Last December my parents got a computer.  My dad was 82 and my mom
79.  Now, how is it that they, at their age, got involved with a new
fangled gadget like a computer?  Oh I should also add, my dad is a retired
Iowa farmer, not Mr. high tech by any means.  In fact, he started out
farming with horses!  You can now find him on ZForm Poker, one of the
sighted folks playing it.

So, how did such a couple get involved in the computer age.  Well, I did
it.  I could have chosen a few approaches, the worst of which would have
been to have taken them to a place like Fry's Electronics, and told them
about processor speeds, bus speeds, main memory, disk capacity, not to
mention l2 cache size.  Then I could have said, "Now that I've exposed you
to all this technology, what do you think?"  If I had done all that, they
still wouldn't have a computer!

What I did was went out and bought them a laptop, with the software they
needed, and helped, and got help, in showing them what buttons to
push.  Now they're using the computer and loving it.  So, did I expose them
to technology?  You bet.  Did I give them a thorough overview of what was
available, hell no!  The reason is that they were ignorant of what it all
meant.

Now, let's say I want to show technology for the blind to a bunch of high
school age folks.  Maybe some of them know Braille to a lesser or greater
extent.  Maybe some of them would benefit from a good overview of the
Braille displays available, but many would have been simply
overwhelmed.  Wouldn't it be best for me to show them a few pieces of
technology, then also show them what they could do as blind
people?  Remember, a lot of these folks have never had a lot of the
experiences those of us who went to a school for the blind back in the
1960s had.  How many, do you honestly think, have used power tools?  How
many have had home ec, and learned to cook?

I would agree that, if a group of us on the vicug-l mailing list went to
the NFB tech center to see technology, we could reasonably expect to be
shown what they have.  But then we're adults with, supposedly, a sense of
what is available, and hopefully a sense of what our capabilities are.

Let us remember that technology is a relative term.  When we, as computer
users, think of technology we think of computerized wizbang gizmos that
have lots of speed, memory, and all the bells and whistles.  But, if you've
been kept out of shop class, for example, isn't a radial arm saw
technology?  If you've been discouraged from cooking because you might burn
yourself, isn't it refreshing to know that you can cook under a blind fold,
no less?

Maybe, now, after their trip to the NFB center, some of these students have
the self confidence to go out and tackle the technology.

At 08:10 AM 7/19/02 -0400, you wrote:
>the impression I got from the article was that money was spent with the
>intended purpose of exposing these people to technology and that they
>did not get their money's worth at least from the author's point of view
>which fortunately or unfortunately is the one that counts here.  the
>telling line is the last one and that is the one I wanted to draw
>attention to when I posted the article.
>
>Jim, you are one of the fortunate dwindling number who have had the
>experiences of growing up during the dawn of the computer age and also
>one of the few only blind individuals around with the rise in population
>of individuals who are prevented from reading braille by other issues
>even though they are blind who can use braille efficiently in the way
>that you can use it.  I may even go so far as to say that today, we
>might not even be able to produce an individual holding your papers.
>
>A human or biological interface is not the best solution in today's
>environment for many people for many reasons and is and has been seen by
>society as showing us as pityable which the nfb stands against, yet we
>see this reaction whenever we ask about technology and independance.  I
>am not going to try to deal with this dichotomy here though.
>
>The only people I know who seem to understand and embrace the way the
>nfb does things are members and supporters of the nfb.  What I mean by
>understand though is not that we don't understand who are not members or
>supporters, but that we understand but cannot embrace.
>
>Jim, people are not born into a vacuum and in this particular case and
>in many cases I have heard of and personally witnessed, the nfb was not
>asked to provide anyone with a "larger picture".  They were asked to
>provide exposure to the technology which they are so proud of and for
>which they are so well known.  It kind of reminds me of the old missions
>where you could find shelter but they tried to convert you to their
>religion for the price of the food and roof.  I'd rather sweep the floor
>and decide for my self with objective input where I want to wind up
>thank you.

--
Jim Shaffer
home phone:  (512)989-5701
work phone:  (512)989-5537
e-mail:  [log in to unmask]
url:  www.jjshaffer.net


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