DISCLAIMER: This publication contains announcements from the Silicon Valley Council of the Blind and is also a forum for opinions relating to blindness issues. Signed articles reflect the views, and research, of their authors.
STATUS: SVCB is a 501(c)3 non-profit, tax-exempt organization under the California Council of the Blind.
Monthly in-person meetings are held at the Santa Clara Valley Blind Center (Vista Center for the Blind and Visually Impaired San Jose). Meetings run from 9:30 AM to 1 PM the third Saturday of the month and are open to all.
November brings to a close the months of messaging around our national elections, and we know the media will still be focused on sending us information through every possible channel in our lives. Most importantly, the only message that truly matters is for all of us to vote. Vista Center San Jose is once again a voting center for those with various disabilities. As I write this, Rob and I are about to go to Vista Center San Jose to cast our votes, so I'll keep this message short.
In our last Chapter meeting, we elected our officers and directors for the coming year, with terms beginning in January 2025. All officers were elected for another term, and we elected one new director. The elections resulted in the following:
President: Alice Turner
Vice President: Lorraine Brown
Treasurer: David Hoffman
Recording Secretary: Debee Armstrong
Corresponding Secretary, Carol Silveria
Board member, John Glass
Board Member, Naomi Grubb
Board Member, Diane Wetzel (newly elected)
Thank you to Joe Silveria for his work on the SVCB Board, and we know he will continue to be a helping hand and actively involved in chapter activities.
Wishing you all the best for the month ahead. And in this newsletter, you will hear about the upcoming holiday party plans, set for December 14 at Vista Center San Jose, from 11 AM to 3 PM. Have a wonderful Thanksgiving!
Hey King, did you vote. "O yes, I'm a Dogican." Dogican! Never heard of that one. "Well, no, it’s kinda buried in this blue state, but it's well known amongst us. And we hold our national election on November 5th, just like you do." Yes, I remember how you used to disappear on the 5th, even when I had to go to work. I had to use my cane!
"Yeah, I remember those days, but I had important choices to make. Like a few years ago, Omni was nominated for president, and I just had to help. People were appalled! The dogicans, no no! Down with fogicans or dogicans!"
Sorry all that happened, King. "That wasn't too good, and I'm glad I'm not involved with that."
Pete Stahl from the League of Women Voters told us all about the state propositions. "And I watched Master write down his answers."
But the real event was the old-time radio show. I especially liked the Our Miss Brooks Halloween episode.
Let's wish happy November birthdays to Naomi Grubb; David Hoffman; Perla Kohs; Rob Turner; Steve Lehnhoff; and SVCB, which is 37 years old.
The holiday party is coming up, and we hope you'll come to the November meeting and register, $30 for SVCB and Vista Center members, and $35 for guests. There will be lots of discussions about the party, so come and participate! Give your holiday party registration to David Hoffman. And if you haven't paid your 2025 dues, give those to David also. "My, he's a busy guy! Gotta make sure he gets the help he needs." Well, you can pay your 2025 dues and register for the party. "But I'm a privileged character, why should I do that?" You said you wanted to help. "Yes, but that's money. What kind of help is that?" Ask David.
With a welcome emphasis on accessibility and inclusion, numerous companies now offer specialized support services for customers with vision loss. They are there to help you get the most out of their products, and to ensure your devices are set right to accommodate your needs. This is an effort we greatly appreciate, and we are delighted to spread the word.
Call to speak with an accessibility specialist who can help you buy books and other products, or get you directly to tech support for Amazon devices and services including Alexa, Kindle, and Fire Tablet. Hands raised triumphantly for accessible and inclusive smartphones.
Arrange the assistance you need for navigating the airport, security screening, location of gate, seat number, connecting flights, baggage claim, and ground transportation.
For users of Apple's iPhone, iPad, iPod Touch, Apple Watch, or Mac—this is a gift. It is a special support line reserved for customers with vision, hearing, motor, and learning impairments. Senior AppleCare specialists are available 24/7 to help you get your Accessibility Settings right, answer your questions, and resolve your technical issues. They'll even teach you a thing or two.
AT&T National Center for Citizens with Disabilities (NCCD):
Direct line to a dedicated team specially trained to support customers who rely on accessibility services, including voice guidance and video description.
Google:
To request a call back from a Google Disability support specialist, complete this online form at:
Call an accessibility specialist at Google through the BeMyEyes app on a smartphone or tablet. Click the "Service Directory tab" button on the app's home page, and select Google in the Technical tab.
Technical support for customers with accessibility needs, pertaining to HP (Hewlett Packard) products, available from 6 AM to 9 PM Mountain Time.
LinkedIn Disability Answer Desk:
Contact an accessibility specialist at the LinkedIn Disability Answer Desk through the Be My Eyes app on a smartphone or tablet; click the Specialized Help button on the apps home page, then select Technical to get to LinkedIn.
The features you need to make your PC "vision friendly" are built right into Windows, but unfortunately many people don't know that. Microsoft recognized this as a significant problem, and put in place a support team specializing in accessibility. So, dial them up and get your computer set up to work for you (not against you). And, to make it even easier on yourself, allow them remote access to your PC and they can make the adjustments.
Peloton:
The Accessibility Team at Peloton will answer your questions and give you a call, if you request it by email to:
Contact the Accessibility Team at Samsung for answers to questions, large and small, about all Samsung products. Reach out by phone to request a call back.
For general support in the U.S. contact Samsung at
Call this support line to learn about and take advantage of Spectrum cable accessibility accommodations.
Spotify: Call on Be My Eyes app
Get help from your smartphone or tablet with any questions you may have about Spotify, the world's largest music streaming service. Speak to a trained customer service specialist on Be My Eyes by going to Specialized Help, Technical, and then Spotify.
T-Mobile Accessibility:
T-Mobile has an Accessibility Support web page. It says, "T-Mobile will provide accessible support for wireless network service and billing inquiries. Please contact our Accessibility Customer Care at
Arrange the assistance you need for navigating the airport, security screening, location of gate, seat number, connecting flights, baggage claim, and ground transportation.
Accessibility Resource Center | Verizon Accessibility
Free 411 for your home phone and for your mobile phone. Get your bills in the format of your choice, large print or digital. They can help you with anything else pertaining to your home phone service.
It can sometimes be challenging to get information about accessibility features that make your mobile phone or tablet work for you. Questions about enlarging text, using voice commands effectively, or using the screen reader often remain unanswered when posed to your store representative. That should be the case no more, now that there is a customer service and technical support center dedicated to helping people maximize the accessibility features built into all of Verizon's mobile devices. Let them help you get your device set just right for you, from 8 AM to 9 PM EST, Monday through Friday. Call on the Be My Eyes app.
Get help on a smartphone or tablet registering to vote, checking your registration status, and requesting a mail-in ballot. On Be My Eyes, go to Specialized Help on the home page, then Civic Engagement, then select vote.org.
From the November Vista Clients Insights Newsletter
(The following excerpt is from an article by Emily Cerf, in UC Santa Cruz's Tuesday Newsday publication, on research being conducted by Roberto Manduchi, a professor at the University of California, Santa Cruz, and a member of the Vista Center Board of Directors. To read the full article, visit UCSC's Tuesday Newsday website.
Two new apps will enable blind people to navigate indoor buildings with spoken directions from a smartphone app, providing a safe method of wayfinding where GPS doesn't work.
UC Santa Cruz Professor of Computer Science and Engineering, Roberto Manduchi, has devoted much of his research career to creating accessible technology for the blind and visually impaired. Throughout years of working with these communities, he has learned that there is a particular need for tools to help with indoor navigation of new spaces.
"Moving about independently in a place that you don't know is particularly difficult, because you don't have any visual reference—it's very easy to get lost. The idea here is to try to make this a little bit easier and safer for people," Manduchi said.
In a new paper published in the journal ACM Transactions on Accessible Computing, Manduchi's research group presents two smartphone apps that provide indoor wayfinding, navigation to a specific point, and safe return, the process of tracing back a past route. The apps give audio cues and don't require a user to hold their smartphone in front of themselves, which would be inconvenient and attract undue attention.
Smartphones provide a great platform for hosting accessible technology because they are cheaper than a dedicated hardware system, have the support of the company's information technology teams, and are equipped with built-in sensors and accessibility features.
Other smartphone-based wayfinding systems require a person to walk with their phone out, which can create several problems. A blind person navigating a new space often has at least one hand in use for a guide dog or a cane, so using the other for a phone is less than ideal. Holding a phone out also leaves the navigator vulnerable to crime, and people with disabilities already experience criminality at disproportionately higher rates.
While companies like Apple and Google have developed indoor wayfinding for some specific locations, such as major airports and stadiums, their methods depend on sensors that are installed inside these buildings. This makes it a much less scalable solution due to the cost of adding and maintaining extra infrastructure.
The HET is a wearable assistive technology that provides people who are blind, low vision, or have autism with real-time access about others' non-verbal communication cues (NVC) during social interactions. Through an intuitive mapping of visual information translated to a haptic (sense of touch) sensation applied to the forearm, the HET device breaks down barriers to effective and engaging conversations by raising awareness of non-verbal communication queues in real time. The technology leverages AI/COMPUTER vision to detect and recognize the emotions/facial expressions, gestures, and body language received from an embedded camera on a pair of glasses before mapping the NVC to a dynamic haptic pattern applied to the forearm of the user on a wearable sleeve. Each pattern generates a distinct and unique sensation along the forearm corresponding to the facial expression, body language, or gesture of the person or persons they are engaged in conversation with. With the HET you can tell if someone is happy, upset, going for a handshake or waving at you in real time. We are looking for beta testers that want to be at the forefront of technology, be part of the development process, and help the community. If you're interested in participating, or have questions, contact Jack Walters via email at
VTA has just released a long list of service changes starting October 28. Most bus and light-rail schedules have simply altered arrival times at various stops by a few minutes, either earlier or later. A few routes have increased their early morning or late night hours.
No routes have been reduced or canceled. Also, the route a bus travels has not changed, though in some cases, stops were added on to that route.
If you use VTA regularly, you might contact their customer service at
to check on the new schedule for your particular route.
The next service changes will take place on January 13 of 2025.
Our member Lupe Medrano has continued to actively advocate on our behalf as her new position of vice chairperson on VTA’s committee for mobility and accessibility. Recordings of all VTA’s various advisory board meetings are posted, so the public can listen and watch through the VTA website.
I continue my appointment on VTA’s citizens’ advisory board where we mostly review how the agency’s funding is spent. VTA applies for and receives many grants to fund everything from BART tunnel construction to sound walls for noise abatement. Running public and paratransit is only a small part of their mission since Santa Clara County chose to have this agency handle everything related to transportation. That, I’ve been told, is unusual, as most counties divide that responsibility between multiple agencies.
It is I, the Hh/BCSTLGF of your SVCB Giants fan club, writing to you on this chilly fall night with a question: Have you all forgotten that the 2025 goodies games are fast approaching? The New Year will be upon us before you know it, and so far, only the games for January and February have been spoken for. Come on, fans! You don't want to be outdone by the old Churros man, do you? You have eight more chances to be a super-fan, so do get in touch with me ASAP. either by phone at
When prompted for a participant code, press the Pound key.
Note that the above Zoom call-in information is used for SVCB's virtual link to monthly in-person membership meetings.
2. Shows Described by AudioVision Bay Area
For all productions (Golden Gate, Orpheum Theatres, Broadway San Francisco, and Broadway San Jose), tickets are generally on sale four weeks before the production opens. To charge tickets and reserve receivers, call:
Audio described shows by TheatreWorks have resumed, with descriptions by Gravity. Pre-register for tickets that include a free "show talk" 30 minutes before the show, at the TheatreWorks box office at:
The monthly "Let's Talk Low Vision" conferences are held on the third Tuesday of the month at 8:30 PM Eastern. Archives are at the Council of Citizens with Low Vision International (CCLVI) Official website at:
7. Bay Area Outreach and Recreation Program (BORP)
BORP believes that everyone should have access to the unique challenges that outdoor recreation provides, and makes every effort to accommodate each person's needs, including providing transportation and volunteer support. For event listings, call Lori Gray at: