for this invention. He was also awarded the National Medal of Technology by President Bill Clinton for pioneering new technologies.
Ray was always interested in music and went on to start a company that developed the most state-of-the-art music synthesizer in the industry. He ended up selling that company to Yamaha. Later he started working on voice recognition, and the most successful programs currently on the market are based on algorithms he created.
That washing machine–sized reading machine that originally cost fifty thousand dollars is now under two thousand bucks, and I carry the software on my cell phone so I can use it to read anything, anywhere, anytime.
Oh, and one last tool. This is the one that allowed me to fly a plane. Not long ago I purchased a GPS system that integrated with my Braille Notetaker. This system was developed by another blind man, Mike May, and his company, the Sendero Group. I had to fly to a speaking engagement in Idaho. My brother-in-law Gary Ashurst had arranged for me to deliver a speech in Hailey, Idaho, and he also arranged for a friend to come to Boise to fetch me in his private plane.
It was a clear and beautiful autumn day. While we were walking to his four-seater Cessna, the pilot noticed my BrailleNote hanging over my shoulder. He also examined my new GPS receiver and started asking questions. Before we took off, I showed him how it worked and told him I was going to use it to track our flight.
I got Roselle settled in, I buckled up, and we took off.
Just after we lifted off the runway, the pilot asked me a question I never thought I would hear. “How would you like to fly the plane to Hailey?”
I didn’t need a second invitation. After all, if I could learn to hear a coffee table, ride my bike around Palmdale, hop on a horse, play golf, and drive a car around the UC Irvine campus, then I could certainly fly a plane.
Since I was sitting in the right-hand seat, which also contained full access to the equipment necessary to fly the plane, I took the controls. I got some instructions on how to use the stick and other relevant controls, and then the pilot released the operations to me. My trusty GPS talked me through the skies above Idaho and guided me to the Hailey airport in about an hour. Roselle snored through the whole thing.
I was able to land the plane with a few instructions. In the process, we noticed the altimeter on the GPS was not quite accurate. In fact, it was one hundred feet off, showing that we were lower than we actually were. It didn’t ruffle me much; I’d rather err on the low side than think the plane was higher than it really was.
For blind people, emerging technology is changing the rules of the game, and the sky’s the limit.
8
I FORGOT
YOU ARE BLIND
“Prejudice comes from being in the
dark; sunlight disinfects it.”
MUHAMMAD ALI
F irefighters continue to stream up the stairs. Almost every single one stops to look at me, Roselle, and David. Over and over the same few words. “Are you okay?”
“I’m just fine. Thank you,” I say.
“Are you with him?” they ask David.
“Yes, I’m with him. We’re fine. Thanks.”
As the firefighters pass, sometimes spontaneous clapping breaks out. I hear people thanking them and patting their shoulders. They’re breathing heavily.
Progress is slow now. The closer we get to the bottom, the faster, not slower, I want to go.
People are always surprised at how fast I walk. It’s different, of course, when I’m exploring a place for the first time. I usually leave my guide dog at home and use my white cane as an extension of my hands, and as it swings back and forth, tapping the ground, walls, and any objects in my path, I use it almost like a surveying device. It becomes a probe, and I use the information it conveys to map out a graphic, three-dimensional, detailed representation of the new location. I did this with the World Trade Center when I first started working there, exploring top to
Ray was always interested in music and went on to start a company that developed the most state-of-the-art music synthesizer in the industry. He ended up selling that company to Yamaha. Later he started working on voice recognition, and the most successful programs currently on the market are based on algorithms he created.
That washing machine–sized reading machine that originally cost fifty thousand dollars is now under two thousand bucks, and I carry the software on my cell phone so I can use it to read anything, anywhere, anytime.
Oh, and one last tool. This is the one that allowed me to fly a plane. Not long ago I purchased a GPS system that integrated with my Braille Notetaker. This system was developed by another blind man, Mike May, and his company, the Sendero Group. I had to fly to a speaking engagement in Idaho. My brother-in-law Gary Ashurst had arranged for me to deliver a speech in Hailey, Idaho, and he also arranged for a friend to come to Boise to fetch me in his private plane.
It was a clear and beautiful autumn day. While we were walking to his four-seater Cessna, the pilot noticed my BrailleNote hanging over my shoulder. He also examined my new GPS receiver and started asking questions. Before we took off, I showed him how it worked and told him I was going to use it to track our flight.
I got Roselle settled in, I buckled up, and we took off.
Just after we lifted off the runway, the pilot asked me a question I never thought I would hear. “How would you like to fly the plane to Hailey?”
I didn’t need a second invitation. After all, if I could learn to hear a coffee table, ride my bike around Palmdale, hop on a horse, play golf, and drive a car around the UC Irvine campus, then I could certainly fly a plane.
Since I was sitting in the right-hand seat, which also contained full access to the equipment necessary to fly the plane, I took the controls. I got some instructions on how to use the stick and other relevant controls, and then the pilot released the operations to me. My trusty GPS talked me through the skies above Idaho and guided me to the Hailey airport in about an hour. Roselle snored through the whole thing.
I was able to land the plane with a few instructions. In the process, we noticed the altimeter on the GPS was not quite accurate. In fact, it was one hundred feet off, showing that we were lower than we actually were. It didn’t ruffle me much; I’d rather err on the low side than think the plane was higher than it really was.
For blind people, emerging technology is changing the rules of the game, and the sky’s the limit.
8
I FORGOT
YOU ARE BLIND
“Prejudice comes from being in the
dark; sunlight disinfects it.”
MUHAMMAD ALI
F irefighters continue to stream up the stairs. Almost every single one stops to look at me, Roselle, and David. Over and over the same few words. “Are you okay?”
“I’m just fine. Thank you,” I say.
“Are you with him?” they ask David.
“Yes, I’m with him. We’re fine. Thanks.”
As the firefighters pass, sometimes spontaneous clapping breaks out. I hear people thanking them and patting their shoulders. They’re breathing heavily.
Progress is slow now. The closer we get to the bottom, the faster, not slower, I want to go.
People are always surprised at how fast I walk. It’s different, of course, when I’m exploring a place for the first time. I usually leave my guide dog at home and use my white cane as an extension of my hands, and as it swings back and forth, tapping the ground, walls, and any objects in my path, I use it almost like a surveying device. It becomes a probe, and I use the information it conveys to map out a graphic, three-dimensional, detailed representation of the new location. I did this with the World Trade Center when I first started working there, exploring top to
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