10
Wednesday, September 29, 1971
University Daily Kansan
Blind, But Not Handicapped
Bv DUKE LAMBERT
Kanson Staff Writer
Charles E. Hallenbeck is a psychologist who has found the full advantages of the computer in his research. He now uses it wholly in his work, and in a sense he has become greatly dependent
He tells of the ability of the matured product to be immatured at the material, and when this material can be produced in braille, then it is printed.
It has to be, because Charles Hallenbeck is blind.
THAT PHYSICAL disability is,
however, no cause for concern
Charles Hallenbeck it simply
means an extra hour or two
when the person with no
physical might function without
difficulty.
There are some distressing problems in his work. Computer manuals, for instance, are revised quite often. They are not very difficult to use and easily put new material in sections that have been revised.
In a field in which material becomes quickly outdated, Halleenbeck says, incorporating images into the material become most frustrating for the blind person. Much of the material, a computer-generated work to help with grooming, and this is area in which braille is lacking.
BUT WHEN YOU enjoy something and are fascinated
with it, you don't notice the hardships, not much anyway. "I have been working with computers for almost four years now, and it is quite enjoyable. It is frustrating and madening and makes you feel worse if you enjoy it," says Hallenbeck.
He became interested in the rehabilitative advantages of computer science while working as a rehabilitation psychologist at a hospital in Ohio. He became fascinated with the computer and knew what he needed to augment his psychological skills.
A POST - DOCTORAL fellowship in computer science at Washington University, St. Louis, and the University of Kansas, represents a "cross between two fields," but "I regard myself principally as a psychologist whose interest is in computer science my field." Halenbeck says.
As an associate professor of psychology, Hallenbeck is now working principally as an adviser to graduate students. He has even worked several hours with a student in the distance to consult with him.
During the session, he listened to his student call slashes, data, slashes, data, slashes, as she went along. He followed, giving instructions and movingComputer out of the exercise, even though he could not see the information spilling out of the machine.
HALLENBECK, BELIEVES that of the professions blind people have broken into, those with disabilities are the least mistake-prone.
"The computer goes a long way in minimizing mistakes," he says.
A New Yorker by birth,
Hallenbeek did his under-
graduate work at Union
northwest institute in West-
tened Western Reserve
University for graduate studies.
After his post-doctoral work in
science at Washington
University came to the
University of Kansas.
HIS WORK HERE, apart from his regular work with graduate students and others who work in the field, he is concerned mainly with the possibilities of the computer in helping the blind or other hand become competent participants in chosen fields. He is seeking to promote the computer as an advanced instrument in the field.
He has applied his psychological knowledge in the past to the rehabilitation of persons with atypical physiques, and now he would like to use the help to further help these people.
Charles Hallenbeck has moved beyond this plan to become an innovator.
His most recent concentration has been on the possibility of
using computers to draw pictures and produce flow charts and diagrams to be used by blind computer programmers. He admits to having had "some success in this area," and hopes he can make his programs available for use in the near future.
THERE ARE NOT many persons in the United States who are computer scientists and are blind at the same time, and are blind
Halleenbeck estimates that there are about 500 blind persons in the United States with computers. The majority of these are in lower level jobs in programs.
Will the number increase or
increase? “The field is becoming
thicker,” he says. “The pressures that are being felt these days," he says. "But there
Four years ago Hallenbeck added publishing and editing activities to his accomplishments. He is associate editor with Robert A.J. Gidea of the University of Arizona in Operation Massachusetts, a newsletter for blind computer programmers.
The computers in Fraser Hall will continue to click and flash as long as Haltenbeck is around and is nibbling the advantages of the technology in psychology. As he says, it is, after all, "a fascinating field."
PROF. CHARLES E. HALLENBECK may be blind, but his physical handicap doesn't extend to his work in psychological research using the computer. He moves easily across
campus with the aid of his cane and translates
the material needs in his work into beadle
with a needle.
Kansan
Photos
by Tom Throne
WRITING ON THE BLACKBOARD is an ac- tivity in which the player moves his right hand in relation to a com- ponent.
puter terminal in his office gives him instant access to the vital material stored in the computer.
'The field is becoming narrower with all the job pressures that are being felt these days.'
MANY STUDENTS come to KU to confer with Hallenbeck about his findings in psychology and his use of the computer.