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News:

Please, in taking steps to stop spam, please don't take steps that shut out the disabled from Internet access. See:
   " Spam-bot tests flunk the blind | CNET News.com".


Special Announcement for Disabled Americans!

A Possible Exemption for Greyhound Threatened Accessability
but people rallied in protest against it.
Read about the results in
"Over-The-Road Bus Victory: Boarding Everyone"


Lawsuit:

NEWS! The National Federation of the Blind sues AOL -- and wins. AOL settles out of court.


Going down? You can skip around the Jars article and go directly to the start of the other resources.

Easy-Opening Jars

News! The jars have been discontinued!

The text below is still here for historical purposes until I can find the time to move the information to another page. Sobey's has discontinued the sale of their house brand of instant coffee and the easy-opening jars are no longer available. I am going to try to find out who made the jars so I can continue to promote them. Wish me luck.

If you have difficulty opening jars and you live in Eastern Canada, you might check out the jars that Sobeys brand instant coffee comes in. The small (50 gram) jars have the ordinary screw-on caps but the 100 gram and 200 gram jars have a lid that:

I have bugged the manager of the Sobeys store where I shop and asked him why Sobeys does not advertise this. Someone designed this jar to be easy opening but it can't help anyone who doesn't know anything about it. They continue to advertise their "aged for flavour" beef which seems like another way of saying "our meat is not fresh" but fail to let their customers know about one of their items that the physically handicapped might be able to benefit from.

By letting people know about this jar, I hope to:

Three things that might make things easier:

The 200 gram jars are easier to open than the 100 gram jars.

If you scrape the foil remaining from the freshness seal away from the edge of the jar after it is empty, the lid becomes even easier to use. Save the old jars after cleaning the edges and transfer the contents from new jars to the easier-to-use older jars. (Note that this may not be necessary anymore as the packagers have changed from paper-backed foil to plain foil that is easier to peel off the jar -- but there may still be a few of the older jars out there.)

If you do not have anyone else in the house to do it for you and you DO have trouble opening jars, get the sales clerk to break the initial vacuum seal on the jar when you buy it. I'm sure he or she will oblige.

One warning:

These jars are glass and, therefore, breakable. If you have problems with dropping jars, you may want to look elsewhere.

Comments appreciated:

If anyone out there tries these jars, I would appreciate your comments about them. It would be nice to hear from anyone who found this helpful. My mail address is on my home page and my e-mail address is at the bottom of all of my HTML pages.

Going up? Skip up to top of article on Jars.

Resources for the Handicapped:

A recent email message gave me some links to screen-reading demos. Being lazy at times, I will just reproduce it here with the senders' addresses snipped to avoid the addresses from being harvested by spammers.

<QUOTE:>

Date:	Mon, 01 Feb 1999 07:09:58 -0400 (AST)
From:	[snip]
Subject: Forwarded E-mail Regarding FTP Sites For Screen Readers For The
 Visually Impaired
To:	af380@chebucto.ns.ca

[snip]
---------- Forwarded message ----------
Date: Sun, 31 Jan 1999 15:10:28 -0500
From: [snip]
To: [snip]
Subject: Re: Windows User Survey Results (fwd)

Hi, Guys,
Download your free demo of JFW for the Henter-Joyce website at
http://www.hj.com/
It is a time-bombed demo that runs for 40 minutes and then warns you to
close down and exit Windows so the program can bomb.  You then restart
Windows andcan run JFW demo for another 40 minutes as many times as you
like.  You can also find it at the anonymous FTP site,
ftp://ftp.hj.com/

Demos of Window-Eyes and other GW-Micro stuff is at,
http://www.gwmicro.com/
ftp://ftp.gwmicro.com/

Snarf demos of WindowBridge from,
http://www.synthavoice.on.ca/
ftp://ftp.synthavoice.on.ca/

Get Hal 95 demo from
http://www.dolphinusa.com/

YOu can also find demos of Artic's WinVision and WinSolo, and Alva Access
Group's OutSpoken, on the net.

The fully-functioning demo of ASAW version 1.34 for Windows 3.1X and Windows
95 is at:
http://www.microtalk.com/
along with the latest ASAW32 Beta version for Windows 95 and Windows 98.
Pick up the fully-functioning, non-time-bombed demo of ASAP, the ultimate
DOS screen reader at that MicroTalk website also.

[snip]

<END QUOTE>

You might want to check out my "Links...", "Health" page for more resources concerning health and my "Computer Hints and Tips" page for links to some information for the visually impaired on how to set up Microsoft Windows to make it more usable and links to some computer accessories for the physically impaired. My HTML Sampler page has some pointers to sites with design tips for designing web pages for better access by the visually impaired.

Commercial Products for the Handicapped:

Seedlings.

If there is a blind child in the family (or a blind parent who wishes to read to his or her child) you might be interested in visiting the site of Seedlings Braille Books for Children [NEW ADDRESS!] and find out what they have available.

Braille-Books.com.

Braille-Books.com also carries a selection of children's books in braille -- as well as books for adults.

National Braille Press.

Another source for braille books -- including children's books -- is the National Braille Press.

Pride.

The Pride company manufactures lift chairs, scooters, and I have seen good reports on their Pride Jazzy Powerchair on the misc.handicap newsgroup. You can visit them at http://www.pridehealth.com.

Access Unlimited.

Access Unlimited specializes in Adaptive Vehicle Modification such as powered seats and lifts and accessories for hand control. You can find out about their conversions at http://www.accessunlimited.com. They also have a collection of other links called "The Disability Link Barn" at http://www.accessunlimited.com/links.html.

Vantage Mini Vans.

A source for adapted Chrysler vans and Ford Windstar conversions can be found at http://www.vantageminivans.com/.

Design Communications.

These people have some books available that could be useful to you. Subjects vary from designing a barrier-free home and cooking tips for disabled cooks to coping with a bed-wetting child. Their web site is rather poorly designed (they appear to be new to the Internet and HTML) but may be worth a visit to see what they have to offer. It can be found at "http://members.aol.com/designpubl/index.html".


The Disabled and the Law.

The Canadian Department of Justice.

One page on their site announces (shouts in capital letters) in its title: "Federal government proposes changes to meet the needs of persons with disabilities." New accessibility guidelines are to go in effect.

The American Department of Justice.

For those wanting to learn more about the Americans with Disabilities Act, the American Department of Justice ADA Home Page would be a good place to start.

Social Security Disability Secrets:

Disabled Americans may find it useful to visit a site that provides SSD, SSI tips and advice to win benefits when you apply and appeal.


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Webmaster: Norman De Forest, <af380@chebucto.ns.ca>