[nabs-l] [LCA] a cane for the blind improves social interactions]

Arielle Silverman arielle71 at gmail.com
Tue Nov 29 01:28:44 UTC 2011


Hi all,
A few comments:
1. I couldn't help but notice some of the pathetic and exaggerated
statements in the article, such as "They must be dependent on another
person" (for social interaction). While it is true we can't locate
silent people, we can, and do, use our ears to find people at times.
This aspect of blindness is completely ignored here and I am not even
sure if this invventor is aware that blind people use their ears as a
means to find people. And, in spite of what the article says, I
learned at a young age to detect my mother's presence in a room. :)
2. I don't quite get it. So in order to locate someone with the
device, that person has to check in on Foursquare or another such
venue? I know even my friends who are heavy Foursquare users don't
check in everywhere they go. So what are the odds of accidentally
bumping into someone who checked in on Foursquare right where you are?
Most of the time we need to find people is in small and crowded spaces
like at meetings or parties, where people may or may not check in. If
I make plans to meet a friend and they have to go to the trouble of
checking in for me to find them, it'd be easier for them to just come
up and say hi to me, no?
That said, I might be for something that uses face-recognition
technology to ID people in a small space, like a meeting etc.
3. I agree with others that it'd be more practical to implement this
as an app rather than as part of a cane. Also, I like the idea of
overhead object identification as cane users currently have little
defense against overhead objects. But is a mere beep sufficient to
tell the user exactly what is hanging overhead, how far down it's
hanging, how big it is, etc.? It reminds me of the infamous "watch
out" sometimes exclaimed by sighted onlookers, which is very general
and meaningless. The cane gives tactile feedback so we know what is on
the ground-at least how big it is, how close it is and where the clear
path is-so it seems we would need to get similar tactile feedback for
overhead objects in order for the technology to be effective.
Otherwise we might as well just use a plain old cane with a GPS app.
Best,
Arielle




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