Life After Blindness

Maria Johnson is a mother of two, group fitness instructor, radio show host, podcaster and blogger at girlgoneblind.com.

The post Life After Blindness Spotlight Interview with Maria Johnson appeared first on Life After Blindness.

The government shutdown in the United States could have an impact on those who receive Social Security benefits. Tim speaks with a representative from Social Security, Debi Schwartz, to find out whether or not the government shutdown will affect beneficiaries. They also discuss a variety of other popular Social Security topics.

Next, we hear from Chris Terpin. He talks about and demonstrates an auto harp app he has developed for Android.

Finally, Tim speaks withDavid Raistric, Vice President at En-Vision America. David talks to Tim about a variety of solutions that En-Vision America has for helping the blind to Reed prescription labels.

The post Government Shut Down and Other Social Security Questions,Auto Harp Appfor Android and Talking Prescription Labels appeared first on Life After Blindness.

Happy New Year!

We begin the 20th episode of the Life After Blindness podcast with an all new because of my blindness story.

Since we’ve been away, there’s been many developments in blindness related news. First,Microsoft’s Seeing AI app has added four new channels. These channels include: currency, colors, handwriting and light detection.

AIRA has announced partnerships with two US airports to allow users to navigate these airports for free without using any minutes. AIRA also announced a partnership with the ridesharing app Lyft. This puts lift right into the AIRA app, enabling your agent to help you in contacting and accessing your ride.

En-Vision America will be releasing a new app this year for the iPhone called Script Talk. Already available on android devices, this app allows users to scan codes on prescription bottles that will then read all the pertinent information about the prescription.

Next, Tim speaks with Mel Scott from blindalive.com about the recent release of the Eyes Free Fitness app for the iPhone. This app enables you to download and play a number of workouts offered by Blind Alive. The app also gives you direct access to their blog and podcast.

Tim the continues his conversation with Randy Rusnak. This time they are talking all about the Amazon Echo.

The podcast closes with a recording sent in by listener Rachel from the UK.

The post Eyes Free Fitness App with Mel Scott, Amazon Echo with Randy Rusnakk, Because of My Blindness and so Much More! appeared first on Life After Blindness.

This week on the Life After Blindness podcast, Tim is joined by Maria Johnson from girlgoneblind.com, Marty Schultz from Kid Friendly Software and Shaun Preece from the RNIB Teh Talk and Double Tap Canada podcasts.

We begin with Maria sharing her “Because of My Blindness” story. Maria talks about what she has learned and how she has grown since going blind.

Tim then introduces Shaun Preece to the podcast. They start by listening to an interview Tim conducted with Marty Schultz about the issues he has been having with Apple concerning his Blindfold series of games.

Marty tells Tim in the interview that upon further review and after such a great response from the community, Apple has reversed their original decision. Which had been to flag Marty’s games as spam and preent him from adding new games and updating his current games. Marty says that Apple took the time to consider his appeal, liten to the community as well as play the games for themselves and ruled that the Blindfold Games did not meet the requirements of their new rule.

After Tim and Shaun discuss the fallout of this news, they move on to other topics.

Net, they discuss the new character limit increase for Twitter. Then they debate the iPhone X and whether someone with no vision like Tim should get one.

They round out their discussion by referring to an email from listener Beth. Beth asks about the Samsung Galaxy phones from a year ago and their issues with exploding batteries. Tim ties this into the recent news about the screen burn-in on the new Google Pixel 2 XL phones.

Thank you very much for listening to another episode of Life After Blindness!

The post Because of My Blindness with Maria Johnson, Blindfold Games, Twitter, iPhone X and more with guest Shaun Preece appeared first on Life After Blindness.

Welcome to the Life After Blindness Spotlight podcast. My special guest this week is Marty schultz from Kid Friendly Software. Marty develops the Blindfold Games series that we all appreciate and love!

This special edition of the podcast is to Spotlight the issues that Marty is having with Apple and a new rule they have implemented that is preventing him from adding new games at the App Store as well as updating any of his existing apps.

In this interview, Marty talks about the humble beginnings of the Blindfold Game series and it’s growth up untill now. He explains the current issues that he’s having with Apple and what we can do as a community to help him remedy the problem. He also talks about the possible future of Kid Friendly Software and what he would like to do if Apple would change this rule.

Below is a description of the problem in Marty’s own words from his blog:

Two weeks ago, Apple rejected 3 updates: Blindfold Hopper, Blindfold Craps and Blindfold Horserace, by saying it violates a new rule of the App Store: apps that vary only by content (such as video or audio or text) must be merged into one app.  I explained that these apps are all different, and that only their menus and settings screens are similar.  I requested a phone call to discuss this further.  Tap here for details on Apple’s rejection.

On Wednesday night, I talked with an Apple representative, and Apple’s decision is that unless I merge the 80 Blindfold Games into a handful of apps, they will no longer allow new games to be released or allow updates to be made.

From a technology perspective, that’s extremely hard and time-consuming.  From a business perspective, that would mean spending hundreds of hours recoding the games, with no possible return-on-investment.  Most of the games generate sales in the first three months of the game being released, and I’ve been building these games for 4 years.

From a usability perspective, that means the main menus would be ridiculously complex, and the settings screens would be confusing and almost unusable.

If you are unhappy with this decision, you can express your opinion to Apple.  The accessibility desk is at [email protected] or you can call 1-800-MY-APPLE.  Thanks to everyone for enjoying my games.

The post Blindfold Games versus apple – Life After Blindness Spotlight with Marty schultz appeared first on Life After Blindness.

Welcome to a very special Halloween addition of the Life After Blindness podcast!

The show starts this week with a new “Because of My Blindness” story from Wade. Wade talks about being inspired by other blind people to remain motivated.

Thank you so much for listening to this special Halloween episode of Life After Blindness!

The post Happy Halloween! Because of My Blindness, blindness News, Described Halloween Movies on Netflix and Ring Doorbell with Randy Rusnak appeared first on Life After Blindness.

Life After Blindness begins this week with a “Because of My Blindness” story from Mark. He talks about being an orientation and mobility instructor and how because of his blindness, he is able to educate others. Mark also talks about coping with his sight loss and how rewarding his ork his.

Tim then takes a moment to discuss the short absence of the podcast. He explains that he has been dealing wih some health issues. Tim also says that his daughter has just started kindergarten and that he has been working with today’s guest, Steven scott, on other podcast and radio projects.

Steven scott then joins the podcast for this week’s interview. Steven and Tim talk about losing your vision and how Steven has dealt with his plethora of eye diseases.

Steven tells several stories about coping with vision loss at different stages of his life and how each transition was different. He also describes how he approaches sighted people and their questions about blindness.

Be sure to listen again next time as we continue our journey together to find that their can truly be a life after blindness.

The post Because of My Blindness and Coping with Sight Los with Steven Scott from RNIB appeared first on Life After Blindness.

Life After Blindness is joined by two very special guests this week. First to discuss the weeks news is Derek Daniel from Life After Sight Loss. And later we hear about Aira from New York Times best-selling author of the book Thunder Dog and Director of Strategic Sales for Aira, Michael Hingson.

Thank you very much for checking out the Life After Blindness podcast!

The post apple Rumors and Other News with Derek Daniel and Aira with Michael Hingson appeared first on Life After Blindness.

This week on the Life After Blindness Spotlight, I am happy to be joined by New York Times best-selling author and Director of Strategic Sales for Aira – Michael Hingson.

Thank you again to Michael Hingson for sharing his amazing story and thank you very much for listening to the life after blindness spotlight podcast!

The post Life After Blindness Spotlight interview with Michael Hingson appeared first on Life After Blindness.

My special guest on the podcast this week is Maria Johnson from Girl Gone Blind.

The post LABCast #15: Beep Baseball, Accessible Appliances, Intervals App and Group Fitness with Maria Johnson appeared first on Life After Blindness.