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Blind Abilities is extremely proud to present this new series, Brad Snyder: On The road To Rio. This multi-part series delves into the life of Bradley Snyder, blinded in a tragic IED explosion in Afghanistan. Brad set his mind to compete in the Paralympics, and did so, winning two Gold and one Silver Medal precisely one year to the day following his injury in the 2012 London Paralympics. In this episode, we explore Brad's extreme training regimen in preparation for the Paralympic Trials in Charlotte, NC in June, and his ultimate goal of the 2016 games in Rio De Janeiro in September. Stay tuned to future episodes and learn about Brad's handling of technology, his involvement with the Bradley watch and many other aspects of his life as a blind person and a blind athlete. We are very pleased to have this opportunity to present to you this remarkable individual!

Pete and Jeff, part of the Blind Abilities team toss out a few Podcasts that they listen to on a regular basis. This is not a complete list and there will be more to come. Podcasts mentioned You can open your Podcatcher of choice and search for the titles. the Podcast titles are as follows: iAccessVO NoSillaCast Eyes Free Fitness (BlindAlive) Main Menu (ACB Radio) Blind Abilities Mac break Weekly on The TWIT Network The Tech Doctor Blog and Podcast The Audacity to Podcast School of Podcasting Applevis podcast Abilities Stories iSee We hope you like our short list and if you have a Podcast or if you have a list of Podcasts send us an email at info@BlindAbilities.com and share your gems.

Pete and Jeff, along with new team member, Jeff Young chat with Tomek Wardega, creator of the FopyDo scanning stand for the visually impaired. This tough, corrugated plastic stand works in conjunction with your favorite IOS OCR app to provide a sturdy and very effective scanning solution for your iDevice. Priced at only $12, FopyDo possesses many features which other stands don't offer. Join Blind Abilities for this 34 minute interview about Fopydo, a funny name for a very serious scanning stand! This podcast contains chapter markers for those podcast apps that support chapters, such as Downcast or Overcast. #BlindAbilities #FopyDo

Facebook just launched the new feature that automatically gives an uploaded photo an alternative text description. Known as Alt Text, Facebook engineers have just launched the new feature enabling Visually Impaired users of the Facebook app a glance at the images everyone is posting.

Matt Kim is the first blind engineer working for Facebook. Check out this article from Mashable.com telling about his journey to Facebook and what is happening to accessibility in Silicon Valley.

Unique, Not Different by The Century Times · March 8, 2016 Century College, white bear lake, MN Hannah Harriman | Staff Writer I am a student who happens to be blind. As the first of soon-to-be several blind and visually impaired students attending Century College, I want to make the student body aware of what blind people are capable of and the minor adaptations that we use. I navigate the halls using a cane, read Braille, and do homework on a laptop that has screen-reading software. I can do anything you can, with minor adaptations. That makes me unique, not different. I am totally blind, have some hearing loss, and mild Cerebral Palsy, but with minor accommodations, I can do anything you can, except perhaps drive a car. Although this campus is hard for anyone to get around, I have had much practice and training learning my way around here. Now, I can get anywhere on campus, although sometimes I will ask for assistance, mainly because my Cerebral Palsy has caused me to veer. Like you, I don’t know my

Aggie students install wind chimes to help guide blind students to class Kevin Reece, KHOU , WFAA 1:10 PM. CST March 04, 2016 Aggie students install wind chimes to help guide blind students to class. (KHOU News) CONNECT TWEET LINKEDIN GOOGLE+ PINTEREST COLLEGE STATION, Texas - A simple idea turned reality at Texas A&M University is making a big difference in helping guide blind students to their classes. Kaitlyn Kellermeyer was already a bit overwhelmed and anxious at the thought of trying to memorize and navigate the 5,200 acre Texas A&M campus when she arrived as a freshman. Her anxiety unquestionably magnified when a genetic condition robbed her of her eyesight during that freshman year.But thanks to a simple idea, and the help of a few friends, she now has a bit of music to help guide her way. She was born with a rare genetic condition called Incontinentia Pigmenti. Early in life her eyesight began to fade. Blood vessels burst in her eyes causing her retinas to detach. She endured mor

Georgie Bullen FRSA Director and founder of Team Insight Limited. GB Paralympian Are we blind to the discrimination of visually impaired people in the workplace? If you were faced with the CV of someone who was visually impaired, would it have any impact on whether you felt you could employ them? Whether it be a conscious belief that blind people are not capable or skilful employees, or whether it is simply the fear of making some sort of ‘Politically Incorrect’ statement that would offend, like ‘See you later’, the simple fact is that visually impaired people are not gaining employment. In the UK, approximately 27% of visually impaired and blind people of working age are in employment. When you compare this to the non-disabled working age population in the UK, where 73.6% are employed, one begins to appreciate the enormity of this issue. Even on comparing the visually impaired population against the general disabled population, there is a huge disparity where 46% are in employment. So why is it that, eit

I'm a Fashion Blogger Who Happens to be Visually Impaired Posted: 17/02/2016 23:20 GMT "But You Don't Look Blind!" Out of all the things I hear on a day to day basis, this is above all one of the most frequent comments I receive. It's a social enigma and one that, for me, seems to be entrenched in a huge amount of misconception that people with sight loss do not have a relationship to fashion or style. My name is Emily Davison, I'm a writer and in my spare time I'm a fashion blogger, who also happens to be registered as severely sight impaired. I have lived with sight loss since birth from a condition known as Septo Optic Dysplasia which damaged my optic nerves causing me to have no vision in my right eye and severe vision loss in my left. I now work with a guide dog by the name of Unity and live a relatively normal adult life. I began fashion blogging in 2012 when I created my own fashion and lifestyle blog under the name Fashioneyesta. I created this blog after I'd received a lot of comments over m

Berkeley scientist designs tools for the visually impaired By Berenice Freedome • Mar 2, 2016 Dr. Joshua Miele's morning commute to Smith-Kettlewell Eye Research Institute takes about an hour—as long as no one gets in the way. In fact, most people move out of his way when they see him coming, because Miele is blind. He’s one of about 140,000 blind and visually impaired people in the Bay Area. Less than three quarters of those people are employed, and only a few work in tech, like Dr. Miele. Uncommonly Universal His office in Pacific Heights is full of tactile art, project binders, awards, and audio equipment. On a round meeting table, magnetic building toys sit in a cluster—just something to fiddle with on long calls. This is where Miele does the work he’s uniquely suited to do, designing accessible technologies for the blind. “If you want to design a good boat,” he says, “you don’t ask somebody who doesn’t know the first thing about sailing. Blind people must be integral to the design process, n

The following podcast was recorded for use by customers of Minnesota’s State Services for the Blind. You can get more information about State Services for the Blind and the services it offers by going to www (dot) mnssb (dot) org. (music) State Services for the Blind and Minneapolis Community and Technical College are pleased to open registration for  our April 30th career expo. Register at http://goo.gl/forms/GrshounE2C for this free event. Adults who are blind, low vision, and DeafBlind from a variety of jobs and careers will showcase the variety of career paths they have taken, and they will be available to talk with high school and college students on an individual basis. It is a wonderful opportunity for students to connect with role models and set high expectations for the future. Optional sessions about college life, career exploration, and parenting concerns will also be offered. The expo is free and includes lunch. Join us on Saturday, April 30 from 10:00 a.m. until 2:00 p.m. on the 3rd

Jeff Thompson gives a brief demonstration of the Motiv App from Shure giving some demonstrations using the MV-88 Stereo Lightning Port microphone from Shure. The new line of microphone and interface units called the Motiv series is Shure’s response to the popularity of mobile convenience and Shure did not drop their level of quality. The MV-88 is a rugged solidly built metal constructed piece of kit. ShurePlus MOTIV App Every operation needs a mission control, and ShurePlus MOTIV is just that. Designed for use with all MOTIV products, the free app provides an arsenal of smart features that will help you optimize your sound on the move. It also lets you share your files via email, text and SMS, and allows for real-time adjustments. Portable Plug-and-Play Designed to capture clear, high-quality sound, MV88 directly connects to any iOS device equipped with a Lightning connector. With the MV88, anyone & everyone can benefit from the stereo quality recording. Smart Technology, Retro Design The microphon

Jeff and Pete announce the release of a brand new Blind Abilities App which offers a single Podcast feed from BlindAbilities.com This eighteen minute chat covers the objective, features, development and accessibility of this simple new App. They also discuss their efforts to create Podcasts with Chapter markers using a new software program which allows some podcast apps to offer this simplified navigation feature. The new Blind Abilities app is available NOW in the IOS App Store FREE of charge! Check it out and listen to all of the Blind Abilities podcasts and Demo's from 2015 through the present. And enjoy listening to this podcast on the new App, or on the Downcast or Overcast Podcast Apps using Chapter navigation. #BlindAbilitiesPresents #JThompson6835, #Lane7625

Raqi G gives an overview of the canes and techniques that she has used over the years. Not saying what is best for you, but that only you can make those decisions. Experiment with the size, the angle, the sounds, the feel, the weight, the responsiveness for yourself. Get tapping and find out for yourself. You can follow the Blind Abilities Channel on the Audioboom app by searching for Blind Abilities Channel. We are also at BlindAbilities.com on the web at Http://www.BlindAbilities.com and follow us on twitter @BlindAbilities

The following podcast was recorded for use by customers of Minnesota’s State Services for the Blind. You can get more information about State Services for the Blind and the services it offers by going to www (dot) mnssb (dot) org. I’m Stuart Holland. (music) Deafblind High School Teacher Making a Difference in Many Ways Jim Franklin, Special Education Teacher at Elm Street Elementary, Rom, Georgia, and Creator of Slid-a-Round Math Manipulatives. Dana Tarter, Special Education Teacher at Model High School in Rome, Georgia. Dana Tarter, a high school life skills teacher at Model High School in Rome, Georgia, continues to put her philosophy of education into action by going to work every day with the belief that all students can learn. Teachers often share various reasons with parents, colleagues, and administrators as to why they chose their profession. Dana, for example, believes that it is a privilege to be a teacher and stresses the importance of setting daily goals to help her students move in a p

The following podcast was recorded for use by customers of Minnesota’s State Services for the Blind. You can get more information about State Services for the Blind and the services it offers by going to www (dot) mnssb (dot) org. I’m Stuart Holland. (music) Travelers in the Dark This is written by Eleanor Lew and appeared in the New York Times January 25, 2016 At 5, whenever my mother turned off the bedside lamp, an inexplicable terror catapulted me out of bed. Crawling on the floor, I checked to see that everything still existed. Now it is like that again. Walking into a dimly lit restaurant, I panic when daylight switches instantly to pitch black. Descending a staircase, I fall when the handrail stops short of the last two steps. Emerging into bright sunlight, or confronting a computer screen’s glare, causes me to shield my eyes like a vampire. I was told I had hereditary degenerative myopia at age 8, and now in middle age, I also have macular degeneration in one eye and fast-growing cataracts i

The following podcast was recorded for use by customers of Minnesota’s State Services for the Blind. You can get more information about State Services for the Blind and the services it offers by going to www (dot) mnssb (dot) org. I’m Stuart Holland. (music) A campus vision for the visually impaired - Weatherford Democrat : Local News From Weatherford College Special to the Democrat | Posted: Saturday, January 16, 2016 2:14 pm The meandering walkways and rise and fall of topography on the Weatherford College campus create a pleasing appearance to the eye, but do little to assist visually impaired students like Michael Browne. While Browne described his first visit to WC as disastrous, he and his fellow Phi Theta Kappa honor society members are working on a project to improve the campus experience for others with visual impairments. The students started a project in the fall to create large print and braille maps of the college. Once completed later this semester, maps will be available for visitors

The following podcast was recorded for use by customers of Minnesota’s State Services for the Blind. You can get more information about State Services for the Blind and the services it offers by going to www (dot) mnssb (dot) org. I’m Stuart Holland. (music) Chris Murphy Overcomes Disability Through Family Support and Perseverance. This was originally published in the Maple River Messenger, February 18, 2016. It is written by Barb Lake In 1987, in Mansfield, Connecticut, Chris Murphy came into the world three months too early. At the time of his birth, his lungs weren’t fully developed and it was determined that he was partially sighted. He spent the next three months in an incubator receiving oxygen therapy. During that time, as the tiny infant worked to grow and develop while oxygen washed across his body and into his lungs, he lost the remainder of his eyesight, often one of the negative results of oxygen therapy on premature babies. From the time of his birth, it was obvious that Murphy was a fight

@MoeLucie brings us another College Diaries post focusing on her experiences with locating her classrooms on the college campus. Here are some of the solutions that she came up with as she experienced a few college layouts and systems that once figured out she could independently travel her campus with confidence. You can find more podcast in the College diaries series on the web at www.BlindAbilities.com and look under the College diaries category. You can subscribe to the podcasts and also follow blind Abilities on twitter @blindAbilities