BB FANS

By VICKI SMITH, Associated Press Writer

As technology has evolved, it's become lighter, smaller and more portable. For most people, that makes it more convenient. For millions of blind and vision-impaired people, it's anything but.

Jay Leventhal, who is blind, still fumbles with the tiny controls on his iPod but has given up on the kiosk in his New York office building that lists all the tenants.

For Leventhal, even laundry has become a task requiring the help of a sighted person. The washers he uses now take smart cards instead of quarters, issuing instructions on a digital screen that he can't read.


"The biggest barrier for blind people is access to information, and more and more information is being made available through different machines that aren't designed for people who can't see," says Leventhal, editor in chief of AccessWorld: Technology and People with Visual Impairments.


Blind people need a way to communicate with the machines that surround them, he says, from automated tellers to ticketing machines at train stations and airports.


Leventhal and other experts on assistive technology say there's no reason that can't happen. The technology exists in voice chips, image processors, cell phones, cameras and personal digital assistants.


Someone just needs to put it all together.

As someone with visual problems i have problems with small print and have to engage the use of of glasses and a TV scanner magnifier just to read how to heat my soup on the tin.

i have a voice activated mobile phone that no matter what I say calls my Mum

i have a robot reader on the PC that has no concept of taking a breath or sounding human

some cash machines i cant use because of the LCD screens

and as for I pods hand helds etc no chance even laptops are beyond me

So i can see how people with poor eye sight are being left out of the technical revoloution

I can't imagine what it must be like to have sight problems HOS. I hadn't realised there was the stuff available that you mentioned you used but at the same time I appreciate what you are saying about technoligy getting harder and harder to use too.

yea, the ambaraseesing bit is Tescos use hand held pcs when they deliver and you have to sign the screen, hopeless the guy always looks at me like i`m an edjit when i say where do i sign and tuts when he has to reset it three times before i get it right ..

Tescos deliver to Holland

well tescos are bloody well everywhere else now aint they

soon the phrase wont be I`m going shopping, it will be i`m going tescoing.

They will be the only shop in whole of britain

and so are you it seems

hey i suffer from a manic disorder that my doctor has tried to cure several times by moving and not telling me where hes gone

you'd think with all the available technology that things would get better not worse . voice activation and surface texture technology seems like the way forward for a lot of things (except cash machines, you wouldn't really want to say your PIN out loud but touchscreens must be a pain unless the machine read out the on-screen instructions and the cash value as you pass your hand over each part of the screen). that must be frustrating - knowing that even basic things could be better if only a little extra thought went into design.

so very true ...

however the inherent problem with technology is that it makes things smaller and all displays are designed for people with 20 20 vision aka the young.

I have finaly managed to get my voice to text software to work without resorting to a german accent to make it work I spent what seems like days doing the teaching it bit though I`m still better off touch typeing and hopeing for the best when it comes to posting.

is this better, HOS?

I still can't read it..