This paper is about these new technologies and how they can be used to increase productivity, improve competitive performance, and enhance the likelihood of success for people who are blind. My 1998 paper compares Braille and speech and explains their strengths and weaknesses while suggesting how they are best applied. The fundamental philosophies expressed in that paper remain valid today, but the technology has changed and a new generation of products means that the future is really starting today. Sight is an amazing sense that instantly and simultaneously detects broad spatial characteristics, intricate patterns, complex symbols, multiple color combinations, juxtaposed data points, spatial relationships, and even subtle variations that add depth of meaning to an image. In the early 80s when Apple Computers introduced the Macintosh, many people scoffed at the cutesy icons that were designed to make using the computer more intuitive and friendly.
Most people don t really care about the mechanics of a device.
They simply want to put the device to use to generate a result in the easiest, most efficient, most effective way possible. The graphical user interface was just such a solution for people with sight. Although a user interface and a computer operating system are two different things, Microsoft bound them inextricably into one when they created Windows. As a result, people who are blind are forced to navigate through a visual obstacle course just to access the Windows operating system and the applications that run under it. To accomplish this wonder, they must use a piece of software called a screen reader.