[nfbwatlk] FW: [List] UK article about blind youth & internet

Sat Oct 6 03:56:31 UTC 2012

man I can't believe that. not in the US. 
On Oct 5, 2012, at 8:35 PM, "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com> wrote:

> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: list-bounces at cfb.ca [mailto:list-bounces at cfb.ca] On Behalf Of
> list at cfb.ca
> Sent: Wednesday, October 03, 2012 11:10 PM
> To: list at cfb.ca
> Subject: [List] UK article about blind youth & internet
> 
> Karl-Erik here with something disturbing.
> 
> I just read this article from a friend's post on facebook.  It made me
> want to throw up, and not because it was gross, but because of the level
> of ignorance and misinformation that was actually published in a
> respectable newspaper, the Guardian, about blind youth and technology,
> noteably the internet.
> 
> The article is as follows:
> 
> 
> Blind Young People Aren't Well Connected to the Internet... Yet
> 
> Back on my work email, I read a message from Lee, one of the blind young
> people that my charity, The Royal London Society for Blind People (RLSB),
> works with. He wrote: "At weekends I just stay at home wishing I could go
> out and do the same things as other people. I am not allowed to go out by
> myself and I don't want to go out with my sister all the time."
> 
> Lee's experience is a snapshot of life if you are blind and young. It's
> not the futuristic digital generation, depicted in Danny Boyle's Olympic
> opening ceremony - of making friends and expressing themselves via the
> internet and using smartphones.
> 
> In the UK, more than a fifth of young married couples first met online, a
> quarter of jobs are only advertised online, and the average person spends
> eight hours a month on Facebook. In stark contrast, nearly 40% of disabled
> people have never used the internet, accounting for half of all people who
> have never been online.
> 
> Of the blind people motivated to get online, most go into battle using
> outdated kit badly adapted to today's internet, which is largely built by
> and for sighted people. Younger blind people are increasingly disconnected
> from the internet, and this in turn intensifies the dark reality of their
> lives: lonely, depressed, skint and with little hope for the future.
> 
> Not every blind young person is like Lee, of course. A small number of
> them are actively making the most of the net: chatting, shopping, trading
> and getting work. The solution is found in smart touchscreen devices
> equipped with the latest software and apps.
> 
> Blind people have a history of using touch to empower themselves. Braille,
> invented in the 19th century, is the classic example. In the 21st century
> touchscreen smartphone devices will become the new Braille. So why doesn't
> every young person that's blind get a tablet PC? Our research highlights
> three significant barriers.
> 
> . First, browsing the internet is difficult if you are blind: research
> participants took up to 11 minutes to find out the following day's weather
> forecast. Unless you're a blind super-user, browsing doesn't improve
> without specialist software and training.
> 
> . Second, learning to use new technology is difficult if you can't see it:
> blind young people exhibit low levels of new technology adoption. It's
> disruptive to their hard learned routines. Additionally, as technology
> brands rarely target younger ages of blind people, they aren't aware of
> new products.
> 
> . Third, touchscreen smartphones cost too much. More than two thirds of
> blind people live in poverty - buying a device or getting a monthly data
> contract is too often out of reach.
> 
> Because we speak to people like Lee every day we decided we ought to do
> something about the situation. RLSB's goal is to get a life changing fully
> accessible touchscreen device into the hands of every blind young person
> in and around London.
> 
> We asked young people like Lee what would make the internet more
> attractive - they said they wanted the internet to talk with them, like
> the computer on Star Trek. We called this a Conversational Internet, where
> devices and users ask each other questions, jointly navigating the content
> of web pages. You can watch a concept video of it here.
> 
> We reached out to those we thought could help, and received incredible
> responses from many global technology brands. IBM's UK chief executive
> contacted us proposing their annual Extreme Blue intern program could
> develop a prototype solution. Two weeks ago a basic working version was
> unveiled to the press.
> 
> To increase adoption of new technology among blind young people we need to
> inspire people to move beyond the limits of sub-standard, difficult to use
> 'access technology' and create 'everybody technology'. I believe
> increasingly there needn't be a choice between access or mainstream
> technology - mainstream innovation can deliver products good enough for
> anyone.
> 
> To support this vision, we're creating an expert advisory network, drawn
> from the third sector, to work closely with technology companies to create
> technology that works for everybody. It's also important blind people and
> developers get to know each other better, and we'll be hosting our own
> event called Technology without Limits on 30 November in London to do just
> that.
> 
> And no I haven't forgotten about the third challenge; the prohibitive cost
> of touchscreen technology. At our event we'll also be launching our pledge
> to provide a touchscreen smartphone, loaded with the best software, to
> each and every one of the 7,000 blind young people in London who needs one
> (donations are, of course, welcome!).
> 
> Today, blind young people like Lee are stuck at home, isolated, inactive
> and cut-off from the world. In the 21st century this needn't be the case.
> Just as with Braille, with the right technology, the determination to use
> it and our help, blind young people can take another big step towards
> living their lives beyond blindness.
> 
> Julian Dailly is director of communications at the Royal London Society
> for Blind People
> 
> Retrieved from:
> http://www.guardian.co.uk/media-network/media-network-blog/2012/oct/02/blind
> -digital-technology-internet-design?fb=optOut
> 
> 
> 
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