A4E last meeting and two past projects

There is a new button on my blog it is a link to my calendar, I have not yet got it to work properly (at present anyone can access it)
but I hope that it will aid me in organising all the different things that I am doing. The biggest obstacle I want to overcome with it is the time that it takes me to put in a job application, I am very good at looking for jobs. However because of the not so accessible application forms that the majority of companies put out, it becomes a impossible task without help to filling these things on time. Hopefully the calendar will highlight some of the issues that I have and the time that it takes me to complete an application form.

a4e found me some paperwork that were Microsoft Word files, in the hope that it would be easier for me to filling the stuff required to sign up to the program. I managed to complete the straightforward ones, some would not open clearly on open office, this should not be a problem as my new computer has arrived and it has MS word on it! I will set the new computer up on Thursday! The document entitled About You initial assessment was a pain in the ass to complete because of the level of fields in it to make it look pretty, my screen reader could not read it I tried to simplify it but this was difficult as I could not read what I was doing I tried cutting and pasting paragraphs into WordPad but this was tedious! After five hours by chance my sister called me from Cornwall, she could tell I was tired and angry, and said that if I came down to see her (as I haven't seen her for four years) she would help me fill in the form. A little around the houses but at least it got, done.


Things completed
the CAD course at Enham would not affect the stuff that I am doing with a4e
the disabled adviser with BCoT college, can ring me direct to see if they would be able to deal with my literacy needs
Things to be done
we spoke about the jobs that I have found and an appointment has been made for me to look over my CV and covering letter (on 4th April 2012 @ 2.30)

I have put a few links to two past projects on this blog they show what is possible for me to do when there are no obstacles in my way. The two projects were created from the ground up and each one needed critical thought and problem-solving of the highest level to get them completed.

The first is viables under pass feb 06. I have also put the video here. This was a concept project and although it was never built it won awards, unfortunately what the council decided to do instead was pretty lame, however nothing would be done at all if it was not for the original project. The digital model contained all of the electrical and lighting infrastructure so as well as being a model to show off the concept it could be used to build the installation in real life

the second is a piece of site-specific sculpture that was placed around the living tree magazine article here the wall was thin unfortunately not show by photographs and although three stories high I had to design new foundations because, I could not dig down into the tree roots that would hurt the tree, and the wall itself needed to let the wind pass through it because the increase surface area could of uprooted the pine tree so I designed new concrete to do this!

It's always going to be a struggle for someone with the mind of Sherlock Holmes and the combine reading and writing age of Tinky-Winky, Dipsy, Laa-Laa, and Po! However the little things like having the right format so my computer can read information really does make a difference.

The 3-D printer

I am trying to replace and repair all my existing equipment that is either damaged or worn out. My plotter has been realigned so it should now cut evenly along the role of vinyl, Remap also tightened the stand and put new places on the plotter so that I could take it off the stand easily if needed. I also made a new part so that the blade could be held more securely than the original plastic part which cracked with use.

I am developing a faster more industrial way of putting the models together, I got in touch with a Basingstoke company called solvd which develop software. I gave them a basic brief which explains the issues that I have with the program that I'm using, and they on my behalf got in touch with Boxford the makers of RapidPRO. Boxford replied with an e-mail saying due to a similar program on the market made by schroff Development Corporation called JP System5 it could infringe a copyright issue by changing rapid pro to do things that I want and perhaps I should try the system 5 program. I got in touch with schroff who said that they do not offer the JP System5 program any more but they would be happy to e-mail me a link so that I can try the program out to see if it does what I want. After trying the program and eventually getting it to work it does indeed do some of the things that I would like however it does not create an output file so the standard plotting machine would not be able to use it. The way that you build with the program is also incredibly clumsy and more time-consuming than is practical.

So I have decided to stick with RapidPRO and have thought on a workaround to the output files that the program produces. It should be easy to arrange the segments into the order that I need now I have found a way of saving the .rpp files that rapid pro produce into a standard .EMF file type. I have achieved this by adapting an open source virtual printer called EmfPrinter! The ordering of the segments should be easy enough with another open source program called Inkscape, and because I am only plotting a output file it would not infringe any copyright on the RapidPRO program.

In order to get this done I will take my old computer to solvd it has Windows XP and everything at the moment is set up on that operating system. solvd should then be able to generate a quote on how much the programming will cost and more importantly how I am going to pay for the work that needs doing.

When I was in Cornwall I also got in touch with a model making factory called Design Clinic as I have only spoken to them over the phone and they are interested in a cheap 3-D printer and straightforward way of generating models. It will be important to invite model makers into the process because at the moment I do not have any facilities to generate models from different materials and I want the printer to be able to generate models from as many substances as possible.

Me doing research in Cornwall
Good job I got this hot pasty in before the government taxes it!

The rack reborn

I am revisiting the rack because a lot has happened in the time that I have been using it! My legs are very unforgiving and the issue with spastic diplegia which is the Pacific form of cerebral palsy that I have is the muscles in my legs are incredibly strong especially around my inner thighs and hips, this is because my spine does not produce a chemical to relax my muscles. The strength in my legs has destroyed three racks in the time I last put a post up on the web. I end up bending the box steel that makes up the frame of the machine. I was lucky enough to find a stretching machine made by Century (incredibly well made and strong) the frame seems to Cope with the stresses my legs put upon it, but the original ratchet gear wore out very quickly and could not cope with spasms in my legs,
I went to an amazing charity called Remap which designs and makes objects specifically for disability I told them about the ratchet gear not being able to cope with the stress my legs put upon it and when I release the tension of the gear my legs slam together which jars them and causes spasms which in turn defeats the object of exercising on the machine. They replaced the ratchet with an two ton hydraulic bottle jack which you can release the pressure slowly so instead of a slam I can bleed the hydraulic winch and gently put my legs together. Some might say it's a little overkill to have two tons of pressure between my thighs separating my legs, but my legs are even fighting against the hydraulic jack.

Things I have also done

The white objects in the photograph are night splints these are normally use to go to bed with so that my ankles are not so tight in the morning, I use them on the rack because when I am stretching my toes point out and I need to keep my ankles at 90° for the process to work effectively. There is also two Velcro strips on each leg rest this is because my hamstrings are short and I need to keep my legs flat so when I am stretching the straps stop my legs from bending.


Richard Brown from Remap Basingstoke also realigned my plotter as it was cutting a little wonky. He also said that when the 3-D printer. Is working he would organising some projects to do to test it out, it would be handy for Remap to have access to a cheap 3-D printer.

a4e meeting

• We discussed the Enham CAD course.
• contact was made with BCoT college, tried to get in touch with the disabled adviser there, their CAD course would start in September.
• Contact was also made to a private provider of CAD courses, at the moment the name escapes me.
• ask Sue 2 about next appointment.

As soon as I got home a letter came through the door, which confirmed the paperwork was being processed by the job centre for Enham CAD course.
I also got in touch with Enham earlier last week and they supplied me with the course notes,

We talked about systems to improve access for disability and that it can be as simple as changing the format of their literature
and this can aids many types of disabled access, whether that be deafness or blindness or even dyslexia.

There are a few simple rules to make a document readable by accessibility software!
A simple file format such as Rich text text or HTML. HTML is a good format because it works the same way as a website.
It is Important to have basic formatting. You can probably get away with a table, but images ain't good, why have a logo when text will do the same job. If you have to put a logo on a form, remember to label it, most screen readers will then be able to read it just as a word.( The process is called the screen focal point.)
Once literature has been changed into a standardised file type (for access ability) there is still the issue of application forms and such, however I have been told that there is help for me to fill these in.
I have no problem with the support for application forms, however anything that I need to complete involving my jobseekers allowance, I need to do independently.

We discussed how my behaviour can sometimes be misinterpreted, if you didn't know my issues with accessing information from reading below, and gave me the task to complete an application form, I would naturally get frustrated, this so often gets interpreted as lazy and/or angry. The same can be said about publishing this blog, but the truth of it is simply if a4e are as good at finding jobs as they say on their website, I am just changing the system so that I can access the program and feel part of the process. (Doing is better than just saying) The blog, is good for me to put my feelings down into words, and recalled my process of working. Up until recently I have lost my dictation software and I was getting very frustrated with organisations which said they understood how to work with me but I was unable to put across to them, how difficult it was for me to access their program. My blog has made me feel at ease with this whole process.

I was happy with how the meeting went . I felt I was not just being listened to, but that my issues were being heard, and although we are still at the very beginning of this process, I can honestly say I feel at peace with it.

Reading and writing are both vegetables, but they are as different as carrots and peas, this shows up more with me because of the programs that I used to access these skills.

Two completely separate programs
screen reading = reading (input typed text output synthetic digital voice)
dictation programs = writing (input spoken word output typed text

Screen reading and dictation programs only have one thing in common, on the whole they work with other programs e.g. Internet Explorer open office Wordpad and such. My screen reader for example will read directly off of open office, but not from Microsoft Word. (I do not know about the latest version.) My dictation program will work pretty much where you can input text, but with PDFs there very rarely is a text field, unless they are set up for form filling. Because of the closed way PDFs are made very few screen readers will read PDFs either.

Screen reading and dictation programs give me a level of independence, for e-mail and the blog both programs are perfect. If I had two identical forms one in PDF one in HTML, and just say they were two pages long, they both need filling in the questions are straightforward (do not need to think about the answers.) The HTML form would take me 20 min start to finish. The PDF form could take me hours. And that's if I can get somebody to read me the questions! as my screen reader would not. It sounds obvious but these programs are not a replacement for reading and writing, and the formats that are given to me to read or write on need to be fought about because it makes the difference between a task being straightforward or impossible.

The images are what happens to the word files when I put them into OpenOffice. So I was not able to read them or sign them at the same time. And I like to remember what I am signing for but I have read them! when I get the new computer it will have Microsoft Word so there should not be a problem.