[nFBMI-Talk] Blind People Keep Being Profiled In The Mainstream Media--Sort Of

[Kane Brolin]

Just last night, a friend of mine--a fellow Lions Club member who is a
retired optometrist--forwarded me an article which is being published
in the forthcoming edition of The Atlantic.  It's entitled "Alexa Is a
Revelation for the Blind."
https://www.theatlantic.com/magazine/archive/2018/05/what-alexa-taught-my-father/556874/?utm_campaign=serendipity_0_1_6&utm_medium=web&utm_source=new_tab_extension

The author Ian Bogost, a professor at the Georgia Institute of
Technology, expresses delight that his father, who is losing his
eyesight, is able to benefit from Alexa technology and from the Amazon
Echo as he never could have benefited from anything before.
Heart-warming though this story is, it seems to implicitly relay the
misguided message that Amazon Alexa developers are visionary and
naturally compassionate in their building in of support for blind
users.

But as we know, this did not happen because Amazon as a corporation
had a culture where supporting the equality, opportunity, or security
of the blind was front-and-center.  In fact, those of us who have
followed this issue realize that Amazon and many other technology
companies--including Apple--resisted making their products accessible
to blind people it all.  It took perhaps more than a decade of
on-the-ground advocacy work and legal struggle on the part of blind
persons--especially lawsuits against educational institutions and
governmental bodies--before the biggest tech companies decided to
place intentionality behind this and focus on granting blind and other
print-disabled persons full access to the utility of their product
lines.  Equality in this regard has not been won easily, and it is
very elusive--no more secure than the next release of any given
hardware or software version.

It is the National Federation of the Blind which made it possible for
Ian Bogost's dad and many others with print disabilities to taste the
freedom and control that Amazon Alexa brings to 21st-century life.
http://www.rootedinrights.org/national-federation-of-the-blind-and-amazon-reach-agreement-on-accessible-kindles/

Let's be proud of the NFB, this wonderful Federation we represent in
our communities every day.

Respectfully,

Kane Brolin, president
Michiana Chapter, National Federation of the Blind