Bits 'n' Pieces
Hi all, my name is Ken Saunders from the Boston Massachusetts area and I'm a 42 year old individual who is Legally Blind due to a congenital condition known as Ocular Albinism with Nystagmus, and one who lives with Type 1 Diabetes.
None of these issues interferes with my ability to accomplish any goal that I set out to tackle. My greatest passions are marketing, creating computer generated graphical arts, working on my websites, and volunteering for the Mozilla Foundation.
This 'n' That
Access Firefox - Creator and Project Manager
Access Firefox is a site / project that I created to provide Firefox end users with visual impairments and those without perfect visual acuity, Firefox accessibility related tools and resources.
The site's content primarily consists of information about the default accessibility options and tools within Firefox, brief guides about some of the Firefox Add-ons that can be used to make viewing and interacting with the Internet easier, more comfortable, and efficient,
such as free screen readers, visual aids, and large print, high contrast themes, plus a good amount of introductory material about using Firefox itself.
Access Firefox is an ongoing project that was built by, and is maintained by volunteers from within several different Mozilla communities.
Spread Firefox.com - Member of the SFx team
I've been a member of Spread Firefox (the official Firefox marketing site) for 5 years now and I help to moderate posts and provide guidance and support for fellow SFx members when and where I can. It's a great community filled with awesome people and you're more than welcomed to join in.
MouseRunner.com - Owner/Operator
Mouse Runner started as a hobby to lessen the effects of New England Winter boredom. The site went live on February 16, 2005 and recieves on average 100,000 visitors per month (Google provides about half of them). MouseRunner.com is being fully rewritten (it's outdated and the coding is a nightmare) and you can check out the building grounds to see its (very slow) progress at MouseRunner.net.
deviantART.com - Member
As I mentioned at the top of the page, I have a great interest in computer generated graphical arts. I've been a member of deviantART.com since September 2005, and in that time I have submitted just under 200 different pieces of my artworks that have been individually viewed more than 400,000 times which still amazes and humbles me.
Squidoo.com - Member
For the web site Squidoo.com, I created a Firefox Guide (Lens) that made it to the #7 spot out of tens of thousands of Lenses. The Firefox Guide was number #1 in Computers and Technology, and it was also selected as Lens of the Day in April of 2006.
Firefox Extensions - Contributor (and hacker)
Page Zoom Buttons
By Michael Buckley, Lou Cypher, Ken Saunders
The Page Zoom Buttons add-on allows users to control the full page zoom feature in Firefox from a single toolbar button.
Theme Font Size Changer
By Baris Derin, Ken Saunders
Allows users to adjust Firefox's global font size meaning the text displayed on all toolbars, menus, windows, etc, within Firefox itself as opposed to the text displayed on web pages.
about:addons Launcher
By Ken Saunders based on the coding by Michael Buckley
Toolbar and status bar buttons to load the (new) about:addons page (Add-ons Manager).
(Minimum compatibility, Firefox 3.7a5pre)
about:me Toolbar Button
By Ken Saunders based on the coding by Michael Buckley
Here's the very simple about:Me Toolbar Button add-on that provides one click access to the about:me page generated by the about:me Firefox add-on (a future default Firefox feature).
Firefox Themes - Contributor
Here are 2 Firefox themes that I created icons for.
Click on an image for a larger view.
Pink Hope
Compatible with current versions of Firefox
Gray Modern 2 AF
For Firefox 2
Firefox Personas Designer
Also compatible with Mozilla Thunderbird.
Final Words
The main purpose of this page is to hopefully inspire others who are also facing challenges and to show them that persons with different abilities can reach their goals and a measure of success (whatever that may be to them) even when they may face seemingly insurmountable barriers.
Definitions
A person is considered "Legally Blind", in the USA, when their visual acuity is 20/200 or less in the better eye with best correction.
Ocular Albinism is an inherited condition in which the eyes lack melanin pigment.
Nystagmus is an involuntary back-and-forth movement of the eyes.
Diabetes is a disease in which the body does not produce or properly use insulin, a hormone that is necessary to convert sugar, starches, and other food into energy.
