Christmas Shopping, Part 2 - Under $100

Christmas Shopping, Part 1

Suppose you can spend a bit more than the "under $40 (or free)" gifts I suggested in the first Holiday Gifts post, what kind of "gifts of access" could you bring down the chimney?

(1) Great headsets: These matter. They support Speech Recognition, and if comfortable, help with text-to-speech. I love this one (priced here) from LTB, but other choices abound, such as this Plantronics behind the head model, this one from Logitech, or this very cool one from Creative. Pick what's comfortable, what's cool, whatever, but get a noise cancelling mic, and be sure it is a USB headset, that's always best for Speech Recognition. Anyway, $40 to $90 in the United States.

(2) The Gift of Jott and/or SpinVox: A friend of mine said, "Of course Jott is worth paying for." And if it helps, then, why not? For $3.95 per month, or, well, you can go up to $12.95/month or buy minute packs, you give the gift of speech-to-text conversion and safety on the road, the ability to remind yourself of things or take notes - and much, much more. SpinVox, which does "the opposite" - converts your voicemail into text. I pay $5.00 per month on Alltel.

(3) A Canon LiDE scanner with OmniPageLE: Convert any text into readable digital text with these cheap ($50 to $100) "backpackable" scanners which don't even need to be plugged into an electrical outlet (powered by USB alone). They come with a great "light" version of OmniPage that is one of the best optical character recognition (OCR) systems available.

(4) The "Personal Version" of NaturalReader: NaturalReader is a fabulous free product, but for $50 you get to add instant mp3 conversion, reading within Word and PowerPoint, and two AT+T Natural Voices. If voice quality and ease of use matters, it's only $50.

(5) A ScanR subscription: ScanR converts photographed documents (or whiteboards) from your 2 megapixel or better mobile phone camera, into readable digital text. You can use it a few times a month for free, but for $3 or ₤2.50 a month you can use it all you want.


(6) Alternative Mice: Fix those dexterity or stamina issues. How about 3M's Renaissance Mouse for $55. Or a Logitech Trackball ($50 to $70). Or the wireless Mouse Pen ($56). Or the BIGtrack Ball ($79 or $99).

(7) Alternative Keyboards: So many choices to make computer users more comfortable (and don't forget the free Click-N-Type On-screen version, a perfect match with the Renaissance Mouse), but for $50 you can have a Dvorak keyboard. For ₤25 (UK only) you can have an ABC keyboard. For $60 you can have a Microsoft Wireless Ergonomic Keyboard with built-in magnifier.

(8) Skype Subscription: Keep people in touch, and think about combining Skype with hands-free control in Windows Vista. You could help un-isolate a person. Add a webcam and let people see for themselves.

(9) Under $100 mp3 Players: Sure iPods are cool, they're also expensive. How about a Sansa Fuze for $80? Or a Zen Stone for $40. Either will hold a lot of books, which, if you want to buy, you can buy if you can't find everything you want for free.

(10) An unlimited texting plan for a mobile phone: For $60 to $100 a year you can give the gift of texting, and all it can accomplish in alternative communication.

but you could also buy five copies of The Drool Room and pass them out to friends.

- Ira Socol

Note: Lon Thornburg is collecting Christmas AT Gift Ideas at his AT Blog Carnival - for last minute shopping (December 15) release.

Christmas Shopping

Yes, we're in the middle of a "global financial meltdown." Yes, things look grim. But Christmas is coming (or your Solstice-related holiday of choice), and you do want something under the tree, in the stocking, by the menorah.

So let's keep it inexpensive, but, let's make it meaningful.

Have a friend with special access needs for information and communication? Why not give them an AccessApps drive. For less than $10/₤5/€6 you can buy a 2gb Flash Drive and load it with this brilliant software suite from Scotland's RSC. The download and install is as simple as it gets, and the drive offers a full suite of programs - including the full OpenOffice suite - that will run on any Windows computer. (full list of included programs)

Is there a teacher on your list? There might be a book that will change their thoughts on "disability." You could do worse (I would of course say) than The Drool Room (by Ira David Socol)- $16/₤13/€14 - It's also available as an accessible pdf from lulu.com. (Audiobook in progress) The Drool Room tracks a dylexic, adhd student through school and beyond, and looks closely at the dynamics of the classroom from this "outsider" perspective.

Or, Peter Høeg’s Borderliners ($12/₤10/€11). Borderliners is a stunning look at good intentions in education, and at how those intentions are received by children "on the borderline."

Or Mark Haddon's The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time. ($12/₤10/€11) Haddon's book is a must read, a fascinating portrait of life on the Autism Spectrum.

If they'd prefer a film (we don't all like to read, after all), there's Taare Zameen Par, a wonderful Indian film about a dyslexic boy (pricey, at $35 the only place I found with it in stock).

If that teacher would rather have a book about classroom practice, Liz Kolb's Toys to Tools: Connecting Student Cell Phones to Education ($35) is a great choice.

You could also spend almost nothing, and give your teacher a CD with the pdfs of great reading from FutureLab, like Learner Engagement, or Designing for Social Justice: people, technology, learning, or Perspectives on early years and digital technologies, or What if...? Re-imagining learning spaces, or any of their other wonderful reports.

Or simply re-construct a friend or family member's browser as a gift. Install Firefox with Click-Speak or FireVox. Add dictionaries, dictionary switchers, translators, mappers. Set up their bookmark bar for fabulous sites like Ghotit and Google Maps, Gutenberg and the UVA ebook library and the Literature Network, SpokenText and VozMe. Or make it bigger, move on to setting up Skype for them, or installing the free Natural Reader, WordTalk, PowerTalk, Microsoft Reader.

And don't forget those school kids - Google Earth, GraphCalc, Firefox Dictionaries to support language learning, Google Notebook, Google Calendar (which will text their phones when appointments or due dates are coming), Google Docs, Lotus Symphony for those kids sitting with Microsoft Works on their home computers.

Or give the gift of setting up a mobile phone to take advantage of Jott or Dial2Do, AbbyMe, ChaCha or 4info.

There are surely a thousand other choices, but you get the idea. Don't spend a fortune this holiday season - make it an "Access Christmas" instead. Contribute to making the world a more open place, where we all the right to reach for the communications and information we need.

- Ira Socol