[blindkid] Technology and Little Kid

[Richard Holloway]

I actually know quite a number of blind people adults who carry these  
around like a note pad. They are a fine solution to record a few words  
or, a phone number, or even a short list.

They are slow and inconvenient, but they never lock up and fail to  
work, their batteries don't die and they don't require some involved  
startup procedure to get them working or require you to get into "the  
right document", etc. before you can use them.

A slate and stylus are tools in the arsenal, so to speak. I don't  
think they are often the best solution for complex needs, but I would  
not discount their use entirely. There is nothing wrong with making  
them available for a child. Several of our 7-year-olds sighted friends/ 
classmates have their own slates and styli and they actually use them  
to write notes to Kendra when they do not have access to  
braillewriters, so there are many uses for them indeed.

Richard



On Feb 18, 2010, at 8:05 AM, Heather wrote:

> No disrespect, but you've got to be kidding me.  No blind people I  
> know, children or adults, down right brilliant to mentally  
> challenged, men or women use those anymore.  Many own them, and  
> could use them in a pinch, but honestly, no one uses them as a main  
> means of writing or on a regular basis. Some people in the fifty or  
> older set still rely on them, because they were not able to keep up  
> with the changing technology, which I can understand and sympathize  
> with, but even my sixty year old blind mother laughed when I showed  
> her this, or rather told her that this had come up on list.  For  
> confidentiality reasons I never show any one who is not on the list,  
> list emails, and never give names or any spacifics..  I could  
> honestly say that I know over two hundred to three hundred blind  
> people, and I asked on a list serve for guide dog users, one for  
> blind parents and one for blind students, and the uunanomous answer  
> was "You've got to be kidding"  I think her four year old would best  
> be served to learn how to use a cell phone or home phone to call his  
> mother and to dial 911.  I think he should be learning on a braille  
> note, voice recorder or how to use a victor reader or ipod touch.  
> Things like that, plus basic braille and print literacy.
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" <blindkid at nfbnet.org 
> >
> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 10:46 PM
> Subject: Re: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
>
>
>> A slate and stylus!
>>
>> Mike
>>
>> ----- Original Message ----- From: "David Andrews"  
>> <dandrews at visi.com>
>> To: <blindkid at nfbnet.org>
>> Sent: Wednesday, February 17, 2010 7:01 PM
>> Subject: [blindkid] Technology and Little Kid
>>
>>
>>> I got asked a question, the other day, and since most of my  
>>> experience is with blind adults -- I didn't know quite what to  
>>> say.  A woman said she had a four year old totally blind daughter,  
>>> and she wanted her to keep up with her peers in technology, so  
>>> what assistive technology/technology is here  -- should she start  
>>> using with her child?
>>>
>>> Dave
>>>
>>>
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>>
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>
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