Wouldn't shotguns or something similar but on a bigger scale work just as well?

Here is an inexpensive and effective solution to this problem that I use on airplanes all the time. I bought a pair of hearing protectors used on shooting ranges. These are over the ear and will block out all but the largest sounds. The better ones have a microphone that can be activated with a button on the side should you need to hear something. So I put in a set of earbud, put these protectors on and I am then in total silence, no jet engine noise, no conversations, nothing except what the earbuds are playing. These protectors are inexpensive, less than $60 for really good ones and will cancel out all the sounds around you.

Fully autonomous cars will be a reality when and only when my wife, who is blind, can legally have such a car drive her to any location at any time and in any weather she might wish. At that time I shall be happy to buy such a car but not until.

On the MacOS, iOS and tvOS, all from Apple, there is an accessibility service called Switch Control. Similar software exists for other operating systems. Switch Control along with the built in dictation service provides a means for those with very limited mobility to operate a computer or similar device.

When connected to a bluetooth switch such as those made by Ablenet (www.ablenetinc.com) the whole interface can be control from a single button which can be bushed by the disabled person. Other switches work by means of puffing into a tube or tracking head movements. People with very limited movement are able to employ this to use computers and there are a number of videos of such use on YouTube. Dictation, now built into Windows and MacOS, iOS, tvOS and Android could be used to provide easy text entry. Combining these and the voice control functions of modern operating system should provide her with the tools needed to again access her computer.

Here is an idea I'm sure college and universities will hate. Se the cost of the degree based on the pay of persons employed in that field. IN this system the cost of an engineering degree would be much higher than say the cost of a library science degree because the engineer is going to be payed a great deal more than the librarian. So the engineer will be much more likely to be in a position to pay off a large student loan.

The article suggest that "Canada is up to something" given their ties to other nations involved. While that may be true it should also come as no surprise. Looking at the connections we see that Canada is tied to New Zealand, Australia, Singapore, Malaysia and Brunei by means of the Commonwealth which means they share many legal traditions with each other and have long standing political ties to one another.

The United States is the largest English speaking nation not a member of the Commonwealth and that lack of connection would seem to be evident in the connections the graphs show.

One must assume that when Apple instituted it Canary that their lawyers thought the process through to some degree. Is Apple and other companies that have implemented such steps subjecting their management to legal peril?

MacOS X has a full scale screen reader for the blind. Not only can you run the OS without a mouse you can run it without a screen if you need to. Using a bluetooth keyboard and headset I have even run a Mac that was indoors from my patio.

The blind and some print disabled use computers all the time without a mouse. On MacOS X and the iOS there is a built in screen reader called VoiceOver (started with a command-F5 on a standard keyboard function-command-F5 on portables. With VoiceOver running you can work the OS with no mouse, or for that matter even a screen attached. It also support a wide range of braille displays.

There is similar products for Windows but they are not built into the OS and some, JAWS and WindowEyes for example, can cost more than the computer they run on.

On on the whole this is a rather silly question which if the authors had asked the question "How do the blind use a computer?" would have been answered.

Gregory Kearney
Manager - Accessible Media
Association for the Blind of Western Australia
61 Kitchener Avenue, PO Box 101
Victoria Park 6979, WA Australia

Telephone: +61 (08) 9311 8246
Telephone: +1 (307) 224 4022 (North America)
Fax: +61 (08) 9361 8696
Toll free: 1800 658 388 (Australia only)
Email: gkearney@gmail.com

We would be happy to have USB drives as a donation. We use them to send out digital talking books to the blind and print disabled. Please feel free to contact me.

Gregory Kearney
Manager - Accessible Media
Association for the Blind of Western Australia
61 Kitchener Avenue, PO Box 101
Victoria Park 6979, WA Australia

Telephone: +61 (08) 9311 8202
Telephone: +1 (307) 224 4022 (North America)
Fax: +61 (08) 9361 8696
Toll free: 1800 658 388 (Australia only)
Email: gkearney@gmail.com

Still another issue to consider is that this deals with text-to-speech and not human read books such as the NLS provides.

The VicetorReader Stream will do text-to-speech on any text file without activation and without the buyer having to prove a disability. Given that the Streams intended market is book and document reading and given that HumanWare will sell it to anyone who wants one, and given that it will do text to speech with out activation how is the VictorReader Stream any different from the Kindle?

And just wait until these activated devices turn up on ebay as the old four track tape players do all the time.

So is a Macintosh computer, which has a built in screen reader which anyone can activate a "specialized device" that are "available only by prescription to people with a qualifying disability"? No of course not. Yet it has text to speech able to read books or anything else for that matter.

The makers of talking book players are happy to sell the devices to anyone who wants one, disabled or not. See www.humanware.com or want one of those 1/4 speed four track tape player? you can buy a new one here: http://secure.nfb.org/ecommerce/asp/default.asp