Path: utzoo!utgpu!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!bonnie.concordia.ca!thunder.mcrcim.mcgill.edu!snorkelwacker.mit.edu!think.com!yale.edu!yale!bunker!hcap!hnews!115!778.1!Eric.Bohlman From: Eric.Bohlman@p1.f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org (Eric Bohlman) Newsgroups: misc.handicap Subject: Re: Pathfinder Tiles Message-ID: <16119@handicap.news> Date: 17 Jun 91 20:32:05 GMT Sender: wtm@bunker.isc-br.com Reply-To: Eric.Bohlman@p1.f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org Organization: FidoNet node 1:115/778.1 - COPH-2 (BGMS), Chicago IL Lines: 47 Approved: wtm@bunker.hcap.fidonet.org Index Number: 16119 [This is from the Blink Talk Conference] BH> You may wonder what this has to do with employment......If that man BH> runs a business he would not hire a blind person if he thought we BH> couldn't travel independently without tiles, traffic signals, or do BH> other ordinary things blind people do every day without expensive BH> modifications. You could argue that using a synthesizer is a No, that's not a case of the tiles leading to unemployment, it's a case of bad attitudes on the part of employers leading to unemployment. Let's not forget that the world has plenty of "expensive modifications" for sighted people like me. For example, if I use a subway station, I can see where I'm going. This is the result of the subway system spending a minor fortune to install and run a lighting system, since there's no intrinsic light in a concrete tunnel buried underground. If I use a visual traffic signal to help me cross a street, somebody had to pay for that signal, since the last time I checked they didn't grow as a result of the wind blowing traffic signal seeds around. Note that I can't rely entirely on the traffic signal, since there are always cars that will run a light or stop in the middle of the crosswalk; I have to check traffic, but I don't think using the signal impairs my traffic-checking skills. There are two points here. The first is that a blind person who, say, uses tactile tiles in the subway to avoid falling off the platform isn't any more dependent on "modifications" than the sighted person who uses the electromagnetic radiation emitted by the lights. I'm all for people being as independent as possible, but independence means doing the same things others do when you have the same access to resources they do, not doing the same or more without resources. Second, the cost of these "special modifications" is minor in comparison with the cost of all the "nonspecial modifications" that have to be made. You could argue that all technology is adaptive technology. For example, we have telephones because people have speech and hearing problems that prevent them from using their voices and ears to carry on unaided conversations with others who are miles away. We have cars and airplanes because people have mobility impairments that prevent them from running a mile in less than four minutes or flying. We print telephone directories because people have learning disabilities that prevent them from memorizing thousands of telephone numbers. The only difference between these technologies and what most people think of as "adaptive" technology is in the number of people served by them. -- Uucp: ..!{decvax,oliveb}!bunker!hcap!hnews!115!778.1!Eric.Bohlman Internet: Eric.Bohlman@p1.f778.n115.z1.fidonet.org