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I think that the decrease use of Braille is similar to the decrease use of Oldspeak in 1984. Just how Newspeak is taking over in 1984, technology has an big impact on the blind community. The study that was mentioned in this radio show said that blind kids who used technology as a means of reading and communicating could not edit their writing and own thoughts. The idea of not being able to 'edit your own thoughts' is similar to the theory of doublethink in 1984. Just like the characters from 1984 are limited to what words are available in Newspeak, blind people who rely on technology are limited to what technology offers.
— Naomi Friedman
I think that increase in speaking technology for the blind can open them up to more and help include them more in everyday culture and life. Almost all things are printed in words, and the blind community are limited by not being able to read this. Even those who can read brail still have it very limited to what they can read. With these new text to speech technologies they can now be more included, like the thing they mentioned about being able to read a menu. They will no longer have to buy different books and live a different life. Although these technologies can have negative impacts, I think they should still be included in order to move the blind community more into everyday culture.
— Brandon Curran
I think that the increase in the technology of reading media has greatly affected the capabilities of children, especially blind children. Now they little time to analyze the story, sentence, or even word that they read. For example, I once was going to Michigan with my sister and we thought it would be fun to buy a book on tape. We were so confused with the plot because the computerized voice reading to us did not give us time to think and analyze the plot. In this interview, the woman said that, analytically speaking, one child who used brail thought way more in depth than the one child who relied on the media. This is very similar in that the government of 1984 is trying to control the minds of people and not letting them have their own opinions. Although the users of the media are allowed to have their opinions, they aren't mentally allowed to due to their incapabilities of "re-reading" something or thinking about what her or she just read.
— Nell
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