Friday, January 20, 2006

Who says there is no power in email?

Manhattan, NY (OPENPRESS) January 20, 2006 -- About 2 weeks ago the customer service department at Lion Brand Yarn received an email message from a blind customer. The customers message said that they could not access the yarn and crochet patterns that the site offers their users. Something needed to be done.

Nancy Miracle, the Webmaster for the Lion Brand Web site needed more information on how to resolve this problem, so she reached out to a group of blind and visually impaired knitters. As a result of this collaboration the Lion Brand Web site now offers hundreds of knit and crochet patterns that are computable with "text to speech" Web browsers and devices that produce Braille from Web pages. The company now also gives detailed written description of the patterns and colors that appear in each of the yarns that they manufacture.

"According to the American Federation For the Blind, the minimum number of visually impaired computer users is about 1.5 million." said Ilana Rabinowitz, the director of consumer marketing for Lion Brand. "We know from user feedback that we have an active group of visually impaired customers who are passionate about yarn crafts and want access to our Web site to obtain knitting and crochet patterns. With the recent changes, these users now have complete access to 1,500 patterns."




(OK...who else loves the fact that Nancy Miracle was on the case?)

1 comment:

Randi said...

Hi Catherine,

For some reason, your blog is not loading correctly on my computer but I will try leaving a comment anyway!

I am glad you are going to make a quilt with us! i have a number of 1/2 done projects too but I am getting better at finishing thigs lately!

I use an Omnimat Brand Mat and Fiskars Rotary Cutters. My mat measure 18X24. My cutters are the average size--don't get the small cutters--they don't work as well.

Mom

My mom insisted on living independently. She wanted to live in the two-story house she and my dad built in the 70s, despite the fact that da...