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The level of access that a blind person can hope to achieve from these otherwise important pop culture resources will be somewhat lessened when contrasted to the experience of sighted individuals. As a result of this reality, there "is growing concern about a 'digital divide'. This divide [...] refers to the space between those who access, and therefore use, new technologies and those who do not" (Blair, 2006).
Of course, significant strides are being made to harness the technical wonders of modern pop culture in order to help blind people better navigate this new world. For instance, the ubiquitous cell phone has been appropriated to create the "smallest text-to-speech reading device ever built, a device especially useful for people with impaired vision" (Greenfieldboyce, 2008). This technology allows blind people to snap pictures of objects with their phones, which are then analyzed by the phone software to interpret to the text or image for the user. This kind of technology permits previously undreamed of access for the blind, and improves the range of their day-to-day activities, but limits their interaction with popular culture.
One facet of contemporary pop culture, made possible by technology, is speed and rapid interaction with cultural mediums such as the Internet, cell phones, or simply signs and billboards. The blind cannot access and process this information as quickly as the rest of us can simply because they must rely on technical intermediaries...
In the end, computers "and the Internet have the ability to change lives positively and link the isolated and marginalized, including people with learning disabilities [...] but the issue of accessibility is very important" (Blair, 2006).
Technology is making it possible, to an increasingly greater degree, for the blind to interact with the trappings of contemporary popular culture such as the Internet. However, the technology that is used to help the blind navigate the visual world of pop culture will inevitably fail to translate all but the most obvious information, preventing said individual from accessing the wealth of information that is stored in colors, shapes, logos, and layout designs. The rapid pace of technology development means that the difficulty the blind have in accessing this information is only likely to get worse as pop culture continues to evolve around the increasingly rapid intake and processing of new, visual information.
References
Blair, J. (2006, November). A computer and Internet future: enabling inclusion? Learning Disability Practice, 9(9), pp. 32-37.
Greenfieldboyce, N. (2008, January 29). Cell phone reads to the blind. NPR. Retrieved July 24, 2008, at http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=18504117
Rudman, G. (2006, April 3). The techno-flux effect. Brandweek, 47(14), pp. 22-23.
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