The TAPING RECORDER October 3, 2002 No. 210-01
News from and about Taping For The Blind,
Inc. (www.tapingfortheblind.org)

CAMPAIGN CLOSES -- Our Fall Listener Campaign has been completed. This
campaign ran for the month of September and included mailing a copy of the
new schedule to each of our clients. Thanks to the volunteers that folded,
labeled, stuffed, and did whatever else was necessary to get this mailing
ready. We don't have results from the campaign totaled up yet, but
preliminary results look good. Also our new schedule was put on the air on
September 9, so thanks to the radio staff for making that all work.

DIGITAL EQUIPMENT UPDATE -- You have probably observed that we now have
nine recording booths converted to new digital equipment. Thanks so much
to Jim Martinez and Justin Blount for their hard work getting this
accomplished and getting the software operational. We have trained 44 of
our wonderful volunteers on operation of the new equipment, and we hope to
have all radio book and program readers trained by the end of October.

We will start training our Custom Recording volunteers in
November. We are still working on the procedure for custom recording on
the new equipment. The work is determining the best way to get the recorded
material to a compact disk or cassette, depending on what the client
wants. The way we transfer this data and the way we store master copies
will affect the way you set up the file for reading the requested material.

Our funding for the capital campaign is now 70% complete, but we
still need $17,500 to outfit the remaining seven recording booths. We hope
to be able to purchase this equipment by the end of the year.

AUDIT COMPLETED -- The annual audit of our books is complete. Thanks to
our Treasurer, Ulyesse LeGrange. Since we now assign a dollar amount to
volunteer hours, it is more important than ever that you sign in and out
whenever you are at Taping, and also remember that hours worked outside of
Taping but on behalf of Taping count as well. We will say more about this
in future editions of the RECORDER.

UPCOMING WORKSHOP FOR NEW VOLUNTEERS -- On October 18, 2002, we will have
an orientation and reading skills workshop for new volunteers. The session
will run from 9:00 11:30 a.m. and will be held at Taping. If you are a
new volunteer, this orientation workshop will be invaluable in training you
to "fine tune" your reading and delivery skills. Ted Pfister will help you
understand the ins and outs of reading for our visually impaired
audience. Among the topics to be covered will be reading of charts and
graphs, as well as sound and microphone techniques. It will be time
well-spent as well as an excellent opportunity to interact with some of
your fellow volunteers. Seating is limited, so look for the signup flyers
and get your reservation in to Ginger. We look forward to your
participation on Friday, October 18, 2002.

WE KNEW IT ALL ALONG -- The Houston Press "2002 Best of Houston" issue
(September issue) features Taping volunteer Bill Brown--voted "Best
Play-by-Play Announcer" in the Sports and Recreation section. While we are
sad that the Astros are not in the playoffs, we look forward to Bill being
around and doing his great work for Taping.

HARD TO BELIEVE -- It is hard to believe, but the holiday season is upon us
again. We must have been having fun because this year has certainly flown
by. Keep in mind that Randall's and Kroger's grocery stores are offering
Community Bucks or Turkey Bucks. If you get either and don't want them,
please bring them to Taping and turn them in to any staff member. Thanks!

WELCOME NEW VOLUNTEERS -- We welcome the following new volunteers: Pat
Arthur; Genevieve Kitterman; Joan Katz; Desta Kimmel; Stephen M. Mierros;
and R. Katherin Demetriou. We look forward to your work and hope the
experience is rewarding for you!

YOUR GET WELL CARD -- We urge a speedy recovery to the following volunteers
who are confronting medical difficulties: Margaret Anderson is recovering
from knee surgery; Joe Hegar is recovering from hip replacement surgery:
and Pete Parsons is recovering from angioplasty. We wish a speedy recovery
to all!

OUR SYMPATHY -- The sympathy of the entire Taping family is extended to the
family and friends of the following: Don Dobson, a former volunteer
reader, died on August 8 in Florida; Bill Whitmore, a volunteer reader,
died on August 28; and Peggy Powers, wife of Hugh Powers (a former Board
member) died on August 21.

HAVE YOU NOTICED? -- If you have observed the handsome weed pile in the
back of the parking lot, you can thank John Deming for that artistic
endeavor. He did the chopping in response to complaints from the neighbors
that the brush was crowding a narrow walkway. It is gone now, but not
forgotten. Thank you, John!

RECYCLING -- At Taping, we go through five newspapers a day and a bunch of
magazines in a week's time. Our thanks to volunteer Paul Legros for
hauling the papers to a recycling bin. We also say thanks to volunteer
Dave Herfort for taking our empty aluminum cans to a recycling
center. Well done!

AUDIO DESCRIPTION -- The following story is included to demonstrate the
value of audio description. I am on the ADInternational list (Audio
Description International) and this was posted to the list. If you are
interested in audio description, I suggest you look at the website:
www.adinternational.org. If you are interested in subscribing to this
list, the website has instructions. Here is the article:

From Elmer Fischer:
I thought you would be interested in the following article which features
audio description being utilized in a manner that is somewhat unique. For
those
who may think that audio description is not worthwhile, maybe this story
will help them to realize just how valuable it truly is.

***********************

Audio aid enhanced funeral for noted woman
Sunday, August 25, 2002
Deborah Kendrick
"That's morbid,'' my daughter said when I told her I was going to a funeral
in the Columbus area that would be audio described for the visually impaired.
Actually, I wasn't quite sure how I felt about it myself, but I was sure
how I felt about the person being mourned and about the spouse who had lost
her.

Funeral services for exceptional people sometimes bear the unmistakable
signature of the deceased, and the addition of audio description to the service
for Joann Fais Fischer at Trinity United Methodist Church in Marble Cliff
was a clear reminder of her legacy.

She loved theater and movies and was constantly promoting the work of
Accessible Arts, the nonprofit organization she helped form. Through
Accessible Arts,
Columbus is perhaps the only city in the country that offers live audio
description for blind and visually impaired moviegoers for both classic and
first-run
films. It was fitting, then, that Joann's service, where many blind and
visually impaired friends were in attendance, also would be the first
service of
its kind to be audio-described.

Nothing about Joann's 64 years was particularly easy, but her constant
smile and positive outlook were the refrains heard from many Aug. 12, the
day her
body was buried. As a juvenile-onset diabetic, she had been giving herself
insulin shots for more than 50 years and had accepted with grace the losses
wrought by that disease. Receiving the 50-year Survivor Medallion for
insulin-dependent diabetics from Eli Lily a few years ago might have been
deemed
gloomy by some, but to Joann, it was evidence of what determination and
faith could accomplish.

Her diminished eyesight, triggered by diabetic retinopathy, led her to many
of the people and projects she valued most at the end of her life. It led her
to the American Council of the Blind, an organization where she held
office, worked hard and made many friends.

It led her to the love of her life, Elmer E. Fischer, who became legendary
among Cincinnatians with disabilities in the mid-1970s when he founded the
Radio
Reading Services there. Ten years after establishing the reading service,
he moved to Columbus to take a job with Ohio Educational Telecommunications
Network,
coordinating all such services throughout the state. It was in Columbus
that he met Joann and began what he called "the most difficult and best 12
years
of my life.''

Who knows how two people in their 50s fall so wildly in love?

"They were truly best friends,'' said Mary Hiland, a close friend and
volunteer coordinator for the Central Ohio Radio Reading Service.

Part of the attraction, certainly, was their shared tendency to turn
adversity to advantage and learn from their own difficulties how to benefit
others.

When the couple married in 1993, they arranged for the wedding to be
audio-described. Friends talked for months of the romance and charm of Mr.
Fischer's
singing Some Enchanted Evening to his bride at that ceremony, so the circle
was completed in more ways than one on Aug. 12: First, the addition of audio
description again made a bit of disability history and, second, Mr.
Fischer's recorded version of How Great Thou Art symbolized his singing to
his wife
again.

Joann was an ordinary woman whose extraordinary optimism and integrity made
a lasting impression on others with disabilities. As seasoned "describer''
Nancy
Van Voorhis spoke via FM transmitter directly to my ear and those of 20
other listeners scattered throughout the crowded sanctuary, I was grateful
to be
on the receiving end of this tribute to Joann's commitment to audio
description.

As I listened to descriptions of gorgeous arrays of flowers and of who was
proceeding up the aisle and even was read the words to the closing hymn so I
could sing, I knew for sure that there was nothing morbid in the service.

Grief and the loss of loved ones are as much a part of life as weddings and
comic entertainment. Accessing them fully -- whether by putting ramps in
stairways
for wheelchairs, adding sign-language interpretation to share the eulogies
or audio to tell blind people what color the flowers are -- is part of
extending
all of life's experiences to everyone.

Deborah Kendrick is a Cincinnati writer and advocate for people with
disabilities.

*** End of post ***

I hope this brings you insight to the value of audio description.

RLB