Predicting the future of technology for people with visual impairments is easier than you might think. In 2003 I wrote an article entitled "In the Palm of Your" for that Journal of Visual Impairment & Blindness from the American Foundation for the Blind. The arrival of the iPhone was still four years away, but I could confidently predict the center of assistive technology moving from the desktop to the smartphone.
"A cell phone that costs less than $ 100," I wrote, "can see to the person who cannot see, read to the person who cannot read, speak to the person who cannot speak, remember . " the person who cannot remember and guide the person who is lost. "Given the technology trends of the time, this transition was as inevitable as it seemed far-fetched.
We're at a similar point now, which is why I'm excited to play a part Sight Tech Global , a virtual event from December 2-3, bringing together the best technologists to discuss how AI and related technologies will usher in a new era of remarkable advances in accessibility and assistive technologies, especially for the blind or visually impaired.
To get into the future, I want to turn to the past. I was out and about in the German city of Speyer in the 1990s with the pioneering blind assistive technology entrepreneur Joachim Frank. Joachim took me on a journey of fantasy about what he really wanted from assistive technology as opposed to what was possible back then. He quickly highlighted three stories of how advanced technology could help him as he walked down the street with me.
- When I walk down the street and pass a supermarket, I don't want all the signs in the window to be read. However, if any of the signs determine it Kasseler Kipchen (smoked pork chops, his favorite) are on sale, and the price is particularly good, I want that whispered in my ear.
- And then, when a young woman comes up to me and walks in the opposite direction, I would like to know if she is wearing a wedding ring.
- Finally, I want to know that someone has followed me for the last two blocks, that he is a known robber and that if I accelerate my walking speed I will go fifty meters ahead, turn right and walk another seventy meters, I'll be in a police station arrive!
Joachim blew me away. In a short walk, he outlined a far more daring idea of what technology could do for him without getting lost in the details. He wanted help saving money, making new friends, and protecting himself. He wanted skills that not only matched, but exceeded, what people with normal eyesight had. Most of all, he wanted tools that knew him and his Wishes and needs.
We are nearing the point where we can make Joachim's dreams come true. It doesn't matter whether the assistant is whispering in your ear or using a direct nerve implant to communicate. We'll probably see both of them. But the technology nexus will move inside your head and become a powerful tool for equality of access. A new tech stack with perception as a service. Countermeasures to outsmart algorithmic discrimination. Technical personalization. Affordability.
This experience will build on an ever more application-rich and immediately available technology stack in the cloud. With all of this becoming cheaper and cheaper, product designers can create and experiment faster than ever before. It will be expensive at first, but not as long as adoption - probably far more than just disabled people - brings the price down. I started my career in tech for the blind with the introduction of a reading machine, which was a big deal because it cut the price of that technology in half to $ 5,000. Even better today, OCR is a free app on every smartphone.
We could go deeper into how we can make Joachim's dreams come true and meet the needs of millions of other people with visual impairments. But it will be far more interesting to explore with that World's best experts at the Sight Tech Global on December 2nd and 3rd, how these technical tools are activated in your head!
Registration is free and open to everyone.
Jim Fruchterman a pioneering social good entrepreneur and founder of and Technical matters .
