Assistive Technology for Blindness and Low Vision PDF

Foreword

Assistive technology has been an incredible force for equality of people with disabilities. With the right tools, people with a wide range of visual impairments have been able to engage in education, employment, and general society as never before. Alongside advances in civil rights, assistive technology has made much of these improvements practical.

As the creator of both successful and unsuccessful assistive technology products, I have learned through experience and observation about how to make new products and see them through to widespread adoption. This book will expose you to the full range of how technology is truly improving the lives of people with visual impairments. Written by world-class leaders in different segments of the assistive technology field, you will learn not only what is working today but also gain insight into what is next. Looking back over more than 20 years, it is amazing to see how much progress has been made!

Essential to these advances in assistive technology have been widespread technology advances, especially in the area of platforms and infrastructure. In testimony to the U.S. Congress in 1996, I described the personal computer (PC) as the "Swiss Army knife for people with disabilities," but it is now much more than the PC. The mobile phone, the tablet, and most of all, the Internet, have all created new opportunities. Powerful and flexible general-purpose technology and content can now be quickly adapted to the needs of people with disabilities, and this has greatly improved the capabilities and, even more importantly, the affordability of assistive technology.

Just as mainstreaming has become a core objective in education, mainstreaming with technology has been a key part of advancing the needs of people with vision impairments. To the greatest extent possible, people with disabilities would like to use the same applications, the same tools, and the same devices, and access the same content as their peers without disabilities. More and more mainstream vendors have seen the benefits of universal design in delivering value to a wider range of customers. Assistive technology has advanced quickly by exploiting the capabilities of new technology developed for the general market, and filling in essential missing pieces. More and more assistive technology will be built on top of general platforms like personal computers and mobile devices. However, Braille is a great example of an essential missing piece. There is no mainstream technology today that can effectively deliver Braille, but Braille displays, notetakers, and embossers connected to the Internet, smartphones, and PCs have made more Braille content available cost-effectively to today's blind Braille readers than ever before.

The assistive technology field has also followed the general computing device and software industries as they have shifted from technology-driven products to consumer-driven products to focus on solving the problems of real consumers with visual impairments. The most successful products, the largest improvements in quality of life, have come from carefully listening to user needs and responding to them. The field is littered with exciting technologies that did not lead to viable products, often because they were more gadgets in search of a problem.

The best way to learn is to observe the stories of today's successful products: the problems they solve, how they work, and how they have changed the lives of users. This book provides you with an unprecedented opportunity to understand the technologies that are improving the lives of untold numbers of people with vision impairments. Assistive technology has opened up a new world for people with disabilities, but the pace of change is increasing. I am excited about how future products will continue to remove even more barriers, enabling people with disabilities access to the same educational and employment opportunities as those without disabilities and fully realize the goal of social equality.