[nabs-l] New Technology and Blindness

[Mike Freeman]

No argument with you there.  But some people with they would just go away so
I adduced some reasons why they won't.

Mike


-----Original Message-----
From: nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
Of Nicole B. Torcolini at Home
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 7:54 PM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] New Technology and Blindness

I disagree on just one small point. It is not touch screens themselves that
I personally don't like. What I don't like is when they don't have a mode
for accessibility. As Apple has shown with the iPhone and iPad, touch
screens can be made accessible if the underlying software is made to work
certain ways.

----- Original Message -----
From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'" 
<nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Friday, April 29, 2011 7:24 PM
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] New Technology and Blindness


> 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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