[nabs-l] New Technology and Blindness

[Mike Freeman]

Patrick et al:

I wouldn't count on increased numbers of visually impaired people to drive
technology development.  Even if the number were to double, visually
impaired people would still constitute a minority of the population.  Short
of legal requirements, development of technology is market-driven.  And
although *we* don't like touch-screens and complaints of senior citizens
about them strike a chord with us, most people tend to like them and they
are far easier to maintain than are devices with buttons and dials that,
being mechanical devices, wear out easily.

I agree that we should strive to educate technology vendors about our needs
but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for them to respond short of legal
sanctions.  In this connection, while not the whole answer, our Technology
Bill of Rights would go a long way toward solving the problem.  Even then,
however, we will still face some technology barriers in that innovation goes
on and, like it or not, it is geared toward the needs of the majority so we,
the blind, are and probably always will be playing catch-up.

Mike Freeman


-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Patrick Molloy
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 5:20 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] New Technology and Blindness

Nicole,
I agree with you. New technology continues to be a stumbling block, at
least in part. However, I think the answer is twofold: First, we
should strive to educate the people in charge of leading technology
companies with regards to blindness. Second, there really should be a
law mandating all touch screens be accessible. However, I feel that
progress will come. As the number of Americans with vision
impairment/vision loss increases, technology will HAVE to be made
accessible.
Just my thoughts,
Patrick

On 4/29/11, Nicole B. Torcolini at Home <ntorcolini at wavecable.com> wrote:
> It continues to amaze me in how inaccessible new technologies can be. I
> don't think that the people who design them are purposefully making them
> inaccessible, but it is still very frustrating. For example, I just read a
> paper about a virtual nurse agent that is designed to help patients
> understand medical information before being discharged from the hospital.
> Although the system does talk, it has several other features, including a
> touchscreen and pointing at places in a print booklet, which would be
> completely inaccessible to the blind. My question then is, besides
educating
> people about blindness, is there something else that could be done? For
> example, should there be a law that all touch screen devices have to be
> accessible or have an option for accessibility?
> The paper can be found at:
> http://relationalagents.com/publications/CHI09.VirtualNurse.pdf
>
> Nicole
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