[nfb-talk] Cash

[Steve Jacobson]

John,

If one takes the view that I hold, that we must evaluate the need and the priority of requests we make of society, then it 
becomes somewhat of a judgment call as to which issues we pursue.  In my mind, the Target case is part of a general 
effirt to make the web as accessible to blind people as possible.  This effort includes legal action, awareness 
campaigns, and more often than not, working cooperatively with web designers.  Taking just one small example of web 
access, my life has been impacted much more just by buying groceries on line than I perceive it would be impacted by 
identifiable money.  Loosing the access to the web that we have enjoyed would have a negative impact, but 
broadening access over the coming years as more blind people use computers will have a substantial positive impact.  
In other words, in my mind, the efforts of which the Target case is a small part is having and will have a far greater 
impact on our everyday lives than will identifiable money.

Ideally, we should have a screen reader that can handle difficulties with web sites, and maybe that kind of technology 
will be available at some point.  We have discussed that very subject as part of our R&D Committee meetings.  
However, such a screen reader seems a long way off, and some speculate that a screen reader that can truly interpret 
as well as read a screen without depending upon operating system hooks may never be possible.  Whatever the future 
holds along those lines, a screen reader that can handle any internet page is much further off than money identifiers 
which are already here.

On Wed, 13 Dec 2006 12:22:46 -0600, John Heim wrote:

>Can someone please explain an apparent contradiction in NFB policies to me?

>The NFB says that making the government change bills so that blind people 
>can tell them apart implies that "the blind are not capable of looking out 
>for our own best interests and that the whole world must be modified for our 
>protection."

>Doesn't the suit against Target do the same thing? Doesn't it imply that the 
>worl must be modified for us? If the NFB is to be consistent, shouldn't they 
>be working on a screen reader that will work with the Target site rather 
>than trying to make Target change their site?

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