[NABS-L] A technology recommendation for all of you

[Gary Wunder]

What an interesting story. Thanks. 

-----Original Message-----
From: NABS-L [mailto:nabs-l-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Cricket X.
Bidleman via NABS-L
Sent: Monday, July 23, 2018 12:07 AM
To: National Association of Blind Students mailing list
Cc: Cricket X. Bidleman
Subject: [NABS-L] A technology recommendation for all of you

Hi all,

This is long. Please read it anyway. As of last July, I received the
AIRA Back-to-School award. Basically, this gave me free minutes on
AIRA for nine months, the last of which recently ended. (Endless
thanks to Kathryn Webster for being instrumental in that process.)
I'll admit I was a little skeptical because first of all, I didn't
think I'd use it. I also knew they had basically repurposed Google
Glass, and Google Glass in its original form was kind of a floppy
failure... And then some.

So Cricket, where's that "recommendation" you promised us? Well, here
it is. I can say, through my own abundant use of the software in my
first year of college, that I sincerely feel that AIRA is
revolutionizing instant access to all areas of life. Accessibility is
a huge issue for us as blind students and though it's slowly being
worked on in general, sometimes it's necessary to have instant access
to things. I'd call it "accessibility on demand" or something like
that. One particular instance comes to mind.

I was incredibly overwhelmed. It was my first day at Stanford,
September 19 of last year. My parents had just left me in a dorm full
of people I didn't know, in a place I'd never been to. I was walking
around, trying not to bump into things, when I mentally slapped myself
for forgetting that I had an a capella audition, and then another one,
and then a choir audition, and then a meeting with my pre-major
advisor. I really didn't want to be the problem child constantly
asking for help from the RA's who, quite frankly, had more than enough
disoriented freshmen to deal with. So, because I'm so brilliant, I
walked out of my dorm with my cane, wearing a black dress and high
heels, into 90 degree weather. I made it all the way down the hill by
my dorm and then I had to mentally slap myself again because I
realized something... I didn't know the campus at all. I walked around
a bit, and then got turned around, and then got lost, and then got
even more lost. There were freshmen everywhere, but they were all lost
too, and a bunch of them gave me atrociously  wrong directions. I
called AIRA and in five minutes, they had me straightened out and
going in the right direction. Turned out I was on the opposite side of
campus from where I was supposed to be. Thanks, all you disoriented
freshmen...

Let me tell you something about Stanford campus. you know how like
every sane person designing a college campus makes them arranged like
city blocks? There are clear streets, buildings are arranged in grid
patterns, they're in numerical order... Stanford's designer must have
been crazy, because this campus is not like that at all. There are
twists and turns everywhere and though there are a couple of main
streets here and there, most of the campus isn't even nearly
accessible by car, much less by some lost blind student. Google Maps
doesn't really help, so my AIRA agent (Emma) was cross-referencing
three different maps while trying to keep an eye on me so I wouldn't
step in a fountain. Yes, that is a possibility here. People actually
jump in fountains for fun. Emma is phenomenal, and managed to get me
to my audition on time. Part of that was because, by some happy
coincidence, I'd left three hours early, but even so I was rushing at
the end. At least I made it, sore feet and all.

Anyway since then, I've had many experiences with AIRA, and all of
them have ended up positive. One time I was chasing down a Uber
because it wanted to ditch me... One time I was cramming for a test
with a textbook that I hadn't gotten in Braille on time since it was
my first quarter here. One time an agent was reading Plato's Republic
to me when I may or may not have taken a nap, and they may or may not
have had to wake me up. They were really nice about it though. You
know these people are awesome when they can even pronounce pars
opercularis properly. I can't even do that. (That's an essential part
of the brain involved in language processing by the way.) And once
they were able to describe, in extreme detail, a brain diagram I was
studying for psychology. I later got the Braille diagram, and it was
nowhere near as detailed as the AIRA agent's description.

So my point is, please do yourself a huge favor and get AIRA. You can
get funding for it from the Department of Rehab. Or scholarship money
can go toward it, or you can apply for their scholarships. I promise
you it will be integral as you go through education and life in
general. If my word isn't enough, and even if it is, I fully encourage
you to check out this blog post by Jonathan Mosen. He's a technology
consultant who has way more experience than me. He's worked with
Humanware and Freedom Scientific, and for many years has run his own
consulting company. He designs websites, travels a lot, runs several
podcasts and a radio station, writes books, and is pretty much the
kind of person many of us aspire to emulate in terms of success. He
uses AIRA and in this post, talks about how powerfully this innovative
solution has impacted his life. Please give it a read--I promise it
will change your outlook. https://mosen.org/aira/

Best,
Cricket X. Bidleman (she/her/hers)
Stanford University | Class of 2021

P.S. If you have Emma as your AIRA agent, tell her I said hello. :)

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