People who are blind have access to more information than they have ever had before! There is more technological choice for this population than there has ever been. Consumer organizations are advocating and so are organizations like the American Foundation for the Blind, the Vision Serve Alliance and the American Printing House for the Blind. What is the vision that advocating organizations have, if there is such a thing? What are the differences in terms of these various organizations who lobby the government, donors and the media?

If we were going to look at the state of expectations for people who are blind ten years from now what would we see? What ought we to see?

Clearly none of us on the team and not even you, dear listeners, can predict the future with any accuracy! We can extrapolate from where we are now! We can also imagine both the best and the worst scenarios. What would they look like?

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On April 21, from 7 to 9 PM Eastern time, Tuesday Topics will once more take to the internet and other devices with a first look at the ACB convention coming up toward the end of July. We will be hearing about a new program aimed to attract young people to our convention. We will hear about a new and exciting component of the scholarship program and we will hear from our fearless convention leader Janet Dickelman and her tours sidekick Rhonda Trott. Once registration is open they will be back but this Topics will serve as a chance to get a sneak preview into what's in store in St. Louis.

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We are excited about this program because we will get the chance to have three guests who we will get to know better. All of them are ladies who have recently begun working for the American Council of the Blind. The first of them that I met was Caitlin Lee who was waiting for a shuttle to the hotel in Washington DC with me at the airport. She is working on finding funds for ACB so we can do the important things that are in our budget and beyond.

Dianna Leonard was met soon after my arrival at the hotel and there were lots of ACB folks who already knew and admired the new custodian of audio description.

Grace Hart I was introduced to but barely got to know as the weekend proceeded. She has a complicated job in that she works with our advocacy department, our access expert Kolby Garrison and for a boss not yet hired, the ACB atorney!

Who were these ladies before they became employees of ACB? What special skills do they bring to us and what are their days like now that they're here? Where are development and audio description going? Are there new directions ahead?

I am sure that many of you will join us to welcome the three newest folks to come to work for ACB! You may have questions yourself which there will be time to ask!

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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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