From: Pete Donahue 
Subject: Internet Odyssey Article
Hello listers,
At long last here it is, the article that details our participation in the
1996 South texas Internet Odyssey.  Some of you may remember the message
we sent from the Internet Odyssey last fall.  Well here's the whole storry
of how our NFB Chapter got involved in this one-of-a-kind event. =20
Take care.  Enjoy and think of what you can do in your home areas to raise
public  awareness of the challanges and opportunities we as blind computer
users face.
Here is the article.  Again enjoy and ponder well
Yours truly,
Peter donahue
Secretary, Greater San Antonio Chapter
National Federation of the Blind of Texas
                   Blind Computer Users Participate=20
                               In=20
                       An Internet Odyssey
                               By=20
                     Peter and Mary Donahue
The ability to go on-line with a personal computer is perhaps the
most powerful feature of today=FEs modern computers.  For a blind
person this means having access to information not available by any
other means.  The chief method of getting information from a remote
computer to your pc is through a World Wide Network called the
Internet.  The Internet is different things for different people in
a wide variety of professional, educational, and recreational
pursuits.  One could easily observe this at the 1996 Internet
Odyssey held at the Henry B. Gonzalez Convention Center in San
Antonio Texas.  Several members of the Greater San Antonio Chapter
of the national Federation of the Blind of Texas demonstrated how
blind persons access the Information Superhighway with a personal
computer and adaptive technology.  They discussed how the pc has
opened up countless educational and job opportunities for the blind
and expressed their concerns about the future of our  ability to
have unlimited access to the Information Superhighway.  In addition
chapter members learned how PCs and the Internet work together to
move information around the World.  They even learned how the
Internet touches their lives; even to gaining a deeper
understanding of the impact to positive attitude towards blindness,
not just from the public but among the blind themselves can go a
long way towards achieving our goals of security, equality, and
unlimited opportunity for all blind persons regardless of their
circumstances.  Here is an account of the chapter's participatio In
this event as told by the Greater San antonio chapter of the
National Federation of the Blind of Texas Secretary Peter Donahue.
Our participation in the Internet Odyssey began in one of the most
unlikely of places=FEthe laundry room at the apartment complex where
mary and I live.  I had just placed a rent payment in our apartment
manager's mail drop when I decided to pass through the laundry room
on my way back to our apartment.  While in the laundry room I met
Mrs. Carolyn Awalt, one of our neighbors and a multi-media
specialist at United States Automobile Association, (USAA), one of
San Antonio's largest employers and insurers of military personnel.
We were looking for an Internet provider and wanted a shell account
since this type of account allows one to access the Internet via
MS-Dos.  She told us about her provider, Texas Net.  Several other
chapter members were all ready on Texas Net and we eventually got
an account with this provider.  There are currently four of our
chapter members who have accounts with Texas Net.  While talking to
Mrs. Awalt I brought up the concerns we have about the threat to
our ability to access the Information Superhighway.  In response
she said, This sounds like something you need to share with those
who will be at The South Texas Internet Odyssey.  Anyone and
everyone who has anything at all to do with the Internet will be
there and that would be the place to air your concerns.  Mrs. Awalt
explained that unlike most computer and Internet-related shows
awhich spend most of their time razzle dazzling their audiences
with claims about the latest and greatest Internet Hardware and
software trying to entice would-be buyers The South Texas Internet
Odyssey wasn't that type of show.  Rather, the emphasis was on what
the Internet is, and how it is used by many types of people from
many backgrounds, and from a wide variety of educational and
vocational callings.  She said that up until now there was largely
little if any participation in this event by members of the
disabled community and she urged us to help change all of that.  I
told her that it sounded like a great idea and that if our members
wanted to participate we would need to be put in touch with the
organizers so we could make arrangements concerning our needs.  You
just make the decision to participate and I'll see to it that your
concerns are addressed.=FE  She lived up to her promise and in the
weeks that followed this chance encounter a number of us on the
chapter board of directors discussed the matter and after much
thought we decided to participate in the 1996 Internet Odyssey.=20
Over the next few weeks many questions raced through our minds as
to how we would carry out this project.  For one thing we would
need to have a computer or two on-site before we could do our
demonstrations,  And no one wanted to pack up their pc and bring it
down to the convention center where it could possibly be stolen or
something happen to the adaptive software and hardware.  And anyone
knows all too well what can happen when computers and adaptive
technology are moved from one location to another although this is
not always the case.  And than there is the concern about getting
the equipment to the convention center.  For a while none of us
could think of a workable solution, but as I tossed the matter
around in my mind I hit upon an idea.  Since several of us use both
Vocal-Eyes from GW Micro, a screen reader for accessing Dos-based
applications, and jaws For Windows from Henter-Joyce, a program for
accessing Windows applications and since both of these programs
supported the Braille-N Speak from Blazie Engineering, we could use
the Braille-N Speak as a speech synthesizer.  It is portable
requiring only a simple set-up and take down, and we could take
them home at night.  The software could be loaded on to a pc at the
show and we wouldn't have to worry about carting computers back and
forth every day, but we needed to find out where we could get the
pc from.  In the weeks that followed Mrs. Awalt kept her promise
and contacted Mr. Richard wadsworth, a Professor of Computer
Science at the University of Texas at San antonio.  He told her
that he was glad to hear that we wanted to participate in this
year=FEs show and promised to give us all the help we needed; even to
providing transportation for our members participating in the show.
He made good on every one of these promises and more.  Later we
were provided with a phone line in order to access our own
providers so we could access the net via our shell accounts, and
persons were available to assist us with both technical and
personal needs during the show.  Mind you, my chance meeting with
Mrs. awalt occurred in late august and the Internet Odyssey would
take place in late October.  We had just under two months to put an
exhibit together but all of us were up to the challenge and we
didn't allow anything to hold us  back.  Since the Internet was the
focus of the show we wanted to invite someone with a high profile
in the adaptive technology field to speak at our seminar, but due
to the short notice, and to other prior commitments those we
invited could not attend.  Perhaps the most unbelievable blow came
when several of us met by phone conference with a local=20
representative of a Nationally-known adaptive technology company to
invite him to participate with us.  He turned us down saying that
he did not want to share the stage with The National federation of
the Blind.  I might also add that this gentleman is blind.  His
attitude would later cost him a customer.  We posted some messages
on nfb-talk and Blind-talk, two of the Federation=FEs Internet
Mailing lists to find out if any other local chapters or state
affiliates had ever participated in a show such as this and what
pointers they could give us, but we got no response.  However, we
did receive encouragement from several individuals including,
Curtis Chong, President of the National Federation of the Blind in
Computer science, David Andrews, Sysop for NFB Net, Richard Ring,
Director of the International Braille and Technology Center, and
tommy craig our state President.  It became clear to us that we
were boldly going what no local chapter or state affiliate had
never gone; participating in a mainstream computer show.  We would
have to feel our way, and blaze a trail never followed before, but
since we had made the decision to participate we wouldn't let these
obstacles hold us back.  We would put on the best show with what
resources we had within our chapter rather than look for someone to
blame for any shortcoming on our part and not making excuses on wy
it couldn't be done.  After all, if we want the general public to
believe in our abilities we must first believe in ourselves and in
our ability to get the job done no matter what challenges were set
before us.  We were going to do what we could with what we had to
pull this event off and prove that when a local chapter is strong=20
and has strong leadership it is able to do many meaningful things
to improve the lives of the blind persons in the community it
serves.  It was just a matter of following the old maxim:
When the going gets tough the tough get going!=20
As  the show date drew closer things gradually fell in to place.=20
One night several of us including Jim Sofka, Scott EDWards Mary and
myself had a pizza party at our apartment to discuss matters of
concern with Mrs. awalt and to get logistical matters worked out.=20
She explained some of the areas of the show where we could exhibit.
One of these was an area called the web wall where various
organizations and individuals could display their web sites and to
explain what they had to offer visitors.  Another area was The
Electronic Community which is a setup featuring various
environments where pc=FEs could be found,including the kitchen, the
living room, the study room, classroom, offices, and more.  One of
these was an adaptive technology area where we would demonstrate
adaptive technology.  However this never materialized.  In the end,
we set up in an area for vendors of computer hardware, software,
supportive technology as well as various concerns who use computers
extensively in their businesses.  We shared center stage with such
concerns as The San Antonio Express News, our local newspaper, The
International Bank of Commerce, (IBC), and Diamond Computers just
to name a few but there were many more present.  The important
thing was that we were taking our message of hope, and a positive
view of blindness to the Internet Community, to help its members
understand our concerns about our continued ability to have
unlimited access to the Information superhighway, and our ability
to compete for jobs requiring one to use a personal computer in
today=FEs high tech and graphically  intensive interface World.
About a month later we gathered here again for another pizza party
and to finalize our arrangements for the Internet odyssey.  Through
Mrs. Awalt we learned about the seminars that would be occurring
throughout the Internet Odyssey and we made a request to conduct a
seminar of our own.  These seminars covered everything from The
Basics of using the Internet to such topics as using services such
as Real Audio, (A program that allows one to listen to radio
broadcasts from around the World over the Internet), designing
World Wide Web Pages, and video conferencing; the conducting of
business meetings and even seminars from a headquarters site to
field offices around the World via the Internet.  Our request was
granted.  We would give our presentation on Monday, October 28 at
5 p.m.  During this meeting we planned the program for the seminar
and discussed other details.  In the weeks before the event we
worked out the final details of our participation in the show.=20
Professor Wadsworth turned the transportation matters over to a
Mrs. Margaret Halsema, the wife of Yahn Halsema, a local musician
who specializes in composing midi and New Age music.  He is also
known for his work with the electric saxophone.  Mrs. Halsema in
turn enlisted one of her associates to help with transportation,
but due to a sudden family illness e was unable to assist her.=20
Mrs. Halsema handled transportation for our participating members
to and from the convention center by herself.  This was no easy
task as San Antonio is quite large and our members live on opposite
sides of town.  Lisa Hall and I went to the convention center on
the morning of October 26 to set up the equipment to install the
screen reading software, and to install Procomm Plus from
Quarterdack Software.  This package would allow us to access our
accounts via  Dos.  We did this as many of our members did not
know, or were just learning  Microsoft  Windows at that time.  And
to make things even more interesting this was the first time that
any of us used  Netscape Navigator since none of us knew how to use
a Windows Web browser, but we wanted to show folks that Internet
access via Windows was possible.  After our network connection was
working I got a crash course in how to use Netscape Navigator, and
to be honest about it.  it was not all that hard to use as it uses
the standard Windows interface.  In addition jaws for Windows has
macros that make Navigator more speech friendly.  We also brought
down the literature to be distributed during the show.  But unknown
to us we were in for a few surprises.  The first was that our ride
never showed up as the gentleman who was to take us to the
convention center that morning was the same one who had to deal
with the sudden family illness so we took a cab to the convention
center.  This gave us a chance to go by Kinco's Copy Center to pick
up several of the articles we would distribute during the show as
they made copies of them for us.
We were not prepared for what awaited us upon arriving at the north
hall where the Internet Odyssey was being  held.  The scene was
more reminiscent of a warehouse rummage sale instead of a computer
exhibition.  When we walked in we encountered scaffolding, large
bags,  barrels, boxes,trash,  pieces of plywood  and machinery
scattered and parked everywhere.  The air conditioning was not
running and it was a hot day.  The humidity in that room wa fierce.
The place smelled of oil, gasoline, tar and dust was everywhere.=20
Because we had good travel skills we traversed this obstacle course
with ese.  However we sprung a few unexpected booby traps which
sent a shower of packing peanuts all over us or we nearly ended up
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