SDF

Chieko Asakawa

Let Me See the World

I am blind. Can you imagine how blind people like me interact with others and the world that surrounds us? Historically, we could only use our own remaining senses, such as hearing, touch and smell. But now, cognitive assistance technologies are offering new ways for the blind to more meaningfully interact with the world. These technologies enable us to recognize who you are, how you feel and what you are doing in addition to things around us – they augment our abilities and supplement our missing or weakened abilities. Based on my 30 years of experience in information accessibility, I will illustrate the problems faced by the blind people and how technology can help us overcome those problems so that we can actively and fully participate in society.