FRED'S HEAD, FROM APH

Crossword puzzles are a fun way to pass time and stimulate your mind. When you finish a crossword puzzle, getting all the right answers, there’s such a sense of accomplishment. Unfortunately, a traditional printed crossword puzzle isn’t accessible. There’s no way for someone who is blind to navigate the small boxes on the page – that’s until we got involved.
Crossword creates a game that everyone can play. Using a web browser, and a screen reader, a narrator brings you the crossword puzzle experience. All you have to do is choose a clue from either across or down, to get started. You can then hit the return key to go to the line of the puzzle where you can start typing in your answer. As you type, the screen reader will let you know if there are any letters that already exist on that line.
Available for desktop and mobile! To get started head to crossword.aphtech.org now.


Note: Crossword is available on modern internet browsers, such as Edge, Chrome, Firefox, and Safari. This works with …

In January, American Printing House (APH) let a small group of students in Florida experience the future of computer coding. Gathered around tables at an after-school program, students fiddled with the “pods” that make up Code Jumper, an accessible way to learn computer coding.
Developed by Microsoft and distributed by APH, Code Jumper is a way for students to learn coding by touching and listening. With Code Jumper students plug pods into each other to create lines of code. By building their codes, students can play music, tell stories and crack jokes.

“After observing our students interact with Code Jumper, I was most struck by their instant and sustained engagement and interest,” says Kyle Johnson, President of Lighthouse Central Florida. The children’s program at Lighthouse encourages socialization and independent living skills for children who are blind or visually impaired.
“Any time STEM-focused activities can be introduced to young people in a fun and interactive way, I belie…

American Printing House (APH) is ensuring its powerful location exploration app will lead the way in the field of accessible indoor navigation. After years of seeing great success with the app Nearby Explorer, APH saw an opportunity to take the technology to the next level.  The new company, Access Explorer, will continue to grow and adapt the technology to create a product that will continue to help users navigate new spaces independently.  “APH has been working in accessibility for more than 160 years, and indoor navigation technology is the new frontier of accessibility,” explains APH president Craig Meador.  “We are going to continue as a leader, convener, collaborator, and pioneer: this company is part of our commitment to making sure that navigation technology moves forward in a way that includes everyone.” To lead this new venture, APH has hired Jose Gaztambide as the CEO of Access Explorer. With a background in software design and development Gaztambide has the skills needed …

This week we celebrate the 140th anniversary of the signing of the Act to Promote the Education of the Blind by President Rutherford B. Hayes in 1879. In the 1870s, APH was a struggling company making excellent books that no one could afford to buy.  The Act was only the second piece of federal legislation addressing special education (the first created Gallaudet University). It created a fund of $10,000 from which students across the U.S. could draw to get accessible educational materials from the American Printing House. That stable funding gave the Printing House a foundation from which it could grow and innovate.  Back then it was just books, but today we provide a whole catalog of different products “for education and for life.”  The fund, we call the “Federal Quota”, was enlarged several times over the next 80 years, but by 1961, Congress realized it needed the flexibility to adjust the fund’s size without amending the Act on an annual basis. The solution was to move the appropr…

The American Printing House for the Blind (APH) and the American Foundation for the Blind (AFB) are announcing a web server location change for several key programs founded by AFB.
In February of 2018, APH and AFB were pleased to announce a partnership with the mutual goal of generating substantial impact on the lives of children and adults who are blind or visually impaired. On July 1, 2018, APH became the steward of several key programs founded by AFB and assumed responsibility for ensuring their continued impact. AFB has taken their work to a new level by investing in policy and programs focused on creating stronger social systems, and ultimately a more inclusive, accessible society for people with vision loss.
APH has become the caretaker of the following websites:
FamilyConnect.org – an online program that gives parents of children who are visually impaired a place to find resources and support. http://www.familyconnect.org
CareerConnect – now called APHCareerConnect.org – an online p…

You Start by Meeting Your AudienceWhen I started working at the Museum of the American Printing House for the Blind, I immediately knew something was wrong. The display cases open up to allow their contents to be touched, and there is not a single “Don’t Touch” sign in the building. I had a fairly conventional museum studies education and a fairly conventional job at a state history museum before this one, so it all seemed very unorthodox to me.
Years later, I see things differently. Our museum is located in the original 1883 building of the American Printing House for the Blind (APH) in Louisville, Kentucky. APH was founded in 1858 to supply accessible learning materials for students who are blind or visually impaired. Today, it is the largest such company in the world. How could we possibly justify exhibiting tactile globes and braille writing machines, teaching tools meant to be used by touch, under Plexiglas covers so that the very people they were designed to serve cannot “see” th…