[nfb-talk] A Vehicle That Would Drive It Self

[Sherri]

Way to go for submiting the article. I too believe the car will be developed 
by outside sources, but we should still have a say in it. As I said on 
another list, the ability to get easily and cost effectively from point A to 
B would simplify so many things in our lives.

Sherri
----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Michael Bullis" <mabullis at hotmail.com>
To: "'NFB Talk Mailing List'" <nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 2:38 PM
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] A Vehicle That Would Drive It Self


Great Story Peter.  My reason for submitting the article to the list is that
I believe that a car which will drive itself will be developed.  My reason
for not believing that NFB should invest in the project is that there are
others with far more resources than us already working on it.  Our job will
be to make the software accessible probably, but, I'm sure the self-driving
car will be along.  Forty thousand people die annually in this country alone
from automobile accidents.  Preventing these deaths and the tens of
thousands of injuries that result from traffic accidents is a priority for
far more than just people who are blind.
Keep your dream alive.
Mike
-----Original Message-----
From: nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfb-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On
Behalf Of Hope Hein
Sent: Sunday, October 28, 2007 2:24 PM
To: nfb-talk at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] A Vehicle That Would Drive It Self

Wow!

-----Original Message-----
From: "Peter Donahue"<pdonahue1 at sbcglobal.net>
Sent: 10/28/07 2:09:53 PM
To: "NFB Talk Mailing List"<nfb-talk at nfbnet.org>
Subject: Re: [nfb-talk] A Vehicle That Would Drive It Self .

Good afternoon everyone,

    I feel I must jump in here as well. When I was growing up in the late
1960s I observed those around me and what happened tothe vast majorrity of
children when they became adults. Many of them eventually learned how to
drive so they could travel independently and without the need to depend on
public transportation.

     During that time I was a student at an outfit called the Boston Center
for Blind Children. This, "School for the Blind" was in no way connected
with Perkins and was located in Jamaica Plane; a section of Boston. Since I
was coming in to my teens like other teen agers I wanted a car, and to
learn .how to drive it. But of course how could a blind person drive a car.
I .remember expressing this to many center staff members most of which told
me .that there's no way that would happen, an that it was necessary to see
to .drive a car. You can get a very good impression of the attitude towards
the .blind children who attended this institution was like if I told you
that .there were no blind employees working there, and that those who
persisted in .believing that the seemingly undoable for a blind person might
one day .become possible the penalties for holding such firm beliefs could
be quite .severe!

    We had one child care worker there named Lucy Pinarde. She was a very
soft-spoken, suite individual who did her best to treat her charges well
despite the hell going on around her.  As was my routine I shared my desire
to one day own a car and be able to drive it myself just as my parents and
others did. One day she took me in her arms, and whispered in my ear:

"Every day scientists and inventors discover new ways to make life better
for people in this World. Things that are not possible now will be possible
in the future. It's great that you want to learn to drive, and can imagine
that one day a car that a blind person can drive will be created. Never let
that dream die. The future holds promise for ideas like yours."

    She made similar statements to me on other occasions being sure she
made
them out of ear-shot of other BCBC Staff.

    Fast-forward to the year 2000! There I was in a crowded convention hall
in Atlanta Georgia listening to the plans to construct the NFB Jernigan
Institute and the research projects the institute would undertake. One of
these would be the development of a car a blind person could operate
independently!Listenining to Dr. Maurer and others caused me to recall Miss
Pinarde's words to me during my time at the BCBC. We are now in a time when
technology exists to create such a vehicle. This is what drove Mary and I
to .contribute to the Imagination Fund in the hopes that conditions will be
more .conducive to our being able to develop sources of funding for such a
project .in the years ahead. I told Mary how neat it would be, assuming a
vehicle .drivable by a blind person is developed in the immediate future,
and .assuming Miss Pinnard is still alive and we learn of each others
whereabouts .it would be cool to drive up to her residence in the vehicle,
and say, "We .did it! Blind people now have the opportunity to own their own
motor vehicle .and can operate it independently. Want to go for a spin?"This
will happen if .others like myself keep the dream of owning and being able
to drive their .own automoble is kept alive and such a project can
eventually have resources .dedicated to it.

Peter Donahue



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