WBH Weekly Blind News Digest – Edition 28

Gonz Blinko's Blind news Digest – Edition 28

Editorial By Chris Hofstader

This is the second consecutive slow week for news about blindness and blind people in the mainstream press. This digest averages roughly 65 stories per edition but this one has only 38. It's still a wide array of subjects but some of our usual sections are not in this one as we got no articles that fit their category. Some of this is also due to finding some sites that contained interesting sounding stories too inaccessible to include here and others that were behind a pay wall and I never include them.

I hope you enjoy this edition of the digest and keep coming back to read it and our long form articles as well.

How It's Organized

Gonz Blinko's Blind News Digest is a very simple page to read. The categories are at heading level 2 and the stories are links at heading level 3. So, navigation to the sections and stories you find interesting is quite simple.

Technology

Web3 must learn from the past: People with disabilities are the largest untapped demographic

Digital marketing in 2022 is all about searching for that target market online that a business has not been able to reach before. It’s the endless pursuit of trying to find a new, untapped source of revenue. This story comes to us from: VentureBeat.

Engineer Develops a Robotic Signing Arm for Deafblind People

Samantha Johnson, bioengineer and founder of Tatum Robotics, vividly remembers meeting a deafblind person for the first time.
She was in her sophomore year at Northeastern University, taking an American Sign Language class, which required her to learn more about the local Deaf community by attending local Deaf events. This story came to us from: News @ Northeastern – Northeastern University.

WeWALK raises £1.7m for 'smart cane' to aid visually impaired

London-headquartered WeWALK has secured £1.7m funding from UK Research and Innovation (UKRI) for its “smart cane” that uses computer vision to help people with visual impairments move around busy spaces. The capital was awarded as part of the as part of UKRI’s Healthy Ageing Challenge. This story came to us from: UKTN.

Science and Medicine

How blind and sighted people understand color

A team of scientists conducted an experiment in which they asked sighted and blind people a series of questions about objects and their colors. This story came to us from: Indiana Public Media.

Vision loss: Two vitamin deficiencies linked to a risk of potentially permanent blindness

VITAMIN and minerals regulate several biological functions in the body. Without adequate levels of nutrients, complications are likely to ensue. Two vitamin deficiencies that can lead to permanent vision loss are easily avoidable with the right dietary additions. This story came to us from: Daily Express.

Prevalence of vision loss, blindness in US at the county level

Prevalence of vision loss, blindness in US at the county level. This story came to us from: EurekAlert.

Geographic Variation Identified in Prevalence of Visual Acuity Loss

Positive correlation seen for visual acuity loss or blindness prevalence with percentage of county's population living below poverty level. This story came to us from: Consumer Health News.

Editas (EDIT) Focuses on Developing Gene-Editing Eye Drug

Editas Medicine, Inc. EDIT is making good progress with the development … study evaluating EDIT-101 for the treatment of blindness due to LCA10. This story came to us from: Yahoo Finance.

Diabetic Macular Edema: Types, Symptoms, Treatment

Diabetes is the leading cause of new blindness in the United States. DME is the most common cause of vision loss in people with diabetes. This story came to us from: Very well Health.

Novartis doesn't think optogenetics will completely cure blindness—but its new biotech is going to give it a try

Novartis already bought into optogenetic gene therapy technology last year, but the Swiss Pharma wants more. Enter Arctos Medical, which will now join Novartis with its gene therapy program for vision loss. This story came to us from: Fierce Biotech.

Blindness Organizations

[NewView helping Oklahomans with visual impairments][

NewView offers help to Oklahomans who are blind or have visual impairments. This story came to us from: KOCO.

Education

Students with visual impairments are often shut out of sex education. Here's how educators say they can learn with the help of 3D models

Sex education is almost always taught visually. Students are given worksheets with diagrams of human anatomy and sex organs. They watch videos about the reproductive process. None of that helps blind students much at all. This story came to us from: Northern Public Radio.

Tech partnership helps 'narrow gap' for blind students

Here's a positive story about a project with which NFB is involved. I hope to see more of these in the future.

Louisiana Tech and The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) have partnered in a new innovative program that will train 13 Maryland teachers to better instruct, inspire, and support blind students.
The “Narrowing the Gap for Blind and Low-Vision Students in Maryland Teacher Preparation” program will allow the teachers full funding to attend Tech’s Professional Development and Research Institute on Blindness. This story came to us from: Louisiana Tech University.

Employment

Blind Massage Service provides affordable massages by blind masseurs

For an affordable massage place providing top notch massages, check out Blind Massage Service, which has treatments from S$20. This story came to us from: Confirm Good.

Blind piano technician finds fun in work: Don Wigent: “It isn't what I do; it's what I am”

If there’s a piano anchoring the living room of a home around Greenville, it’s quite likely Don Wigent has had his hands on it. A self-described “character,” he’s as memorable for his piano tuning skills as his bass singing talent in barbershop quartets. This story comes to us from: The Daily Reflector.

Employment Symposium hosted by Blind Citizens Australia (BCA)

Employment Symposium is designed for businesses, organisations, and government departments who are keen to make their workplace more accessible and inclusive. We encourage management and HR staff to attend this event, as well as IT staff who would benefit from learning about assistive technology. This story came to us from: Women's Agenda.

Discrimination and Inaccessibility

Deaf and blind West Lothian man was trapped at home during covid pandemic

Desmond Smith, from Broxburn, has said that he felt as though people living with disabilities were forgotten by those in power as the Covid-19 pandemic gripped the nation. This story came to us from: Edinburgh Live.

Crime

Court docs: A blind man, drugs and the honor system

I've known of other blind people who have or may still deal drugs to make money but this is the first such story we've seen in the mainstream press.

He provided the scale and the drugs. His customers would weigh out what they wanted to buy. That was the honor system employed by a blind man accused of selling drugs out of a northwest side home raided by the Allen County Drug Task Force and Allen County Sheriff’s SWAT team earlier this week. This story came to us from: WANE 15.

Guide Dogs

A blind man with service dog denied service again by a ride-share driver

A blind man, with a service dog, who is featured in a special report four years ago, says he has once again been denied service by an Uber driver. This story came to us from: Fox 8.

Qantas the guide dog proves his worth by saving Watten woman Caron Jones from being hit By A Speeding Car

Registered blind woman Caron Jones said that shortly after she got her guide dog he pulled her to safety after a speeding car whizzed past her. This story came to us from: John O'Groat Journal.

Legal

Two ADA Suits Brought Against J & M Foods and Gather Foods Corporation

Web accessibility under ADA is supposed to be enforced by Depart of Justice (DOJ) and, and in the many similar cases, would like also violate the 21st Century Video and Communications Accessibility Act (CVAA) which is supposed to be enforced by FCC. But, President Obama's DOJ and FCC did nothing, President Trump's same agencies did nothing and, thus fr, President Biden's executive branch did have its DOJ publish a set of guidelines for web accessibility that attorneys on both sides of the issue claim is far to vague to be useful. Thus, mostly unethical attorneys are using the most aggressive tactics they can find to cash in as our civil rights are not protected by our federal government.

Two separate complaints were sued on Thursday in the Southern District of New York. The first complaint was filed by Richard Meija against J & M Foods, Inc. (J & M), while the second was filed by Jose Zarzuela against Gather Foods Corporation (GFC). Each suit was a class action complaint against the respective food companies citing violations of the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 and the New York City Human Rights Law. This story came to us from: Law Street Media.

Three Ways We're Fighting for Disability Rights in Courtrooms Across the Country

People with disabilities have a right to equal access under the law, including equal access to voting, education, and protections in the criminal legal system. But too often, policies and practices at the polls, and in schools, jails, and prisons violate our fundamental rights. These violations hinder access to the ballot, risk students’ health and safety, and trap people with disabilities in the carceral system. This story came to us from: ACLU.

All in for the Americans with Disabilities Act

Accessibility is important. Everyone should be able to have access to services, facilities, transportation and more. The Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) is a civil rights law to ensure people with disabilities have the same opportunities as everyone else. It also lays out parameters for organizations to follow to be accessible for all. The ADA is not limited to people who use wheelchairs—it includes accommodations for all mobility needs, people who are blind, people who are deaf, and more. This story came to us from: City of Charlotte.

Lifestyle

Beach dedicated for blind people inaugurated in Alexandria – Egypt

In conjunction with the celebrations of the anniversary of the June 30 revolution, the Alexandria Governor Mohamed al-Sherif inaugurated, on Friday, a beach dedicated for blind people, as part of a larger beach established for people of determination. This story came to us from: Egypt Independent.

Orientation & mobility in your everyday routine

In this webinar: Learn some of the basic travel techniques and concepts of orientation and mobility and how you can incorporate those into everyday activities. This story came to us from: Perkins School For The Blind.

Pass It On: Help for a Blind Kroger employee

“I found out that Willie is wanting to go to the blind conference in New Orleans in July,” Linda said. “He said, ‘I’ve even cut off my cable so that I can afford to go’. The one thing that’s awesome about Willie is that all during the pandemic when he could have stayed at home, and many people did, right. Willie worked." And he’s still working. This story came to us from: WREG.com.

Pies for Eyes': Chicago area restaurant raises $13K for blind chef missing electronic glasses

Chef Charlie Doman of Moe Joe's in Plainfield, Illinois is legally blind. His community raised thousands to replace his missing electronic glasses. This story came to us from: ABC7.

A new groove: Legally blind woman takes darkest moment, turns it into light

Dolan, who is blind, started Golden Groove, a nonprofit designed to provide activities and support for senior citizens. This story came to us from: Longview News-Journal.

Art and Artists

Interview (With SPOILERS): Star Trek's First Blind Actor on Cancer, Family and Facing Death

Bruce Horak, the Canadian actor who plays Chief Engineer, Lieutenant Hemmer on Star Trek: Strange New Worlds, belongs to a variety of families. This story came to us from: Original Cin.

Local legends: Cambridgeshire's 'extreme clown' entertaining deaf and blind people

JJ Lucia-Wright has adapted everything from magic tricks to lap dancing for a deafblind audience. This story came to us from: Cambridge News.

Who is Michael Hernandez? The charismatic presenter of "The corner of the blind"

When Michael Hernández Otero was 15 years old, he was diagnosed with the congenital disease VKH, syndrome that would leave him blind. He first lost vision in his left eye and after a few months in his right. At that time, after being depressed and locked in his room for a month, His life took a 180 degree turn. This story came to us from: California18.

Visually impaired cast brings 'The Braille Legacy' to life

“The Braille Legacy” is a musical about the boy who invented a system of reading and writing for the blind. It debuted to sell out crowds in Los Angeles in June, marking the first time the show had been performed in the U.S. — and the first time it was performed by a cast fully comprised of blind actors. This story came to us from: Spectrum News.

Newark Filmmaker Explores Lives Of 2 Blind, Black Women Entrepreneurs

According to Lisa Durden, the film explores the lives of Krystle Allen and Naquela Wright-Prevoe, two blind, Black female entrepreneurs. This story came to us from: Patch.

Works by deafblind artist for sale as NFTs to celebrate awareness week

Deafblind UK has teamed up with a teenage artist to create a collection of digital artworks, which are being sold as non-fungible tokens (NFTs) to celebrate Deafblind Awareness Week. This story came to us from: Association of Optometrists.