Well, let me see.
In 1986 I couldn't write a document on the computer, and 2 minutes
later hold it in my hand as a braille document. I can today.
In 1986 I couldn't talk to teachers, resellers, solution providers,
and even school admissions officers online. Today I can (and do on a
regular basis)
In 1986 there wasn't an intersection in the country I could cross w/o
having to worry about cars causing problems. Today, because of
audible cross walk signals, there's actually some places where we
*know* there's no problem, because the signals tell us so, instead of
depending on the traffic to do the right thing.
In 1986, I had to take someone into the voting booth with me if I
wanted to exercise my right to vote. Today there's actually *some*
places where thhis isn't necessary.
In 1986, MAC machines were a mystery, because every single one of
them was different, and there was no guarantee that even ones that
looked similar had similar screens. Today there's not only braille
on the keypads of most machines (not that it was necessary) but some
of them actually talk to walk us through the process of using the
machine unaided.
In 1986 if I wanted an assignment from a teacher in accessible
format, it meant getting a copy in advance, taking it to my itenerate
teacher, her passing it off to a braille person, that person
brailling it (or recording it if it lended itself to that format)
Giving it back to the itenerate teacher, then finally it coming back
to me in a format I could use. This process often took days or
sometimes even weeks. Today I simply ask the teacher for a copy,
they hand me a disk, or email a document, and poof, I can now read my
assignment all by myself.
There's hundreds of little improvements that like it or not are based
on technology. You say you weren't asking about technology, but I
say that technology is the very thing that makes it all possible.
You ask what's changed? I say nearly everything.
In 1986, I couldn't do half the things I do now independantly, and
today it's all a mater of routine. If you don't consider that
progress, then I guess, then we've got *very* different definitions
of what constitutes progress.
On Mar 17, 2006, at 10:18 AM, BlindTech of BlindTechs.Net wrote:
what part of "Not speaking about technology" didn't you understand?
I just ment as blind computer users.
if you remember the 80's and what we struggled with computers then,
do we not have the same struggles now?
and no I'm "NOT" speaking of technology advances!
BlindTech of BlindTechs.Net
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On Mar 17, 2006, at 7:52 AM, Travis Siegel wrote:
Oh come on, how can you possibly say we've gone nowhere. In 1986,
I was using a 4.77MHZ XT machine with 256K quickly upgraded to
640K, dos 3.3 (I think) and a 20MB hd, 1 5.25 floppy drive, and an
84-key keyboard. I could actually use 90% of the programs on the
machine, though some of them required a few gymnastics to make
them work.
Now, I've got a storage shed full of computers ranging from XT up
to Pentium 2 machines. 2 laptops on my desk (one with an hd that
needs an os reinstalled, and 1 with win2K on it) A desktop machine
running win98, a tower running linux, a mac mini maxed out with
10.4.6 on it, 1GB of ram, 80GB hd, 250GB external hd, and let's
see, about 75% of the programs are usable out of the box, and
roughly 80-85% can be made to work with some gymnastics.
So, you say nothing's changed. I beg to differ. I can do just as
much as I did before (actually more, because the computer does it
faster now)
Plus now I have the ability to make my computer do absolutely
nothing millions of times faster than it ever would have been
possible 20 years ago. Not to mention, I could copy my 20MB hd
onto this 80GB hd 4 thousand times, and I can even waste more
space due to cluster size on my hd than my original one even had
to start with. Not to mention all the wonderfully complex
graphical resolutions that exist now. 320X200 could fit on my
1024X768 screen a few times with room to spare, and I can do all
of this without the aid of any additional hardware, just what
ships with my little miniMac. Try doing that in 1986.
