Tuesday Topics continues its exploration of devices available to purchase for less than a thousand dollars. We will look at several sets of ear buds and explore what makes them worth talking about. We will look at telephones. Some of them actually have buttons you can use to dial! We will explore players. These days they are a lot more than just players of music and books and we will explore some of the new options that are appearing in the player space. Most software does not cost a thousand dollars so we will explore new offerings that will work on phones or computers. This will include a glance at screen readers which do a lot more than just interpret what's on the screen! Chances are we will explore other devices not mentioned here. We were lucky enough to have a panel of experts join us and we expect most of  them to be back next week. Steve Bower, John Gassman and Michael Babcock enriched our discussion filled our program with information and surprises.

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Everybody knows there is an unprecedented quantity of access technology out there. At CSUN three major new note takers were announced! They are at the forefront of what is new and innovative but most of them cost an arm and a leg and another arm! We thought it might be fun to explore the currently available tech that you can buy for under a thousand dollars! There are note takers, players, keyboards, software and more! We will tell you what we think of these products and we will talk about what they do and what makes them good or bad! You may be surprised by just how many items are out there and how many things they can do!

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It may seem to some that the topic we have chosen this week is simplistic and doesn't involve a lot of discussion. We are hoping that the topic of literacy will provide two hours of spirited discussion.

Is a blind person who only reads by listening fully literate or not? Is a person who listens actually reading? What role does braille play in determining whether an individual is literate? What about large print? If a person can only read at one hundred words a minute using either large print or braille is he or she literate? Do we as people who are blind need to espouse a whole new definition of literacy to cover our situation?

In some states high school students are not allowed to take the reading comprehension tests they must pass to graduate using JAWS or any screen reader. Even if they are totally blind and diabetic which makes braille not an option, such students will, according to the educators, are not readers. In their view reading comprehension is a measure of how students process information received from a printed or braille page!

As people get older and lose vision should we be encouraging them to learn braille? Folks love screen magnification from most are not prepared to give braille much of a chance!

Should we create a different notion of braille literacy for older folks that might mean they only learn enough braille to label, play games and use elevators?

Are we making it too easy for folks of all ages to regard screen readers as sufficient to call them literate? Is the extra effort and expense needed to become proficient at large print or braille worth encouraging? Many agencies have settled for teaching computer access without caring very much whether speech or braille or large pint is used! Many of their officers tell students at school or college or at agencies that they don't need braille or large print! "It are lots of issues and lots of questions! There are also lots of feelings too! Is somebody who reads ten books a week from BARD illiterate? Do good large print users and competent braille readers look down their noses at folks who only use JAWS?

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All of our topics stem from the time of year. First we will talk about daylight savings time. Is it a good idea? What does research say? Is it different for people who are totally blind because our rhythms are not affected by light? Nevertheless is it a good thing or not?

The day of our program is March 17 which happens to be St. Patrick's day. Have you had interesting experiences on that day? Did or does your family have traditions that happen on that date? What are we celebrating and why does it matter?

Spring has come! Does that affect what you do and how you do it? Do you do Spring cleaning? Are there other things you associate with Spring?

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ACB has deadlines! These are coming up pretty soon! They relate to things that will happen at the ACB convention. It is a tradition of this program that,

at this time each year, we invite folks to tell us about what is on offer. We know we will hear from the Durward K. McDaniel First Timers Committee who

will tell us about a chance for several people to come to our convention free. They will actually also tell us about a leadership effort, past winners

and plans the DKM has for the convention.

In the past several of ACB'S current leaders at the state and national level have received either the DKM First Timers Award or have been Chase fellows!

Some of the recent winners will join us to share what impact these awards have had on their lives. It is our hope that we will hear about other opportunities

for awards but that is not firmed up as I send this to press.

Join us to learn about the work of a committee that honors the memory of Durward K. McDaniel one of the founding fathers of ACB whose memory is used to

help foster leadership in today's ACB.

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Two weeks ago we spent time looking at new technology that is making sporting events more accessible. How are things now? Are they better than in the past or worse? Do most blind people listen to sports on the radio or use television? How do you think radio sports have cha'nged over the past few decades and why?

Sports have been a huge part of the lives of many people who are blind! Tell us how you feel that sports have contributed to who you are!

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we will explore romance on Tuesday Topics. We have talked about dating before but this time we thought it would be interesting to go a little further. How do most relationships between people who are blind get started? Is it on line? Is it because of meetings locally? How did you celebrate Valentine's day? What are some of the most romantic things you have done or have had the opportunity to receive? What advantages or disadvantages do people who are blind or have some vision face in a relationship? We would like to hear about advantages!

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I think particularly people who are born blind often assume they know a lot more about how sports work than they actually do! I know that I take formations in football for granted and don't have a good understanding of how players are placed in cricket even though these are sports I follow. It will be interesting to see how two folks who have been blind all their lives (I think) experience new technologies that make football and basketball more accessible.

I don't have a clear idea of what I am missing from tv! I know there are stats that appear! I know that there are replays and diagrams! I am aware that those who can see have much more information about what is going on than I do! Should broadcasters do more for people who are blind? I worked with the then Florida Marlins to create better access! They promised to make devices available that would provide audio description to those who attended the game but never followed through. What would we want audio description to include?

Should we expect more from radio? I think that a lot more information used to be included in radio broadcasts! Was that because there did not used to be tv versions of every game? Should we expect more? Should we write a resolution that should be sent to sports leagues asking for particular things? What ought they to be?

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Tuesday Topics will take a big risk! Lots of our shows depend on hearing from guests. We sometimes invite several guests to join us! This time we are making a different sort of invitation! We are inviting affiliates to tell us what they do to build membership! Virtually everybody knows about BITS and its hugely successful effort to increase its membership. We heard last night that it's important for ACB to get new members! We heard that, in spite of what we might have heard, at large memberships only constitute about 1 percent of our group!

What are affiliates doing to encourage new members? What more could they do? Can they learn from BITS? Are there state affiliates that are doing cool things? What about local chapters? If this program is going to be successful we need to hear from affiliates who are doing cool things! If your affiliate isn't making special efforts, perhaps you need to listen to our program to discover some approaches that other states and groups are trying!

Do you take special steps to assure that those who joined last year come back? Have you ever reached out to those who don't return to ask them why? These are just a few of the many questions we want to explore on our program that explores the other side of membership! We heard what ACB is doing! Now let's hear what our affiliates do!

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This is the time of year when our affiliates are getting ready to send in membership lists so we thought it might be a good thing to talk about the good, the bad and the ugly about how we are doing at the local, state and national level at encouraging new members. It's generally accepted that our membership numbers are falling. Why is that? Are there particular reasons it is happening to ACB? A few groups are growing! Who are they and why is it happening? What does falling membership mean? How is it affecting ACB'S ability to do what it's supposed to do! There are lots of other questions we will explore surrounding recruitment and retention and how we can do better!

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