From: jbsn@tpg.com.au
20 April, 2010
ODE TO OPTACON
Do you realise that it's almost forty years since we were introduced to
each other by Maud and Olle Holm - towards the end of 1971? I was just
about to finish my diploma of education.
We've been through a lot together since that time. I remember, when
we first met, you and I looked up my phone number in the phone book.
That almost made me speechless. With Maud's help we undertook
further excursions into the world of print. It opened up a whole new
world for me. I could look up other people's phone numbers and I could
look up words in dictionaries, which was very useful for me, since I was
teaching English, French and German.
When you and I had become properly acquainted, it was time for the big
launch.
Olle and Maud discovered the Optacon project during a one-year stay in St Louis, Missouri. They immediately realised your potential. However,
you didn't come cheaply at a price of USD$5,000. They managed to
interest Erna and Victor Hasselblad, of camera fame, in a project aimed
at introducing the Optacon in Sweden. I was lucky enough to be chosen
as your partner. Since the Hasselblads lived in Gothenburg, that's where
the launch was going to take place. After a three-hour train journey
from Lund, during which time I practised reading Swedish Railways
printed information, we arrived in Gothenburg ready for the big event. It
went very well and we returned to Lund at the end of the day with a
feeling that we had started something that would be of great benefit to
visually impaired people in Sweden.
You and I then started exploring various aspects of the printed world.
When I got a teaching job in a fairly remote part of Sweden, I had the
time to let us read the first novel - the Swedish translation of The Hound
of the Baskervilles. It took us a while, but we had a great time.
Then we started reading the local newspaper. They serialised A Town like
Alice by Nevil Shute, which we enjoyed very much.
However, the fact that I was your first partner outside the US, offered
other pleasurable opportunities. In 1974, we went to Paris together with
Rolf and Eva Öhman to demonstrate you at a major rehabilitation
exhibition. It went very well. We made friends with people like Alain
Lequeux, who then introduced you properly in France. We also met
Peter Loose, who invited us to show you in Amsterdam, which we did a
couple of weeks later.
Do you remember when we were in a Chinese restaurant in London and
all the staff were staring, when we read the menu?
Lennart Georgii, who was involved with developing equipment for
visually impaired people, became very interested in you. He designed a
cradle enabling the Optacon user to read the labels of jars and bottles, a
signature template which could be positioned in the right place using
the Optacon and a pen refill attachment to the Optacon camera. The
latter gadget allowed you and me to mark my students' assignments. I
told them that they'd have to print rather than use ordinary
handwriting, and that anything that I couldn't read would be regarded
as a mistake. They printed beautifully. My colleagues were not thrilled.
Another highlight during our early time together was the Optacon
Cruise in the Mediterranean. I met John Linvill and his daughter Candy
who were responsible for getting the Optacon project off the ground.
Jim Bliss was there. We had met before in Sweden, when Jim came over
to assist us with the introduction there. I also met pioneer users like
Mary Schnackenberg from New Zealand, Sandy Ruconich from the US and
Pedro Zurita from Spain, later Secretary-General of the World Blind
Union. If I remember correctly, Pedro got me out of a bit of a hole,
when I discovered that a bottle of sherry had broken in my suitcase and
had ruined my one suit. I was not able to explain to the staff on the
Russian cruise ship that I needed to have it dry cleaned very quickly.
However, Pedro came to the rescue, polyglot that he is.
When we acquired your typewriter attachment, things started to look up
financially. I was able to fill in the form for my own tax return. Suddenly,
the Taxation Office started sending me money back once a year. Deeply
satisfying! It also enabled me to fill in my application for a resident visa
in Australia. I'm sorry that I blamed you for not having ticked the box for
disability - but it seemed to be a good idea at the time.
In spite of OCR improving all the time, nothing can replace the
immediate access to print that you offer - putting a page the right side
down on the scanner, reading the envelopes of my mail quickly, reading
decent handwriting etc.
May your special chips and your tactile arrays be available for a long time
yet!
Bertil Smark Nilsson