[blindkid] Wii Thoughts

[Heather]

Your daughter doesn't find Braille fun, she finds reading fun.  A kid 
doesn't find their cane fun, or no more so then a new pair of sneakers fun, 
they find traveling fun.  That was my point on that score.  I think 
simulators are great for things that it is difficult to get real world 
experience in.  Micanical bulls are much friendlier and safer than the real 
thing.  Training all astranauts in real space crafts would be too dangerous 
and too expensive.  Same with training pilots.  The military has extensive 
simulators for combat situations, simulating a juno walk is a great idea, as 
it would not be practical to give every applicant to a guide dog school a 
practice dog to test drive.  But a cane is easy to get, and if an instructor 
is too lazy or too underconfident to not get their student, take them 
outside and just go, then maybe they are in the wrong profession.

I disagree with this because of how it will detrement the perception of 
blind people, and blind children.  There are so many convoluted ideas in the 
TVI and O and M and special ed. text books as it is, that anything that is 
extrainious or gives the wrong message is a very very bad thing.  Also, the 
idea that walking in a strait line is all important is a problem.  If O and 
M instructors are expecting this, then they are setting themselves up for 
disapointment.  No blind person walks reliable strait lines, not me, not any 
of my blind friends, not my mother, and I bet not Mike or Albert or any of 
the other blind people on this list.  But, they and I have good map skills 
and good cane skills so that when we drift we correct before it becomes a 
problem and go on about our day.  The focus should be on listening to trafic 
paterns, developing wrist strength, reading and understanding maps, using 
GPS, using compases, following purely spoken or written dirrections, for 
practice in situations when maps are not available, not walking a strait 
line.  It is never going to happen, and if kids are so concerned with that, 
they may get frustrated and give up, or fail to focus on the more important 
things.  As parents, what you all think is important, but the blind 
community will ultimately decide the fate of this, because even if sighted 
parents and TVIs and blind schools grab these up, if blind people don't like 
them, they will die out.  And, hell, the blind community might wind up 
loving them, and the demand will grow, but the point is that it seems that 
most of the blind people are the sceptical ones, and the sighted ones are 
all for it.  I'm not saying that we shouldn't try it, I am just saying that 
to me and to many blind people on many many forums and lists, it sounds 
silly, stupid, pointless, weird, etc, others' words, not mine.  And, no I 
did not take the email from this list to share it.  It has been circulating 
on three different blind parenting lists I am on, one blind tech list, and 
three forums, some of which are affiliated with NFB, some with AFB, some 
with ACB and some are not affiliated with any of them, so this is not an 
attitude spacific to one demographic of the blind population.
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Richard Holloway" <rholloway at gopbc.org>
To: "NFBnet Blind Kid Mailing List,(for parents of blind children)" 
<blindkid at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, June 08, 2010 12:48 PM
Subject: [blindkid] Wii Thoughts


> I'm wondering if any of us has actually had "hands on" this device,  and 
> who among us has actually seen that video or had it described to  us...
>
> From what I can discern, this "electronic cane" is basically a fairly 
> conventional cane with a chunk in the middle that has been replaced by  a 
> pair of shafts with what appears to be some sort of a motion-sensing 
> device that hangs between the the shafts. I suspect it would feel like  a 
> slightly awkward and heavier-than-usual cane. This is not some crazy 
> alternative-to a-cane contraption. It is also (from what I can tell)  FAR 
> closer to a typical cane than the Wii Guitar is to an actual  guitar, for 
> whatever that may be worth. Despite it's similarity with a  "proper" cane, 
> it also does not appear to be offered as a replacement  to a cane in any 
> way.
>
> My guess is that (much like with the knfb reader) among so many other 
> pieces of technology, over time the device would shrink and could 
> ultimately feel (and in fact be) a typical cane that happens to offer  the 
> features of a Wii input device as well. (Perhaps you could even  attach a 
> small device around a personal cane for this at some point.)
>
> I keep hearing so much apprehension and resistance to what this device 
> claims to offer but no evidence that it really won't work or certainly 
> anything that shows this to be detrimental to cane travelers' skills. 
> What I did hear however, is that it apparently has inspired and  pleased a 
> number of the kids who have been trying it out. Again, I'm  not picking up 
> an anything bad there. I hear that some people  apparently think learning 
> to use a cane should NOT be fun. Well, let  me tell you-- if my daughter 
> thinks something is fun, she's going to  do it a lot more often and a lot 
> better than something she dislikes  and I'm suspecting this is not unique 
> to Kendra. In my experience,  Kendra really enjoys reading and writing 
> braille. She has fun doing it  now, because she actually had fun learning 
> to read braille and it has  nearly always been associated with positive 
> experiences for her. Many  of the ways she learned to read were very much 
> game-like, Now she  reads several years ABOVE grade level and she's only 
> just finished  first grade. Does anyone want to suggest to me that while 
> it is okay  if she enjoys reading NOW, she should NOT have enjoyed 
> LEARNING to  read? Does that make sense to anyone?
>
> I was recently looking at a braille compass in a store. Then I saw an 
> electronic compass. I don't know how well it works, but the concept is 
> interesting. So consider this-- put the electronic compass into a cane 
> which tells you which way you're pointing at will. Or why not a GPS in  a 
> cane? Does that sound excessive or overly complicated? Well it may  be, 
> but what is much more likely is that things like this Wii cane  could 
> develop into something like a conventional cane (or cane  attachment) with 
> a bluetooth interface that could send whatever data  the sensors in the 
> cane are made to pickup, then you could interface  that with whatever you 
> wanted-- a compass system, a GPS, or probably  any number of other 
> devices.
>
> There was a time when telephones were not mobile, then some people had 
> the "crazy" idea of putting them in cars and then briefcases. Those 
> became "bag phones" that became the "brick" cell phones which became 
> pocket sized phones like many of us have now. Ultimately, a pocket  phone 
> can encompass everything from a PDA to a GPS system to a knfb  reader and 
> who knows what else?
>
> It looks to me like the Wii system, in many ways is actually at least 
> part of something somewhat like a simulator for cane travel. You can 
> actually travel with it (at least a bit) but not in a "real world" 
> environment. Well, the simulator concept is a proven one. People learn  to 
> do all sorts of things in them all over the world. Often it keeps  them 
> safe, makes learning faster, and saves time and money. Again, I  have 
> trouble seeing the down side. Every time I get on a airplane, I'm 
> delighted to know the pilot may have spent a lot of time in a  simulator 
> AS WELL AS actually flying. All of that is hopefully keeping  me safer in 
> the air!
>
> The NFB really is working towards cars that would be reasonable for  blind 
> people to drive on their own. Not just an autonomous vehicle a  blind 
> person could own and ride in, but one that my child might be  able to get 
> in and drive on her own one day. It troubles me to observe  other bashing 
> ideas that may not only be useful and helpful right now,  but which may 
> very well lead to all sorts of additional helpful  technologies for all of 
> our kids in the future. I hope we can all keep  this in mind when we're 
> exploring and discussing new developments in  technology.
>
> Once upon a time someone came up with a strange and awkward concept  for 
> sending messages that could be read in the dark in combat areas.  It 
> didn't work very well at all and it needed a lot of refining. I  expect 
> many people thought it was a ridiculous concept, and a waste of  time, but 
> today I don't think so many of us would announce that  Braille is a 
> foolish or useless invention.
>
> Just my thoughts on the matter.
>
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