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Note to Self

Blind Kids, Touchscreen Phones, and the End of Braille?

Note to Self

WNYC Studios

Self-improvement, Tech, Note, Npr, Education, Public, Wnyc, Manoush, York, To, New, Self, Radio, Business, Technology, Relationships, City, Society & Culture, Zomorodi, Newtechcity

4.72.7K Ratings

🗓️ 31 August 2016

⏱️ 20 minutes

🧾️ Download transcript

Summary

Touchscreen phones work so well for blind people that Braille may become obsolete. But advocates worry this could render the next generation "functionally illiterate."

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Transcript

Click on a timestamp to play from that location

0:00.0

Hello, note to self listener. It is your host, Manouche. And the reason you're hearing

0:05.5

this is because I'm working on a special project for you.

0:10.6

Which means that what you're about to hear is an encore episode of Note to Self, a nice

0:15.4

way of saying it's a repeat. But hey, we only re-release our absolute favorites. So

0:21.1

please enjoy this episode again, or maybe enjoy it for the very first time if you're new

0:26.2

to the show. And while you're here, please subscribe to Note to Self, because we'll be

0:30.9

back with something brand new really soon.

0:33.2

Okay, so here's what I want you to do. If you're listening right now on an iPhone, pull

0:43.0

it out. If you're not on an iPhone, don't worry. Just listen along. You're going to see

0:46.4

where I'm going in a sec. Okay, so under settings, then general settings. About halfway

0:52.6

down the screen, you're going to see a tab called Accessibility. If you turn voice over

0:58.2

on, your phone will start reading everything on it aloud. And if you develop a good ear,

1:05.2

you can make it go really fast. Twitter, double tattoo, Lindsay, Ani, Abel,

1:09.1

Crit Media, Molly, Micky, Natasha, Jessie, KQ, X, Avery, Alex, Alex Kapelman. This isn't

1:14.7

actually my phone. This is New Text City friend, Ryan Kylath's phone.

1:18.8

The answer to the question, how much fried chicken, us too much fried chicken is the amount

1:21.4

of fried chicken I just ate 17 minutes ago. So Ryan, I guess, eats a lot of chicken. He

1:25.6

also happens to be a reporter living near this amazing school. The Texas School for the

1:30.6

Blind and Visually Impaired in Austin, TSP, it's called.

1:36.5

In the world of the visually impaired, TSP is famous. Since 1856, it's been teaching and

1:43.2

pioneering tech. And we thought, yeah, since so many New Text City listeners have asked

1:48.9

for more episodes about disability and tech, let's get Ryan to visit. Hey guys, so I'm

...

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