This article about the NFB technology center reminds me that last year
was the twenty-fifth anniversary of the reading machine, which I
celebrated in my column on the eSight Careers Network at www.esight.org
.  It was on January 13, 1976 that Walter Cronkite had awakened the world
with the news that a revolution had begun in how the blind access
information.  Ray Kurzweil and the national federation of the Blind
demonstrated the first working prototype of a reading machine that
converted printed text into synthetic speech.  Blind attorney Jim Gashel
was at the controls when the CBS news anchorman signed off his broadcast
with the reading machine saying his famous signature line in synthetic
speech "And that's the way it was, January, 13, 1976."

The machine and its constituent technologies that would deliver the wild
dream of information independence to the blind was achieved through hard
work, significant involvement by blind end users and a passionate
organizing vision.  These are the same skills used and needed today by
blind end users in mastering current technology.

The big bang in information access started in 1975 when Ray Kurzweil
approached Jim Gashel who was and is the Governmental Relations Director
of the National Federation of the Blind for funding assistance with his
project.  Gashel was intrigued and introduced Kurzweil to the radically
visionary blind leader Kenneth jernigan, who was the president of the
National Federation of the Blind and director of the Iowa commission for
the Blind.  In 1975, Kenneth Jernigan was riding high with national
acclaim, demonstrated results, and an organized blind membership that
approached 50,000.

Kenneth jernigan came to Iowa in the early 1960s to improve the blindness
service system there.  He immediately applied his philosophy of
self-reliance, independence, self-respect, and pride of blind people.  He
was one of the first disability leaders to identify his concerns as a
civil rights issue and believed the blindness problem was one of poor
societal attitudes, low expectations, and blindness service agencies that
created and perpetuated dependency.  In slightly more than a decade the
blind furniture maker from Tennessee transformed Iowa to the place with
the best blind school, best orientation center, and most employed blind
people in the world.  In the 1960s and 1970s, there was no better place
on the planet for a blind person to be.

There was one significant problem in 1975 that still eluded Kenneth
Jernigan, now the most powerful blind man in America:  Neither he, nor
any blind person could read print independently.  Blind people relied
heavily on people who read to them, either in their homes or on
audiocassettes.  Braille was not any better, as it was produced by a
limited number of sighted transcribers who underwent weeks of training.
No matter how good the agency, how high the expectation, or positive the
attitude, print remained a major barrier.  Ray Kurzweil's idea, which had
been turned down by dozens of charities, funders, and other disability
organizations, could transform the lives of the blind, but it was a bit
of a longshot.

Intel had just perfected a microprocessor that could run a whole computer
in 1974.  By January, 1975, the world's first personal computer went on
sale, with computer magazines picturing the Altair 8800 on their front
covers.  The Altair, created by a retired Air Force General in the desert
near the airport in Albuquerque New Mexico, was not even a computer.  It
was a computer kit.  You had to build it yourself and then it usually
didn't work.  When it did, it had no keyboard or monitor, or input jacks
for anything.  Everything was entered by switches.

Not only had computers not been invented, but neither had the three
constituent technologies of speech synthesis, flat-bed scanning, and
optical character recognition that would comprise the reading machine and
later be the building blocks of access for the blind to the information
society.  These technologies had to be developed to make the machine
viable.

"Impossible, however, was not in the vocabulary of the charismatic figure
that organized a succession of Iowa governors, dozens of business
leaders, hundreds of state legislators, and thousands of blind persons to
turn the vision of independence and equality for the blind into reality.
Kenneth Jernigan knew the creativity and resourcefulness of blind people.
They, through the Federation, could create the King Kong of machines for
the blind, if they had the confidence in themselves and set their
expectations high enough.  It could have the impact that landing a man on
the moon did six years earlier -- creating and spinning off new
technologies and opportunities.

Kenneth jernigan then made a proposal to Ray Kurzwel that would be the
model of technology design, manufacture, policy, and end user selection
for the blind and later for the larger disability community in the
decades to come.  His Federation would organize the funding effort and
lend his and the Federation's credibility to the project only if the NFB,
specifically its blind engineers would be involved in the design of the
reading machine and its user interface and controls.  Further, this group
would help evaluate and refine all aspects of the product's operation and
various functions.  These blind engineers would be equal partners
throughout the entire process.  Ray Kurzweil had not expected the
request, but agreed reluctantly as he had exhausted all other leads and
was at the end of the road.  Jim gashel coordinated the blind engineers
and began working until midnight throughout 1975 at his Washington office
drafting dozens of funding proposals needed to raise the $350,000 for the
project, a sizeable sum in those days.

That single reading machine that sold for what was the equivalent of a
small house 25 years ago has led to a digital revolution that has
transformed the lives of the blind.  Now, nearly every written item is
independently accessible through technology for as little as a few
hundred dollars.  Today, the millions of library books and those
available at Amazon.com and other booksellers are independently
accessible to us.  Magazines, newspapers, and even the church newsletter
are now available in an accessible way on the World Wide Web or just
waiting for us in our inbox.  Don't like reading with synthesized speech?
No problem.  In a few keystrokes, you can enlarge the type font or
translate and emboss the item into Braille.  Added to all of this are the
newer and emerging technologies of audio described movies and television
programs, digital books, 500 channels of cable television, and telephones
that allow you to call anyone and surf the Internet from nearly
everywhere.  The access barriers of a quarter century ago have narrowed
considerably and will be virtually eliminated in a few years.

Here on vicug-l and at vicugs worldwide, we celebrate the strengths and
capacities all bring to increase the independence of the blind:
professionals, family members, end users, software developers, advocates,
net geeks, and even sighted readers.  We are all peers working together
cooperatively to bring the vision and promise to every print impaired
person.  We welcome the varied ideas, techniques, and perspectives.  Our
efforts are dedicated to those who have stayed up working on a problem
all night only to discover that the night is gone, they are full of
adrenaline and there is a whole day in front of them.  They do not care
because they have uncovered new tools and options that will increase
independence, reduce reading hours, and make life easier.  they are
infused with an unexplainable energy.  the energy of empowerment through
technology.

As a student Dave Porter, one of the co-founders of digit-Eyes: the
Chicago Blind Computer User Network, believed there were people who knew
the way things worked.  They had the right answers and all Dave had to do
was hitch a ride on their credentials and they would see to it that he
got what they knew .  As an adult, Dave has come to learn that a
credential is more a product of stamina than know-how.  "We learn by
doing.  We succeed by asking questions, bartering ideas, leveraging
information, trial and error, and perseverance.  We are mentors, teachers
and students simultaneously.  We observe and, where possible, incorporate
what we gathered into the litany of our experiences," Dave Says.

Never stop asking questions.  Answers will bring more questions.  When we
ask questions, interpret and incorporate answers into our common
experiences, we will have then the complete solution and the energy we
need to move forward.

In 2002, it seemed as if top NFB leaders were trying to describe the
importance of today's technological events, explain options, review
products, catalog experiences, document ideas, and ask challenging
questions of the students.  During one short weekend, they were trying to
inform, challenge, entertain, and, maybe, inspire them to come back and
join them on a regular basis.

this general orientation to blindness does not need to be expert driven
and provided at some one of a kind center for the blind.  It can be and
often is provided to many teenagers and newly blinded people in the homes
of successfully employed and independent blind persons.  I think we often
try to find the magic solution, the right expert, the best practice and
overlook success and talent in our own communities and regions.  We can
teach each other, empower each other, and build a learning and support
network that spans the world.  I think this belief in experts led
officials in New York to justify the bus trip to Baltimore without what
it seems to be any specific goals, clearly articulated objectives, a
defined purpose, or a set structure of a program.  yes, it does appear
that the NFB's visionary outlook on technology has changed considerably
in about the past 25 years.  yet the State of New York expected little
and got little in return.  As Kenneth Jernigan so clearly showed in his
own life, high expectations lead to high performance.

Kelly


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