If I may, I have a few contributions to this thread!

First, I remember when the Echo PC was the speech synthesizer I used.
The voice was horrible and it only had two speeds! It was cheap though!
I think I had like three of them!

Second, I know that we have it much better off than we did when I was
younger, but I don't think we should become complacent. Just as we have
become more dependent on technology, so has the world in general. Just
because we have it better today than we did even a few years ago,
doesn't mean that blind people still aren't facing challenges in the
work place because Google Apps isn't accessible or blind students can't
get to their reading materials because inaccessible ereaders are being used.

Finally, I agree that the blind youth need to be taught to be
independent and self sufficient, but I don't think denying them
technical advancements in the area of accessibility is the way to do
this, as the post below seems to imply. The world around us is becoming
more technical, and I'm not sure that we're any better off now than we
were 10 or 20 years ago when compared to our sighted colleagues. Sure we
have screen readers for our computers and phones, but we're also
expected to carry a cell phone and use various applications by our
employers and we also need to use our PC, ereaders and the web to get
our jobs done every day. I think we still have plenty of challenges in
front of our blind youth for them to cut their teeth on. If not then we
need to look at what we're doing to prepare our blind youth to be
independent and successful in today's society. Also, I don't think
there's any more sense of entitlement today than there was 20 years ago.
Even then, there was fear that there was too much sense of entitlement
and too much coddling going on.

On 15/01/12 03:45, Mike Pietruk wrote:
> Jack
> 
> Well, the technology certainly makes our lives better -- no doubt about 
> that.  
> But I think it has a price too particuarly for the younger generation as 
> learning how to fend and survive on one's own is part of the needed skills 
> any young person *must* master.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> 
> this nanny-state environment works so long as one can live their entire 
> life under its umbrella; but it fails miserably if one truly wishes to 
> seek success.  Far too many these days look to the government, agencies, 
> counselors and all the rest rather than to themselves -- and that's not 
> healthy for society in the long-run.
> There is no freedom if it is given to you; there is freedom if you gain it 
> on your own.
> There is far too much emphasis on so-called rights, and not enough on 
> strength from within, improvising, learning on co-existing and the other 
> things necessary to compete in the private sector.
> 
> 
> 
> 
> As we search the Scriptures, we must allow them to search us,
> to sit in judgment upon our character and conduct.
> Jerry Bridges, author, speaker and staff member of The Navigators
> http://www.navigators.org
> 
> 
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-- 
Christopher (CJ)
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