A lifetime of change

Well, on that day that comes only once a year for everyone, I would like to
reflect on the many changes I have seen in my own lifetime.

Let's start with school days. I've seen tapes go from reel-to-reel to
cassette and now to CD and even download from the computer. What a change
just in how we receive information. Then there's the availability of the
computer for doing school work and other tasks.

As you can see, these things go far beyond school and work and enter home
life as well. Just look at how technology has changed our lives. We can
now use a cell phone to make calls, receive text messages and so much more.
Where was that even 10 years ago. I already mentioned the change from
various types of tape technology to CD to download. There's even secured
digital cards which are the size of a postage stamp and hold incredible
amounts of data. There are players which are as small as a cell phone.
There's wireless connection to a computer. There are people who only have
a cell hone for their phone service as they've gotten rid of their land
line.

Other changes are equally amazing. I can make a call to someone who is deaf
using video relay service even though I don't have a video phone. How cool
is that? Video phones didn't even exist about five or so years ago. You
had to use good old-fashioned TTY and relay to make these type of calls.
There's the use of conference calls, with and without video relay service.
Before this, if you wanted to have a meeting, you definitely needed to meet
face-to-face. I still maintain that a face-to-face meeting is the best but
there are alternatives today.

I've seen ATMs with audio assistance (talking menus and the like) so that I
can use one of these ubiquitous machines to carry out financial transactions
independently.

OI forgot to mention that the size of computers are getting smaller all of
the time. Who thought that one would be able to carry essentially a full
computer with them? Certainly not me. Well, it's possible and I'm doing it
through the use of a netbook. There are other small, portable options out
there too. I think we're seeing a change here though too as the note takers
are fast being replaced by the netbooks.

Is all change good? That's probably a debate for another time but I will
say that things do tend to move so fast that a segment of the population is
left behind. What segment of the population might you ask is left behind?
Well, it's the deaf-blind community. We're seeing it right now as note
takers get smaller. The deaf-blind communicator (DBC) just came out in 2008
and already things are moving fast as the platform that this was built on is
fast becoming obsolete. This technology needs to be taken to the next
level, that of the Braillnote apex because if it isn't, then a bunch of
people will be left behind. This technology has opened up so much for so
many people. I know of one person who can make phone calls for the first
time in about eight years. That's saying something pretty powerful.

These and many other changes not spoken of here have happened in my years on
this earth. There will likely be many more too. As I said, things are
moving very fast. There's just not enough time or space to talk about
all of it. That's how much things have changed. To say I've only scratched
the surface would be a major understatement.