Newspapers online now available to the visually impaired

Four mornings a week, James Johnson of Greenwood reads the Tribune-Star’s online edition aloud into his telephone, where it is recorded so it can be replayed by listeners who can’t read.Johnson, a retired high school teacher, reads the obituaries while other volunteers elsewhere in Indiana read other sections. He volunteers for Indiana Reading and Information Services, a service that gives people in Indiana with visual impairments or other reading difficulties the option to listen instead.Recording a reading takes about 15 minutes, Johnson said.

“I think this is very important for folks who are print-challenged,” he said.“It’s just wonderful that people can have access to printed material who either can’t read or can’t see very well,” Johnson said. “It’s a wonderful tool for people who miss the opportunity to read a newspaper or magazine.”Through the IRIS communication link, people can stay in touch with local news, current events and TV schedules. One can listen to recordings of various statewide newspapers’ publications being read on IRIS’ Web-based audio-streamed broadcasts, through the “Dial-up” toll-free phone line or by listening to IRIS’ live-radio broadcast out of Indianapolis.

Schedules of readings are posted online and telephone recordings are updated monthly. All three mediums are available 24 hours a day.“The schedule is pretty much set in stone, so you know what you’re going to hear when you call,” said Don Newman, IRIS’ statewide dial-up manager. Volunteers throughout Indiana are recorded in studios or from their home telephones.

The recordings are made available through IRIS.In addition to news coverage, listeners are provided with readings from newspapers’ advertisements, obituaries, comics and sports pages.Users have access to literature through IRIS’ book program. Volunteers select a book to read aloud while being recorded. The recordings are heard in one-hour increments throughout IRIS’ systems.“It’s very good for people who are still active and don’t have time to listen to entire recordings,” Newman said.

“Sometimes a broadcast might interfere with something else they have going on, so they are not bound by a schedule.”Callers accessing the dial-up are provided with an option to skip forward or backward through parts of recordings by pressing the eight and nine keys on a phone.Because of broadcast limitations, radio broadcasts can be heard by people living only within a 45-mile radius of downtown Indianapolis. People must apply to get an issued receiver from IRIS to have the capability of hearing the broadcast.Not just anyone can use the services IRIS provides.

Its use is limited to people who have visual or physical impairments, difficulty reading or lack of dexterity to turn pages, Newman said.“The certification process is real simple,” he said.Potential users are given a one-page application to complete. If approved, people are given access to its broadcasts and recordings, Newman said. People are issued a four-digit pass code and then they have access to the broadcasts and recordings.“Even though you live in Terre Haute, you can listen to anything on there,” Newman said. “By all means listen to as many recording that you’d like.”The program began in 1982 with radio broadcasts in Indianapolis by Thomas C. Hasbrook, a local politician blinded while serving in the U.S. military, Newman said.

“He knew the importance of staying in touch with one’s community.” Newman said.Jim Bertoli of the United Way said volunteers from the Wabash Valley are needed to continue the readings of local news. “We need to find volunteer readers who call in to an 800 number and read the front page articles, sport pages and obits while being recorded,” he said. “Volunteers would be responsible for reading particular sections and on specific days.”