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.

As a wise man once said, "a sense of self comes from self examination ad
introspection with a little guidance."

----- Original Message -----
From: "Jim Shaffer" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Thursday, July 18, 2002 10:08 PM
Subject: Re: you should read this especially if you are indifferent to
the acb/nfb:


As I read this article, I was struck by the author's misunderstanding of
technology for the blind, and what it can do for us.  Blind people have,
of
late, become dependent upon the technological solutions to blindness,
and
have lost sight of the larger picture.  It seems to me that the NFB was
attempting to present this larger picture.  Many of us have been finding
solutions to problems for years, sometimes using high tech solutions,
but
often using simple common sense.

As a college student in the early 1970s, I got a double major in physics
and math, not by using any great technological solutions, but by simply
using my Braille skills, and, yes, by using readers.  The author made
reference to Mr. Maurer's statement that a human interface, a reader, is
still the best way to get reading done.  This was certainly true for me,
and would still be true today.  All the technology we have still can't
describe the diagrams I often encountered in my studies, nor could it
have
rendered the complex mathematical formulas I had to deal with.  I went
through college using readers, and a slate and stylus.  Today I use a
Braille Lite to take notes, but I used to get along fine with my slate
when
that was what I had, and I could still do that today.

As a further example, it is known that, even with the Kurzweil or Open
Book
software, it is often necessary to play around with the scanner settings
before you can get a usable scan.  Wouldn't it often be simpler to
simply
get a reader and do the job?  It is just not practical for me to use
scanning software to, for example, pay my bills that come by mail.  I've
found it far more efficient to get a reader for a couple of hours and go
right through the mail.

I wonder just what technology he expected.  The NFB's technology center
has
screen readers, Braille printers, note takers, scanners, and all that.
But
the important thing is for the blind user to believe in himself or
herself,
and all the technology in the world won't change that.  It seems to me
from
reading the article that that was what the NFB was trying to
demonstrate.  Experiences such as cooking and using power tools while
wearing a blind fold were designed to do just that.  Even the author
admitted that the students did better than he expected under the blind
fold.  If they went home with an increased sense of their abilities as
blind people, then the NFB accomplished far more than it could have ever
done by simply demonstrating technological solutions to a few problems
blind people face.

--
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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VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html