Is there technological discrimination?

This could be a very interesting discussion for an evening at home, but I often wonder this. While mainstream technology is meant for supposedly everyone, in many cases, until Apple came along, blind persons are almost always shut out. The Kindle is developed but we cannot use it! The Kobo tablet makes its way onto the market but we are unable to take advantage of this new breakthrough because there are no features to make it possible for us to know what is on the screen or for us to hear what keys we press.

If Apple has been able to do it, we can use their mobile devices because of voice over, then why can’t others follow in their footsteps? If a device or gadget is produced but a blind person is unable to use it because they cannot use the screen or keyboard, could this be construed as technological discrimination? For surely, developers should know that blind persons would want to be able to participate in technology as much as anyone else!

I’m Donna J. Jodhan your friendly accessibility advocate wishing you a terrific day. Please go out there and share my concerns with others and take a minute to visit www.afb.org.