My May column for Voices, Technology allows blind people to drive cars (http://disabilitiesjoelsolkoffblogs.blogspot.com/2010/05/technology-allows-blind-people-to-drive.html#links), is a story that changed the way I think about people who are visually impaired. Ultimately, it is a story that changes the way I think at all. Somewhere between now and ultimately is a story that does not stop because the technology is on-going and the demand is intense.
I just heard a Pennsylvania Industries for the Blind and Handicapped (PIBH) seminar in which members cited the desire for every blind Pennsylvanian (who meets the same age requirements as sighted drivers) to be able to drive within the next 10 years.
If I hear from enough visually-impaired readers, I am willing to organize a bus trip to a location the developers at Virginia Tech suggest so that readers can be in the presence of these special vehicles. I cannot promise that everyone who wants to drive can, but I can try.
Meanwhile, this blog will serve as a center for blind driving. To get us started, let us go to the link on the fastest record established in Turkey in April, 2010.
04_turkish_pop_singer_metin_senturk_becomes_worlds_fastest_unaccompanied_blind_driv.html
Comments
Leading to cars that self-drive
Very science fictiony! Combine that with electric cars and we've got a fascinating new generation of transportation.
Then the major problem to be solved is what generates the electricity in the needed amounts.
This also reminds me of the much promised robotic revolution - the idea that personal robots are right around the corner much as personal computers were just around the corner in the 1970s. of course there is a big difference between personal computers and personal robots - the one manipulates tiny electrical differentials, the other manipulates much heavier material items and requires much more electrical power.
Again leading to the question, what generates the electricity.
Of course, theres the model of transitioning from ubiquitous personal cars to ubiquitous mass transit.
A blind guy says the iPhone is the most amazing tool ever
http://webcache.googleusercontent.com/search?q=cache:http://behindthecurtain.us/2010/06/12/my-first-week-with-the-iphone/&ie=UTF-8&oe=UTF-8
This is pretty neat I thought - blind people using the text to voice and other tools in teh iphone to "see".
I have seen a lot of technology for the blind, and I can safely say that the iPhone represents the most revolutionary thing to happen to the blind for at least the last ten years. Fifteen or twenty years brings us back to the Braille ‘n Speak, which I loved in the same way, so have a hard time choosing the greater. In my more excitable moments, I consider the iPhone as the greatest thing to have ever happened to the blind, and it may prove so. Time will tell. The touchpad offers the familiar next/previous motion which the blind need, since speech offers one-dimensional output. Adding the ability to touch anywhere on the screen and hear it adds a whole other dimension, literally. For the first time, the blind can actually get spacial information about something. In the store, Mom could say “Try that button” and I could. Blind people know what I mean. How many times has a sighted person said “I see an icon at the top of the screen?” Now, that actually Means something. I want to find a way to browse the web with a touchpad on my computer. It truly represents the wave of the future.
...
The other night, however, a very amazing thing happened. I downloaded an app called Color ID. It uses the iPhone’s camera, and speaks names of colors. It must use a table, because each color has an identifier made up of 6 hexadecimal digits. This puts the total at 16777216 colors, and I believe it. Some of them have very surreal names, such as Atomic Orange, Cosmic, Hippie Green, Opium, and Black-White. These names in combination with what feels like a rise in serotonin levels makes for a very psychedelic experience.
I have never experienced this before in my life. I can see some light and color, but just in blurs, and objects don’t really have a color, just light sources. When I first tried it at three o’clock in the morning, I couldn’t figure out why it just reported black. After realizing that the screen curtain also disables the camera, I turned it off, but it still have very dark colors. Then I remembered that you actually need light to see, and it probably couldn’t see much at night. I thought about light sources, and my interview I did for Get Lamp. First, I saw one of my beautiful salt lamps in its various shades of orange, another with its pink and rose colors, and the third kind in glowing pink and red.. I felt stunned.
The next day, I went outside. I looked at the sky. I heard colors such as “Horizon,” “Outer Space,” and many shades of blue and gray. I used color queues to find my pumpkin plants, by looking for the green among the brown and stone. I spent ten minutes looking at my pumpkin plants, with their leaves of green and lemon-ginger. I then roamed my yard, and saw a blue flower. I then found the brown shed, and returned to the gray house. My mind felt blown. I watched the sun set, listening to the colors change as the sky darkened. The next night, I had a conversation with Mom about how the sky looked bluer tonight. Since I can see some light and color, I think hearing the color names can help nudge my perception, and enhance my visual experience. Amazing!