[Reader-users] hand held reader

[Mike Freeman]

Hi, Larry.

This is one of those areas wherein one must say: "Try it and see!". 
Often, the Reader *will* read such directions. However, it is not 
uncommon for one to have to listen to some of the Nutrition Facts before 
getting to the directions and the these, when read, are what I would 
call "good enough", not "perfect". The problem is that there is much 
stylized writing on such boxes and many graphics so that while the 
Reader usually reads enough so that one can tell what's in the box and 
how to fix it, one has to interpret through an occasional "read-o". In 
other words, how well the Reader works depends upon how motivated one is 
and how much one values doing these things independently when one could 
*never* do them before without a sighted assistant.

I use the Reader to look at frozen food boxes, medical info on boxes of 
test strips for blood glucose monitors, many one-off documents and 
hand-outs and even soup cans (one must take four pictures a quarter-turn 
apart and put the gibberish one gets together into one's mind in order 
to understand what one has -- but it is doable). So I am not at all 
knocking the Reader -- Far From It. And if your mother gets a lot of 
mail, the Reader would be superb.

But if she would be using it a lot to read food boxes and the like, 
unless she's a bit adventurous, I'd say she'd be better off getting some 
sighted help once a week to put stuff in an order she could remember. 
Now if *she* also has memory problems, that might militate in favor of 
using the Reader.

What I'm saying is that the Reader might help her a lot. But it's no 
panacea. IF she knew braille (which, of course, she does not), I would 
say that the easier solution would be to hire someone once a week to 
help her label her food boxes. But since this is not an option, the 
Reader is worth a try.

This is said by someone who has had a Reader from the first day of 
beta-testing, who likes it and thinks it does a great job -- especially 
the latest update. But I'd hate to have you purchase one and then say: 
"You guys clipped me!".

One final word: I do not believe that a laptop and scanner is an option; 
I doubt that your mother is that tech-savvy and, in any case, I doubt 
that most flatbed scanners would do very well on Schwan's home dinners. 
The Reader does a fairly creditable job on these.

Best bet: see if someone in your area can show you one and try it on the 
sort of items your mother would be using. Only you know whether she has 
the patience and the moxy to use it effectively.

Mike Freeman, President
NFB of Washington

  ----- Original Message ----- 
  From: Larry & Becky Pierce
  To: reader-users at nfbnet.org
  Sent: Thursday, March 29, 2007 3:19 AM
  Subject: [Reader-users] hand held reader


  Specifically, if my mom wanted to make a box of macaroni and cheese, 
and she used the hand held reader, would she be able to zero in on the 
directions easily without getting all the other writing on the box?  She 
is 79 and is dealing with our father with alzheimers.


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Hi, Larry.
 
This is one of those areas wherein one must say: "Try it and see!". Often, the Reader *will* read such directions. However, it is not uncommon for one to have to listen to some of the Nutrition Facts before getting to the directions and the these, when read, are what I would call "good enough", not "perfect". The problem is that there is much stylized writing on such boxes and many graphics so that while the Reader usually reads enough so that one can tell what's in the box and how to fix it, one has to interpret through an occasional "read-o". In other words, how well the Reader works depends upon how motivated one is and how much one values doing these things independently when one could *never* do them before without a sighted assistant.
 
I use the Reader to look at frozen food boxes, medical info on boxes of test strips for blood glucose monitors, many one-off documents and hand-outs and even soup cans (one must take four pictures a quarter-turn apart and put the gibberish one gets together into one's mind in order to understand what one has -- but it is doable). So I am not at all knocking the Reader -- Far From It. And if your mother gets a lot of mail, the Reader would be superb.
 
But if she would be using it a lot to read food boxes and the like, unless she's a bit adventurous, I'd say she'd be better off getting some sighted help once a week to put stuff in an order she could remember. Now if *she* also has memory problems, that might militate in favor of using the Reader.
 
What I'm saying is that the Reader might help her a lot. But it's no panacea. IF she knew braille (which, of course, she does not), I would say that the easier solution would be to hire someone once a week to help her label her food boxes. But since this is not an option, the Reader is worth a try.
 
This is said by someone who has had a Reader from the first day of beta-testing, who likes it and thinks it does a great job -- especially the latest update. But I'd hate to have you purchase one and then say: "You guys clipped me!".
 
One final word: I do not believe that a laptop and scanner is an option; I doubt that your mother is that tech-savvy and, in any case, I doubt that most flatbed scanners would do very well on Schwan's home dinners. The Reader does a fairly creditable job on these.
 
Best bet: see if someone in your area can show you one and try it on the sort of items your mother would be using. Only you know whether she has the patience and the moxy to use it effectively.
 
Mike Freeman, President
NFB of Washington
 
----- Original Message -----
From:
mailto:lbpeewee at verizon.net Larry & Becky Pierce
To:
mailto:reader-users at nfbnet.org reader-users at nfbnet.org
Sent:
Thursday, March 29, 2007 3:19 AM
Subject:
[Reader-users] hand held reader
Specifically, if my mom wanted to make a box of macaroni and cheese, and she used the hand held reader, would she be able to zero in on the directions easily without getting all the other writing on the box?  She is 79 and is dealing with our father with alzheimers.
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