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Left Behind by Design: A Voice Command Future Silences the Deaf and the Other Disabled

Ever since the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1990 became law on July 26 of that year, disabled people have been in a steady decline in services, support and protection. Oftentimes — the struggle is more rewarding than the win — and once the day is won, everyone relaxes, and forgets what the real meaning of the fight for rights was all about, and things begin to decay into apathy against an upward, failing, expectation.

Evidence of this lack of accessible ubiquity in our technological futures for the Disabled is the rise of the “Voice Only” command system, be it an Amazon Echo, the Google Assistant, Microsoft Cortana, Xfinity Voice Remote, Apple TV voice command, Google Docs voice dictation, or even Apple’s Siri.

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The Disabled Defense: Canes and Wheelchairs

I am a wide supporter of the disabled and devices that help them live better and easier lives. However, in the last few years, I’ve witnessed odd behavior on the streets, and in public gathering spaces, that sounds an alarm of concern. Some people in wheelchairs — actually, the person pushing the wheelchair, not the rider — and those who use canes, are beginning to use those facilitation devices as weapons!

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Oscar Pistorius Wins the London Olympics!

On May 19, 2008, in my RelationShaping article — Carbon-Fiber Legs Racing for Olympic Gold — I wrote the following celebrating legless Olympic hopeful runner Oscar Pistorius who had been denied his shot at competing against able-bodied runners. He was banned by the International Association of Athletics Federations as having an “unfair advantage” because his false legs were seen as a mechanical edge in a race:

For anyone to claim that a man who runs on false legs is somehow advantaged over those with real legs is not only the height of hilarity, but also the cause of ongoing immoral human corruption.

I am always amazed how many average people are outraged when non-average people are provided “reasonable accommodation” under the Americans with Disabilities Act of 1991.

When Marlee Matlin recently appeared on Dancing with the Stars there were some — including the judges — that felt she deserved no reasonable accommodation in the grading of her dancing because “she has to be treated just like everyone else” even though she is profoundly Deaf since birth and cannot hear music.

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Suing for Google Apps for Education Access

I am a massive fan of Google Apps.  I wrote the first Google Apps Administrator book to market and, to this day, I still use Google Apps via Boles University to run my empire of polymathic projects.

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How Regional Theatres Can Facilitate Deaf Theatre Audiences

Regional Theatres have a coded and codified covenant to facilitate their productions for disabled audiences.  It’s easy to add a wheelchair ramp.  It’s simple to provide listening devices for the Blind.  The accessibility question is much more complicated to solve when it comes to serving Deaf audience members.  There are several methods regional theatres can employ to pull in Deaf audiences.  The first, and clearest, example is to include Deaf actors in your productions.  You don’t have to have a 100% Deaf cast, but a few Deaf cast members will deepen the emotional pool of any play.  The actual character doesn’t have to Deaf; in your production, the character will just happen to be Deaf and sign, or not — and voice — or not.  The richness of a Deaf actor on stage is worth the added conflict and catharsis the disability brings to the in situ life of the overall performance.

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The FCC Serves the Deaf-Blind in the 21st Century

We received terrific news last week from the FCC that they are spending a lot of time and money to guarantee the Deaf-Blind will be included in the current century.

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Reviewing Awareness! for the iPhone

Awareness! is a new App for the iPhone that listens for danger for you while you lose yourself in your music.  The App only runs on iOS4, and when it is active, you get a bright, red, throbbing bar across the top of your iPhone screen at all times reminding you the App is active.  The only way to rid yourself of that annoying redness is to kill the App with a double click on the home button and then choose to close it as a live application.

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