I saw a post on Facebook the other day. Someone, probably a student, but maybe a child, was asking if they could use AI to format an assignment. The poster specifically said they were not looking to have the AI write the report, just format the margins, font, line spacing Etc.

Some helpful soul replied along the lines of – just do the work yourself like the rest of us…you get the gist.

I am not advocating using AI to cheat. But I am aware of how modern word processors work – the concept of ‘WYSIWYG’ extends to far more than the text – sighted people can ‘see’ the margins, line spacing, justification Etc. Of course this information is also visible on the screen and blind people can navigate to it or can use a keystroke to have it spoken to them…but it takes a bit longer and you have to remember the keystroke. In fact, you have to remember a lot of keystrokes to use a graphical interface designed for mouse users using just a keyboard.

There is a Blindness Productivity Gap, everything takes a little bit longer, is a little bit harder to learn, a little bit harder to do, when you are blind. This is not about effort, or intelligence, it’s just how life works – ‘monkey see, monkey do’ is practically a law of nature.

One of the reasons why I am so excited about advancements in AI is that I see in it a real chance to finally reduce or eliminate the blindness productivity gap. I’d also like to live forever!

#Accessibility #Ai #AIsfortheBlind #Blind #Disability