Megobapp Newsletter
Issue Four June 2005
Welcome
Hi there readers, glad to see you are still with us.
There is to be a slight adjustment in the issue months of “Megonews”. They will continue at three-monthly intervals, in June, September, December and March.
In this, our fourth issue, we will have the second in our series on digital radio, a look at some of those hazards which the City Council profess to be eliminating (at a speed comparable to a yacht participating in a power boat race); some entertainment reminders; some technology information as well as several bits and pieces which may be of interest.
Attached to this issue is a membership application form for completion and return by those wishing to become involved, together with a questionnaire for completion by any visually-impaired person. As you will see, the purpose of the questionnaire is to identify the obstructions which are considered most hazardous to a blind or partially-sighted person’s mobility. Please help us in our endeavours by giving us your responses in your preferred format. By choosing a return date of the 20th August we would hope to produce a preliminary report for our September issue of “Megonews”. Our target is 100 responses; please help us to achieve this goal.
Enjoy your reading of “Megonews”; if you want to comment on its content – or even on its lack of information – don’t hesitate to let us have your views. You can write in any format to MEGOBAPP, c/o 1 Malvern Close, Prestwich, Manchester, M25 1PH; telephone or fax: 0161-798-9137 (there is an answerphone available); or e-mail: info@megobapp.org.uk. You can also read about us on www.megobapp.org.uk.
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Updates:
West Pennine NHS Trust
As long-term readers of “Megonews” will recall, our first issue contained an article on the Health Authority and its attitude towards meeting the needs of visually-impaired patients.
Since then, a member of MEGOBAPP has requested information in a Braille format. We are pleased to note that the West Pennine NHS Trust didn’t let them down but provided the information in the requested format. Will other NHS Trusts follow this example?
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The “React” saga trundles on
GMPTE with their usual speed and efficiency are still consulting on the “React” system installed at Moor Lane Bus Station, Bolton, some twelve months or so ago.
Their Consultation Team are shipping in as many visually-impaired people as possible to listen to and comment on the recorded information emitted by the various units.
Will their consultation be worth salt? Many of those being invited to test the system previously know little or nothing about the technology available to provide a much wider provision of information. It is likely, therefore, that their responses will be favourable; after all, something is sometimes considered better than nothing. Will the Consultation Team from GMPTE tell the consultees what “real time” will provide and that such systems installed elsewhere are much superior to the Bolton project.
The answer to this is likely to be “no”.
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Inclusive
Education
Building Schools for the Future
There is currently big pots of money flying around from Government which is linked to Private Finance Initiatives (PFI) to create an educational environment which is accessible to all. The provision of educational establishments which are physically accessible are expected to bring about local opportunities for many who previously were educated in “Special” schools, segregated from their non-disabled friends, to be educated alongside them in the future. However can we be certain that the initiatives which eventually emerge will create an educational utopia for disabled people, and particularly those with a visual impairment.
Manchester Local Education Authority (LEA) has established a team of “experts” to pursue this initiative. Discussions have taken place – and are continuing – between Jenny Andrews and physically-impaired members of the Disabled People’s Network Steering Group (two of whom have experience of segregated education) who are purporting to represent the disability community, but questions must be raised as to their ability to ensure that the requirements of sensory-impaired kids are taken into consideration.
A private consultant has been appointed to look at and advise on various access issues. The full extent of his role is not known, but with his experience in dealing with access issues over many years and a taste of “Special” education, he should be well equipped to point the team in specific directions
MEGOBAPP are seeking a meeting with Jenny Andrews with a view to ascertaining the LEA’s plans for the future. When this meeting has taken place, MEGOBAPP will feel in a better position to pursue this topic in subsequent editions of “Megonews”.
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On the Streets where you Walk
In the three previous issues of “Megonews” attention has been focussed on numerous barriers facing visually-impaired people in the Piccadilly Gardens area – including the bus terminus – and Piccadilly Railway Station. This issue will be looking at the broader environment, highlighting some specific problems that there are out there.
This City Council in its policies on access consider “A” boards are not acceptable and have in the past designated staff to have these removed. The success of their endeavours can be found very close to the seat of power on Mount Street as seen in the photograph below. It also shows the planters separating the tables and chairs from the pedestrian walkway. Planters, too, are not the flavour of the month with the Council, except, of course, for their numerous planters on the footway around the Town Hall.
Oldham Street, too, is yet a further example of the Councils failure to prevent “A” board advertisements blocking the footway as seen below.
Oldham Street does not confine itself to “A” board problems. The pedestrian crossing at the mouth of Oldham Street has several interesting features. The usual blistered paving at this junction has been replaced by metal studs in their individual sockets which have had a tendency from time to time to escape from their captivity.
Whilst the control box is fitted with a rotating knurl, there is no audible indication that it is safe to cross.
The Directive relating to the installation of controlled crossings indicates that other obstructions should be removed. The photograph of this controlled crossing shows the presence of a lamp standard on the eastern side of the crossing in close proximity to the tactile surface.
Textured surfacing appears to have gone to the heads of local engineers. The City Council’s “Designing for Access 2” manual calls for obstructions on the footway to be highlighted and surrounded by a warning texture. Unfortunately, someone appears to have misunderstood the procedure; the texture has been placed upon the actual obstruction as well as the pole carrying the control box. This practice is not confined to this location. Similar signs of the artistic prowess of the engineers can be found at many other points around the City.
There is of course a serious side to this practice. A cane user particularly is likely to be scarred when the back of the hand accidentally comes into contact with this kind of surface.
The next issue of “Megonews” will no doubt be showing other areas of concern to visually-impaired people around the streets of Manchester.
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Talk Time with Tesco
For the last thirteen years Tesco staff have been going round the country talking with their customers.
On the 6th of April 2005 it was the turn of disabled people in this area to have their say.
The three sessions were held at the Avant Hotel in Oldham. The morning session was for people in wheelchairs, people who were deaf or hard of hearing met in the afternoon, and the evening was for the blind and partially-sighted. There were two members of Tesco’s staff, one from the research department, the other was from the planning team.
The questions we were asked were, where did we do our shopping? How did we get to the shop? Once we arrived at the shop did we have any problem getting into the store? Then when we were in the shop did we have any problem with moving around the store, and were the staff any help to us?
Suggestions were made about the lighting, colour contrast, signage being in larger print and having staff trained for disability awareness. Some people in the group told of their experience when shopping on-line.
The meeting lasted an hour and a half. The staff thanked us for giving up time to talk with them and said they had got a lot of feedback. We were all offered a choice of a bottle of wine or a box of chocolates.
I recommend that if anyone gets the chance to go to any of these meetings, go, because it is only by talking with people like this will we get anything done to make things easier for us.
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Jean
Whittaker
Entertainment
The season is quickly drawing to a close, with only a few audio-describe performances appearing in the next three months.
Perhaps it is now time to be asking both the Library Theatre Marketing Section (0161-234-1919) and the Royal Exchange Theatre (0161-833-9333) and ask for their Marketing Section to obtain a copy of their Autumn/Winter Brochure in your preferred format.
Meanwhile, the following shows will be audio described:
Manchester Library Theatre
“Larkin with Women” by Ben Brown: Wednesday, 29th June at 7-30 p.m.; Saturday, 2nd July at 3 p.m.
Royal Exchange Theatre
“Sex, Chips and Rock ‘N’ Roll” by Debbie Horsfield and Hereward Kaye: Saturday,16th July at 4 p.m.
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Audio
Description at Cinemas
Heard any good movies lately?
Around 8 out of the top 10 cinema releases at any one time are available with audio description for blind or visually impaired people. Over 160 U.K. cinemas have the facilities to screen these films.
Cinema audio description is similar to listening to a cricket or football match on the radio, having the action described to you. The normal film soundtrack comes through the cinemas surround sound speakers in the usual way, and a recorded narrator explains what's happening on screen - in gaps in the dialogue - through personal headphones.
Films are rarely available with audio description on DVD, so catch them while you can at the cinema! Ask for an a.d. headset at the box office. The audio description is broadcast through personal headphones - only you hear it! Note: Some cinemas may ask for a deposit.
Three years cinema going for a fiver! (for carers) - order your free cinema card. Link: www.yourlocalcinema.com/ad.html
'Talking website' and 'web over phone' service.
To have the weeks audio described cinema listings read to you over the phone, please dial 087 0222 0333 (national rate, 24 hours a day, 7 days a week). To navigate through the links, simply press 1 to go back, 3 to go forward and 5 to read an article (please contact us if you have problems with this service - it's new and temperamental!). You can make contact on telephone 0845 056 9824 or by E-mail: ad@yourlocalcinema.com
If your
computer has a built in speaker, or speakers attached, you can have
the weeks audio described cinema listings read aloud by clicking this
link:
www.yourlocalcinema.com/ad.speech.html.
This is particularly useful in a library, friends house or office, or internet café, where there is usually no 'screen reader' software available.
The cinemas in the Manchester area with the audio description facilities are:
Bury VUE;
Manchester Filmworks UCI;
Trafford Centre UCI.
A list of audio-described films and their showings appear on the above website and are updated every Friday.
Alternatively, contact the above cinemas for information.
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Digital Radio
In the previous article, I described the various ways to receive digital radio, and gave an idea of some of the stations available. This month, as promised, I will describe how to use a DAB radio.
When switching on your DAB radio for the very first time, you need to make sure that the aerial is fully extended vertically. Press the AUTO-TUNE button, holding it in for about five seconds. After about a minute, a station will be heard, and the radio will have noted and logged all the stations in your area.
For tuning there will be either a click dial, or UP and DOWN buttons. Each movement will change the station name on the display, without altering the one you are listening to. If you want to hear the station shown in the display, press the SELECT button. If you cannot see the display this should not be a problem, as you can learn the order of stations, just as you would when using an analogue radio. The advantage of DAB is that, wherever you are in the country, the national stations will be in the same position.
Most DAB radios store stations alphabetically, but some will group stations into their appropriate blocks, known as multiplexes.
Digital radios allow you to store your favourite stations into memory, and the number of memories available depends on the radio you choose. Some of the portables only allow six or ten stations to be stored, whereas hi-fi tuners can store fifty or even ninety-nine stations.
Sound Quality
Very few DAB stations sound better than their analogue equivalents. BBC Radio 3 is the best quality signal, and has a better over-all sound quality than on FM. Classic FM is also better than its FM service, but it is not as high quality sound as Radio 3.
BBC Radio 5 is obviously much better sound than its Medium Wave service, as are Virgin Radio and Talksport.
Due to over-crowding on the BBC's multiplex, where they have reduced the bit-rate in order to incorporate the new digital only services, Radios 1, 2 and 4 are often better on FM than on DAB. In addition, Radio 4 sometimes goes into mono, to make room for Sports Extra when it is needed.
Those who want to listen to BBC 7 should note that, whereas it is available in stereo on Sky and Freeview, it is only broadcast in mono on DAB.
DAB Out and About.
There are a number of DAB personal radios, and in general, these give reasonable coverage when travelling on the train. You still lose the station when going through a tunnel, but it generally returns quicker than when using FM, and there is no interference on DAB from the train's electrical system. It should be noted that some of the modern trains, such as Virgin Voyager and Pendolino, make using any kind of radio almost impossible, so take something else to listen to, or try their at- seat entertainment.
DAB and FM Combination Radios
Usually, if a hi-fi tuner has both DAB and FM, the quality of both is respectable. However, most of the portables have excellent DAB but very poor FM reception. When using batteries, much more power is needed for DAB than for analogue sets.
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The Dolphin Pen
Dolphin Computer Access have announced the availability of the Dolphin Pen, the world's first portable access software on a USB pen. Supernova, Hal, Lunar and Lunar Plus are all now available to order in two separate editions: the PC Edition or the new Dolphin Pen Edition.
Using the Dolphin Pen means that users of Dolphin Computer Access software can carry their software with them and instantly run it on any Dolphin Pen Friendly PC, as if it were their own home system. Crucially, this means that the individual user’s settings are automatically applied to the system. As soon as the Dolphin Pen is removed, the software is no longer running and the PC is ready for another user to insert their Dolphin Pen and have their software running, with their own personal settings applied.
Convenience
Unlike other screen access solutions, the Dolphin Pen is not installed on the PC, but instead runs from a USB Pen Drive – a small portable device, just six centimetres long, which plugs straight into the USB port of a computer.
The convenient size means that a user can carry their Dolphin Pen in their handbag or pocket, and run their access software on any Dolphin Pen Friendly PC, without the need to configure settings each time, as all user configurations are saved back to the Dolphin Pen.
"Dolphin Pen Friendly"
The Dolphin Pen is simple to use on any Dolphin Pen Friendly PC. It takes just a couple of minutes to make a computer Dolphin Pen Friendly. Once this is done, to run the software, simply insert the pen into a spare USB slot. Schools, universities, Internet cafés, offices and libraries can welcome people with a visual impairment to use their computers by taking part in the Dolphin Pen Friendly programme. This means that any Dolphin Pen users can access the organisation’s PCs instantly.
To find out more about the Dolphin Pen Contact:
Dolphin Computer
Access Ltd
Technology House
Blackpole Estate West
Worcester WR3 8TJ
UK Local
Rate: 0845 130 5353
Website: www.dolphinuk.co.uk
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Look out for “Outlook”
When visually-impaired people want to gain access to their computer screens, they are generally confronted with a somewhat expensive package to obtain either speech or magnification software.
One of MEGOBAPP’s members has been trying out a considerably cheaper form of software, “Outlook”. It is understood that the Designer behind this software is the Designer who was involved in the production of “Dolphin’s” access software in the very early days.
“Outlook” is available in either a speech package or one combining speech and magnification.
The MEGOBAPP member obtained the combined package, which is available at around £150, compared with the speech-only package of around £100, a price which approximates roughly to the cost of an upgrade of certain packages.
She found it worked very well with her Word Processing package as well as on the Internet. She downloaded a free browser (Webbie) which works excellently with the system.
The saving is, to say the least, quite substantial when compared with the likes of Hal/Supernova and Jaws.
“Outlook” is available from the Royal National Institute of the Blind – you can contact their Customer Services on 0845-702-3153 for the price of a local call.
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Finale
That’s about it for this quarter’s edition of “Megonews”.
In the September issue we are hoping to look at some of the pros and cons on the question of inclusive education, some aspects of transport, whether the Council’s Visually-Impaired Steering Group is working and also the usual item highlighting the hazards faced by blind and partially-sighted people in Manchester. We are sure that the visually-impaired readers in their responses to the A-Z hazards project will be pointing us in the right direction. Alternatively, why not become involved in our activities by joining MEGOBAPP?
Current Officers of MEGOBAPP:
Ron Goulden
(Chairperson); Damien O’Connor (Treasurer);
Joseph Innocent (Secretary); Steve Jones(Publicity Officer
Please make contact with us if you wish to become involved.
Website: www.megobapp.org.uk
E-mail: info@megobapp.org.uk
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