Re: I'm kind of concerned about the culture surrounding usability
It seems like the sighted people most capable of contributing reason that it would be more efficient to focus on curing blindness than doing anything for existing blind people. Explicitly. I already forgot why that seemed like a relevant reply, but I'm sure it must have been relevant enough if I started typing it.
See, I think this is the wrong approach. Sure, cure blindness if you can, most people don't "want" to be blind and those who do usually don't want to change so dramatically and almost always born that way/lose it early. But the technical problems associated with curing blindness are great. Even if we leave the problems associated with the mere act of curing blindness, rehabilitation also presents a serious concern, especially for those who were born blind/lost vision early in life. In terms of rehabilitation, accessibility is still important and se rves as a bridge between no rehabilitation and full rehabilitation.
Furthermore, blind accessibility has applications outside of those who are physically blind due to disability. For example, low vision applications, such as dark areas or control rooms, or areas with large amounts of glare.
So even outside of ethical concerns, I think that the pursuit is still viable; the problem is that since it is less of a challenge, it's been fairly easily exploited by these groups.
Brad - I'm not implying that blind people overall are pathetic. I'm implying that the solutions that people are presenting are poorly thought out, which is completely justified to criticize. Not every idea is a good one, and settling for status quo is pathetic. Nobody is even talking about the idea that "blind people should just get on with their lives". In fact, the examples you've given that have made your lives less expensive and more accessible such as these devices are all contributions that were caused by people saying at some point, "the status quo is not good enough". It seems like you're actually arguing two completely contrary points - we should settle for what we have, but we should celebrate innovation for making our lives easier. Pick one.
Blind and sighted people are not immune to criticism if their ideas are not good ideas, and what you're saying is just silly and poorly thought out. And yeah, I'd call that pathetic. Anyone can formulate a poorly thought out idea, blind or sighted, just read UX designer's twitters for a goldmine of poorly thought out ideas.
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