This chapter six of a book entitled The Way of the Web. Permission is granted to make and distribute complete verbatim electronic copies of this item for non-commercial purposes provided the copyright information and this permission notice are preserved on all copies. All other rights reserved. To correspond with the author, send email to seltzer@samizdat.com Comments welcome. You can buy this book on diskette from Amazon.com.
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Arguably, the blind could be more at home in cyberspace than the sighted.
As a sighted person, I can only try to imagine adapting to living in a world that is always dark or near dark. To maneuver successfully through a dark room you need to carry in your head an image of the space around you, which you edit as you encounter the unexpected. From experience, you expect the unexpected, are aware of what might be encountered, how to evaluate it on the fly, and how to adjust and continue.
To relate to this mode of perception, I try playing blindfold chess and am soon bewildered by the challenge. Try carrying an image (which may not even be a visual image) not only of the board and the current position but also of the expected continuations: the likely next moves and their evaluation and consequences, and also a healthy awareness of the unexpected: the potential for sacrifices and deep combinations, for positional as well as material threats and opportunities. Some of the best chess players actually go through this exercise to train their minds for this kind of multi-dimensional awareness, to get beyond knowledge that relies on vision.
The sighted person gains confidence and the leisure of complacency from what he or she sees. To see is to believe. To perceive that an object is in one state or position rather than another is to eliminate from consideration that it might be otherwise, to limit the possibilities. The sighted person -- above all the person who relies heavily on visual perception and visual modes of thought -- expects clarity, stability, and predictability, and hence may be less aware of ambiguity and latent potential, and less able to respond when what seems to be the case proves mistaken or uncertain. The blind person requires a multi-dimensional awareness and an openness to react quickly to the unexpected simply to maneuver safely through ordinary space. These are qualities that can prove quite valuable when maneuvering through cyberspace.
On a different but related plane -- I once at a chess tournament encountered a teenage boy who had no legs. His arms were very powerful, and rather than use a wheelchair, he operated in his own unique and, to me, disconcerting mode. I first saw him at a cafeteria table playing chess with a friend. His elbows were on the table. He was completely absorbed in the game. He looked seated like everyone beside him and across from him. But he had no chair. There was nothing under him. His torso was suspended from his elbows. He moved with the grace and speed of someone totally adapted to his environment.
I couldn't help but think that someone such as him would have enormous advantages in the weightless environment of outer space, where legs would be useless and the ability to maneuver by hands alone with acrobatic ease could be of great value. Plus, in the cramped quarters of a space ship or space station, legs, with their bulk and weight, would simply get in the way. Yes, I could easily imagine a special cadre of legless astronauts, able to perform in ways that no one else ever could.
Likewise today I could easily imagine a special cadre of sightless cybernauts.
Yes, in cyberspace (and the related concepts of virtual reality and alternate reality), the blind should be considered as a special resource. Companies that want to be on the leading edge in that field should go out of their way to recruit the blind -- not to conform to laws about hiring the handicapped and not because it is politically correct, but rather because their minds are not totally dominated by visual paradigms. They could imagine, and with computer technology could simulate, what to the sighted is unimaginable. And in the vast, ever-expanding, and always unexpected realm of the Internet, they could conceivably learn to be first-class navigators, superbly able to recognize new business opportunities -- far beyond the traditional nine dots -- and able to adjust to new circumstances on the fly.
For starters, companies designing next-generation virtual reality environments should recruit the blind. Visual simulation is relatively easy today, and everybody is doing it. The non-visual is where the breakthroughs will come.
And given this potential, those same high tech companies should give serious consideration to the needs of the blind early in their design cycles rather than as an afterthought. Because otherwise, by putting the blind at a disadvantage, by limiting the best access routes to cyberspace to the sighted, they cut themselves off from the resource that could take them a step beyond the competition and help them move far into the future.
The rest of the Way of the Web
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