Brian Miller is Treasurer of the National Association of Blind Students. He is an experienced traveler and contributed his perspective and reflections to the discussion. As I talk to various blind people, I am faced with questions which I feel I cannot fairly answer because people here see me as privileged. In the U.S. we have the luxury of acquiring and using access technology, so the slate and stylus is just another tool that a blind person can use. In India and in most third-world countries, where no Department of Rehabilitation exists to buy blind people laptops, speech equipment, scanning software, or reading machines, the slate and stylus is the only tool a blind person uses.
People do use Braille writers, but computer technology is more difficult to obtain.
We in the NFB would like to think that problems caused by misconceptions, negative attitudes, and negative stereotypes are universal. We believe that with proper training and opportunity blindness can be reduced to an inconvenience and a physical nuisance. I asked about books on tape or Braille books. Books on tape are difficult to get and have very poor sound quality, and Braille books are not readily available. In India there are no chirping traffic lights.