Hey Mike. The challenge arises when "how much magnification" comes into play. My professor of my low vision class talked about a magnifier they had in their office. It was an 8 X full page glass magnifier, and it was a joke around the agency that if someone could lift it, they could take it with them home for free. For the five years she worked there no one took it. They determined that the thing weighed at least twenty pounds. Is a curse of optics that the higher the magnification the smaller the window and the thicker the glass has to be. another issue is proper lighting. A lot of hand held magnifiers are not lit, and some are too bright for certain eye conditions, including RP, and CVI. or Cordical Visual Impairment. There are stands one can get to turn pages, but you also have to be able to put the book on the stand. it is easier to command your computer to open the files, and access the material. People who have learning disabilities usually find it easier to have it spoken as they read it to help with processing they sometimes find it easier to use the PC file than the actual book. There are all kinds of adaptive keyboards, blow straws, voice command programs and the like to make a PC accessible. If these types of disabilities are not being represented in Bookshare's cliental it is an area worth exploring. After all, guys let's face it blind and VI are frankly a small minority of the disabled population, and to get these other groups involved would boost Bookshare's numbers immensely. So we should format for accessibility visually as well as tactually. Shelley L. Rhodes and Judson, guiding golden juddysbuddy@xxxxxxxxxxxx Guide Dogs For the Blind Inc. Graduate Advisory Council www.guidedogs.com The vision must be followed by the venture. It is not enough to stare up the steps - we must step up the stairs. -- Vance Havner ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Pietruk" <pietruk@xxxxxxxxx> To: <bksvol-discuss@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Thursday, December 08, 2005 8:58 PM Subject: [bksvol-discuss] Re: paragraphs for validators, general question Sue I understand those who can not turn pages but are strong enough to click a mouse. But if they can magnify a screen cannot they magnify a printed book? And a dyslexic would listen not read the book. So, of the 3 you mention, I only see the mouse clicker actually viewing the screen. I am not trying to be difficult about this; I am trying to understand. And even for the mouseclicker who cannot turn pages, are there not devices that do that no? And I'd be curious from an actual numbers standpoint, if non-blind print handicap users make up a significant per centage of signed up users anyway! Just wondering and not attempting to be argumentative. To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line. To unsubscribe from this list send a blank Email to bksvol-discuss-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx put the word 'unsubscribe' by itself in the subject line. To get a list of available commands, put the word 'help' by itself in the subject line.