KurzweilAI.net,
July 8, 2002
Louisville, Kentucky -- The accelerating growth of technology has brought opportunities to the blind, but has also created barriers, said Ray Kurzweil in a keynote speech at the National Federation of the Blind (NFB) National Convention tonight.
Kurzweil mentioned graphic user interfaces and Web tools like Flash and Java as examples of new technology that has created barriers. "At the end of this first decade of this new century, everyone will be on-line all the time with very high speed, wireless communication woven into their clothing," he added.
"Within a couple of decades, we will have established new high bandwidth pathways of communication directly to and from our brains. Will this represent a great enabler for blind students and workers or a new set of obstructions? ... We'll need new technology breakthroughs, public accessibility standards, and a panoply of programs for training and availability."
Former NFB president Dr. Kenneth Jernigan's vision of "the world's first world-class research and training institute for the blind" -- the National Research and Training Institute for the Blind currently under construction near Baltimore -- should help assure that "future technologies bring promise rather than peril for the blind."
Kurzweil, inventor of the original Kurzweil Reading Machine in 1976 (working with the NFB's blind scientists and engineers), also presented annual scholarship awards and a cash award from the Kurzweil Foundation to 30 blind college students at the event, along with Kurzweil 1000 reading software from Kurzweil Educational systems.
For the full text of the talk, see Kenneth Jernigan's Prophetic Vision.
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