Hi Doug!
I went to Philadelphia to take optacon training in 1981. Instead of
watching TV or going out in the evenings, I would read a book that I
brought from home that I also used in training along with the materials the
teacher had me try. As a result, I finished training a day or two early. My
teacher ran out of new things for me to experience. (smile).
At the university near our home, Illinois State University, one of the
things the university was known for was special education. I think the
visually impaired program isn't what it used to be. Students who were
studying to become teachers of the visually impaired would not only learn
braille, but there were several optacons in the department that were used
in class to give everyone experience. I was not in that program, so I think
no one had to become proficient, but just to have the experience of trying
to read something. I heard some of these sighted people say that they
couldn't distinguish one letter from another.
One of the professors asked my husband to ask me if I would be willing to
come in and test the optacons to see if they were still working. I think
they had phased out the optacon from the special education program sometime
in the early '90s. I tested twelve optacons, and they were all working fine.
There is a very sad ending to this story. Oh, there is a happy bit, too.
That professor told my husband in late 1995 that the optacon was not going
to be manufactured, so I called TSI and bought two Optacon II's.
The horrible part of the story was that those optacons I tested eventually
got sent to property control who sent them to a place in Springfield where
they were stored for a few years. Eventually, the place decided that they
didn't have room to store them, so they just disposed of them. The
heartbreaking thing is that those optacons can never be used by anyone.
The happy part of the story about the optacons that were at the university
was that the professor found one in a closet and gave it to me. It's the
R1D as they all were..
It seems that these rehab places have a one-track mind that is so narrow. I
have had little to do with them over the years, and I'm glad we have the
funds to buy or save up for what we need and want. If its not the lack of
interest for the optacon, it's over-interest in one screen reader.
It's too bad they can't have a more balanced mindset on all technologies.
Debby
At 01:52 PM 7/29/2017, Doug Parisian wrote
Debby, I first learned the Opticon in 1977 and while using it to keep my
job, attempted unsuccessfully to motivate our CNIB and our Special needs
department in the education branch to make use of the Opticon a strong
requirement. That skill is every bit as important as math, science,
daily living skills etc. Unfortunately, our rehabilitation efforts are
more ruled by social work and "head shrink" philosophies rather than
those which have proven to be successful in the business and commerce
world. A group of the 70s and 80s best summarizes the requirements of
much of life in their group name, Blood Sweat And Tears.
On 2017-07-29 1:30 PM, Debby Franson wrote:
Hi Judy!close to
It seems that they have become lazy. The optacon takes patience, diligence
and dedication, and I wonder if there are many who would work at learning
and becoming proficient in learning the optacon.
My husband teaches computer workshops of various kinds at a university, and
he says that the college students get frustrated very easily if they don't
get something within five minutes, so it is a problem that is not limited
to the blind.
Debby
At 12:16 PM 7/29/2017, Judy Jones wrote
The scary thing is that next genblind people don't care or realize the
power of independence they could have in their hands.
Judy
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of Debby Franson
Sent: Saturday, July 29, 2017 10:44 AM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: New Optacon
Hi Dave!
Thanks for spreading the word about the optacon. We need an optacon
evangelist like you to show what this wonderful device can do to open up
things to people with no sight that the sighted world takes for granted. I
think the sighted world in general just doesn't understand what an optacon
is or what all it can do. Those in the agencies think it's just obsolete
technology, since they haven't been made since 1996, I think it was and
Charles has not made his optacon into anything beyond a prototype yet. I
sure hope he succeeds in getting this optacon 3 marketed.
Debby
At 05:35 AM 7/29/2017, David Moore wrote
Hi Dan!
Thanks a lot for this great idea!
I will have my wife take a picture of me using the Optacon, and I will
put it on Facebook, Twitter, Linked in, and put it on youtube as a
video. I really want young people to see how I can use the Optacon to
do so many awesome tasks that todayâs technology cannot come
o
Optacon!doing!
!
I will get on it LOL!than through official channels.
Thanks!
Sent from Mail for Windows 10
From: dan.tevelde@xxxxxxxxxxx
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2017 9:28 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: New Optacon
Hi Carolyn,
I would forget about organizations for the blind for now. They already
have their projects and priorities which they don't want to change.
Many younger people don't find organizations for the blind relevant.
We need to target a different audience. I would do that by having very
professionally created videos on YouTube, and Facebook. People will be
interested if they can see and/or hear something in action. It's
possible that a sighted person would see something, and be interested
enough in it to tell the blind people they know about the optacon. The
important thing is communicating with people through social media rather
Once people know what an optacon is, and what it could do, then someonenew optacon would be.
could approach the open source community, and launch a funding campaign.
The funding would be the most difficult part, unless someone can
promote the work Charles has already done. Someone with business
acumen would need to do a cost-benefit analysis to see how realistic a
What everyone can start doing is telling people about the optacon.blog entries could get the message across.
Create comments on Twitter and Facebook. If you have a sighted friend
or family member with a camera, get them to take a picture of you using
an optacon, and then share it publicly on your Facebook timelines. If
people like your post, then they may 'like' or comment on it, or share
the post with people on their timelines. This would generate some
excitement and momentum to move the project forward. If ACB and NFB
see that there is enough momentum behind this project, than they would
want to get involved. A number opf years ago someone wrote a good
article for the Braille Forum about the optacon, but the article didn't
generate any enthusiasm. I think people would rather see something in
action than reading about it in a lengthy article. Tweets and short
I don't feel qualified to write about the optacon. I haven't used onestill working on his dream.
in 30 years, and don't have one either. If I had one, and knew how to
use it effectively, I could get someone to make a nice video to put up
on my Facebook page. I do hae a lot of Facebook friends, and also use
Youtube and twitter all the time.
Thanks,
Dan
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]
On Behalf Of Carolyn Arnold
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2017 7:18 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] Re: New Optacon
David, maybe, if you ever met the president of NFB at a convention or
somewhere and had your Optacon, you could convince him.
Best from,
Carolyn
-----Original Message-----
From: optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
[mailto:optacon-l-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of David Moore
Sent: Friday, July 28, 2017 7:03 PM
To: optacon-l@xxxxxxxxxxxxx
Subject: [optacon-l] New Optacon
Hi all,
Has anyone heard from Charles lately and anything about the new Optacon
project?
I pray for Charles, because I know his health was not good.
Also, I have tried to talk to the president of the NFB, and he will not
respond to my messages about giving to a new Optacon project. I even
told him that I read math and science texts with the Optacon without
the need for software that costs thousands to do OCR on math symbols. I
felt graphs, and everything on the printed page of a math book with the
Optacon, and I can now show a sighted person what the math looks like,
because I felt it with the Optacon. I pray that Charles is okay, and
Please let me know if you have heard anything new regarding the new
message to:Great to see you on here, Judy, and hearing about how you are readingmessage to:
knitting instructions and charts.
That is great.
Take care, all.
David Moore
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