Read transcriptHello our little spring butterflies and welcome to episode 94 of BGC. Our guest host on this show is our good friend Nora Nagle, who joins us all the way from Boston, Massachusetts. Nora's retired guide dog, Larry, is also making an appearance every now and again with woofs and pleas for treats.
Nora has just returned from a world tour of Miami beach where her husband was able to give her a very detailed review of the local wildlife and their different coloured thongs. Jan and Óran may need a minute or two here for a short break.
We move swiftly onto this year’s CSUN conference which was in Anaheim, California. Óran is intrigued by 'JAWS Kiosk' which is already rolling out in the USA. This development allows blind and low vision customers to interact with the ordering stations in, for example a MacDonald's outlet, simply by plugging in their headset where a screen reader will provide feedback just like using an Apple or Android smartphone. Brilliant!
Jan is very interested in a prototype product called Glide, a self-guided mobility aid: the device uses "real-time data from an array of advanced sensors, and autonomously steers the way. It maps the best routes, identifies targets of interest, and avoids obstacles to get you safely to your destination." Apparently, it looks a little like a vacuum cleaner so you can vacuum up the pavements while you are walking to your location. Óran is also interested in the Orbit Q20 and Q40 Braille displays which offer 20 or 40 braille cells with a QWERTY keypad. Come on Vispero... get with the program!
Ever heard of "Birding by ear"? Ever wanted to know what birds are keeping you awake in the morning? Well then try this app Merlin Bird ID by Cornell Lab of Ornithology, Cornell University. Nora and Larry highly recommend it.
Our guest this week is Marcel Janssen from The Netherlands. Marcel is the Director of Education at Royal Visio, the Dutch centre of expertise for blind and low vision people. Marcel has been working in education for 40 years and is responsible for the education of 2500 visually impaired students and 5 schools in the Netherlands. Unfortunately for Marcel, he was responsible for looking after Jan during their 2 trips to Nigeria in the early and mid 2000's. Marcel is also involved with the organising of the tactile reading and graphics conference which is being held in Amsterdam in June 2025. The conference brings together people within the tactile reading field, academics, and practitioners, to share knowledge and ideas, and provides a forum for international collaboration. And if that wasn't enough, Marcel is also responsible for creating Braille chocolate letters in the Netherlands.
Nora has a tip for Mohamed regarding dates and Clodagh has emails from Olivia who is not very happy with Óran, and another email from " RuPatrick".
So strip down to your flooded thongs, throw your towel on a deckchair, and get ready to soak up the wonderful nontoxic rays of the coolest podcast this side of a jewel-encrusted Miami drug dealer’s wife: Blind Guys Chat
5 out of 10 turkeys prefer it to slamming into buildings. Gobble, gobble!
Links for items in this show:
CSUM: https://www.csun.edu/cod/conference/sessions/
Glide: https://glidance.io/
Orbit Q20 & Q40: https://www.orbitresearch.com/product/orbit-reader-q40/#content
Birding by ear: https://tinyurl.com/MerlinBirdID
Tactile reading conference: https://tactilereading.yellenge.nl/
American Braille challenge: https://brailleinstitute.org/braille-challenge/
Braille chocolate: https://www.purdys.com/assorted-chocolate-braille-gift-box-18-pc
Support Blind Guys Chat by contributing to their tip jar: https://tips.pinecast.com/jar/blind-guys-chat