other stairs on campus. I've had a number of increasingly close calls in the past several weeks, primarily because my balance has been more shot than normal. I can live with the pain that using stairs creates for me; however, I figured that it wasn't really bright to keep risking my life for books.
As previously detailed, back in October or some such, the librarians don't allow students use the elevator. My hope was that they would be willing to let people use the elevator anyway, if they (I) actually needed to.
Today, I finally braved talking to the librarian. (Mostly because it was one who hasn't screamed at me in the past.)
And she said, "Well, we can check out an elevator key to you. But well, not today."
"Oh?"
"The elevator's broken. We're not letting anyone use it, though we have been sending books back and forth."
This makes sense to me, so I nod in agreement--I can stay on the first floor for a while. Or go up and down carefully.
Apparently, I can check out the key on Monday, probably.
This, however, is not the fail. I'm counting it as a accessibility win, albeit with caveats.
The fail is that, to talk to the nice woman at the desk, I had to walk up a flight of stairs to reach the first floor at all.
Oh, humans.
As previously detailed, back in October or some such, the librarians don't allow students use the elevator. My hope was that they would be willing to let people use the elevator anyway, if they (I) actually needed to.
Today, I finally braved talking to the librarian. (Mostly because it was one who hasn't screamed at me in the past.)
And she said, "Well, we can check out an elevator key to you. But well, not today."
"Oh?"
"The elevator's broken. We're not letting anyone use it, though we have been sending books back and forth."
This makes sense to me, so I nod in agreement--I can stay on the first floor for a while. Or go up and down carefully.
Apparently, I can check out the key on Monday, probably.
This, however, is not the fail. I'm counting it as a accessibility win, albeit with caveats.
The fail is that, to talk to the nice woman at the desk, I had to walk up a flight of stairs to reach the first floor at all.
Oh, humans.
dictation software. Mostly.
Mar. 12th, 2010 10:59 amjadelennoxDragon NaturallySpeaking very helpfully has the command "shut down the computer", which cleanly closes out of NaturallySpeaking, save your user files, waits until NaturallySpeaking has exited, and then shuts the computer down.
Except.
Periodically, NaturallySpeaking wants to ask you a question during shutdown. Like "would you like to allocate more space to the Acoustic Optimizer?" Something like that. And every time, it turns off the microphone FIRST. It doesn't ask you the question until it has already disabled the microphone. Which means every time it does that, I need to plug in my keyboard and answer the question manually.
This isn't the only way in which NaturallySpeaking forgets that some of the people using the software are using it hands-free entirely. When you run an upgrade, for example, it has to do a certain amount of data gathering: asking the user questions about the system. But instead of doing that BEFORE it disables the old version, it first makes you quit out of the old version and then starts asking question about serial number and installation location. Yes, I understand that using the standard ordering provided by InstallShield (or whatever software package they are using) is easier than doing something non-standard. But Nuance, think about your users. We are using our computers with our voices. If you can change the order of prompts just a tiny bit so that the microphone is ON when you ask us questions, do you realize what a difference that would make our lives?
(Answer: no. The NaturallySpeaking developers who turn up on forms and bulletin boards make it clear that they think nobody is using the product hands-free. There are features I use hands-free which the documentation specifically says can't be used that way.)
Except.
Periodically, NaturallySpeaking wants to ask you a question during shutdown. Like "would you like to allocate more space to the Acoustic Optimizer?" Something like that. And every time, it turns off the microphone FIRST. It doesn't ask you the question until it has already disabled the microphone. Which means every time it does that, I need to plug in my keyboard and answer the question manually.
This isn't the only way in which NaturallySpeaking forgets that some of the people using the software are using it hands-free entirely. When you run an upgrade, for example, it has to do a certain amount of data gathering: asking the user questions about the system. But instead of doing that BEFORE it disables the old version, it first makes you quit out of the old version and then starts asking question about serial number and installation location. Yes, I understand that using the standard ordering provided by InstallShield (or whatever software package they are using) is easier than doing something non-standard. But Nuance, think about your users. We are using our computers with our voices. If you can change the order of prompts just a tiny bit so that the microphone is ON when you ask us questions, do you realize what a difference that would make our lives?
(Answer: no. The NaturallySpeaking developers who turn up on forms and bulletin boards make it clear that they think nobody is using the product hands-free. There are features I use hands-free which the documentation specifically says can't be used that way.)
Mt. Holyoke College fails
Mar. 12th, 2010 10:37 amnewsflashMy best friend has a lot wrong with her. She's a juvenile diabetic. She's got a disease called Ehlers-Danlos syndrome (EDS) that makes mobility an issue. She uses a service dog for stability and balance and to pick up things she otherwise would be unable to, among other uses.
Understandably, it's hard to complete formal education with all of this going on, which is why she hasn't finished her undergraduate degree. So imagine her elation when she was accepted to Mount Holyoke College under their program for non-traditional students. She was part of a group of older students whose educations had been interrupted for whatever reasons--health, children, poverty, career.
To make a long, painful story very short, she's had a shocking, nightmarish experience at Mount Holyoke, which you would expect to be a liberal, supportive environment since it's a women's college. She was led to believe everything would be in place for her arrival and that disability services there were top notch. However, it's been a nightmare. She was unable to eat in the cafeteria the first two months of school because the student workers told her she couldn't bring a dog in. Disability services told her they weren't sure what they could do, because not all student workers might understand an email saying they couldn't refuse her service. She was given a room on a third floor that her scooter wouldn't fit in, and when she complained she was told to leave her expensive piece of medical equipment in the lobby. When they finally moved her to a new dorm room, she had to go across campus to shower in her old dorm because they didn't install grab bars in her shower. She wasn't given accommodations letters for her professors for months. Etc. She learned her experience wasn't isolated, and after months of pain and frustration last semester, she and a large group of disabled students met with the dean of the college, with very unsatisfactory results.
My friend blogs about it here.
Understandably, it's hard to complete formal education with all of this going on, which is why she hasn't finished her undergraduate degree. So imagine her elation when she was accepted to Mount Holyoke College under their program for non-traditional students. She was part of a group of older students whose educations had been interrupted for whatever reasons--health, children, poverty, career.
To make a long, painful story very short, she's had a shocking, nightmarish experience at Mount Holyoke, which you would expect to be a liberal, supportive environment since it's a women's college. She was led to believe everything would be in place for her arrival and that disability services there were top notch. However, it's been a nightmare. She was unable to eat in the cafeteria the first two months of school because the student workers told her she couldn't bring a dog in. Disability services told her they weren't sure what they could do, because not all student workers might understand an email saying they couldn't refuse her service. She was given a room on a third floor that her scooter wouldn't fit in, and when she complained she was told to leave her expensive piece of medical equipment in the lobby. When they finally moved her to a new dorm room, she had to go across campus to shower in her old dorm because they didn't install grab bars in her shower. She wasn't given accommodations letters for her professors for months. Etc. She learned her experience wasn't isolated, and after months of pain and frustration last semester, she and a large group of disabled students met with the dean of the college, with very unsatisfactory results.
My friend blogs about it here.
