A Breakdown of Paratransit Services

Transportation for people with disabilities can sometimes get complicated. In this three-part series, we will share some important things to help you become more comfortable and a transportation pro. Our second post focuses on making the most of paratransit services.

The Americans with Disabilities Act requires public transit agencies providing fixed-route services to offer “complementary paratransit” service to people with disabilities who cannot use the fixed-route bus or rail service because of a disability if 100 percent of their vehicles are not fully accessible. Some communities with accessible fleets will still provide a paratransit service.

Paratransit overview 

As a door-to-door program, paratransit services pick up riders at the desired address and drop them off at their final destination. All trip routes must be within the fixed-route service area, typically a ¾ mile radius surrounding the fixed-route delivery service area.

Rides must be scheduled between 24 hours and two weeks in advance, depending on the paratransit service. The ADA allows providers to negotiate trip times with the customer, but no more than an hour before or after the requested time.

Who is paratransit for?

Some disabilities or limitations may prevent individuals from getting to their transit stop or station. For example:

Eligibility 

The ADA uses three categories to determine paratransit eligibility.

  1. Someone who, because of their disability, cannot independently board, ride, or disembark from an accessible fixed-route bus.

  2. Someone who cannot use the fixed-route system because that system is not fully accessible. Either the vehicles on the route that the person wants to use are not accessible, the stop is not accessible, or the person’s mobility device cannot fit on the lift of the fixed-route vehicle.

  3. A person with a disability, combined with environmental factors such as heat or cold, cannot always use a fixed-route bus system.

Paratransit eligibility can be both trip-specific and may be either permanent or temporary.

Applying for services 

Usually, riders apply for services through the fixed-route company. A local community’s Department of Aging or a city’s Health and Family Services division may also oversee paratransit services.

Most paratransit services require an application. Medical documentation may be required to provide specific information about the individual’s disability and limitations. Individuals may also need to complete an interview or functional evaluation to determine eligibility. 

Individuals will typically be notified of their eligibility within 21 days of their application. Anyone denied services can appeal the decision. Service provider grievance procedures may vary depending on the transit agency or the paratransit service provider.

Fares will vary between the different programs. 

Omaha residents interested in paratransit services must download and complete a Metro Transit application. For assistance with this application, call (402) 341-0800. In other cities, such as Papillion, contact Special Transportation Services at (402) 680-3970 and La Vista/Ralston Special Services Bus at (402) 657-3550.

Understanding Fixed-Route Services Under the ADA

Transportation for people with disabilities can sometimes become complicated. In this three-part series, we will share some important things to help you become more comfortable and a transportation pro. Our first post focuses on making the most of fixed-route services.

Passed in 1990, the Americans with Disabilities Act is a federal civil rights law protecting people with disabilities from discrimination. The law ensures equal treatment of all people, regardless of any disability. The five sections of the ADA dealing with different aspects of public life include:

Title II of the ADA

This section relates to public programs, services, and activities a public entity provides. It protects people with disabilities from discrimination in public transportation. The U.S. Department of Transportation issues regulations that define your rights under Title II of the ADA.

Title II of the ADA applies to public transportation services such as city buses, commuter rail, subway stations, Amtrak, and paratransit services. Title III of the ADA applies to private transportation services such as hotel shuttles, private buses, vans, and taxis.

Fixed-route is one service covered under public transportation. This includes any city’s regular bus system, light rail, or rapid transit routes. We will cover the second service–demand response–in the third post of this series.

The fixed-route system transports individuals by public entities and follows a prescribed route according to a fixed schedule. Under the law, transit entities are required to provide and maintain services and equipment that allow individuals with disabilities to access:

Public entity personnel must understand how the vehicles and equipment operate. They should also know how to interact appropriately with any person, regardless of their disability. Bus drivers need to pay attention to people boarding their vehicles so they can assist people with different disabilities as needed. 

Common accommodations

Here are some accommodations fixed-route drivers should use when needed by someone with a disability.

Complete complaint procedures vary depending on the transportation agency. You should contact your local agency’s customer service department to find out how you would file a complaint. 

If you use Omaha’s fixed-route system and need to file a complaint, use Metro’s online comment form. You can also call the customer service line at 402.341.0800 or 402.341.0807 (TDD).

When making a complaint, you must provide:

The National Rural Transit Assistance Program has an excellent Fixed-Route Bus Service Requirements tool kit that covers other topics, such as proper bus stop access.

Enhancing Accessibility With These Life Changing Inventions

Have you ever wondered where devices or technology for the blind and visually impaired came from? When did people first start reading braille? How were those dots on the page formed? 

Talking books are another accessible format besides reading in braille. Who recorded the first talking/audiobook? Or what about computers that speak to you, commonly known as screen reading software?

Where did this technology come from? Who invented it? In honor of National Inventors Month, let’s learn about famous inventions those with vision loss use daily to live more independently.

The invention of braille 

Let’s start with one of the most popular and recognizable inventions in the blind community. Created for reading and writing, braille revolutionized the lives of the blind through literacy, education, employment, and independence.

Blind people access braille through a series of tactile dots on paper. Born in France in 1809, Louis Braille lost his vision from an accident as a small child. His family enrolled him in the Royal Institution for Blind Youth in Paris after realizing he could not learn through listening alone.

While there, Braille began crafting a reading and writing system by touch during his teenage years. He continued to perfect the system and, as an adult, became an instructor at the institution. 

Unfortunately, Braille’s method was not accepted by the sighted instructors, and he died in 1852, never seeing his creation used by the blind. Eventually, the code was accepted, and today, this system of raised dots is used worldwide. 

The braille code consists of letters, numbers, and symbols. It is not another language. The alphabet is based on a cell composed of six or eight dots arranged in two columns of three or four dots each. 

Each braille letter of the alphabet or other symbol, such as a comma, is formed using one or more of the dots in the cell. Braille is usually found in a large book format on double-sided paper to maximize space and can be read for math, science, and music. 

The invention of the talking book

When Thomas Edison applied for a patent for his Tin-Foil Phonograph in 1877, one of the ten potential uses he listed was “…phonograph books, which will speak to blind people without effort on their part.” It took over 50 years before the phonograph could be used for talking books because of technology and economic challenges. In 1931, the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) and Library of Congress Books for the Adult Blind Project established the Books for the Blind, a “Talking Books Program” intended to provide reading material for veterans injured during World War I and other visually impaired adults.

Later, Learning Ally and the American Printing House for the Blind produced talking books. The first test recordings in 1932 included a chapter from Helen Keller’s Midstream and Edgar Allan Poe’s The Raven.

The organization received congressional approval for exemption from copyright and free postal distribution of talking books. The first recordings made for the Talking Books Program in 1934 included sections of the Bible, the Declaration of Independence, and other patriotic documents, plays, and sonnets by Shakespeare, and fiction by Gladys Hasty Carroll, E. M. Delafield, Cora Jarrett, Rudyard Kipling, John Masefield, and P. G. Wodehouse.

Talking books evolved from the early days of vinyl records. Cassette tapes were used in the 1960s and 1970s, and compact disks emerged in the 1980s and 1990s. Today, talking books can be accessed digitally from a computer or smartphone.

Reading materials now include fiction, nonfiction, magazines, foreign languages, and other selections. Audiobooks have gained universal mass appeal, and sighted and blind people enjoy them. 

The invention of the screen reader

In 1986, Jim Thatcher, an IBM researcher and accessibility pioneer, created the IBM Screen Reader for DOS, the first IBM screen reader.

At first, it wasn’t trademarked because it was primarily for low-vision staff members. Since it was created for DOS, a text-based desktop operating system, he later created Screen Reader 2. This would be used for graphical interface PCs like Windows 95 and IBM OS/2. 

Freedom Scientific produced JAWS, the world’s most popular screen reader for DOS and Windows. Released in 2006, Nonvisual Desktop Access is a free open-source screen reader for Windows.

Microsoft has a built-in screen reader called Narrator. Orca is a free open-source screen reader for Linux from the GNOME project.

In 2009, Apple announced a new feature called VoiceOver to make its products more accessible to people with visual impairments using the iPhone’s touch interface. Apple began incorporating VoiceOver into the iPhone 3GS.

VoiceOver is now the screen reader built into Apple operating systems, including macOS, iOS/iPadOS, and WatchOS. Google was not far behind with its version, TalkBack for Android devices and ChromeVox for ChromeOS.

These inventions for blind people have transformed the lives of people with vision loss. Reading braille, listening to audiobooks, and using devices with screen reading technology build confidence and enhance independence. Contact Outlook Enrichment to learn more about these devices.

Explore Android’s Accessibility Features

If you ask a blind or visually impaired person which smartphone they use, they will most likely respond with “iPhone.” However, a substantial number of Android users exist. 

Once considered inaccessible to the blind and visually impaired, Android phones have become a viable option. Similar to iPhones, the two main accessibility features on Android are a screen reader and a screen magnifier.

The screen reader is called Talkback, and the screen magnifier is called Magnification. 

This blog provides a general overview of these two features that are considered adaptive technology for the blind.

TalkBack

As a screen reader, Talkback provides text-to-speech feedback. Turn on Talkback in settings. It is found in the accessibility settings under “Vision.”

Once turned on, basic gestures and taps give you full access to the phone’s contents and features. Moving a single finger across the screen provides voice feedback for the highlighted item. 

Double-tapping with one finger will activate an item. Swiping left to right will move forward or backward. Talkback will also speak notifications, text messages, and information displayed in apps. 

Magnification 

The second major accessibility feature is called Magnification. As the name implies, this feature magnifies the contents of the screen. Magnification can also be enabled under the Vision options in the phone accessibility settings.

Once turned on, a single-finger triple-tap will activate Magnification. Adjusting the level of magnification is done by using the pinch gesture. To zoom in, place your thumb and index finger on the screen and slowly spread them apart. 

To zoom out, reverse the gesture by bringing your thumb and index finger closer together. To move around the screen, place two fingers on the screen and move them up/down or left to right. Both Talkback and Magnification work on all apps. This gives you full access to Android’s functionality, including text messaging, email, and mobile web browsing. 

Once you activate Talkback or Magnification, you will be prompted to go through a short tutorial. It is strongly recommended that you run through these tutorials, which will provide a basic introduction to the accessibility features. 

These tutorials are worth going through because both these accessibility features alter the way you navigate and interact with the phone. Jumping into these features without a basic introduction can be overwhelming and confusing. 

Another important note is to utilize accessibility shortcuts. These give you quick access to accessibility features, avoiding repeatedly going through the settings menus. Accessibility shortcuts let you turn Talkback and Magnifier off and on quickly. Depending on your phone’s model, this is done in one of two ways.

Accessibility features available 

The first is by pressing and holding the volume up and down buttons. Another option is to place an icon on the screen that will bring up the accessibility menu with just one tap.

Once you have the basics down, you can play around with various accessibility options. Talkback settings allow you to change the voice output, the speech rate, and more. 

These adjustments will allow you to customize Talkback to suit your preferences best. Magnification also offers customization. 

For this post, we focused on the two main features of the blind and visually impaired. However, other options can be beneficial. These include high contrast mode, large fonts, and bold text.

It’s worth exploring the options under the Vision section for Android accessibility settings. Go ahead and play around with the different options–you won’t break the phone! If you do not like a setting, you can easily turn it off.

If you want to learn more about Android accessibility, phones, or other devices, your next step is to check out the Adaptive Tech program at Outlook Enrichment. This program offers tech training for computers and mobile devices. Learning new tech can be overwhelming and intimidating, but an Adaptive Tech trainer can help guide you and provide further instruction.

How the iPhone Revolutionizes Accessibility

Today’s smartphones, like the iPhone or Android, offer many accessibility apps for the blind or features for people with vision loss. This blog post focuses on the iPhone because it’s the most popular choice among blind and visually impaired users. The two main accessibility features are Voiceover, a screen reader, and Zoom, a screen magnifier. The feature to use depends on your level of sight loss. Voiceover is best for blind users, and Zoom is for people with vision loss. Voiceover provides audio feedback, while Zoom magnifies the screen.

Utilizing Voiceover & Zoom

Voiceover reads aloud what is displayed on the screen, including icons, notifications, and text messages. You accomplish this by moving your fingers across the screen and tapping on it. For example, placing one finger on an icon will speak its name. Tapping twice with one finger will activate the selected icon. Swiping left-to-right will speak to the next icon in the row. These are just some of the basics. Using a combination of gestures and taps will give you full control of and access to your iPhone.

Zoom allows you to magnify the screen. A three-finger double-tap activates it. Zooming in and out is done by placing three fingers on the screen and moving them up and down.  When zoomed in, Scrolling is done by moving three fingers across the screen. The Zoom feature is especially useful when inputting text by enlarging the on-screen keyboard. Zoom can also supplement other iPhone capabilities. Pinch-to-zoom magnifies the view of a webpage or photo. For users with higher magnification needs, pinch-to-zoom with the Zoom accessibility feature allows for increased magnification levels.

The Voiceover and Zoom features are found in the Settings app. Tap on Settings, scroll down a bit, and you will find the Accessibility category. Tapping on either Voiceover or Zoom will take you to a sub-menu. You can turn the feature on or off and make further adjustments here. You can adjust the speech rate and pitch for Voiceover and select your preferred speaking voice. For Zoom, you can change the level of magnification, adjust controls, and which parts of the screen to magnify.

Tips and Tricks

One important point is that you should not be afraid to play around with any settings. You will not break the phone. Settings can be turned on or off at any time, allowing you to tailor the experience to your individual preferences. 

Other features specific to the blind include braille support, high contrast mode, bold text, and dark mode. You can learn more about the iPhone’s accessibility apps for the blind and its features by visiting the Apple Accessibility website. It is worth checking out some of the other features, which you might find very useful.

Another important tip is to use the triple-click feature. Pressing the power button three times will bring up the accessibility shortcut menu. From this menu, you can quickly turn accessibility features on and off. This way, you don’t have to go digging through Settings. As it is not on by default, from the main accessibility settings menu, scroll down to the bottom to turn it on. This is a pro tip that any iPhone user relying on accessibility features must use. 

Hopefully, these tips give you an overview of features and accessibility apps for the blind and visually impaired using an iPhone. If you want to learn more, check out the Adaptive Tech program at Outlook Enrichment. This program offers tech training for computers and mobile devices. Learning new tech can be a bit intimidating and overwhelming. An Adaptive Tech trainer can help guide you and provide further instruction.

Get to Know Refreshable Braille Displays

As an electro-mechanical device, a refreshable braille display allows users to give input and receive output in this digital age via braille. Refreshable braille devices display the braille characters along a flat surface using raised dots. Typical braille devices have braille refreshable cells, numbering 14 up to 80 depending on the model, cursor routing keys above each braille cell, and a Perkins keyboard for input. Each braille device can offer various controls, applications, and functionality, allowing users to connect their devices to a computer or mobile device.

Discover the benefits

Resources for the blind have become an important tool in today’s modern world. The larger braille displays offer customer service representatives a quiet way to access customer information while on the phone, while computer programmers can use the display to edit their code. The smaller, more compact models allow students and professionals to take notes, send emails, and share documents quietly and efficiently. A braille device can offer beginning readers clear and crisp braille for easier recognition. Although braille displays should never replace paper braille as a tool for teaching braille, braille educators use paper braille and braille devices to reinforce braille students’ comprehension and accuracy.

Most portable braille devices give users three basic functions:

Basic braille devices

These displays can be connected as a peripheral device to a computer or mobile device via a USB cable or Bluetooth connection. The Mantis Q40 or the Chameleon 20 are examples of braille devices offering basic functions such as word processors, calculators, clocks, and book readers.

Devices with more functionality

However, other resources for the blind can offer more functionality, which in turn increases their cost. For example, the BrailleSense U2 Mini has a Windows-based operating system and contains familiar controls for Windows users, while the BrailleSense Polaris is Android-based and allows users to utilize Google applications.

Previously, refreshable braille displays cost thousands of dollars, if not tens of thousands. Their costs have decreased in recent years. A portable braille device can cost between $2,000 and $3,000.

However, as its name suggests, the smaller models, such as the Focus 14 Blue, only have 14 braille cells but cost a little over $1,000. The Orbit Reader 20 is one of the most affordable models on the market, priced at $599 today. It may only offer basic functionality on the device itself, but its capability to connect to other devices allows the user to interact with the world through braille.

As technology evolves, resources for the blind are growing to keep up with trends. Braille users have more options available than ever before. Technology has not rendered braille obsolete. Braille devices are providing more access for braille users. It’s an exciting time for technology, which includes refreshable braille devices.

Outlook Enrichment’s adaptive technology trainers can show you how to use refreshable braille devices. Call (531) 365-5314 to learn more.