A few days ago I was chatting to Christopher Venter, a fellow blind Capetonian and blogger, about the technology he uses and his reasons for selecting the equipment he does. Chris believes that dedicated screen reader applications like JAS are being made redundant by products like the iPad and iPhone with their in-built voiceover functionality.
My instinctive response was to question this. After all, I’ve been using JAWS on a Windows-based computer for almost 20 years.
And then I started thinking about the ever increasing amount of time I find myself spending on my iPhone (and not on my laptop): listening to podcasts, communicating with people on Facebook, FB messenger, WhatsApp, and even (finally) accessing websites on my iPhone… so maybe it’s not such an unbelievable idea.
That got me thinking.
And then, as if that wasn’t enough, the universe decided to reinforce the message.
That afternoon I listened to one of my regular podcasts, Accessibility technology Update, in which RJ cooper, one of the first people in the world to design computer solutions to enable those with special needs to accomplish tasks, repeated Chris’s message almost verbatim.
So, now I’m wondering about what this will mean for me and the way I accomplish tasks – maybe not tomorrow, but certainly sometime in the near future. My head is spinning with all the possible implications.
Only one thing is certain: the universe is insisting I get the message that change is going to happen.
To read Chris’s fascinating blog: http://blindscooterguy.wordpress.com
And
To listen to the Accessibility Technology Update podcast: http://itunes.apple.com/za/podcast/assistive-technology-update/id442159129?mt=2&i=369472010
xxl
