A Confederacy of Dunces

In 1995, I got my first E mail address. Chances are, within a year or so, you, too, may have gotten your first E mail. Remember the thrill? Something that was instantaneous and (gasp!) free?
Now, take that excitement and multiply it times 100 for me. E maill made it possible for me to once again communicate in total privacy. I didn’t have to rely on someone to look at the document I printed out, address and stamp an envelope and then direct me to a mail box. It was, in short, probably one of the greatest days of my life.
Today, however, I ran into someone who doesn’t quite “get” how important the net/E mail is to me and other blind individuals. The thing is, this person actually works at a library for the blind! Yep, after finally getting situated enough in Florida to have time for leisure reading, I contacted my branch of the library with talking books. I explained I had a four page of books on my “to read” file and asked if I could send them. Nope! Uh, why not? Because I don’t want to receive any spam. Spam? All I want is books-the books my tax dollars pay for. Can’t you just send it? In hard copy? Sure, if you’d like me to give up the independence that the modern technology the world utilizes and set me back to the mid 90s.
With much ado, I finally was able to convince her to give me her E mail address, but not without her first reitterating, “Don’t send me anything dirty.”
Folks, ignorance is acceptable and treatable. But when someone works in a field to serve those with specialized needs and they still don’t get it? Well, welcome to the 90s…I’ll be your tour guide. Ffirst stop? Compact discs. Second sstop? The net. Third stop? cell phones…do we really want to return to these times? Apparently, some workers want us to. Thank you kindly, but I’ll live in 2007.