Monday, August 16, 1998
Camp bridges computer gap
Visually impaired learn of tools, help
BY DEBORAH KENDRICK
The Cincinnati Enquirer
Title bars and dialogue boxes, menu bars and pulldowns.
If you've used a computer lately, you'll probably recognize these as basic components of a Windows 95 screen. But how do you navigate the maze of graphics and information when you can't see the screen or rely on your vision to see it adequately to work on a level playing field with your peers?
For six Tristate students - along with parents and teachers - the Cincinnati Association for the Blind hosted a ''computer camp'' this week to help bridge the gap.
For Anita Yelton, a sixth-grader at Berry Middle School in Lebanon, the timing of this initial workshop couldn't have been better. Born with optic nerve hypoplasia, Anita, 11, has always had difficulty seeing. Her collection of special magnifiers and glasses obtained from the CAB have enabled her to participate alongside classmates once a week in her school's computer lab.
But this year the exposure will become more frequent, and now she knows what she needs to make a computer accessible.
Anita's father, Dave Yelton, took vacation from his accountant's job at NCR to help his daughter learn about her options.
''Our first program at home for her,'' he recalls, ''was one of the Magic School Bus games, and it was quickly apparent that all those fancy graphics were wasted on Anita.''
Later in school, a reading test presented her a screen of white text on blue, and it was discovered that, for Anita, it was not a viable visual combination.
At camp, Mr. Yelton says he saw one combination that will be an ideal solution for his daughter: a 20-inch computer monitor with software called Zoomtext, which enlarges characters several times while providing speech feedback.
For T.J. Meloy, a sophomore at Mount Healthy High School, the week has revealed other solutions. A proven whiz with electronics since the sixth grade, T.J. was quick to absorb everything being taught and help a few teachers, too. Using a program called JAWS for Windows to ''speak'' everything appearing on the Windows 95 screen, T.J. can't help but comment on the speech at another student's work station.
T.J., too, hopes this new learning can be carried into his school environment. He talks about those times last year when he went to the school library to work on biology reports on vertebrates or bacteriological diseases.
''There was a whole bunch of information on the Internet,'' he says. ''I had to tell the library assistant or my aid what I wanted and what to look for.
''It would be really cool if they could just throw JAWS on a computer in there; I could just go in there, put on a headset and do that kind of research for myself.''
T.J. and others have received assistance from CAB computer staff Mark Foersterling and Jim Denham throughout the school year.
''As an agency,'' says Foersterling, a computer access manager, ''we're definitely moving more toward the over-55 population, but we're kind of being pulled into this work with students. We just can't turn kids away if there's no one else with the expertise to help.''
The fact that kids and their parents want and need the help is clear in last week's program.
Five days - all day long - at computer work stations seems daunting even for adults. Yet, these students learned to access the world of computers through enlarged print, synthesized speech and Braille.
The learning was more love than labor. Anita Yelton, youngest participant and perhaps the one with the most usable vision, sums it up:
''My eyes were tired, but I was never bored. It was always interesting.''
Deborah Kendrick, a Cincinnati free-lance writer, is a nationally recognized advocate for people with disabilities. Write: Deborah Kendrick, Cincinnati Enquirer, 312 Elm St., Cincinnati 45202; e-mail: 71340.473@compuserve.com.
KENDRICK ARCHIVE
