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Dr. Marc Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind, addressed staff at the Library of Congress today focusing on the need for digital information to be made available to the blind.
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Blind movie critic Jay Forry gives us his latest review. Based on a true story, Harrison Ford produces and stars in a film about a family with two children with rare genetic diseases titled, Extraordinary Measures. Peter Lane, 51, is one of the first people in the world to have electronic receivers implanted into his eye which send signals mounted in a pair of glasses to the brain. The technology has allowed Mr Lane, from Manchester, to see the outline of objects, such as doorways and furniture, and to read letters through a series of dots of lights for the first time in almost 30 years. Blind for nine years, Sharron “Kay” Thornton has just regained her sight through a procedure implanting an eyetooth in her eye, as a base to hold a prosthetic lens. Talking Books Int., Inc. has developed the latest version of the Talking Bible for people who are blind, visually impaired or reading impaired. Blind movie critic Jay Forry reviews Julie and Julia, staring Maryl Streep and Amy Adams. The world is becoming more digital these days. Almost every technology needs a person TO SEE some kind of visual display. That drives a blind man crazy! Three patients had their sight restored in less than a month by contact lenses cultured with stem cells. All three patients were blind in one eye. The researchers extracted stem cells (non embryonic) from their working eyes, cultured them in contact lenses for 10 days, and gave them to the patients. Within 10 to 14 days of use, the stem cells began recolonizing and repairing the cornea. I’m just your average man, who happens to be blind. Although there have been amazing advances in accommodations for the disabled over the past couple decades, there are still some things that drive me crazy! Public restrooms are at the top of the list. The men’s room to be more specific. Right now, in Geneva, at the UN’s World Intellectual Property Organization, history is being made. For the first time in WIPO history, the body that creates the world’s copyright treaties is attempting to write a copyright treaty dedicated to protecting the interests of copyright users, not just copyright owners. At issue is a treaty to protect the rights of blind people and people with other disabilities that affect reading (people with dyslexia, people who are paralyzed or lack arms or hands for turning pages). This should be a slam dunk! Who wouldn’t want a harmonized system of copyright exceptions that ensure that it’s possible for disabled people to get access to the written word? The USA, that’s who. The Obama administration. U.S. negotiators have joined with a rogue’s gallery of rich country trade representatives to oppose protection for blind people. Other nations and regions opposing the rights of blind people include Canada and the EU. |
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