Access to books, or information, would seem to be universal "right" by this point in our civilization, but suchis not the case. Although major steps have been made toward universal, unfettered access to books through such mediums as e-books, a major section of our population has been left out.
Stevie Wonder is heading a campaign to translate billions of books into a format for blind people. He stated at the United Nations' World Intellectual Property Organization that more than 300 million blind citizens lack access to important science and history texts.
This is a huge mission , putting a massive amount of new texts in the hands of 300 million people. Such a shift in information access on this scale hasn't been seen for some time. While numerous information and book sharing services have come online in the past few years, none have had the potential "bomb" effect this will have. The presence of discount books online has helped to bring books to many, but pales in comparison to this movement.
Most of these texts have just never been available to blind citizens, but by listening to audio books. Audio books are a great way to learn, but are much slower than using Braille or other formats. Giving 300 million people access to books at a pace never before possible may create an explosion of innovation.
Another recent innovation is adding an interesting layer to this potential innovation atom bomb. NeuroSky is currently selling a product that allows users to interact with their computers by using their brainwaves alone. What might at first seem like a novelty to a person without a disability, this could potentially shift the landscape entirely for people with physical limitations.
With this product , a person may be completely confined to a wheel chair without the ability to control their motor movements, but that same person may be able to use their brainwaves to write, browse websites, and live life. The possible applications are endless, with the real innovations coming from people far more intelligent than I am.
As the use of this product begins to go up the price point will drop even farther, driving it eventually to the discount computer partsstore and opening up the technology to even more people.
I can see a day very soon when people of physical limits have few or zero limits in the virtual world and are able to create their dreams without constraints and without any stigma.
