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From: Carla.Campbell@f89.n129.z1.fidonet.org (Carla Campbell)
Newsgroups: misc.handicap
Subject: Re: AIRPORT SECURITY PART TWO
Message-ID: <18583@bunker.isc-br.com>
Date: 10 Apr 91 18:00:42 GMT
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Index Number: 14724

[This is from the Blink Talk Conference]

 GP>      Do you mean something like these airport types flip
 GP>      through their book to the most likely looking photo, take
 GP>  your thing-a-ma-jig, see if it does what the literature says
 GP>  and, that's it?

Well, sorta, Gary, but not exactly. What I had in mind was something a
little less "formal"-- not requiring information/pictures of every single
adaptive device on the market to be effective. Simply a brochure (with
photos) explaining that "This is a Braille Thingamy-Dooper. It can/cannot
be damaged by airport security X-ray.  To test if it is functional, you
will/will not need electricity.  When powered on, the Braille
Thingamy-Dooper will display a seeries of raised Braille dots on its
tactile display.  The beeps the Thingamy-Dooper may be making are
normal...", etc. I would see these brochures also containing appropriate
disclaimers about "not being responsible if the unit has been tampered
with", and some sort of indication that the Braille Thingamy-Dooper may not
be the only Braille display unit that blind users have with them and that
not all units operate in the same way as the Thingamy-Dooper.

I don't see it as something the security people can rely on to "prove" that
an adaptive device is not housing explosives, but rather, I invision it
more as an educational tool-- familarizing the security personnel with the
_concept_ of Braille displays and other adaptive tech.  Such a familiarity
should both speed up the process of searching these units and also minimize
the baffled "what do I do with this?" feelings of the security folks when
first encountering an adaptive computer device.  That ought to make things
less frantic and also encourage as complete and thurough searches of our
equipment as those of our sighted travelling companions.

Just a thought.

                                                 --Carla

... Read what I mean, not what I write!

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