I always tell people that being blind is expensive and time consuming. Just by the nature of things, the expense parts can be cut back to some extent, but the time consuming will always be a thing. I could provide numerous examples, but for now let’s concentrate on some of those which are related to travel in some way. It is not just a complaint session, at the end I’ll explain what would make it less taxing on people.
Being blind is expensive
Technology
These days many electronic devices, such as phones or computers are fully usable for blind people. However, there are certain things which cannot be achieved just by using mainstream tools, only those which developed specifically for blind people will be usable. The problem here is that compared to the mainstream, it is a small target audience. Thus, a small production of highly specific tools can be much more expensive to produce. Let’s look at some examples.
When I talked about trip preparation, I already mentioned a few things blind people will most likely use.
Note taking
Where a sighted person can grab a pen and paper, this is not a solution for blind people. They will need a slate and stylus which cannot be obtained in local stores. This of course is only helpful if the individual is able to read and write braille, which is only true to approximately 10 percent of blind people. The other option is using a phone or a laptop. But not all phones will serve this purpose, it has to have an accessible operating system, such as iOS or Android, and generally faster phones are best able to handle simple tasks with a screen reader. When working with a laptop, it is also important to buy a faster one, as the screen reader by nature will also slow down the speed. Speaking of screen readers, the most commonly used one costs over $1000, though this is only for Windows, and today alternatives exist on all accessible operating systems which are free and built in.
Reading
While one can use a text to speech system to read, there are many advantages of using a braille display for those who read braille. In simple terms it is almost like a screen for sighted people, but most of them can only display one line, 20, 40 or 80 characters. The cheapest one of these is made by Orbit Research and costs $649, but most displays will cost thousands.
Printing
In order not to rely on data connection and make sure that the most important information is always available in braille when I travel, I like to print out some documents before a trip. There is a device, called a braille embosser which works like a regular printer but produces braille. The slowest and cheapest one will cost thousands.
Transportation
The fastest and cheapest way of getting around is using public transportation. That is, when it is available and accessible. As an alternative, sighted people can rent a car for much cheaper than what it would cost blind people to cover the same distance using taxis and ride sharing.
I remember that my most expensive car service was $800, where I had to cover some 400 miles and public transportation simply wasn’t an option, the nearest airport was 100 miles away, and while there was a train station nearby, there was no direct service unless I wanted to get out of my way and spend 16 hours to get there.
Another example was right where I live, I had to get to a meeting which was 10 minutes away by driving. When I checked the local public transportation, the quickest way to get there was 2 hours and 12 minutes. Google gave me walking directions which was 2 hours and 6 minutes. One way. I had no other options than spending $15 on Uber each way.
Getting help
Today I can get help just by using my phone’s camera when I need it. There are a number of services, some are free, some have a cost. The reality is that for certain tasks I can only use a paid service, especially when privacy is important, for example reading credit card numbers, sharing my current location, etc. However, the cost of such a service hourly will be more than the average hourly income in the United States.
Shopping
When blind people have to buy something their options are limited. I can’t just buy stuff from any web site, it needs to be accessible, even if it is more expensive. I can’t just go to any store, I need to be able to get there, even if their prices are higher or transportation will cost me more. What I buy can’t be anything, I need to be able to use it without vision. For example, when I’m on the road and feel sick, I can’t just get any thermometer, I need to find a talking one or one that can connect to my phone and has an accessible app.
Being blind is time consuming
Finding things
Imagine you accidentally drop a couple of batteries on the floor and they roll away. Imagine you are looking for the AC unit on the wall or the paper towel holder. If you can see, you just look and know where it is instantly. If you can’t see, think of it like a very severe tunnel vision that extends as wide as your two palms. This is the area I can discover at once. I collected so much dust, dirt and germs by trying to find things on my own. Of course, there are some workarounds, but they are not always available. This is why planning is extremely crucial. When I was writing about trip preparation I wasn’t just stating the obvious, but the necessary. If I don’t pay attention to where I leave my stuff, packing up can easily be a nightmare.
Walking
I can’t sleep in and run to my next appointment. I need to figure out the way in advance and walk carefully. Especially when walking with a white cane, I don’t just avoid obstacles, I find them and negotiate them. Walking too fast and being careless is just asking for trouble. With a guide dog it is slightly different. With Baldwin I can walk at least twice as fast, but most guide dogs are not trained to run.
Reading
When books, menus, pamphlets and user guides are available electronically, if they are accessible it is just the matter of reading through them using a screen reader or braille display. But often it is not the case. I first have to use a character recognition app or a scanner to turn the document into electronic text. This assumes that the document is clean and readable, some shiny ones are just not possible to read with sufficient accuracy.
Conclusion
These are just a few random examples, not even the tip of the iceberg, but probably it gives you an idea how blind people have to carefully plan expenses and schedule carefully. With any disability, life will have such aspects and it is not even expected otherwise Fortunately, technology is able to help a lot, but only when technology and services are fully available for people with disabilities. It will never be possible to fully compensate for any given disability. However, as you can see from the above examples, there is much that we can improve by designing products and services with full inclusion and accessibility in mind.
Thank you for sharing Tom, there are so many things that sighted people take for granted. I appreciate hearing the things that are difficult for you, as it makes me think about these things in a different way. Like what can I do to make things more accessible to people? How can I be a better advocate to make sure everyone has equitable access? I can’t imagine how some people pay for these readers, I am quite sure they have to do without.
Sandy,
There are so many things we take for granted. Me, for example that when we are traveling, my wife will tell me what she can see. Does she have to? No, but she always does. I just assume she will. We all have our biases, because we learn from our experiences.
And what can we do for equitable access? We can do the best we can. Usually it doesn’t depend on the individual, it is more about legislation. But it is hard to include all people. Let me give you an example. When I teach accessibility, I ask people to design an alarm clock that works for all people. So since it is an accessibility training, they think of people with disabilities. But then what I throw into the mix is when you can’t see the clock, you can design a talking interface. But what language will it speak? There are 7000 languages spoken around the world. Can you create an alarm clock that works for all people who need to depend on speech? I won’t give you the answer, but it is something to think about, because there’s no answer. You do the best you can. There are many solutions. But there isn’t one that works for all.