In attendance: (12 participants)
Mary Rose Mullen, Ken Walsh, Stuart Haxell, Chris Egan, Gavin Allman, Derry
Walsh, Jackie McBrearty, Dominique Farrell, Paul Griffith, Martha Parkinson,
Clare Cassidy, Cearbhall O'Meadhra.
Apologies: Martin Kelly.
Ken and Jackie tuned in to the webinar on the use of Android systems by blind
users. You can find the recording here: link <https://youtu.be/rtbN0O0Mics>
Here is a link to the slides that were created based on the webinar: link
<https://docs.google.com/presentation/d/17bUyGz0BtSe0ptjOMG2UOjiERQllSYm5/edit?uspÿaring&ouid3055118463614344021&rtpofÿue&sdÿue>
If Google Slides are not properly accessible, please download the file - it's a
PowerPoint document.
Derry drew the attention to a recent UCD project which provides support to
people with disabilities by creating electronic solution. One client had
suffered various health conditions resulting in total blindness. The project
developed a navigation aid in a watch that could distinguish objects in front
of her.
Lady A was missing from court yesterday for some time. This outage was reported
from various regions all around Ireland. No explanation was given but all
returned to normal after a short period.
Ken was happy to find that his flashing bedside light has gone away. He simply
unplugged everything and re-plugged with the result that all was well and
steady again! No explanation was found.
Chris reported that his daughter has acquired a Mercedes car which has
automatic self-parking and kerb alignment. It also has centre lane detection to
prevent accidental crossing of the centre lane while driving. Soon, he will be
able to drive everywhere without sight but with his daughterâs loyal
permission.
Mary Rose described her Fitbit watch. She has some residual vision and so can
manage but hoped to find other successful users of the device. There were no
other Fitbit users present but Stuart had some information about providing
voice output on the device. It appears that Google Assistant or Alexa can be
put on some versions. There is no voice other than that on the Fitbit
Stuart, Ken, Dominique and Jackie shared their experience of health and
fitness monitoring on the Apple watch and the built-in speech that apple
offers. Dominique explained that she has an exercise plan on the apple watch.
A lengthy discussion of public perceptions of blindness followed.
Misunderstandings of the function of a white cane, guide dogs not "blind dogs",
amazement that a blind person can give way-finding directions.
Jackie is about to embark on a recording career using the Olympus Recorder. She
would like to hear from others who have successfully used this device.
Stuart and derry shared their experience of broadcasting over community radio
in Cork, Kilkenny, Kildare Galway, Dublin, etc.
Clare attended a demonstration of a new voting system hosted by NCBI. She was
not happy with its usefulness. She also raised an interesting fact that blind
users have to spend hours on public buses and trains to attend such
demonstrations when held in Dublin. It would be helpful if agencies could
choose a venue that lies on convenient public transport routes so that some of
the stress can be taken out of the journey.
Jackie was surprised to find her emails and files listed in ascending order on
her IOS device so that the newest entry was off the screen at the bottom of the
list. She would like to have the newest mail and file items at the top of the
list. A quick search revealed the following possible answer:
On your phone, go to Settings, then Mail.
Under "Threading" there is a toggle switch you can activate that says "Most
Recent Message on Top".
Jackie, an avid Audible reader, mentioned that Audible is being removed from
the Windows environment. Users will have to access the site with their smart
phone or tablet. No explanation has been given for this move. PC users beware!
The meeting ended.
All the best,
Cearbhall
m +353 (0)833323487 Ph: _353 (0)1-2864623 e: cearbhall.omeadhra@xxxxxxx
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