This is a very special episode of the Tech Doctor podcast. Robert and Allison celebrate Apple’s 40th birthday with a panel of Apple accessibility rock stars.
We were fortunate to have author and Mac journalist, Shelly Brisbin join us. Shelly started using the Mac in 1986. She brought us a very unique perspective as a technical writer, publisher and low-vision Mac user.
In recent times, Shelly has thoroughly explored and written about iOS accessibility. Her current book entitled: iOS Access for All is a comprehensive guide to all of the iOS accessibility features. To purchase and/or learn more about the book, go to the book’s
Web Page
Shelly has a new podcast called
The Parallel
which she refers to as a “Tech podcast with accessibility sprinkles.”
Finally, you can keep in touch with Shelly by following her on Twitter. Shelly’s twitter name is @Shelly.
With around 400 instructional podcasts under his belt, David Woodbridge is arguably the most prolific Apple accessibility podcaster. We all learn from the excellent podcasts that David produces. Go
Here
to find all of David’s podcasts.
David has a free book available in iTunes where he helps blind people get started with Apple products. To find the book, search for “iSee” in the iTunes store.
David does a weekly radio show on Vision Australia Radio about accessibility. The show is also available as a podcast. To access the show notes, go to
This Website
You can follow David on Twitter. David’s Twitter name is @dwoodbridge.
Larry Skutchan harnessed the power of the Apple II in 1983 when he wrote one of the first fully accessible talking word processors. We introduce this podcast by playing a sample of the Echo II speech synthesizer which Larry’s word processor used to speak the text that was on the Apple’s screen. Larry went on to write a very popular terminal program for the Apple II. ProTerm enabled us to access such popular online services as GEnie, CompuServe and hundreds of BBS systems. Larry went on to write a very popular screen reader for DOS called ASAP.
At present, Larry is the Director of Technology Product Research at the
American Printing House for the Blind
He and his team, along with several other companies, are developing the first inexpensive refreshable Braille reading and note taking device. Go to the
Transforming Braille Website
to find out more information.
Larry told us that his team at APH will soon be seeking beta testers for a new GPS app called Nearby Explorer for iOS which will be released later this year. To sign up to be considered as a possible beta tester, go
Here
APH will be releasing an iOS version of their famous Talking Typer software later this year as well. At present, APH has two apps available in the iOS app store. They are Virtual Brailler” and “Math Robot.”
Allison and Robert were honored to celebrate Apple’s birthday with this outstanding panel. We want to thank them for all that they do for Apple Accessibility. We loved hearing your stories and we learned from your unique perspectives. Thanks for spending time with us. If you are at all interested in the history of Apple Accessibility, give this podcast a listen.
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