Interviews to Empower Presents: S. J. Wells

Hello, and welcome to the last edition of Interviews to Empower. Anita here with you, and I am so glad you are with us today. These interviews have inspired me and my colleague, S. J. Wells, and we pray that they have been an encouragement to you. As it is our last post, I thought I would interview S. J. So, without further adue, here is author of Christian fiction and my friend, S. J. Wells.

Q: What is your eye condition, and how long have you been blind?

A: I was born with congenital glaucoma, catteracts and scar tissue. I had some vision in my left eye for 21 years, but the summer of 2000 my pressure went down to 4, and I lost my remaining vision.

Q: I remember now; you had to have an eye removed. How did that affect you and your family? Was it a hard decision, or was it just a necessity?

A: Losing my vision was the hard part; losing the eye was easy. I was in pain, and the eye did not look normal. I think it was harder on my family, though, than it was for me. And, I had only been married for a few months, so my husband got to hear me complain more than the rest of them. The person who hurt the most over it, I think was my mom.

Q: Are you the only one in your family who is blind?

A: Yes. I am the oldest of 4 girls, and except for needing glasses or contacts, I am the only one considered blind. My parents didn’t treat me any different, though. Mom taught me to wash dishes and clean house alongside my sisters, Dad taught me to ride a tricycle, and blindness was never an excuse for bad grades. :)

Q: How old were you when you started to receive orientation and mobility?

A: I was introduced to the cane when I was 10. It made me feel different than my classmates, so I wouldn’t use it, though. Then, in 7th grade I was taught to use it properly. I used to rely on friends to be sighted guides, but when my dependence on them kept them from wanting to be my friend, I gladly took up the cane and became more independent.

Q: Did you go to public school, then?

A: Mostly. I attended public school until my junior year of high school. Then, I went to the West Virginia School for the Blind. I graduated from there in 1997 as Salutatorian of my class.

Q: Did you attend college?

A: For a semester I went to Kutztown University in Kutztown, PA, but I got home sick and begged my parents to bring me home. I took some independent living classes from the West Virginia Rehabilitation Center, such as cooking, O&M, and computers. Those 3 months of intense O&M were important and would become the single most useful blindness skill in my life.

Q: You use a cane, then?

A: Yes, but I did have a guide dog from 1998 to 2006.

Q: Let’s talk about now. What do you do for a living?

A: Well, I got married in 2000, so I am a wife. My first daughter was born in 2005. My youngest was born in 2007, so I am a mom. I homeschool my girls, I attend church with my minister husband, and I write books.

Q: Tell us about your writing. What made you want to be an author?

A: I used to get books on records or tapes from my local Library Commission, and for years those books were my best friends. Then, when I was 15, I thought, why not write a Christian story like these Westerns I’ve been reading. That idea over the next 15 years became my first novel, “Wild Heart”

Q: A reader driven author. But, you didn’t stop with “Wild Heart”, which, BTW, I remember helping you with in high school.

A: No, I didn’t stop there. :) “Wild Heart” needed a sequel, so I wrote one. It’s called, “To Tame A Heart”. Then, I wrote a Scottish, time travel romance called, “A Moment in Time”. My 4th book is “His Yankee Wife”. Last May I published a book based on a true story about a man who became paralyzed when he dove into a 4 foot pool called, “Caleb’s Story”.

Q: Wow! And, folks can read more about you and your books on your website?

A: Yes, it’s www.sjwellsauthor.com.

Q: What made you decide to come on board with our book, “Ducking into UEB”?

A: First, I knew the book would be good and helpful for students and teachers, alike. Your love for your students comes out in everything you do. Also, I love writing kids’ fiction, even though I don’t feel it is my strong point. I wanted your book to succeed, and I wanted to be a part of it. I wrote “A Quackin’ Adventure” one night after telling the story to my girls before bed. But, I had no plans for it, and I was having difficulty finding an illustrator. So, when you asked if I had any fictional material lying around, I gave it to you, willingly. I am thrilled to see it doing so well.

Q: So, what is next?

A: I’m currently working on my 6th book called, “You Belong to Me”. It’s about a man who is called by God to go preach in the colonies who is captured by pirates and sold to a sharp-tongued woman desperate to save her farm.

Q” Sounds interesting. Can folks follow you on Facebook, too?

A: Yes. facebook.com/sjwellsuathor/

Q: If you were to give any advice to someone facing sight loss, what would it be?

A: Don’t give up. There is always a way. Trust in God; He will not fail you. Get in touch with those in the blindness community, and learn all you can. Don’t be afraid of your cane or of your blindness, but embrace your differences and learn to laugh.

Q: Anything else you would like to add?

A: Yes, there is. I have thoroughly enjoyed writing on this blog with you. I have been challenged and encouraged by those whom we have interviewed and by you pushing me out of my comfort zone. I may not have ever tried to get a book published, if you had not believed in me all those years ago. Thank you for being my friend and for being tough on me.

Well, I have learned a lot from this writing project with you. And, faithful readers, keep in mind that while we will not be posting any new material to this blog, it will remain up for you to come back to as often as you want.

Thank you, S. J. Wells for being the interviewee this time.

Thank you, Anita for allowing me to be a part of your project.

Together we make a good team. :) Y’all come over and be with us on Facebook, okay? facebook/com/adkinsandwells/ and you can always email us at adkinsandwells@gmail.com

Blessings to you all

Anita Adkins and S. J. Wells

Authors of “Ducking into UEB”

Seeing AI

Hi there. Anita here with you today. Accessible apps are becoming more and more common, and those of us who are blind and visually impaired are relying on them more and more. This week, we are going to explore the Seeing AI app.

Seeing Ai is from Microsoft. I hesitate to demo this app because most of you might already be familiar with it. But anyone new with it might enjoy this post along with anyone, like me, who has just discovered the color identifier channel. Practically all color identifiers I have used, including units specifically made for the purpose and apps do not do a good job at identifying color. One such unit I discovered that is very accurate is the one that comes with the Milestone, a sort of portable music player/recorder. And now, I present to you the one that is part of Seeing AI, and which is fairly accurate. 

Like all of the channels, the color channel has the menu, quick help, pause announcements, and channel preview  buttons. Some channels also have take picture buttons. To move to these buttons, simply flick left and right. Then double tap to activate a button, if using VoiceOver. When you take a picture or dive into the menu system, there is often a close button that you must double tap to reach the main screen again. 

What I like about Seeing AI is that it has a feature that causes it to automatically "see" what your camera is pointed at. If it does not, then I just touch the middle of the screen and it should work. So to figure out what color something is, navigate to the color channel by flicking right until you reach the channel selector  and then flick up.  Then just point your camera toward something. I tend to hold the phone about one or two inches above the surface of the item. If you are new to using your camera, I suggest you begin by learning where it is on your phone, a tip that helped me when I first began. If you hold your phone with the home button toward your tummy and the screen facing the ceiling, then the camera should be on its underside, at the opposite end of the home button, and in the right corner. Center the camera over your material or a printed page, if using a text channel. You might find it helpful to place the phone flat on a surface in front of you with the material beneath it. Place your elbows on the table, especially for reading text. Slowly lift your phone off the surface. This may help you with leveling the phone and with centering the camera. With practice, you will probably move away from this, but I still use it myself on occasion. If you find you still struggle, remember that the phone must be parallel with the material. If it slants, which it may do without your realizing it as a beginner, it will not see the whole page or perhaps any of it. Practice will help you, and finding someone who can help you with the feel of its position may be helpful as well. Note that any time you take a picture, you will need to double tap the close button to return to the main screen. 

Let's briefly return to the topic of color identification. Remember lighting plays a significant role in how well the identifier "sees", and thus,  can match the color with its database. Again, I will praise Seeing AI because it is doing good with different lighting, though brighter areas provide more accuracy. I highly recommend you test it by using items you already know the color of in different locations, lighting situations, and maybe even at different times of the day before you rely on it. And even then, you may find it isn't reliable for important color decisions. One negative I find is that it doesn't always agree with itself about the color of something. So ask someone with vision to play with it with you or ask someone the color of your "test" items. Have fun!

Now, I will briefly give you a tour of the rest of Seeing AI. When the app opens, you are in the Short Text channel. I love this channel. Use it to quickly read anything in print. It may not see all of the text. One time in a local pharmacy, I played with it and found it will be very useful for me in a store. If you flick all the way to the right, you can then flick up and down to the different channels. So if you do this  on short text, you must go up. 

You will land on the Document channel. This is one of the channels with the Take Picture choice. Use this channel to take a picture of text. If you hold the phone above the paper, the app will tell you to hold steady when it "sees" the page, which is nice because you know you aren't tilting it, and it will automatically snap the picture. Otherwise, double tap the Take Picture button. 

The next channel up is the product channel. Use it to identify products by their barcodes, for example, canned items, boxed items, CD's, bottles, and pretty much anything with a barcode on it. It is tricky to do this because you don't always know where the barcode is. If you find it, the app will cause a beeping sound, which gets faster the closer you are to the barcode, or so it claims. The beeping definitely means it sees a barcode. Barcodes are generally near the crease on a can. Ask someone with vision to show them to you so you can learn where they are. When searching for the barcode, I stand my phone on its end with the camera end closer to the ceiling and the home button end closer to the counter, if that makes sense. Again, it may be better to practice with someone's help at first.

Next is the person channel. Be warned; it may help you feel younger, but then again, it may tell you are much older and of the opposite gender, smiley. To use it, point it toward yourself or someone and flick left to the Take Picture button; then double tap. Be sure to ask before taking someone else's photo, and respect their decision. One neat thing about this channel is that you can teach it to recognize a person. To do this, flick left to Menu button. Double tap. Flick right to Face Recognition and double tap. This screen will provide you with an add button and also a list of recognizable people you have previously stored. Flick left and right to move among the choices. To add a new person's face, double tap add. Now, it will ask you to take three photos of the person. It recommends the person do this on their own. Follow the prompts, but after you take the pictures, I think it brings you to the screen where you type the person's name and then tap the save button. I cannot walk through it with you because I do not have anyone I can snap a photo of, except myself, but I already stored mine in there a while back. Anyhow, at any time, double tap the back or close button until you get back to the main screen, if you wish to cancel your choice.

It may automatically place  you here after adding your person. Now, if you point your phone toward them, it will call out their name the tell you where it sees them, for example, maybe straight in front of you.

Next, is the currency channel. Its purpose is obvious.

Next is scene preview. Instead of a person, you will take a picture of whatever is in front of you, and it will tell you what it thinks it sees. REMEMBER press the close button to return to the main screen.  

Next is color preview, which we have already discussed.

Next is handwriting preview. This is fun to play with, and can be accurate and useful.

Finally, there is the light channel. This provides tones to indicate how much light is present. I am not musically talented, but a very low tone seems to mean total darkness. I do have light perception, but if you don't, you may find this channel useful.

Outside Seeing AI, you can share photos with the app, and it  will describe them to you. To do this, just navigate to the share button and flick left or right until you hear "Recognize with Seeing AI", and then double tap. Flick left and right to hear the sceen preview and the description. If this choice is not available under share, then on the share screen, double tap more, the one all the way at the far right, and flick left or right until you hear "Recognize with Seeing AI." Double tap this choice to turn it on. Then, you should be set. I have not tried, but I think I heard somewhere it can also recognize PDF documents.

This is a basic overview of Seeing AI. To demo, I used my iPhone 7, version 11.4,  with Seeing AI version 2.2.0. It is a free app, and it is also an excellent app. I hope you choose to try it. And remember, I am saying iPhone because I am testing with my iPhone, but this app may also work with other devices.

Thank you for being with me today as we explored the Seeing AI app. If you have anything to share, comment below.

Faithful readers, you all have been awesome, and we really appreciate your loyalty over the months since this blog began. That is why it saddens us to say that after this month, we will no longer be posting on here. The blog and all its content will remain available to you, as well as our Facebook page, facebook.com/adkinsandwells. We hope you will come over there and join us.

There will be an interview this month on Thursday, Aug. 23, so be sure and come back for that. It will be our last post. If any you have questions, please feel free to get in touch, but we feel that we can no longer devote the time and effort that you deserve.

Until next time, be blessed.