[Blindtlk] The Cost of Independent Travel

Sat Aug 28 22:44:26 UTC 2010

I doubt that our leadership underestimates the difficulties we will face 
should we bring this project to fruition. The question is whether potential 
difficulties should be viewed as show-stoppers or challenges requiring 
imagination.

Mike

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ray Foret Jr" <rforetjr at comcast.net>
To: "Blind Talk Mailing List" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, August 27, 2010 11:07 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindtlk] The Cost of Independent Travel

>I could not possibly agree more.  While I do support the project itself 
>basically, I do feel that the questions I raised should be addressed.  Just 
>saying, "We can get it done." is simply not enough.
>
>
> Sincerely,
> The Constantly Barefooted Ray!!!
>
> A Very Proud and Happy Mac User!!!
>
> E-Mail:
> rforetjr at comcast dot net
> Skype Name:
> barefootedray
>
> On Aug 27, 2010, at 9:47 PM, Mike Freeman wrote:
>
> Right on, Gary.
>
> I think part of the difficulty some of us have wrapping our minds around 
> this project is that some of us are more suspicious of the hype than are 
> others. I, for one, am loath to make promises I cannot guarantee can be 
> fulfilled and I have a hard time with publicity that minimizes the 
> difficulties of a project. I suspect there are many like me. Yet, properly 
> understood, this project allows us to increase our understanding of the 
> limits of current methods of rapid information access and to assess 
> possible new methods of such access.
>
> I can certainly understand the feelings of those who feel we should spend 
> money on other projects. I presume that decreasing the unemployment rate 
> for the blind and fighting for accessible electronic technology would be 
> among the projects people would favor spending resources upon. It is 
> questionable, however, whether these projects would be helped by more 
> money. I know that's counterintuitive in that those of us who do not have 
> much money tend to imagine what we would do if we had more. But consider: 
> decreasing our unemployment rate is a matter of a war on two fronts: (1) 
> changing societal attitudes and (2) increasing the skill base (both in 
> terms of job knowledge and of social eptitude) of the blind themselves. I 
> contend that these fronts are largely immune to increased monetary 
> stimulus. They are amatter of successful propaganda both of society and of 
> ourselves.
>
> With respect to more accessible electronics, our Technology Bill of Rights 
> will do more than any infusion of cash from us.
>
> Just some thoughts.
>
> Mike Freeman
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Gary Wunder" <gwunder at earthlink.net>
> To: "'Blind Talk Mailing List'" <blindtlk at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Thursday, Aug 26, 2010 7:10:14
> Subject: Re: [Bltlk] The Cost of Independent Travel
>
>>
>>
>> Hello Ray, and all of the people who have contributed thoughtful posts 
>> here.
>> I think we should acknowledge that driving is a risky proposition as it 
>> now
>> stands. I don't know what the statistics are now, but one argument I
>> remember back in the days of the Vietnam war was that we killed more 
>> people
>> on our nation's highways every year than we lost in the jungles of Asia.
>> Errors in judgment cost lives. Most of the time people take driving
>> seriously, but there are many distractions which caused drivers to pay 
>> less
>> attention to the road than they should. Well-known examples are cellular
>> telephones, checking one's makeup in the mirror, or trying to be the
>> disciplinarian for the children in the back seat.
>>
>> Currently there are airplanes which are designed in such a way that they
>> cannot be flown without the assistance of a computer. They are simply not
>> airworthy unless a computer is constantly adjusting the air foils or
>> surfaces of the plane which come in contact with the air. In these
>> situations, these complicated vehicles aren't run by just one computer.
>> There are always multiple computers and coordinating software which is
>> designed both to share the workload and detect the failure of a unit and
>> reassign its tasks. This will certainly be a part of anything we design 
>> to
>> be purchasable by blind drivers.
>>
>> There has been significant speculation about the cost of a vehicle we
>> design. It is much too early to know what that cost may be. Part of the
>> equation will depend on how much of what we develop is usable by sighted
>> people. Scanners are cheaper today because they have a marketplace which
>> extends well beyond the blind. The same is true with speech synthesis. 
>> The
>> same is not true, however, of screen reading applications, although there
>> are some uses which industry has for what they call screen scraping
>> technology.
>>
>> We have speculated here about who will be able to afford a car modified 
>> so
>> we can drive it. I suggest that any society which is willing to spend 
>> $6000
>> on the BrailleNote to make a person more efficient in reading, writing, 
>> and
>> taking notes in class or on the job will be very willing to help front 
>> some
>> of the costs of a vehicle. This will be true for several reasons. First,
>> there are many jobs which blind people are capable of doing but which are 
>> so
>> underserved by mass transportation that we do not have access to them.
>> Second, there are many jobs in this economy which directly rely on 
>> operating
>> a vehicle. Over the road trucking is a splendid example. My sister 
>> currently
>> works for a company delivering parts from one location to the other. If 
>> we
>> can begin to get a handle on creating a blind-drivable vehicle, we will 
>> open
>> up a wide range of jobs which simply aren't practical for us to do today.
>>
>>
>>
>> Some have quite reasonably expressed the concern that developing this
>> vehicle won't automatically mean we are able to drive it, because of 
>> current
>> law and the need for insurance. These are important considerations and 
>> will
>> pose significant challenges for us, but until we have a vehicle which is
>> really workable, there is no way to take any meaningful action on these
>> fronts. Identifying them as challenges as appropriate. Considering them 
>> as
>> reasons not to do the project misses the mark. It is, in transportation
>> terms, putting the cart before the horse.
>>
>> Ray, you offer the concern that we are placing too much emphasis on
>> technology. In many respects I agree with you. I think it would be tragic 
>> if
>> we decided to no longer teach handwriting because so many devices were
>> readily available for typing or otherwise turning information into text. 
>> It
>> is tragic when people who cannot see well enough to read and write print
>> aren't taught to use the slate and stylus. none of this alters the 
>> evolving
>> requirement of society that we be able to communicate with each other in
>> ways which older technology will simply not allow. I can't use the 
>> Internet
>> with my slate and stylus. I don't miss those days of typing my papers 
>> only
>> to realize that my ribbon was poor or that someone had set the typewriter 
>> to
>> stencil. I don't for one moment want to go back to the day when the 
>> ringing
>> of a telephone would mean losing my train of thought and being unable to 
>> go
>> back and determine whether or not I had entered the comma after my last
>> phrase or placed two spaces after the period. I hope we never have to go
>> back to a time where we write three or four drafts of a paper, having 
>> each
>> time to start by fully retyping that which was good and altering that 
>> which
>> we wanted to change. Wordprocessing has changed our world forever, and 
>> I'm
>> glad it allows us to participate in the kind of discussion we're having
>> here.
>>
>> Warmest regards to all,
>>
>> Gary
>>
>>
>>
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