[nabs-l] New Technology and Blindness
Chris Nusbaum
dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
Thu May 5 22:15:11 UTC 2011
I agree! I was just thinking, maybe you could check in online for
airlines... if their site is accessible. But if not, most blind
people have a reader, right? Maybe you can ask your reader (if
you trust them) to read you the site (if it's not accessible) and
you can tell the reader what you want to click on.
Chris Nusbaum
"A loss of sight, never a loss of vision!" (Camp Abilities motto)
--- Sent from my Braille-Note
----- Original Message -----
From: Jedi <loneblindjedi at samobile.net
To: nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Wed, 04 May 2011 12:26:42 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] New Technology and Blindness
Kirt,
I think the bottom line for me is this: can I do what I need to
do in a
manner that's convenient for me and everyone else around me? Goes
back
to that "Nature of Independence," doesn't it? You're right that
not
every technology is going to be accessible to us and that we will
have
to make work-arounds. No problem. We could say, going back to
our "If
the world went sighted" discussion, that if nothing else,
blindness
does encourage the development of problem-solving skills. Most
of the
time, getting help, if that's what's needed, is perfectly
acceptable
and sometimes easier or more convenient. For example, I
personally find
that I'd rather be checked in by a human than the touchscreens
because
it seems to me that touchscreen kiosks are kind of complicated
(not the
technology, but the systems they run on) when it may be just as
easy to
have an agent (or easier) check me in. And for now, that's fine
given
that many airlines still have agents that can do that for anyone.
But
for those airlines that don't even have agents, that's a problem.
Sure,
you could work around it by checking in online (and that's
probably not
a bad idea), but you may have instances where that is not
possible for
whatever reason. So it really is inconvenient to the self and
others to
track down the help you need and then find a way to get rid of
them
politely so you can go about your business and let them get back
to
theirs. the same issue goes for grocery lines.
Here's where I draw the line though. I, generally speaking,
refuse to
allow anyone to help me at an ATM unless I absolutely know they
can be
trusted. There are few people I would entrust with this task,
and none
of them are members of my family. I have had a bad experience
with
someone who helped me: my sister stole money from my bank account
when
she helped me with an aTM. Long story short, i became very wary
of
assistance in this matter. So for things like that, I believe
it's a
right of privacy that's at stake here, and everyone ought to have
to
have that right whether they belong to the majority or not. Same
with
voting. I personally prefer the privacy that comes with an
accessible
vote than entrusting my vote to someone who may or may not agree
with
me acting as a reader. If everyone else in the country has the
right to
a private vote, so do I. Now, if I choose to have someone read
my
ballot to me anyway, that's my choice, but I still have that
right to
privacy thanks to the HAVA.
Does any of this make sense?
Respectfully,
Jedi
Original message:
To all,
Here's my take...and, because I enjoy being an argumentative
pain in
the neck, I'm going to enjoy this. :) But before I start, I
want to
make it perfectly clear that I'm absolutely for the Technology
Bill of
Rights, making new technology accessible ought to be a legal
right,
and we are at a disadvantage when technology, like the touch
screens
Ashley mentioned are being put in store checkout lines, is used.
But we need to remember we are a minority and the majority of
the
population shouldn't bend over backwards to accomodate us.
While
having all new technology come to us perfectly accessible is a
laudable goal, it's probably never going to totally be realized.
Should we have the right? Absolutely. Will we ever have it
totally?
Probably not...even with the Technology bill of rights, this
dream of
Universal Design will probably never be totally realized. That
doesn't mean we don't work towards it-it just means we need to
learn
how to live in a world where there are inconveniences we have to
deal
with. We may have to stand in lines instead of using the
independent
self checkout-deal with it. We may need to get a reader if our
textbooks aren't accessible-too bad. We may need to get
assistance
using keosks in the airport-I'm terribly sorry, that's life. e
maybe
might even have to go with a trusted family member or friend
when
using an ATM...what a terrible tragedy! I can't believe we're
so
mistreated, abused, ignored, neglected, forgotten, and treated
like
crap by the rest of the evil sighted world that doesn't even
give a
damn about us! Life is aweful! This new technology isn't
accessible-woe is me, we're
dooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooomed! Noone
even
cares about us! This is a terrible, terrible, no-good world we
live
in, because we need to get people to help us use touch
screens...whatever are we going to do?
Now of course that was an exhageration, and I certainly want
technology to be accessible. But rather than spend so much time
complaining about it, let's do our best to get around the
inaccessibility and live our lives! I'm all for pushing to make
this
new technology independently usable...but it's probably never
going to
totally happen, deal with it. There will always be
inconveniences and
annoyences associated with being blind-get used to it. The
world will
never perfectly cater to our every whim, get over it.
Warmest regards,
Kirt
On 5/2/11, humberto <humbertoa5369 at netzero.net> wrote:
Sorry, but your message came out blank: Subject: Re: [Nabs-l]
New
Technology And blindness, sent on Sonday may 1, 2011 at 9:33 AM
----- Original Message -----
From: Chris Nusbaum <dotkid.nusbaum at gmail.com
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing
list<nabs-l at nfbnet.org
Date sent: Sun, 01 May 2011 09:33:12 -0400
Subject: Re: [nabs-l] New Technology and Blindness
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