The important idea is that the internet will increasingly become an arena for building communities and relationships. Since blindness is often an isolating force, the internet holds great promise as a vehicle for self-fulfillment, and for fostering a feeling of belonging, commitment, and involvement. The Institute for Innovative Blind Navigation was established to take advantage of the potential of cyberspace. Blind children isolated in rural areas, isolated from blind peers, and isolated by cultural ignorance can be trained to build relationships in cyberspace. There is also a tremendous potential for the creation of meaningful jobs for blind individuals in cyberspace.
Technological changes alter entire cultures.
The way people work, play, and relate to each other are dramatically affected when revolutionary technologies emerge. Our perceptions of space and time are altered. The sources for wisdom, power, and wealth shift. As we approach the year 2000, we are at the beginning of a major technology revolution that is changing every piece of our cultural fabric. The institutions and the professions that served blind consumers in the industrial age are no longer adequate to address the needs and problems of the technological age.