Hi Nathanael, so nice seeing you here! I agree, very interested in powerpoint integration as well! Hope you and the family are doing well!
Thank you! And the same to you and your family. I am thrilled to be a part of this pilot testing and very hopeful new technology!
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No, I have never been inside, which think is a good choice anyway, the pods are very small and cramped.
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Hello, all! My name is Keith Bundy, and I live in Madison, South Dakota. I apologize for being late to the party, but my wife and I just spent the entire last week buying a smaller house. So it's been a whirlwind!
I am officially retired, but I'm still working part-time. I have been a trainer in assistive technology since 1997 and have been a lifelong braille reader. I have also served as an ADA coordinator and online instructor at Dakota State University, and I spent the last seven years of my official career as an accessibility consultant for a company based out of Bloomington, MN. I have been a pastor for over 30 years and continue in that capacity, and I also teach blind students how to use braille and technology through a company called TechVision, Inc. Finally, I serve as the public address announcer for Dakota State University football, and we play Montana Tech this year!!
I have been hoping for a multi-line braille display for years as I believe this type of display will greatly increase braille literacy and speed among those of us who are blind. I also teach math to several of my students and am eager to see how being able to see the graphics on the display will help the students grasp graphical content in algebra.
Personally, I look forward to seeing how the increased number of lines may help me with sermon delivery and with public address announcing. By the way, I think I am the only blind college football public address announcer in the country. Other blind folks have done radio color analysis and have done high school public address work, but I have yet to find someone doing exactly what I am doing.
I really don't want to make this too long, but I have seen that some posts have been delivered by email. How can this be done?
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Hi, Ed. As I said in my very late introductory post, the team I announce football for will be playing Montana Tech this fall. As we have just joined this conference, I have no idea where Montana Tech is or how large the school is. Can you give me some brief information?
Hey Keith,
Montana Tech is in Butte, MT, I believe. I know it’s not a very big school. I really don’t follow football, or college sports, sorry I can’t be of more assistance.
Thanks, Ed. I was just wondering where it was located and its size. I figured it was on the small side, as our university, which is a four-year technology university, only has around 3,000 students including remote students. To my knowledge, Dakota State has no blind students, but they do have a good accessibility program. I’m hoping that, should a blind student arrive on campus, I might have the opportunity to assist with the Monarch, as I’m sure it will be useful in programming and other courses related to computer science and information systems.
Keith
Keith Bundy
605-480-0976
Daniel Martinez here, from Brownsville, Texas. I work as a Pre-Employment Transition Skills Trainer and Job Exploration Partner, focusing on mentoring youth with disabilities. I’m already putting the Monarch to good use, as I’m preparing a speech for the 35th-anniversary celebration of the ADA. I was thrilled to find the tactile marine biology graphics, which will be incredibly beneficial for the South Texas Blind Anglers Chapter of Fishing’s Future in teaching visually impaired individuals about fish.
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Hi @Keith_Bundy ! So excited to have you as part of our kaleidoscope!
Regarding your question about emails, here’s how I’ve personnally set that up:
Select “Notifications and Account” in the top right corner of the screen > Select “Profile” from the drop down menu > Select “Preferences” from the drop down menu > Select “Emails” from the page menu > Set emails to your preferenes using the drop down choices on that page.
Then, when you do get an email, there’s a note to “reply to this email to respond” in the email!
The HIVE Team has put together JAWS and NVDA tips: Latest Privacy and Access Information here.
Hope this helps!
Hi @Daniel_martinez - so glad to hear that the Monarch has already been helpful in preparing your speech! I’ve only been fishing once in my childhood and I wasn’t very good at at - I’ll have to check out the graphics you’ve referenced!
Hi Erin, just a side note on this, I was trying to reply to a hive email from my monarch and used the reply function but got an error saying that it was most likely set to the wrong “reply to” address and couldn’t be sent. I tried checking the keymail app to set different settings for this but this was not there. Just something you all might want to add for a later release. Gmail does this correctly without setting any special settings.
@Ronit_Mazzoni - great info, thank you! I will flag to both our Monarch and our Hive teams!
Thanks, Erin! I did see the JAWS help, but it’s been nine years since I’ve used a discussion board so didn’t think to check profile. Thanks much!
Keith
Keith Bundy
605-480-0976
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I’m Arielle Silverman. I work as director of research at the American Foundation for the Blind and live in Albany, NY. It’s great meeting all of you! At AFB, my role involves a lot of email communication, giving presentations, and processing data. Although the Monarch doesn’t yet have spreadsheet capability which could be extremely handy in my job, I’m curious to play with it when writing documents and maybe for reading presentation notes and research articles or output with tables.
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Hey Arielle! Wonderful to see you on the discussion board! There will be an opportunity during our Experience Exchange activity this Fall/Spring to put together some proposals for Monarch features/apps improvements - highlighting spreadsheet capability as a significant need for working professionals then will be very helpful as we dream about the future of Monarch together! So glad to have you as part of Monarch RISE.
Good evening, all,
This is George Stern, in Lubbock, Texas.
I am a Deafblint butterfly in my final semester of a Masters in Curriculum and Instruction from Texas Tech University.
In my roles as a researcher and assistant instructor, I work with pre-service teachers in all subject areas of general education.
My particular focus is on introducing pre-service teachers to and helping them integrate the latest in educational research, whether that’s active learning practices, Universal Design for Learning, or youth motivation.
I’ve been hungering for a multi-line display for years to restore a more natural spatial sense and increase my speed when perusing large documents.
I’m also hopeful that the Monarch will make manual coding of student interview transcripts easier.
More broadly, I’m happy to contribute to a venture that could see Braille front-and-centre in a greater variety of domains. As a hobby language learner, writer, and theatre person, I am abuzz with the possibilities.
May the Force be with us.
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Welcome butterfly George - grateful for your work supporting pre-service teachers and looking forward to all that you can teach us about the Monarch as you explore! Fellow theatre person here!
Hi everyone, my name is Katie Corbett and I live just outside of the Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin, known for its water parks and theme parks. I work in marketing, currently for a company that works with people who are developing medical devices and for a family foundation working on breaking the link between poverty and disability. My work involves leading meetings, writing and creating content, and brainstorming ways to better spread the word. I am looking forward to Incorporating the Monarch into my writing and editing work, and and particularly looking forward to the day when it can sync with my iPhone because I do a lot of work on there. Also very excited about the ability to incorporate more graphics into my work. Excited to learn and fly with all of you!
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Hi @Katherine_Corbett - so glad to see you on the discussion board and have you a part of Monarch RISE! I went to see an improve comedy show in Milwuakee, Wisconsin last January and the main comic didn’t know about The Dells. The audience and the other comics immediately, absolutely tore him apart for his ignorance - it was hilarious. On another note, I’m so excited for you to try out the Monarch while leading meetings or presenting! You’ll have to let us know how it goes!
Hi! My name is Val Day. I am excited to be part of the Monarch Rise field test! I have worked in the accessibility world for 15 years. In that time, I have worn many hats, but never lost sight (no pun intended) of my love of braille and accessibility. While my main role is a Financial Aid Advisor, I am also a Braillist, Access Conversion Specialist/Adaptive Technology Specialist, Job Coach, adjunct instructor, and independent contractor for braille and low vision services. I am from the Upstate NY area.
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