Table of contents
1 Ask the expert
2 Business commentary
3 From the soap box
4 The reader’s choice
5 News and views
6 Helpful tips
7 Accessibility news
8 Editorial
9 Comments to the editor
10 Notes
Acknowledgements
We would like to acknowledge the following contributors to this month’s STAE issue.
The Sterling Creations accessibility team, the Sterling Creations business team, the Sterling Creations research team, Scott Savoy our managing editor, Christian Robicheau our assistant editor, our readers, and Donna J Jodhan our president.
Donna J Jodhan is the founder and president of Sterling Creations which was founded in 1994. As a blind woman she has had to overcome mountainous challenges in order to get where she is today. She is a very successful business woman, consultant, and author and she continues to help produce daily blogs that contain weekly features on topics of interest and relevance. She is never tired, always willing to help others, and never gives up when it comes to helping others to voice their opinions. As she puts it: "My undying commitment is to ensure that the kids of tomorrow have a more level playing field when it comes to such things as employment opportunities, equal access to the Internet and technology. I think that if I can do my little part to help someone else succeed then in turn they will help others."
We are all very proud to be part of the Sterling Creations team but above all, we are pleased and delighted to have Donna J Jodhan as our leader.
Message from the president
Dear readers
I’d like to thank you for your continuing support and feedback. The STAE magazine has just celebrated its third anniversary and we could not have done it without you. Thank you for helping us to be what we are and I’d also like to thank all of my staff for having made it so easy to bring this magazine to you each month.
All of our teams work extremely hard to bring you tidbits and articles each month that are interesting, newsworthy, and exciting. We strive to keep you informed of the latest news and breakthroughs in the fields of business, health, and technology as they pertain to persons with special needs and we always appreciate your feedback because it is only through you that we can hope to get better.
I hope that you continue to enjoy our magazine and invite you to read our latest newsletter. To obtain a free electronic copy please email us at info@sterlingcreations.ca.
Finally, I’d like to invite you to visit our newest sister website, www.onestopbookcafe.com and there you’ll find oodles of tips on a wide range of topics ranging from consumer tips to healthy eating tips, tips on home business opportunities for women, seniors, retirees, and parents to security tips for home computer users, and tips on how to deal with stress, anxiety, and depression. In addition, we have a wide selection of books that will enable you to spend less and save more, and coming soon will be a collection of e books written by me. These books are designed to help you gather info that will enable you to enrich your daily lives. At www.onestopbookcafe.com, the goal is to motivate you to follow your dreams.
You will also be able to make your own contribution free of charge to our Café Talk page. I hope you enjoy this month’s magazine.
Ask the expert
Accessibility Suite 8.0 Making Universal Design Affordable
May 2008
By the Sterling Creations accessibility team
Hello there! This month we’d like to address some questions that are often asked of us:
Is literacy an issue when it comes to website accessibility? Should website developers be paying more attention to those millions of persons who are challenged with literacy issues? Is there any software out there to help with this issue?
Many questions to answer and this month we'd like to publish an article that we discovered recently. This article speaks to the availability of software that would help to make websites more accessible and available to those who are literacy challenged. We hope you find this article as interesting as we do.
Enjoy!
PRweb.com (Press Release)
Wednesday, November 07, 2007
Accessibility Suite 8.0 Making Universal Design Affordable
By Premier Assistive Technology
Premier Assistive Technology announces the release of their latest 8.0 version of their leading edge Accessibility Suite, a comprehensive portfolio of applications to address a broad spectrum of literacy needs. Accessibility Suite version 8.0 is network friendly and Microsoft XP and Vista compliant, allowing for a quick and easy system migration to Vista. The Accessibility Suite 8.0 is available to schools in three different formats: Standalone Installer; an MSI Installer, which uses "pushed group" policies; and a Network Version running from a central server.
(PRWEB) November 7, 2007 -- It's Premier Assistive Technology's goal to provide the most cost-effective solutions for the literacy marketplace. Premier Assistive's progressive enterprise licensing model makes it possible for schools to provide the entire suite of literacy tools to all students, including "at risk", ESL, and general and special education students. Unlike other companies that charge for each individual physical site, Premier Assistive Technology's unlimited site license includes every computer owned by an organization, regardless of the location of each.
The true spirit of Universal Design for Learning is to create an environment that provides equal access to all students, regardless of their primary language or literacy challenges. ESL support has been a topic of discussion at many of Premier Assistive Technology's recent presentations. Premier Assistive Technology even includes its conceptual translation technology and Language Model Information Summarization in the Accessibility Suite 8.0 version.
The Accessibility Suite 8.0 contains the following products:
Premier Assistive Technology continues to be the leader in literacy technologies with innovative functionality not found anywhere else, such as:
PDF Equalizer ML - Opens and reads native PDF Files. No conversion to other accessible formats is required.
LMIS - Language Model Information Summarization. Quickly provides concise summarization based on language patterns rather than on document structure.
Translation - Conceptual translation to and from 8 different languages.
Talking Pointer - Simply point and Talking Pointer will read. Active cursor allows dynamic selection of menus, functions, buttons and web links for easy reading.
Video Podcasting - Quickly convert presentations and digital text to video podcasts.
Talking Word Prediction - Dynamic prompting for text as you type.
Talking Grammar Check - Comprehensive analysis of compositional style and grammatical rules.
And many more......
In the 21st century, all institutions are being faced with the accelerating evolution to digital curriculum. Adoption of digital literacy tools is quickly becoming an essential component of the strategy to address the literacy needs for all students.
The coming crisis
May 2008
By the Sterling Creations business team
Dear readers,
We've chosen an article this month that will help those of you who are not familiar or aware with the challenges of vision loss among aging Americans and the challenges and concerns thereof. We chose this article because of its enlightenment. Hope you find it of some value.
Serotek Blog
The Coming Crisis
By Mike Calvo
Doom and Gloom! There, we got it out.
Actually this article is about hope and promise and a better life for everyone, but the background is not very encouraging. And without the background, the discussion doesn't make much sense.
Here's the basic premise. Vision loss and age are inextricably linked. There are eight million visually-impaired people in the U.S. and 80% are age fifty or greater. This shouldn't come as a big surprise. As we age our bodies deteriorate and the eyes are specifically vulnerable to diseases like:
Macular degeneration
Diabetic Retinopathy
Glaucoma
Cataracts
Corneal opacity
The current assessment is that 800,000 people age 65 and older in the U.S. are totally blind. By 2015 it will be 1.5 million and by 2030 it will be 2.4 million.
The cause is simply the aging of the population. As the "Baby Boomers" hit retirement the graying population will increase dramatically and the prevalence of blindness will likewise increase. We can and are making great strides in attacking various causes of blindness, but we can't stop people from getting older.
Certainly everyone knows this "graying" is occurring. From AARP to Social Security there is a great deal of planning and marketing going on relative to the sharp growth anticipated among the nation's elderly. But there has not been a lot written about what this means to the nation's blind services structure. For the most part, and in most states, different organizations manage issues regarding the elderly and those pertaining to vocational rehab. But when it comes to dealing with the newly blind, many of the issues are the same and the resources in place are not sufficient to respond to the coming need.
As things stand today, seniors losing their vision are going to be hard-pressed to maintain their independence. And this is a real shame because today, with the availability of resources of all kinds over the Internet, there is no reason for a blind person not to live independently. The digital lifestyle means liberation for people with blindness and low vision and baby boomers, like no aging group before them, are well versed in its benefits. Yet the supporting agencies are not prepared to help them make this transition.
What are the benefits? Here's a list we've compiled:
Community: individuals can interact and share information and experiences with other like-minded individuals at will
Awareness: The Internet provides nearly instant access to news and information of all kinds. People using this source of information are significantly better informed and aware of world events than those who do not have access.
Information: The Internet is the best single reference source for information of all kinds. With the aid of a search engine, a user can access the vast library of government publications plus an even larger library of private information sources. There are few, if any, subjects that cannot be successfully researched via the Internet.
Employment: Computer usage is virtually essential for any meaningful employment in the modern world. Via the Internet, persons can not only be employed but often work from their homes.
Entrepreneurial activities: The Internet makes it possible for any individual to sell goods and/or services to a worldwide market.
Education: A computer and computer skills are essential for modern education. Via the Internet, a person can pursue a wide range of educational opportunities ranging from acquisition of technical skills to completing high school, to acquiring a bachelor's degree, master's degree, and/or Ph.D. from accredited online universities.
Entertainment: Via the computer and Internet one can enjoy virtually any desired entertainment from described DVS's or downloads of popular movies to thousands of Internet radio channels, to games of all types, and all manner of hobby-related forums.
Health services: Self-care, healthy living programs, health coaching and ask-the-doctor information is all available on the Web.
Shopping: From necessities to luxuries, one can buy anything via the Web, all without leaving the comfort of one's home.
Finance: Online banking, investing, loans - almost any financial activity can be carried out over the Web
Creative arts: Writing and music are two creative activities that the blind can enjoy using digital technology.
Counseling: Online support groups are available for a wide range of issues from grief-management to depression to cancer survival.
Spiritual: Whatever your path, the Web has resources to support you ranging from virtually all conventional religions to a huge array of less conventional spiritual paths.
The simple ability to stay connected to family and friends via e-mail is enough to make being online worth it to most seniors. Add Internet-based telephone services like Skype and people can stay connected to loved ones around the world, for peanuts. But today, in the world of conventional assistive technology, it costs the elderly person (or the supporting agency) several thousand dollars and weeks or months of study - with all the necessary transportation - just to be able to send and receive e-mail. That's insane.
And it's unnecessary.
Nationwide, blind services organizations march lockstep to the beat of conventional screen reader technology. That is their sole solution to blind accessibility and no matter the situation they apply it. As the saying goes, "when your only tool is a hammer, every problem looks like a nail."
But as good as conventional screen readers are, they are without exception complex and difficult to learn. They are expensive and they require weeks or months of training to achieve proficiency. Once proficient, a blind person can do amazing things. But most elderly people or new users lack the core technical skills to master conventional screen readers and agencies lack the resources to purchase the high priced software and training required.
But in fact, for the cost of rehabilitating a single blind person with conventional screen reader technology, an agency can deliver full accessibility to four to six blind people who are not looking to become computer professionals. Assuming a conventional screen reader cost about $1,000 and requires about $3,000 in training for the user to achieve proficiency, Serotek's System Access Mobile cost $499 and a user can be trained in about two to ten hours. You do the math.
Moreover, using Serotek's RIM (Remote Incident Manager) or Remote Training and Support the user can be trained over the Internet, with no need to travel and take up class room space. The service agency can provide one-to-one, on-screen tutoring with the trainer and the student both working from the comfort and convenience of their own homes.
Logic would suggest that state agencies and local rehabilitation organizations would welcome tools like System Access Mobile and RIM with open arms. With them they can help more blind people for less money. How can they not be excited?
But logic doesn't take into account inertia. The entire organization is structured for conventional screen readers. That's how budgets are developed; that's where training skills are concentrated. There may even be a vague fear that if it is that easy to give newly blind people accessibility, training jobs will be in danger. Of course, nothing could be further from the truth. Even with the six-fold (or greater) multiplier effect that System Access delivers, the demand will continue to exceed the supply as the population ages.
Unfortunately, the person with the least say in this decision is the newly blind person. He or she basically gets what's he or she is given as decided by the professionals. The result is that people in need of accessibility tools are hugely underserved. A mere handful of blind people (perhaps eight to ten) end up with the ability to access the digital lifestyle out of every hundred or so who need accessibility help. And that is extraordinarily costly. A blind person without accessibility consumes far more resources in terms of personal care, medical care, social services, and welfare than a blind person with full access to the digital lifestyle. And, sadly, the person without access lives a much more enclosed life and is more apt to fall prey to depression. Without accessibility, blindness is a prison sentence; with it, it's a minor inconvenience.
There is, of course, no incentive for the producers of conventional screen reader technology to make their products less expensive and easier to learn. This isn't a "free market" where they must compete head-to-head against alternate solutions. Rather it's a captive market where the buyer has no choice. The in-place infrastructure has a bias towards maintaining the status quo, even at the expense of the nation's ever growing population of newly blind elderly people. We on the outside can call for a level playing field, where consumers can make their own informed choices, but those who have control of the playing field have no interest in making this a fair contest.
At Serotek we believe that when you can't win through evolution, it's time to start a revolution and we have one in the making. When an infrastructure does not serve the people it was created to serve, it's time to look for ways to make the infrastructure irrelevant. We have been pushing the technology envelope for six years and our latest product, System Access to Go, available directly over the Internet on demand, may be the catalyst for change.
We are working with a number of people who have the interest of the individual blind person at heart. We are close to making an announcement that we believe will simply change the way accessibility happens - to the benefit of all. We invite you to stay tuned. But in the meantime, don't hesitate to rock the boat. Change won't happen unless we work to make it happen. "Information without accessibility is tyranny!" Where the heck is that tea?
Blind Customers in a Blind Alley
May 2008
By Scott Savoy
Well, well! It always seems to be a matter of attitude and why not? It seems that every time I turn around, one of the biggest problems that blind persons continue to face is attitude. Maybe I should be asking why?
I've chosen this particular article because it really opened my eyes and as a sighted person I am often ashamed to see how other sighted persons treat those without vision. I hope that this article is an eye opener for you too.
Blind Customers in a Blind Alley
By Javid Hasan & Najah Alosaimi
Arab News, Saudi Arabia, November 04, 2007
RIYADH - Despite moves to integrate blind people into the mainstream of
society, efforts have been greatly hindered by lax implementation of banking
regulations and public apathy to the plight of the blind.
Many banks, according to an Arab News survey, continue to treat the blind
and visually impaired as exceptional cases. Bank policies regarding the
visually handicapped leave much to be desired. Not long ago, they were
barred from obtaining services such as access to credit cards, ATM cards,
and check books. Even today, despite government assurances to the contrary,
they still cannot open a checking account unless they bring two guardians
and witnesses.
Moreover, very few facilities are specifically designed for them. The fact
is that they often find themselves in a blind alley and have to rely on
others to do their banking transactions.
The Saudi Arabian Monetary Agency (SAMA) recently published regulations
designed to benefit the blind. According to the new policy, a guardian is no
longer required to be a partner along with a blind customer who is
conducting normal banking transactions. Instead, two of the bank's employees
are officially designated to help him with step-by-step instructions on how
to carry out his business.
Furthermore, the new regulation is clear that a blind customer has the right
to receive all banking services on condition that these services are being
rendered at his own request. Yet, the new regulation is not enforced by many
banks which prefer to avoid taking responsibility in the event of a problem
arising.
There are more than 350,000 blind people in Saudi Arabia. Many of them are
employed, including some in a managerial capacity. "It's very frustrating to
see the way the blind are treated by some banks," said Dr. Nasir Bib Saban,
a social activist and professor at King Abdul Aziz University.
Many banks in the West have devised methods to help their sightless and
visually impaired customers achieve considerable independence and
self-reliance. These facilities include voice-enabled ATM terminals together
with a standard audio jack for a blind person to conduct money transactions.
The most common complaints by blind and visually impaired customers are that
ATMs do not provide an audio version of information displayed on the screen.
"Visual displays on ATMs can't be read; numeric and control keys are not
easy to distinguish by touch," said Mohsen Alnassir, a young man working as
an operator, who expressed his frustration with the ATMs.
Asked how he handles his ATM dealings, he said: "When my brother is not
available, I ask for assistance from the people."
Arwa Hassan, assistant trainer at Ebsar Foundation who lost her eyesight at
the age of 18, says she misses her privacy when doing any bank deal. "The
fact that someone has to conduct my ATM deals makes me uncomfortable," she
said.
She also observed that periodic statements issued by banks to their
customers are not available in Braille. This means that someone has to go
through the hassle of briefing her on her banking transactions.
Dr. Hammed Altwaigry, head of the School of Economics at King Saud
University, said: "There are many negative consequences due to the lack of
facilities for the blind." The fact that the guardians or any other person
could have easy access to the blind customer's bank details, has exposed
them, in some cases, to fraud. Moreover, the tendency to rely on others
becomes firmly entrenched, Altwaigry said.
He continued: "Blind customers should have the right to receive equal
treatment like any other person. I think banks should consider offering more
blind-friendly policies to ease hardships."
A banking industry official estimated the cost of voice-enabled automated
teller machines at $1,000 to $3,000 per unit. He believes that before banks
decide to install such units, they need to evaluate effectiveness, including
how many people really need the machine and the number of accounts held by
the blind, and how many others can read the Braille language displayed on
some ATMs. He pointed out that the current machines can be used by the blind
as well, since the letters are designed in a manner that makes them readable
by touch.
But Mohammed Banno, general manager of Ebsar Foundation, told Arab News that
not all blind people can read the same language. Some can read the normal
language, especially if they have lost their eyesight only recently. Others
born blind tend to read the Braille language.
Banno said that as a manager of the foundation he faces difficulties
resulting from the banks' misinterpretation of the new regulations. He
believes that the real problem is not the loss of eyesight, but social
misconceptions about the blind.
"Thousands of blind people work, raise families, and live normal lives, but
apparently it is society's inhibitions that prevent their integration into
the mainstream of life." Banno urged SAMA to make sure that its regulations
are enforced by stepping up inspection of banks.
Anas Alsawi, an audiovisual consultant at a blind assembly plant in Jeddah,
said: "Talking ATM machines would be a very useful facility, as they unite
all types of blind people. It is a boon for those who can't read ATM
screens. They can have access to audible information delivered privately
through a standard headphone handset."
Blind prosecutor feels fortunate
May 2008
Contributed by Kevin Craig of Louisville KY
Hello all! I sent in this article because I am much encouraged. You see, my son is blind and wants to study law but is afraid that he won't be able to find a job when he graduates. My wife and I are really trying hard to encourage him to follow his dream. We are both sighted and have helped him so much in his pursuits. Now all we want for him is what he wants.
Louisville Courier-Journal, KY, USA
Friday, November 02, 2007
Blind prosecutor feels fortunate
By Katya Cengel kcengel@courier-journal.com
Friends, family help him beat obstacles
David Holton II turns at the sound of a familiar voice.
"Hello, Uncle Ed," he says to a passing deputy.
The deputy stops mid-stride, smiles at Holton, and offers a greeting in return.
"I thought you were supposed to be in jail, Ed," Holton jokes from his seat at a table in the Hall of Justice.
"I got out, David," the deputy says, laughing. "You have a nice day."
Holton starts to explain the joke when he is interrupted by the voice of another acquaintance. Dressed in a sharp black suit and red tie, Holton is hard to miss. And after 18 years as a prosecutor with the Jefferson County attorney's office, he has plenty of friends. He also has a private practice, a wife, two sons and a guide dog named Buddy.
Holton is blind.
"I don't know anybody in this world who's been more fortunate than I've been," he says. "I mean, think about where I was, a 10-year-old child not being able to see, and look at me now when I'm 45 and the life I have."
A life that wouldn't have been possible if his parents hadn't spent nights reading him his school books in high school, a friend hadn't helped him through the halls and a librarian hadn't read him his tests. Without his college roommate reading and studying with him in law school, he said, "I don't know what the hell I would have done."
But he had help, and he knows how important programs like the Breaking Barriers Awards are that acknowledge those who help make it possible for people like him to live the life they want.
A whole new world
It was the summer after fourth grade, and Holton was at his great-grandfather's funeral near Lake Barkley in Western Kentucky.
For some time, he had been experiencing headaches, a strange sound in his ears and problems with his vision, but doctors had not been overly concerned. Then, at the funeral, his vision "started blacking in and out," he said. That night the sound grew louder.
In the morning his parents, David and Sue Holton, took him to the doctor, where he was diagnosed with a brain tumor. The tumor was removed. But it was too late; the mass had already damaged his optic nerve.
Holton was blind, seeing only a hint of shadow, light and color. All that he loved -- playing football, softball and basketball, riding his bike and drawing cartoons -- was taken away.
The night before what would have been his first day of fifth grade, the reality of it hit him, he said. He wasn't going back to school like his younger sister.
When he was ready to continue his education it would be at the Kentucky School for the Blind. There he would learn to read Braille, count with an abacus and make his way in a world he couldn't see.
He did all of that before the ninth grade. By high school he was back in public school. Without a cane -- "I never had a cane in my entire life" -- or a guide dog, Holton was dependent on friends to get around. He was dependent on his parents and books on tape to learn his lessons. But Holton, his mother said, "did the major portion" of the work.
Still, at college, Sue Holton knew her son would need more help. It came in the form of a black Labrador retriever named Simon -- Holton's first guide dog. When he entered Morehead State University in 1980, Holton didn't know a soul.
"I knew how to get to my dorm room, and I knew how to get to the classroom building, and my dog knew how to get to the cafeteria. So between the two of us, we made it work."
Two years later, Simon was voted "Big Man on Campus." The following year, the honor was bestowed on Holton.
An opportunity
Law school came next.
It was a new challenge, with huge textbooks that were even larger because they were in Braille, said his wife, Stephanie Holton.
Although she didn't meet her husband until later, she heard about the four years he spent at the University of Kentucky College of Law and remembers being impressed. Conquering constitutional law in Braille, she said, is almost impossible to imagine.
He could have gotten through public high school and even college on his own, she said, but without the help of friends and family, "I don't know that he could have gone through law school. I don't know that anybody could have."
After passing the state bar exam on his second try, Holton sought employment. Mike Conliffe, then Jefferson County attorney, hired Holton, he said, because he was recommended and confident.
"I gave him an opportunity, and he grasped at it and never looked back. Nor did I," said Conliffe, who has since retired.
Holton's lack of sight wasn't something Conliffe gave much thought to, he said. To him, the young lawyer was just another prosecuting attorney who performed his job as well as anyone else. He was conscientious, prepared and generally knew what he was doing.
Ingrid Geiser, Holton's current supervisor and chief of warrant court for the Jefferson County attorney's office, said the only difference between Holton and the other attorneys is his guide dog, Buddy.
"I don't even think of David as being blind," she said. "It doesn't define him." Holton takes a seat in family court. On his right, sharing the table with him, is his client Michael Howard, the petitioner in a child-support case. On his left, lying on the floor, is Buddy.
Further to Holton's right, squeezed at the corner of the table, is his assistant Cathy Crowder, who does the reading and writing on his cases. At the other table, Christy Tobin is representing Howard's absent ex-wife. Tobin has known Holton several years and appreciates his desire to resolve cases, something she thinks is good for families in conflict. In her field, she says, she doesn't come across many blind lawyers.
"I have no idea how he can do it. It's pretty amazing." Howard came to Holton the way most of his clients do, a referral from another client, in this case Howard's mother. He considers Holton's lack of sight not a defect but an asset. Judge Paula Sherlock arrives and everyone stands -- including Buddy.
Holton's third guide dog, Buddy, is as popular, if not more so, than the lawyer at the Hall of Justice. Employees throughout the building's vast halls keep treats for the Lab, who lost the tip of his tail in the line of duty (Holton accidentally shut a door on it).
The power of recall
Each weekday morning, Holton's father drives his son to work. They live about a mile apart in Valley Station, the neighborhood where Holton was raised.
As a child, sports were a major part of his life, and he continues to play football and basketball with his sons Brooks, 13, and Max, 8.
"I'm a heck of a quarterback still," he said.
The only thing he won't try is catching a baseball -- too fast and too hard.
He attends UK football games with his family, listening to the radio play-by-play on headphones.
It is harder to know what is going on when he goes to his sons' games, but because he once played sports, he has an idea, he said. He is very glad that he once had sight.
"Because I've seen the ocean. I've seen sunsets and sunrises.
"You know, when I'm at the beach . I can picture the ocean because I've been there when I could see."
Reporter Katya Cengel can be reached at (502) 582-4224.
Clock Wise: New research is shedding light on the master timekeeper inside our brains
May 2008
By Christian Robicheau
Hi there! I'm hoping that my choice of article this month helps to make our readers think a bit. It seems that lack of sleep or maybe even too much sleep are problems that have been with us forever and a day.
I thought that my choice of articles would give you something to ponder.
Enjoy! Don't hesitate to give us your feedback.
John Hopkins University magazine, MD, USA
Clock Wise: New research is shedding light on the master timekeeper inside our brains
By Melissa Hendricks
Extract: "One finding came from studies of people who are totally blind, many of whom have a history of sleeping problems. For example, Suzanne Erb, blind since infancy and now enrolled in a research study at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, says that she has had problems sleeping for as long as she can remember. When she was a child, she'd toss and turn in bed for an hour or two until she couldn't stand it any longer. Then she'd pull Heidi, Little Women, or another novel from its hiding place under her covers. Long into the night and often until dawn, she would read, her small fingers sailing over the Braille letters on the pages. The following day, her body would ache for sleep. "You're turning your days into nights," her mother told her.
In the 1990s, Harvard sleep medicine specialist Charles Czeisler began studying totally blind people. Most, he found, had sleeping problems like Erb's, suggestive of a circadian rhythm disorder. But some did not. That observation was puzzling because if rods and cones were the path to the circadian clock, then everyone who lacked them should have circadian clock disorders. But here were some totally blind people who appeared not to have such problems."
FULL ARTICLE BEGINS
This past July, Johns Hopkins biologist Samer Hattar traveled across seven time zones to visit his family in Amman, Jordan. In the first few days after his arrival, besides spending time with relatives and friends, Hattar made sure he followed a special schedule.
"Once I reach Jordan, which is usually 5 p.m., I fight sleep really hard till 9 or 10 p.m.," he explains. "The next two days are key. The first day around 11 a.m., I go out and walk in the sun for one hour minimum. The next day, I do the walk two hours earlier. I try to avoid light early in the day."
This ritual, says Hattar, helps to fast-forward his circadian clock to Jordanian time. Now, instead of feeling fuzzy-headed and sluggish for a week, he feels like his normal self after two days. But that's not the only time Hattar pays close attention to his body's clock. He rises at 4:30 or 5 every morning and goes to sleep at 9:30 at night. On work days, Hatttar tries to take a walk every afternoon around the Homewood campus. He has changed all of the light bulbs in his home to low-intensity bulbs. "If you came to my house at night, you'd think I'm a cheap guy," he says with a smile. All of these practices, he says, are intended to keep his body clock aligned with the clock of the external world, determined by when the spinning Earth countenances the sun.
Hattar, who holds joint appointments in the Krieger School of Arts and Sciences' Biology Department and the School of Medicine's Neuroscience Department, is an expert on this circadian clock, the master timekeeper we all have in our brain that governs our sleep and wake cycles and many other body fluctuations. He doesn't study the circadian clock of people, though. He studies mice, in particular, the cells, genes, and neurochemicals that help to set the mouse's biological clock. But his results and those of colleagues in the field who study people, he says, have caused him to rethink his own habits. So about four years ago, he adopted a more circadian clock-friendly lifestyle. He now feels better. Or at least, he adds, he believes he does.
For someone with such concerns, Hattar has the perfect office. Its two enormous windows, overlooking a lush bank of trees, flood the high-ceilinged room with natural light. On a recent morning this past summer, Hattar gazed out these windows in Mudd Hall, on the Homewood campus, before settling into a desk chair. "I feel sorry for people who work in cubicles," he said. "The worst is when someone works in a cubicle all day away from natural light, and then goes home to a house illuminated with bright, artificial light." That's a recipe for disrupting your clock.
Studies have suggested that upsetting the clock's natural cycle can have serious health consequences. Shift workers, for instance, an estimated 15 million Americans, have higher rates of heart disease, diabetes, ulcers, and certain forms of cancer, according to Hattar's colleague Steven Lockley, who studies sleep and circadian biology at Harvard Medical School.
Hattar's own research explores another aspect of light's influence on the biological clock. With a grant from the David and Lucile Packard Foundation, he is using mouse models to study how a misaligned circadian clock might affect thinking, learning, memory, and mood.
It's not just shift workers who might be affected. It's also all those cubicle workers, the late-night Web surfers, the caffeinated go-getters. It's not just the frequent fliers or shift workers who might be affected, says Hattar. It's also all those cubicle workers, the late-night Web surfers, the caffeinated go-getters, the kids who stay up late to blog and IM and channel surf - basically all those who push their circadian clock to its limits. And those numbers appear to be growing. In its annual polls of Americans' sleep habits, the National Sleep Foundation has found that we're getting less sleep than we used to. Between 2001 and 2005, the percentage of American adults getting at least eight hours of sleep per night dropped from 38 percent to 26 percent, while the number getting less than six hours rose from 13 percent to 16 percent. Many of us, says Hattar, may be feeling the effects, even though we don't realize it.
"I believe that we have been so desensitized to light because we see it so much, we are not aware of what it's doing to us," says Hattar. "We in the industrial age of light are living under a continuous subtle jet lag because we are not doing what evolution intended."
Electricity, the silicon chip, and satellite communications have given us super powers - the ability and the temptation to defy the sun. But when we can expose ourselves to light 24/7, we may have to face some consequences. We may eventually come crashing down from the heights of our super powers, just like the mortal Icarus, flying too close to the sun with his wings of wax.
While Hattar's study could say something about health, he is, at heart, a basic scientist. In Jordan, he was raised in a Christian family and planned to become a priest. But by age 15, he had discovered a new passion - science, especially genetics. "I loved genetics the minute I heard about it," says Hattar. "I love to be able to manipulate genes and see what happens when you change genes. You have such a powerful tool."
At first, his passions seemed to conflict. But when Hattar learned of the work of the pioneering geneticist Gregor Mendel, and learned that Mendel had been an Augustinian monk, he thought that he, too, could pursue both vocations.
Today, Hattar does not wear a clerical collar or monk's habit, but T-shirt and casual pants - the uniform of an academic scientist. He did his doctoral studies at the University of Houston, where he focused on circadian biology. He was intrigued, he says, by the idea that different events happened in a plant, animal, or cell depending on the time of day. In his own research, Hattar found that light could activate different genes depending on whether it was morning, afternoon, or evening.
Samer Hattar's research on the circadian clock has led to his belief that we are living in a state of continual jet lag. "We are not doing what evolution intended," he says. People have a circadian clock. So do mice, sea slugs, fruit flies, dandelions, the fungus Neurospora, certain bacteria, and almost all other organisms. In people, the master clock also imparts structure to the body's operations. In early morning, body temperature ebbs. Soon the stress hormone cortisol surges, insulin is produced at its maximum rate, and testosterone (in men) peaks. Other factors, hormones, and enzymes fluctuate throughout the day, and by around 9 p.m., the sleep hormone melatonin begins to flow. So though you might think you are a free agent who can improvise your schedule as you like, when it comes to human biology, free will is something of a mirage. By the time Hattar entered the circadian biology field, scientists had found that the master clock resided in a V-shaped cluster of cell
s in the brain's hypothalamus, near where the optic nerve enters the base of the brain. They named the cluster the suprachiasmatic nucleus (SCN). Researchers had also observed that each person's SCN beats out a slightly different length of day. So my clock might revolve once every 23.5 hours, while yours might repeat every 25 hours. If left to its own devices, each person's clock would "free-cycle" on its own idiosyncratic schedule. That doesn't happen, though, because the sun (or another form of light) resets, or "entrains," the clock every day to the 24-hour world clock.
But questions remained, including one that would eventually intrigue Hattar: What mechanism did the clock use to detect light? In other words, how did the clock "know" whether it was night or day, dusk or dawn? Until then, scientists had largely assumed that the mechanism was the same as that used for vision. In that case, the eye's retina detects light through the use of photoreceptors. These light-sensitive cells convert incoming light energy into nerve impulses that travel to the brain's visual centers.
For decades, scientists had held that the retina contained just two types of photoreceptors: rods, which sense very low levels of light, and cones, which distinguish different colors of light. The retina's multilayered structure also harbored other types of cells, including a family called ganglion cells, but none of those responded to light, according to this model.
However, research findings from several arenas were leading some scientists to question whether this model explained everything about the retina and the circadian clock. One finding came from studies of people who are totally blind, many of whom have a history of sleeping problems. For example, Suzanne Erb, blind since infancy and now enrolled in a research study at Brigham and Women's Hospital, in Boston, says that she has had problems sleeping for as long as she can remember. When she was a child, she'd toss and turn in bed for an hour or two until she couldn't stand it any longer. Then she'd pull Heidi, Little Women, or another novel from its hiding place under her covers. Long into the night and often until dawn, she would read, her small fingers sailing over the Braille letters on the pages. The following day, her body would ache for sleep. "You're turning your days into nights," her mother told her.
In the 1990s, Harvard sleep medicine specialist Charles Czeisler began studying totally blind people. Most, he found, had sleeping problems like Erb's, suggestive of a circadian rhythm disorder. But some did not. That observation was puzzling because if rods and cones were the path to the circadian clock, then everyone who lacked them should have circadian clock disorders. But here were some totally blind people who appeared not to have such problems.
Hattar's studies will support the idea that misaligning the daily clock can lead to serious consequences, including subtle learning deficits. It's a bold idea, he admits. Another intriguing finding came from studies conducted by a biologist named Ignacio Provencio. While at the Uniformed Services University, Provencio had been studying light-sensitive proteins that enable photoreceptors - rods and cones - to absorb light. Each photoreceptor produces its own special light-sensitive protein. Provencio had found what he believed was an entirely new light-sensitive protein in the mammalian retina. However, this protein did not appear to be located in rods or in cones, but elsewhere in the retina. Provencio called it melanopsin.
To some scientists, only one conclusion could explain the findings of Czeisler, Provencio, and others who had conducted related studies: The retina must have a third photoreceptor, one responsible for detecting light to set the master clock. Moreover, this new photoreceptor might use melanopsin to do its job. Other scientists remained unconvinced. Some maintained that the "new" photoreceptor was actually a subgroup of rods or cones, whose numbers were so small they had eluded researchers.
Hattar decided to study melanopsin in 2000, soon after he began a postdoc in the lab of neuroscientist King-Wai Yau, at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. Hattar initially had planned to focus his research on a different topic, but a visit to the lab by Provencio inspired him to shift to melanopsin. From reading the literature and talking with Provencio, says Hattar, he was confident that melanopsin represented a novel photoreceptor. But to convince the skeptics, he and other scientists would have to gather hard evidence. So over the next few years, Hattar, Yau, and others in Yau's lab examined the melanopsin hypothesis more closely.
Provencio's results had indicated that melanopsin resided in the retina's unheralded ganglion cells. So using a rodent model, the Hopkins team was able to identify a small subset of the retina's ganglion cells - just 1 to 2 percent - that harbored the protein and to show that the axons of these melanopsin cells reached all the way to the brain's SCN. In other words, these cells could communicate directly with the brain's master clock. (Since then, experiments have demonstrated that the human retina also contains melanopsin cells, also in tiny numbers, says Hattar. In the human eye, only about 2,000 of the retina's total 1.2 million ganglion cells produce melanopsin. Such small numbers could explain why scientists overlooked the cells for so long.)
In 2002, the team published its results in Science. Another study in the same issue, reported by Brown University neuroscientist David Berson, complemented the findings. Berson had isolated from the retina a group of ganglion cells that connected to the SCN. He had shown that these cells, apart from other components, could respond to light on their own. Together, the articles made the journal's list of most significant breakthroughs of the year.
Such basic science has revamped the model of the retina, says Harvard's Lockley. "It's all cutting-edge stuff. We thought we knew everything about the eye. But in the past 10 years, with Samer's work and others', we've discovered that we did not. Now we have a whole new focus."
"The whole thing is unexpected," says Yau. "If you had asked me 20 years ago if there was another cell type in the eye that could detect light and send a signal to the brain, I would have laughed."
Five years later, Hattar still sounds wondrous when he talks about his results and their implication that we "see" light in more ways than one. While the first pathway involves our conscious - we see the result - the second is subconscious - we do not realize that light is entraining our master clock. Hattar says he is fascinated by these differences. Why are there two pathways? Our visual system reveals whether it is night or day, so why doesn't that information get communicated to the clock? Why does the brain have a separate pathway to let it know the level of lighting?
In 2004 Hattar began his own lab at Homewood. And while such intellectual questions continue to intrigue him, he is also pursuing studies that may have practical applications in medicine. Namely, he'd like to know how melanopsin and the circadian clock affect health and well-being. Does disrupting this system jeopardize health?
To study such questions Hattar used genetic techniques to generate a mouse that lacks melanopsin cells. In theory, these animals would be able to see but would not be able to detect light to set their circadian clock. Such an animal could serve as a model for studying situations in which the daily clock is desynchronized, as occurs in jet lag and shift work.
Hattar and graduate student Cara Altimus have put the animals through a battery of tests to determine whether the mice behave as predicted. Since a lab mouse spends most of its waking hours on an activity wheel, wheel-running serves as a proxy for an animal's sleep/wake cycle. When the lights are on, a normal mouse sleeps. (Mice are nocturnal.) When the lights are turned off, a normal mouse will hop on its wheel and start running. If an animal cannot tell the difference between light and dark, it follows a sleep/wake schedule governed solely by its internal clock. Researchers use computer-generated records of each mouse's wheel-running activity to see whether an animal entrains to light cues or simply follows its internal rhythms.
"It's very clear," says Altimus. "Dramatic." The mice can see, but they cannot "see" light to set their circadian clock.
The researchers are now in the process of conducting a whole new series of tests on the mice to gauge their cognitive abilities and anxiety levels. Impairments in the animals would support the hypothesis that compromising the circadian clock can also compromise learning, memory, or even mental health. Because they have not yet published the results of those studies, Hattar is not willing to discuss them in detail. He will say, however, that they are "impressive." His studies, he believes, will support the idea that misaligning the daily clock can lead to serious consequences, including subtle learning deficits. It's a bold idea, he admits. "I'm putting it out there to be challenged," says Hattar. "But I really believe it."
Nothing he's seen so far in his or colleagues' results has persuaded him to stop his regular habit of rising before dawn, going to sleep early, and keeping his lights dim in the evening. If anything, his results have made him more concerned about the harm that irregular exposure to light might cause.
"I may be 'placebo-ing' myself," says Hattar. He's aware that the improvements he's felt in his own health and spirit might just be comparable to taking a sugar pill. Likewise, he cannot yet say just how much harm might come to any of us from our light-filled environments. "Here is where I need to be careful," he says. "You look at Americans. There are so many insomniacs. Stress levels are high. Many factors could be affecting us - our food, many environmental factors. But I know that no matter how upset I am, when I go into the sun, I feel better."
Freelancer Melissa Hendricks teaches nonfiction writing in the Johns Hopkins Master of Arts in Writing program.
Hello there! A new month and some interesting tips for you. Lots of May flowers around so we hope you enjoy it all. Here are our tips for this month.
Helpful tips for May:
What's this about making sure that your hard drive is blank when recycling your computer?
Yes, if you're planning to recycle your computer or even planning to sell it or give it away, make sure that:
You scrub your hard drive clean of all info.
These days, identity pirates are gleaning their info from hard drives of those computers that you either throw out for recycling or sell or give away.
What are they most after is your banking info.
They especially look for this and use it to pilfer your accounting details.
What does CFL stand for?
CFL stands for compressed florescent light bulbs.
These types of light bulbs are energy saving light bulbs.
They last longer.
They conserve much less energy than the ordinary light bulb.
Want to know something about how to cook rice?
Well, when you cook rice, first strain it before eating it so as to remove the starch.
First boil it.
Then place cooked rice into a colander.
Run the colander under a tap of cold water.
This allows the starch to be washed out.
A little trick to keeping your wooden bowls shiny?
Never wash them with soap.
Always rinse them in cool water and no detergent please!
Having problems removing old wallpaper?
Fear not! A mixture of Downy softener and water will surely do the trick.
Are you wondering why your grocery bills are rising these days?
Well, according to the experts, here are some factors.
Food reserves globally are diminishing.
Increased demand from consumers in India and China.
Rising oil prices.
Bad weather in many places around the world where main crops are grown.
Would you like some helpful hints if or when you decide to sell your home?
Perspective buyers are more interested in the smaller renovations in your home.
Believe it or not they are more taken with things such as new cupboards in your kitchen rather than a swimming pool in your backyard.
Not everyone likes to have a backyard with a swimming pool in it.
Before you show your home, make sure that you have cleaned up your closets and that they look neat and tidy as opposed to looking cluttered.
Accessibility news
SVOX Pico breathes life into cell phones in over 20 languages
May 2008
By the Sterling Creations research team
Hey there!
For our second contribution this month we've chosen an article that is really exciting! Maybe a big breakthrough for the cell phone industry and great news for those millions of cell phone users?
Hope you're as excited as we are.
PR Newswire, New York
Monday, November 05, 2007
SVOX Pico breathes life into cell phones in over 20 languages
SVOX Announces SVOX Pico, a Revolutionary New Hidden Markov Model-based Text-to-Speech Product for Mobile Phones
ZURICH, Switzerland, Nov. 5 /PRNewswire/ -- Seeking to catalyze large- scale adoption of cell phones, SVOX AG CEO Volker Jantzen today announced SVOX Pico, a revolutionary Hidden Markov Model (HMM)-based text-to-speech product, to help people and businesses better embrace mobile speech technology. SVOX Pico is the first dedicated handset solution to complement the growing success of SVOX speech technology in the mobile market and help even more people use the benefits of hands-free mobile solutions.
"People expect to be able to do more and more with their cell phone," Volker Jantzen said. "We're building on our expertise across the globe to deliver speech user interface experiences that leverage the unique SVOX technology. With SVOX Pico we are opening new opportunities for cell phone users for a true hands-free, eyes-free access to information. SVOX puts an end to speech solutions that only lend themselves to one or two use cases. In contrast, SVOX Pico is designed to flexibly support a wide range of applications: navigation, location-based services, SMS, e-mail and screen reading as well as music content. Our TTS playback response time is very low and SVOX Pico produces voice output much faster than our competitor's TTS products. That's one of the reasons we are the navigation industry's most trusted speech solution partner."
Industry Shows Broad Support for SVOX Pico
"Success in the mobile space means integrating powerful speech solutions that enhance the cell phone user experience," said Eric Lehmann, CSO, SVOX. "By supporting mobile device companies in more than 20 languages, we are building upon our long and successful alliance with the mobile industry to provide people with a compelling embedded speech solution. Mobility is the future of business. The SVOX Pico platform as the core of a highly attractive user interface will enable this future. We are going to roll-out dozens of new languages in order to serve our mobile industry customers better and keep up with their incredible growth rate. Our language portfolio will consist of over 40 languages in 2009."
Available in 2008, SVOX Pico breathes life into cell phones in 20 plus languages.
Key benefits are natural, intelligible text-to-speech output supporting true hands-free, eyes-free user interaction with mobile devices. Low footprint (ca. 1 MB) and the modular SVOX software architecture support rapid integration and easy voice and language updates providing high quality TTS for the cost-sensitive mobile market. The unparalleled footprint / quality ratio is the breakthrough for speech technology in the mobile phone market.
Why do budget cuts always affect disabled persons first?
May 2008
By Donna J Jodhan
Why do budget cuts always affect disabled persons first?
This is a question that I continue to ask myself and grapple with on a daily basis. I see it every day; within government departments, within companies, within almost everything. It seems to me that whenever anything needs to be cut, the first thing that is pounced upon are services and products for disabled persons and the sad thing about this is that no one seems to care or rather no one is either ashamed or embarrassed to say it or do it.
No one ever seems to blink an eye or even flinch whenever the message is delivered that due to budget cuts services for disabled persons have either been discontinued or slashed drastically. Governments do it all the time and here in Canada the government seems to be pros at doing this. As far as companies go, they're no better and don't even think that cities are any better. They cut budgets and it is an automatic given that services for the disabled will be cut as well.
The Canadian government has been long described as mean spirited when it comes to the way they treat
Canadians with disabilities. On the one hand they are bold enough to tell Canadians that they are doing everything possible to enable Canadians with disabilities to gain employment with them but on the other hand here's how they treat job seeking Canadians with disabilities.
They make it very difficult for disabled job seekers to access the website where job opportunities within the Canadian government are available. When they are called on this particular issue, the first thing that comes out of their mouths is that it is too costly to implement certain features that would make their websites more accessible. They seem to talk the talk but somehow they don't seem to know how to walk the walk. They start out with the best of intentions but then alas! Budget cuts have been announced and guess what? One of the first things to be cut is making their websites more accessible to persons with special needs.
Then you have Pearson airport in Toronto. What a sad day. A few months ago I had lunch with a former manager at Pearson who used to work in the area of providing services for travelers with special needs. She told me that she had been laid off due to budget cuts and that most of the services that she had implemented to help disabled travelers had been cut as well; and don't even think for a minute that this problem is only confined to Canada. No! It seems to be a worldwide attitude.
I just don't get it! Why is it that whenever hard times falls upon any service organization or any vendor selling products for persons with disabilities, that one of the very first things that is cut are services or products for persons who are disabled? Why is it that these organizations and companies feel that persons with disabilities should be treated like this? Then there is the other issue of how they treat seniors. Nut much better than how they treat the disabled. There seems to be a genuine lack of respect for the human rights of persons with disabilities as well as for those of seniors. I wonder if things would be different if these budget cutters were forced to ingest some strong doses of awareness of the human rights of persons with disabilities? Or, would their attitude be any different if one of their own family members was disabled in any way?
By 2010 it is estimated that our North American population will be made up of about 60% of seniors and in addition, the population of persons with disabilities will also be much larger than it is today. This means that the majority of consumers will fall into either of these two categories. What excuses are governments and corporations going to think of then? When the majority of persons will be expected to be classified as persons with some sort of disability or other, will they dare to use budget cuts as an excuse to cut vital services and products to persons with disabilities? It's time for persons with disabilities and seniors to start pushing back. Stand up for your Human Rights. Tell your governments, your service providers, and your cities and municipalities that you need your basic services in order to lead quality lives. You pay taxes so you should be entitled to equal treatment.
Comments to the editor
May 2008
From the desk of the editor
Hello! Here are this month's comments.
From Tim Walden of Melbourne Australia:
I've been following this magazine for over a year now and am glad to see that every now and then you folks feature an article on Australia. Good for you. There's lots being done down here or down under as we are often called.
Donna, keep up those editorials. It's nice that you're doing all of this and that you take the time to give your opinions.
From Alice Glenn of Chicago:
Just wonderful things in this magazine. I think that we should have more companies taking time to produce free online magazines.
From Stephen Martel of Toronto Canada:
I think that I've seen it all. A Canadian government that could care less about disabled Canadians! An organization called the CNIB that has practically abandoned its clients! A city that does not even have the courtesy to provide us with affordable transport. Yes, they give us those TTC passes but that's not from the city of Toronto! Then Canada has the unmitigated nerve to go out and tell the world what a wonderful country they are because they treat their disabled appropriately and correctly? What a bunch of ... I'm sick and tired of the hypocrisy. I'm tired of everyone pushing us around like sacks of potatoes. I'm just so tired of persons not recognizing our rights as human beings.
From Wendy Fisher of Aberdeen Scotland:
Donna, I liked your editorial in the March issue. Women need to stick up for women. You're so right. I'd like to meet you one day because you seem to be so realistic and levelheaded. Keep up the good work.
From Colin Richards of Detroit Michigan:
Hey out there! Anyone knows how I can find services for my mom who just went blind? She's 70, wants to learn Braille, and wants to learn to use a cane.
Thanks.
From Wayne Delgado of New York:
I agree with February's editorial. Home businesses can turn out to be very fruitful. I own my own and have for over 20 years now. I wouldn't give it up for the world. Glad to be my own boss. I love the flexibility and control that it gives me.
From Diane Roth of Princeton New Jersey:
Things are steadily improving for the disabled but there's still much work to be done. However, the biggest obstacle as I see it is society's attitude.
If you'd like to email us your contribution then please do so by sending it to info@sterlingcreations.ca. All submissions will be screened to ensure that proper language is used.
Notes
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