Recap of some events

Thank you from the comment from David about google issues. If I could write more eloquentlly, then maybe more of my words would make it out of this blog. Missouri Council of the Blind is an affiliate of American Council of the Blind, if I am correct. Thanks for the notice and the encouragement. I am so jazzed that a Teacher of the Visually Impaired who herself is blind has been hired in Kenai, Alaska, and if people do not know the Kenai Peninsula is a great location for fishing, and Homer is very relaxing. Last Monday, we heard that someone who is blind and in prison will be leaving there. I had told my friend about the Fortune Society which does still exist in New York, and I also mentioned taht there are prisoner re-entry programs. The Alaska Native Justice Center has one. I knew about that through AmeriCorps last year. I received a call from an organization who had lost my paperwork, and I told the woman that they were courteous in letting me know. An interview was scheduled, and I just took the paperwork with me. It was a blessing in disguies, I said, since I did better on the second application than the first. Someone I knew had tried to commit suicide, and that is so sad. In California people are put on 72 hour hold. I told a friend that she needed to go to DFYS (Division of Family and Youth Services) but they may not be named that any more, and get her relative, who is turning 18 and has a chronic illness might be able to get on a fixed income welfare program. Wednesday, I heard that a post office in Alaska does not know about the Franken Privilege (free matter for the blind and visually impaired) and was going to make someone pay for Braille books or not release them until payment was received. I received a phone call about an energy rating, another great program which is run by the Alaska Housing Finance Corporation. I said that that was perfect timing. I received an e-mail concerning audio description in Alaska from a person who works on that. So, it has been busy, not to mention the board with the Blind Information Technology Specialists has been taking up time. Anyway, that catches up on the essentials. Koraling Lynne I went to the doctor who takes Medicare and I am always put off by them, and went yesterday.

Google issues

On the "accessible" google group, many folks are saying that google is not being as responsive as it could be. I guess they are dropping some featrues and that bothers some people. I am still trying to figure out how to import gmail messages into Microsoft Outlook if I switch to gmail, because people have said their e-mail interface is unwieldy as I found at Center for Human Development. The Google calendar was not accessible, either, and some people did not like the new Google music beta either in terms of accessibility. People have had trouble navigating with Google Chrome and they were not able to interact with web pages. So, there is definitely more to do and I hope Google reacts to these issues. I knoew that Google Docs did not work well with JAWS. How it works with NVDA, VoiceOver, WindowEyes, Hal or System Access, or ZoomText, I don't know. I don't know how well they work with mobile devices. Apparently,, there is a survey from google, so maybe I'll check that out. Koraling Lynne

anniversaries and dates

This is the sixth anniversary of our marriage, and we went to Orso's here in Anchorage. I am really as interested in emerging technology and how this will effect disabled people as I am in website recommendations and consulting about how to treat people well and with dignity so that it will elevate everyone. Respecting everyone's abilities and capabilities is paramount, and even though many people cannot find jobs, many of us have skills that are not recognized. I remember when I have been told we have to soar above the crowd, or we have to do things differently, (just to be noticed) but that does not help when we need money to do things for our health and well-being. Koraling Lynne

future belongs to the visionaries

Once upon a time, the Big Bang existed. Once upon a time, Pluto was designated as a planet. Once upon a time, the brain was thought of as immutable and unknowable. I think there are things that are being understood or will be understood and interpreted as never before. Those that explore, reflect, question, don't accept things at face value, research and experiment can work out solutions to problems. As a matter of fact, one thing I read said that that is what we need is problem-solvers. I believe it was an article about needing more math and science to solve the world's complex medical and technological problems, food shortages, architectural problems, communication problems, global pollution and all sorts of other hydroponic and other problems facing the globe. Jacque Fresco and Carl Sagan have excellent material on youtube, and they were reported on the Higher Balance site today. I was placed in a reflective, higher consciousness mood because I expanded to muse on their ideas of looking down at the earth like this blip. Jacque Fresco who is 94, does not believe wars are necessary and also believes that politics is an anachronism, and what about currency? We need new paradigms to figure out new problems. The ways of 50 years ago do not work. Things are never standing still, they are forever in flux. I was excited about these future ideas, and believe more ideas need to come to the forefront. Koraling Lynne

Artificial Intelligence

My friend mentioned a general news item about a free Stamford class on artificial intelligence to be held starting October 10, I believe 2011. It is just another experience. I saw another movie on Thursday, and had some thoughts I should have written down on Wednesday. I felt so relaxed, and realize that things will work out for me, in its time. I hope I will gain some new skills in this free class. Why not jump on it? It will bring up all my fear-based learning anxieties or maybe not. I am just afraid that it might do that. I need to get back to following up on the material from the course on service businesses. I also have to apply for the ADA Commission. We'll see what the next phase is. I interacted with one video that said that I could not access it. So many features are inaccessible, and it will be interesting to see how it goes with a few of the Higher Balance people taking it for more than 100 thousand signed up. I am curious about its acccessibility. Will there be a way I can let people know if something is not working and whether boxes are labelled correctly? Google has not made any headway, and is going backward on accessibility. I also notice that menus keep us from getting to real human beings. I read an item that said that a virtual DJ (disc jockey) will be pushing the buttons on a Texas radio station and announcing with minimal human interference. Wow, are things changing! Koraling Lynne

Checking In

I went to the VA )Veteran's Administration) volunteer training, and some kind of boring, and I went to a movie "Bridesmaids" with my friend last night, and very funny. I did a funny thing. I went to the restroom, just had to go and we had left my "long cane" what some people call a "stick" but a long cane is what blind people use, in the car, and I knew Anne did not want to leave during the movie, so I got told where to go to the lft, and then asked someone to show me the restroom, and managed to find the outside door. This time, I did not wait. That wazs pretty cool. I said I can do anything I set my mind to. Anyway, I heard about three different positions one I had heard about months ago, and I phoned and they phoned today, Jim Beck from Access Alaska had lost my phone message, and has nothing now, but kept my resume, and another one I'm excited about, but missed it during the lunch break at the Health Systems at the VA. I do not want to be excited, because I don't want to be let down. It is great that I was phoned by so many on my cell yesterda, and I will see what the next couple of months has to offer. I know it is the first day of school for children, and I wonder how my friends John and Peggy are doing. Okay, that's enough for now. Koraling Lynne

So Much to Do

I had lunch with a friend yesterday, and spoke more to my new contact in Costa Rica, who just happens to be low vision. I think we have five people for our affiliate marketing idea and all of us are really good people. I also heard from the VA, and realized the skills I have. I am banishing all negativity from myself, and even though I do tell people that I believe religion will be replaced by more spirituality (all religion should be more spiritual) that should not frighten or anger anyone. It should just create debate, and open people's minds. I believe religions have started wars and dissension, and even though there have been problems with spiritual groups also, no doubt, a more universal concept of God would be prudent. I think forcing any idea on anyone is not very positive. I also applaud anyone who can make it and be an entrepreneur, and hope that we all can communicate better with each other. When I think of how many people do not return phone calls, and really know how to verbally communicate, it is shocking and appalling. We must get better at feedback, communication, and other forms of language that will bring people together, and not divide us. The VA won't pay me yet, but either that, the job I applied for, the affiliate marketing, my business in helping people understand web concepts to make sites more accessible, the telephone marketing, facilitating, or entrepreneurship will pay off, I believe and hope by October. There is so much good I can do for people. The Rural Health and helping the Director should be really fun and use skills and gain skills, and coordinating, traveling, newsletters, minutes for a fledgling part of the VA Health Center is exciting. Koraling Lynne

unemployment

The unemployment statistics have worsened for disabled people. What do I do for myself? I don't know. I want to coach people into feeling better, just as I wish I was being coached right now. I think that would help others, and lift them up and out. We are a collective, and not individuals. The Disability Technical Assistance Center sent an item to one of the board members of the American Council of the Blind and it said that unemployment and under-employment had worsened. We need to get a better ahndle on it. If it is not attitudes, then what is it? David said yesterday that it is lack of preparation, and that many people need rehabilitation and that older people need habilitation, or skills training. That's enough for now. So, let's discuss this. There must be better ways to improve our skills and prepare us for work. Koraling Lynne

More ideas

Okay, one of the great things I might have mentioned is that we have to be ourselves because everyone else is already taken, and this was mentioned at the 50th anniversary of ACB. Christopher Gray was playing Bob Marley, and I love that stuff. Good stuff. That was yesterday's show. I told my homeopath on Friday that I feel as if I am in a deep, dark, dank well and I cannot claw my way out of it. That's a little crazy, but it was a palpable feeling, definitely. I spoke to my son's father today by Skype since he is in Buenos Aires, Argentina. Why are people so critical, and not accepting and flexible and letting things go? Okay, I have been involved with a couple of Higher Balance people in affiliate marketing ideas, and Mark lives in Costa Rica, and used to be visually impaired, but may not be legally blind now. He does not drive, and has lived in Costa Rica for 16 years. He is American. He had lived in Southern California for 17 years. He was a Republican and libertarian and now is not anything. Well, it's time to go to bed now, and I did apply for a real "job" or "just over broke" or "slave wage" so we can afford things. It's a good organization, and there are several jobs. I feel good about this job. I'm going to lunch with Kayla Epstein on Wednesday. Keep reading. I am listening to folk songs, and also I did meditate twice today, and had a peer counseling session today. Koraling Lynne

My Los Angeles Trip

Well the inforenegades workshop was pretty good. I met many people, and wished the woman starting a healing center had told me how to reach her. There was a woman who said she needed me to Braille stuff, and I will have to e-mail her, and also a woman who sat to my left the first day who said her birthday was June and I asked when and it was the day my birth occurred. She is in her mid-thirties. She was hyper and had her challenges, but she was very nice and drove me home from the hotel, and then back and forth on Sunday also. That was really nice of her. I had a problem this time in Los Angeles that I had not had in a while. I felt really nauseaous on Friday morning from Kitty's to the hotel venue, becuase I had the computer on my lap. I was hot, and the turns made me feel sick. I had the same problem going home on Saturday to Alise's. I met Alise's friends and her boyfriend which was fine. They seemed a little rhetorical, and Alise lives in a tiny apartment, and I was on the floor, but it worked out pretty well, and in the morning, I had fruit, and nothing else. Alise was very tired, and when we were late for one of the sessions on Sunday, we missed Ken's stuff about blocks we might have. J. T. Fox was enthusiastic and funny, and helped me with some of his coaching sessions. Coaching and mentoring was stressed as important to keep us on the path. We learned about joint ventures. That's all fo rnow. It was great to meet people, and tell one person her genius was being specific about where the bathroom was on Saturday morning, I believe. I thanked her and said that was a genius. People who want to start a center for addicted people want to follow up and have better after-care than is available. One lady said she had Lime disease, and was surprised that I knew what it was. We met in the restrom once. She wants to have a business in art appreciation. That's all for now. It was really nice with Kitty, as I heard a little more of her book, and her friend Robert came by, and we spoke about artificial intelligence and future technology. I almost missed the plane Monday morning, as I left at 6:00, and it got to airport at 7:20 and the plane was boarding, and I did make it with a few monutes to spare. I was happy. Koraling Lynne