US Widening Definition of Disability

The Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 protects workers with disabilities from discrimination in the workplace. However, the definition of what is defined as a "disability" is changing.

The ADA Amendments Act of 2008 has expanded coverage under the ADA to conditions such as epilepsy, diabetes, or bipolar disorder. Many more workers will have employment protection under the expanded law.

To read the rest of the MSN article, please visit
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/33793152/ns/business-careers//

TBC Thanksgiving Schedule

The Talking Book Center will be closed Thursday in honor of Thanksgiving. We are open regular business hours (9am-6pm) today and Friday, so call in with your book requests!

Family Afternoon at the (Described) Movies

Come to the Athens-Clarke Co. Library tomorrow for our Family Day at the (Described) Movies program. We are kicking off the holiday season with "A Charlie Brown Christmas".

This film is a described video, which means there is narration added between dialogue describing the action occurring onscreen. This makes the movie more accessible for low-vision viewers.

Family Day at the (Described) Movies
Tuesday, November 24
3:00pm
Athens-Clarke Co. Library Auditorium

Artificial Hand Can Feel

Researchers in London are working on a prosthetic hand that can give sensory feedback and therefore allow the wearer to actually "feel" objects.

The CNN article about this device can be found here: www.cnn.com/2009/HEALTH/11/06/artificial.hand.feel/index.html

"Up!" Released with Descriptive Narration

A press release from WGBH:

Disney-Pixar's "Up" Released with Descriptive Narration on Blu-ray, DVD and for Download on iTunes

November 13, 2009



In May of 2009, the Media Access Group at WGBH created a Descriptive Video Service® (DVS®) track for the theatrical release of Disney-Pixar's "Up"which made the film more meaningful and accessible to movie patrons who are blind or have low vision.

The Media Access Group is proud to share the news that the DVS track for "Up" is included on the film's Blu-ray and DVD releases (available wherever discs are sold) and– a first for Disney, Apple and WGBH– as a digital iTunes release* available to download at this page of the iTunes site:

"Up" (For blind viewers, audio description, DVS) http://tinyurl.com/yjtkg8f

DVS describes, via narration inserted into natural pauses in dialogue, information about actions, costumes, gestures, facial expressions, scene changes, and on-screen text that viewers who are blind have low vision would ordinarily miss. DVS was developed by WGBH for television in 1990, and expanded in 1997 to movies screened in theaters equipped with WGBH's MoPix® technologies (mopix.org).



About Disney-Pixar's "Up"

Walt Disney Pictures and Pixar Animation Studios take moviegoers up, up and away on one of the funniest adventures of all time with their latest comedy-fantasy. "Up"follows the uplifting tale of a 78-year-old balloon salesman Carl Fredricksen, who finally fulfills his lifelong dream of a great adventure when he ties thousands of balloons to his house and flies away to the wilds of South America. But he discovers all too late that his biggest nightmare has stowed on the trip: an overly optimistic 8-year old Wilderness Explorer named Russell. Their journey to a lost world, where they encounter some strange, exotic and surprising characters, is filled with hilarity, emotion and wildly imaginative adventure.



Where and how the DVS tracks for "Up" are available

- Blu-ray – DVS audio is automatically packaged within the Blu-ray disc. Consumers can find "English Descriptive Video Service 2.0" as an option within the Audio Options menu on any Blu-ray version of "Up."

- DVD - DVS audio is automatically packaged within the DVD. Consumers can find "English Descriptive Video Service 2.0" as an option within the Audio Options menu on all DVD versions of "Up."

- *iTunes – When purchasing the movie from iTunes, please note that there are three options to choose from and one of these includes DVS. The DVS version includes description audible to all users ("Up" For blind viewers, audio description, DVS) available at the link above or by searching the iTunes store for Up DVS. The standard version (SD) and a high definition (HD) version on iTunes do not include the description track.



For a list of additional DVD and Blu-ray releases with DVS, as well as television programs that air with DVS, please visit:





About The Media Access Group at WGBH

In addition to DVS, the Media Access Group includes The Caption Center, the world's first captioning agency (est. 1972), and the Carl and Ruth Shapiro Family National Center for Accessible Media (NCAM, est. 1992), a research and development entity that builds on the success of WGBH's access service departments to make existing and emerging technologies more accessible. Members of the Media Access Group's collective staff represent the leading resources and experts in their fields. Become a fan of the Media Access Group on Facebook.



About WGBH

WGBH Boston is America's preeminent public broadcaster, producing such celebrated national PBS series as Masterpiece, Antiques Roadshow, Frontline, Nova, American Experience, Arthur, Curious George and more than a dozen other award-winning primetime, lifestyle and children's series. WGBH is the leading producer of online content for pbs.org-- one of the most-visited dot-org sites on the Internet-- a major producer for public radio and a pioneer in developing educational multimedia and new technologies that make media accessible for people with disabilities. For its efforts, WGBH has been recognized with hundreds of honors, including Oscars, Emmys, Peabodys and duPont-Columbia Journalism Awards.



Contact:
Mary Watkins, Media Access Group at WGBH, mary_watkins@wgbh.org, 617 300-3700

Caregiver Workshop a Success

Recently, nursing and social work students gave a caregiver workshop at the Athens Council on Aging. They taught caregivers tricks and tips for lifting, moving, feeding, and other caregiving duties, as well as teaching caregivers how to look out for themselves - often an overlooked part of the caregiving process. The students plan to hold more workshops over the next year.



http://www.onlineathens.com/stories/111209/uga_515354856.shtml

Transition Meeting

Join area parents, teachers, school administrators, agency representatives, and other community members for a free informative presentation on:

Self-Determination and Self-Advocacy for Students with Disabilities

Presented by Colleen Lambert and Cindy Saylor,

Program Coordinators for Partnerships for Success

Thursday, November 19 12:30pm

Northeast GA RESA,  Room C

375 Winter St. Winterville, GA 30683

RSVP/More Information: Pam Moore at pmoore@madison.k12.ga.us or 706-795-0120, ext 1459

Third-Party Equipment for BARD

Many patrons are interested in purchasing their own players or book cartridges to use the NLS BARD program, rather than waiting on their NLS-provided equipment.  There are currently five third-party players you may purchase to use the BARD program.

Players:

APH Braille Plus Mobile Manager

HIMS BookSense

HumanWare Victor Reader Stream

LevelStar Icon

PLEXTALK Pocket PTP1


Cartridges:

Independent Living Aids


NLS does not endorse any of these players, but they are all available for private purchase.

TBC Open on Veteran's Day

Just a reminder that the Talking Book Center is open today.  If you are a veteran and a patron of the TBC, please give us a call so we can get you on the list for a digital player.

Today's Athens Banner-Herald features a nice story about local veteran Richard Walley, who is active in the community as an advocate for people with disabilities.  Read the entire story at www.onlineathens.com/stories/111109/new_515007967.shtml

United We Ride

An email forwarded to the Talking Book Center:

United We Ride National Dialogue Wants Your Ideas on Accessible Transportation

United We Ride is holding a National Dialogue from November 2-13, 2009 to provide an opportunity for participants to discuss ideas to improve transportation services for people with disabilities, older adults and individuals with limited incomes in communities across the country. The Web-based interactive dialogue is designed to influence future transportation policies. United We Ride works to promote universal access to transportation for people with disabilities through training and technical assistance

Do you have a suggestion or an idea about how to increase access to affordable and reliable transportation services for people with disabilities, older adults, and people with limited incomes? Please join the Dialogue now at http://www.uwrdialogue.org/ to share your best ideas! Over the next 12 days, you have the opportunity to participate in an online dialogue with other national, state and local stakeholders.

Stakeholders like you can provide critical input to the Federal Interagency Coordinating Council on Access and Mobility (CCAM) and help the best ideas 'rise to the top' during the dialogue. Just click the link at the bottom to register for this free on-line dialogue! It is important that this dialogue be as inclusive as possible, so please spread the word.

http://www.uwrdialogue.org/

Digital Bookmobile Coming to Athens Library THIS WEEK

The Digital Bookmobile will be at the Athens-Clarke County Library this Thursday, November 12, from 12:00 - 6:00pm. 

The Digital Bookmobile, sponsored by OverDrive, has instructional videos and interactive computer stations where you can learn to download books from the OverDrive website. 

Learn more at http://www.digitalbookmobile.com/  or  http://gadd.lib.overdrive.com/  and come see the Digital Bookmobile later this week!

Digital Presentation tomorrow!

Don't forget our digital presentations tomorrow!  Come join us and try out the new digital Talking Book player.


10:30am - Suwanee Public Library

12:30pm - Lilburn Public Library

BARD and Macs

From an NLS news bulletin:

DTBM firmware, versions 2.1.0 and higher, exhibits unexpected behavior when used with
cartridges or external (thumb) drives that have been prepared on Macintosh computers.

For every file that is downloaded from BARD on these cartridges or external drives,
Macintosh operating system OS X creates a second, hidden file. These Macintosh-
generated files are invisible to the user but are recognized by DTBMs as unplayable books.
Attempting to navigate to the "unplayable book" using the bookshelf feature results in a book
error. The actual book that was downloaded from BARD can be read normally.

This problem will be fixed with a future release of DTBM firmware.

If you are having problems with the BARD download program, this may be a reason why. 

Upcoming Events

This week will be busy at the Talking Book Center!  Join us for the following events:


Tuesday, November 3

11:00am - Digital presentation at Commerce Public Library
1:30pm   - Digital presentation at Danielsville Library


Wednesday, November 4

9:00am - 12:00pm  - Health Fair at Iris Place Retirement Community (Athens)


Friday, November 6

10:30am - Digital presentation at Suwanee Library
12:30pm - Digital presentation at Lilburn Library


If you have questions, please call the library at 1-800-531-2063.  We hope you will join us!