[yodon]

Smart phone apps for the blind are great and important but from what I've read they don't seem to be having the impact on blind employment that Braille has had.

74% of the blind are unemployed [1] (there is another figure you will occasionally see of 13% unemployment for the blind, that's a US Government statistic that excludes anyone not considered in the list of potentially employed people).

Braille literacy is highly correlated with employment among the blind, and rates of Braille literacy are falling rapidly in the US, from a peak of around 50% in the 1950's to more like 12% today [1].

Hopefully someone here will know of a survey reporting measurable economic gains for the new generation of Braille-illiterate technologically assisted blind, thus far what I've heard anecdotally on that front has not been encouraging.

[1] http://www.nbp.org/ic/nbp/braille/needforbraille.html

[agumonkey]

I've always been curious about the impact of smartphones on blinds. A famous french singer said it was a bliss to be able to ask Siri for informations or having the phone vibrate to location or other kind of data. That said having a finer tactile interface is always a plus to me (and I'm not blind yet)