This article describes the activities of two consortia that consist of individuals who assist people who are blind and visually impaired to secure employment. Consortia members are direct service employment specialists who focus on five critical activities: preparing consumers for job seeking, job development, placement, follow-up, and job…

Discussed are general considerations for educating visually impaired students including planning, testing, lecture/discussion, field trips, and laboratory activities. Fourteen activities that have been adapted are described. One such undergraduate course is described. (CW)

This article proposes some techniques for enhancing large-character computer access systems to enable users with partial vision to operate them more easily and efficiently. These techniques involve mapping several areas of an application's screen into large characters and adapting this mapping in a context-specific way. (Author)

This paper describes a summer program teaching independent living skills to 20 adults with visual impairments. Results suggest the program had a lasting and profound impact on clients' previously low knowledge of job hunting, decision making, stress management, and self-care skills. Interaction with other adults with visual impairments and…

Discussion of library services offered to print-handicapped (i.e., learning disabled and visually impaired) users focuses on services at New York University. Highlights include microcomputer-based Braille production and use; acquisition of Braille reading materials; bibliographic control; and sidebars which describe products and organizations that…

The 1990 Josephine L. Taylor Leadership Institute addressed the theme "Funding Drives Service Decisions: A Moral Dilemma." Institute participants identified specific dilemmas related to legislation, funding, and placement issues in education and rehabilitation of visually handicapped individuals. Participants subsequently generated solutions in…

Describes new technology that adapts online catalogs into large-print, speaking catalogs and discusses a step-by-step approach for implementing the technology in public and academic libraries. Suggestions on developing a work team, descriptions of the technology and its installation, and approaches to teaching and assisting visually impaired…

This article traces the development of reading methods for blind/visually impaired persons, including paper braille, recordings, radio reading services, computerized telephone services, personal computers, books on compact disks, and scanning systems. Technological trends that may decrease accessibility to text materials are also noted, such as…

The Joint Action Committee of Organizations of and Serving the Visually Handicapped is a coalition of 24 California consumer, parent, and professional organizations; agencies; and product distributors. This article highlights coalition accomplishments in the areas of information dissemination, public policy influence, and public education and…

International sharing, by libraries, of special-format materials for blind and physically handicapped readers is discussed. Topics include the variety of formats for such materials, identification of potential users, library activities for improving loan procedures, production practices and facilities, determination of available publications,…

Describes how a library, with an MCI Corporation grant, approached the process of setting up computers for the visually impaired. Discusses preparations, which included hiring a visually-impaired user as a consultant and contacting the VIP (Visually Impaired Persons) group; equipment; problems with the graphical user interface; and training.…

Highlights multimedia CD-ROMs that can describe pictures aloud for blind users and turn sound into text for the deaf. Outlines barriers confronting blind users. Discusses software programs designed to significantly improve access to multimedia software for users with disabilities and presents evaluation criteria for purchasing the most accessible…

Project CD-VisROM was a 3-year federally supported project to develop procedures by which students who are visually disabled could access the vast amounts of information available through the compact disc read-only-memory (CD-ROM) medium. The heart of the system is a computer which is equipped with several CD-ROM drives, and a CD-ROM in each…

The VIISA (Vision Impaired In-Service in America) training model provided early intervention/childhood professionals with training that would help them better serve preschoolers, ages birth to five, with blindness and visual impairment. Materials and procedures for two courses were developed and taught to 344 participants in 9 states over a 3-year…

A summary is presented of the objectives and activities of a grant-supported project conducted at Normandale Community College (NCC) to expand programming for handicapped and learning disabled students. Introductory material provides a background to NCC's efforts in aiding students with special needs. Next, the populations receiving assistance…