0:00:11.848,0:00:16.509 When I was about 3 or 4 years old 0:00:16.509,0:00:22.027 I remember my mom reading a story[br]to me and my two big brothers. 0:00:22.957,0:00:26.977 And I remember putting up my hands[br]to feel the page of the book, 0:00:26.977,0:00:30.062 to feel the picture [br]they were discussing. 0:00:30.612,0:00:36.198 And my mom said, [br]"Darling, remember that you cannot see 0:00:36.198,0:00:39.118 and you cannot feel the picture 0:00:39.118,0:00:41.982 and you cannot[br]feel the print on the page." 0:00:42.072,0:00:43.790 And I thought to myself, 0:00:43.790,0:00:45.606 "But that is what I want to do. 0:00:45.606,0:00:49.099 I love stories, I want to read!" 0:00:49.959,0:00:52.016 Little did I know 0:00:52.016,0:00:54.531 that I would be part[br]of a technological revolution 0:00:54.531,0:00:57.504 that would make that dream [br]come true. 0:00:58.354,0:01:01.513 I was born premature [br]by about 10 weeks 0:01:01.653,0:01:04.026 which resulted in my blindness 0:01:04.146,0:01:05.988 some 64 years ago. 0:01:06.248,0:01:09.182 The condition is known[br]as retrolental fibroplasia, 0:01:09.182,0:01:12.347 and it is now very rare[br]in the developed world. 0:01:12.977,0:01:14.515 Little did I know 0:01:14.515,0:01:20.597 lying curled up[br]in my prim baby humidicrib in 1948 0:01:20.717,0:01:22.084 that I had been born 0:01:22.084,0:01:25.602 at the right place [br]and the right time, 0:01:26.072,0:01:27.484 that I was in a country 0:01:27.484,0:01:32.176 where I could participate[br]in a technological revolution. 0:01:32.936,0:01:38.268 There are 37 million [br]totally blind people on our planet, 0:01:38.598,0:01:41.476 but those of us who shared[br]in the technological changes 0:01:41.476,0:01:45.197 mainly come from North America, [br]Europe, Japan[br] 0:01:45.197,0:01:48.317 and other developed parts of the world. 0:01:49.207,0:01:53.078 Computers have changed the lives of us all[br]in this room and around the world, 0:01:53.078,0:01:55.875 but I think they have changed[br]the lives of we, blind people, 0:01:55.875,0:01:58.109 more than any other group. 0:01:58.419,0:02:01.474 And so I want to tell you[br]about the interaction 0:02:01.474,0:02:04.976 between computer-based[br]adaptive technology 0:02:04.976,0:02:09.191 and the many volunteers[br]who helped me over the years 0:02:09.661,0:02:12.608 to become the person I am today. 0:02:12.978,0:02:18.296 It is an interaction between volunteers,[br]passionate inventors and technology 0:02:18.296,0:02:21.219 and it is a story that many other [br]blind people could tell, 0:02:21.219,0:02:25.620 but let me tell you a bit about it today. 0:02:25.620,0:02:29.453 When I was 5, I went to school[br]and I learned Braille. 0:02:29.453,0:02:33.682 It is an ingenious system of 6 dots [br]that are punched into paper 0:02:33.682,0:02:36.604 and I can feel them with my fingers. 0:02:37.114,0:02:40.212 In fact, I think they are putting up[br]my grade 6 report. 0:02:40.212,0:02:42.818 I do not know where [br]Julian Morrow got that from 0:02:42.818,0:02:44.418 (Laughter) 0:02:44.418,0:02:46.288 I was pretty good in reading, 0:02:46.288,0:02:51.294 but religion and musical appreciation[br]needed more work. 0:02:51.294,0:02:52.737 (Laughter) 0:02:52.957,0:02:54.926 When you leave the opera house 0:02:54.926,0:02:58.282 you will find this Braille signage[br]in the the lifts. 0:02:58.282,0:02:59.778 Look for it. 0:02:59.778,0:03:01.949 Have you noticed it? 0:03:01.949,0:03:04.547 I do, I look for it all the time. 0:03:04.687,0:03:06.746 (Laughter) 0:03:07.076,0:03:09.361 When I was at school, 0:03:09.361,0:03:12.388 the books were transcribed[br]by transcribers, 0:03:12.388,0:03:15.175 voluntary people who punched [br]1 dot at a time, 0:03:15.175,0:03:16.996 so I'd have volumes to read, 0:03:16.996,0:03:19.215 and then it had been going on,[br]mainly by women, 0:03:19.215,0:03:22.089 since the late 19th century [br]in this country, 0:03:22.089,0:03:24.925 but it was the only way [br]I could read. 0:03:24.925,0:03:26.805 When I was in high school, 0:03:26.805,0:03:30.921 I got my first Philips [br]reel-to-reel tape recorder, 0:03:30.921,0:03:32.356 and tape recorders became[br] 0:03:32.356,0:03:35.931 my sort of pre-computer [br]medium of learning. 0:03:36.601,0:03:39.386 I could have family and friends[br]read me material, 0:03:39.816,0:03:43.869 and I could then read it back[br]as many times as I needed. 0:03:44.409,0:03:47.665 And it brought me into contact[br]with volunteers and helpers. 0:03:48.115,0:03:49.232 For example, 0:03:49.232,0:03:54.637 when I studied at graduate school[br]at Queen's University in Canada, 0:03:54.967,0:03:58.518 the prisoners at the Collins Bay jail[br]agreed to help me. 0:03:58.658,0:04:01.530 I gave them a tape recorder[br]and they read into it. 0:04:01.530,0:04:02.739 As one of them said to me, 0:04:02.739,0:04:05.678 "Ron, we are not going anywhere [br]at the moment." 0:04:05.748,0:04:07.938 (Laughter) 0:04:08.248,0:04:09.144 But think of it. 0:04:09.144,0:04:13.848 These men who had not had[br]the educational opportunities I had 0:04:14.458,0:04:18.752 helped me gain[br]postgraduate qualifications in law 0:04:18.752,0:04:21.432 by their dedicated help. 0:04:22.152,0:04:23.204 When I went back 0:04:23.204,0:04:26.996 and became an academic[br]at Melbourne Monash University, 0:04:28.446,0:04:30.496 for the first 25 years[br] 0:04:30.496,0:04:33.266 tape recorders were everything to me. 0:04:33.406,0:04:39.477 In fact, in my office in 1990,[br]I had 18 miles of tape. 0:04:40.597,0:04:46.175 Students, family and friends,[br]all read me material. 0:04:47.285,0:04:48.815 Mrs Lois Dory, 0:04:48.815,0:04:51.597 whom I later came to call [br]my surrogate mom, 0:04:51.597,0:04:55.346 read me many thousands [br]of hours onto tape. 0:04:55.556,0:04:57.945 One of the reasons[br]I agreed to give this talk today 0:04:57.945,0:05:00.336 was that I was hoping [br]that Lois would be here 0:05:00.336,0:05:03.934 so I could introduce you to her[br]and publicly thank her, 0:05:04.304,0:05:08.485 but sadly her health has not[br]permitted her to come today, 0:05:08.485,0:05:12.748 but I thank you here Lois[br]from this platform. 0:05:13.978,0:05:23.032 (Applause) 0:05:25.522,0:05:33.363 I saw my first Apple Computer in 1984[br]and I thought to myself, 0:05:33.363,0:05:37.032 "This thing has got a glass screen,[br]not of much use to me." 0:05:37.032,0:05:38.665 (Laughter) 0:05:38.665,0:05:42.051 How very wrong I was! 0:05:42.651,0:05:47.321 In 1987, in the month [br]our eldest son Gerrard was born, 0:05:47.321,0:05:49.597 I got my first blind computer, 0:05:49.597,0:05:51.814 and it is actually here. 0:05:52.844,0:05:54.570 See it up there? 0:05:55.060,0:05:59.419 And you see it has no–,[br]what do you call it? No screen. 0:05:59.819,0:06:02.215 (Laughter) 0:06:03.145,0:06:04.878 It is a blind computer. 0:06:04.938,0:06:06.964 (Laughter) 0:06:07.164,0:06:09.910 It is a Keynote Gold 84K, 0:06:09.910,0:06:13.723 and the 84K stands for[br]it had 84 kilobytes of memory. 0:06:13.763,0:06:16.736 (Laughter) 0:06:16.866,0:06:19.727 Do not laugh, it cost me[br]4000 dollars at the time! 0:06:19.777,0:06:21.842 (Laughter) 0:06:22.012,0:06:24.386 I think there is more memory [br]in my watch. 0:06:24.456,0:06:26.367 (Laughter) 0:06:26.557,0:06:28.458 It was invented by Russell Smith, 0:06:28.458,0:06:32.305 a passionate inventor in New Zeland[br]who was trying to help blind people. 0:06:32.535,0:06:36.050 Sadly, he died in a light-plane crash[br]in 2005, 0:06:36.050,0:06:38.165 but his memory lives on in my heart. 0:06:39.575,0:06:41.340 It meant for the first time 0:06:41.340,0:06:44.461 I could read back[br]what I had typed into it. 0:06:44.821,0:06:46.503 It had a speech synthesiser. 0:06:46.563,0:06:51.199 I had written my first co-authored[br]labor law book on a typewriter in 1979 0:06:51.199,0:06:52.807 purely from memory. 0:06:53.827,0:06:58.061 This now allowed me[br]to read back what I had written 0:06:58.061,0:06:59.688 and to enter the computer world, 0:06:59.688,0:07:02.114 even with the 84 KB of memory. 0:07:02.894,0:07:05.316 In 1974, 0:07:05.316,0:07:08.318 the great Ray Kurzweil,[br]the American inventor, 0:07:08.318,0:07:10.045 worked on building a machine 0:07:10.045,0:07:13.639 that would scan books[br]and read them out in synthetic speech. 0:07:13.639,0:07:18.668 Optical character recognition units[br]then only operated usually on 1 font, 0:07:19.188,0:07:24.538 but by using charged-coupled device[br]flatbed scanners and speech synthesizers 0:07:24.538,0:07:29.063 he developed a machine [br]that could read any font. 0:07:29.063,0:07:32.677 And his machine,[br]which was as big as washing machine 0:07:32.677,0:07:36.166 was launched[br]on the 13th of January 1976. 0:07:36.166,0:07:39.350 I saw my first [br]commercially available Kurzweil 0:07:39.350,0:07:41.537 in March of 1989, 0:07:41.537,0:07:42.704 and it blew me away. 0:07:42.704,0:07:45.476 And in September of 1989, 0:07:45.476,0:07:50.895 the month that my associate professorship[br]of Monash University was announced, 0:07:50.895,0:07:54.025 the law school got one,[br]and I could use it. 0:07:54.475,0:07:58.605 For the first time I could read[br]what I wanted to read 0:07:58.605,0:08:00.260 by putting a book on the scanner. 0:08:00.260,0:08:02.736 I did not have to be nice [br]to people. 0:08:02.826,0:08:05.220 (Laughter) 0:08:05.490,0:08:07.504 I no longer would be censored, 0:08:07.504,0:08:08.837 for example, 0:08:08.957,0:08:10.389 I was too shy then, 0:08:10.389,0:08:12.266 and I am actually too shy now, 0:08:12.266,0:08:15.676 to ask anybody to read me outloud[br]sexually explicit material. 0:08:15.856,0:08:18.936 (Laughter) 0:08:19.846,0:08:23.086 But you know, I could pop a book on[br]in the middle of the night and–. 0:08:23.136,0:08:25.194 (Laughter) 0:08:25.524,0:08:30.416 (Applause) 0:08:32.966,0:08:38.285 Now, the Kurzweil reader is simply [br]a programme on my laptop, 0:08:38.285,0:08:39.824 that is what it shrank to. 0:08:39.914,0:08:41.813 And now I can scan the latest novel 0:08:41.813,0:08:43.949 and not fight to get it [br]into talking libraries. 0:08:44.109,0:08:46.913 I can keep up with my friends. 0:08:47.603,0:08:50.773 There are many people [br]who helped me in my life 0:08:51.353,0:08:53.047 and many that I have not met. 0:08:53.057,0:08:56.386 One is another American inventor,[br]Ted Henter. 0:08:56.736,0:08:59.099 Ted was a motorcycle racer, 0:08:59.099,0:09:02.582 but in 1978 he had a car accident[br]and lost his sight. 0:09:03.492,0:09:06.079 Just devastating if you are trying [br]to ride motorbikes. 0:09:06.079,0:09:06.820 (Laughter) 0:09:07.010,0:09:09.712 He then turned to [br]being a water skier[br] 0:09:09.712,0:09:13.314 and was a champion [br]disabled water skier. 0:09:13.564,0:09:19.196 But in 1989 he teamed up with Bill Joyce[br]to develop a programme 0:09:19.196,0:09:22.184 that would read out[br]what was on the computer screen 0:09:22.184,0:09:24.516 from the net or from [br]what was on the computer. 0:09:24.516,0:09:27.930 It is called JAWS,[br]Job Access With Speech, 0:09:27.930,0:09:29.587 and it sounds like this. 0:09:29.587,0:09:41.414 (Fast voice synthesizer speech) 0:09:41.554,0:09:42.779 Isn't that slow? 0:09:43.039,0:09:44.226 (Laughter) 0:09:44.356,0:09:46.694 You see, if I read like that,[br]I would fall asleep. 0:09:46.694,0:09:47.860 I slowed it down for you. 0:09:47.860,0:09:50.880 I am going to ask that we play it [br]at the speed I read it. 0:09:50.880,0:09:53.057 Can you play it that one? 0:09:53.427,0:10:07.405 (Voice synthesizer speech faster) 0:10:07.855,0:10:09.208 (Laughter) 0:10:09.428,0:10:11.627 You know, when you are [br]marking student essays,[br] 0:10:11.627,0:10:13.606 you want to get through them [br]very quickly. 0:10:13.606,0:10:14.435 (Laughter) 0:10:14.435,0:10:19.015 (Applause) 0:10:22.655,0:10:26.033 This technology[br]that fascinated me in 1987 0:10:26.033,0:10:29.545 is now on my iPhone[br]and on yours as well. 0:10:30.195,0:10:31.256 But you know, 0:10:31.256,0:10:35.505 I find reading with machine[br]a very lonely process. 0:10:36.205,0:10:40.630 I grew up with family, [br]friends, reading to me, 0:10:40.630,0:10:45.726 and I love the warmth and the breath[br]and the closeness of people reading. 0:10:45.796,0:10:47.847 Do you love being read to? 0:10:48.447,0:10:51.313 And one of my most endearing memories[br] 0:10:51.313,0:10:53.609 is in 1999, 0:10:53.609,0:10:58.906 Mary reading to me and the children[br]down New Manly Beach, 0:10:58.906,0:11:01.865 Harry Potter and the Philosopher's stone. 0:11:02.357,0:11:04.078 Is it not a great book? 0:11:04.728,0:11:07.566 I still love being close to someone[br]reading to me, 0:11:07.566,0:11:09.596 but I would not give up [br]the technology 0:11:09.596,0:11:13.291 because it has allowed me [br]to lead a great life. 0:11:14.841,0:11:18.716 Of course talking books for the blind[br]predated all this technology. 0:11:18.876,0:11:23.664 After all the long playing record[br]was developed in the early 1930's 0:11:23.664,0:11:29.263 and now we put talking books[br]on CDs using the digital access system 0:11:29.263,0:11:31.515 know as 'DAISY'. 0:11:31.835,0:11:35.259 But when I am reading [br]the synthetic voices, 0:11:35.259,0:11:38.132 I love to come home[br]and read a racy novel 0:11:38.132,0:11:39.509 with a real voice. 0:11:39.519,0:11:41.716 (Laughter) 0:11:42.196,0:11:46.043 Now, there are still barriers[br]in front of people with disabilities. 0:11:46.133,0:11:50.494 Many websites we cannot read[br]using JAWS and the other technologies. 0:11:50.494,0:11:54.028 Websites are often very visual[br]and there are all these sorts of graphs 0:11:54.028,0:11:56.966 that are not labelled, [br]and buttons that are not labelled, 0:11:56.966,0:12:00.566 and that is why [br]the world wide web consortium 3, 0:12:00.676,0:12:03.204 known as W3C, 0:12:03.554,0:12:07.479 has developed world wide standards[br]for the Internet 0:12:07.929,0:12:12.695 and we want all internet users,[br]or internet site owners, 0:12:12.695,0:12:16.568 to make their sites compatible[br]so that we persons without vision 0:12:16.568,0:12:19.231 can have a label playing field. 0:12:20.321,0:12:23.659 There are other barriers[br]brought about by our laws. 0:12:24.309,0:12:28.845 For example, Australia,[br]like about 1/3 of the world's countries, 0:12:28.845,0:12:33.064 has copyright exceptions[br]which allow books to be Brailled 0:12:33.464,0:12:35.824 or read for we, blind persons. 0:12:35.984,0:12:38.817 But those books cannot travel[br]across borders. 0:12:39.127,0:12:40.033 For example, 0:12:40.033,0:12:43.584 in Spain, there are 100,000 [br]accessible books in Spanish. 0:12:43.874,0:12:46.280 In Argentina, there are 50,000. 0:12:46.430,0:12:49.706 In no other Latin American country[br]are there more than a couple of thousand, 0:12:50.116,0:12:53.942 but it isn't legal to transport the books [br]from Spain to Latin America. 0:12:55.526,0:12:57.808 There are hundreds of thousands[br]accessible books 0:12:57.808,0:13:00.952 in the US, Britain, [br]Canada, Australia and etc., 0:13:00.952,0:13:03.952 but they cannot be transported [br]to the 60 countries in our world 0:13:03.952,0:13:06.221 where English is the first [br]or a second language. 0:13:06.501,0:13:09.361 Remember I was telling you [br]about Harry Potter? 0:13:09.561,0:13:12.710 Well, because we cannot transport [br]books across borders 0:13:12.710,0:13:17.444 there had to be separate versions read[br]in all the English speaking countries, 0:13:17.734,0:13:21.446 Britain, United States, [br]Canada, Australia and New Zeland, 0:13:21.446,0:13:25.106 all had to have[br]separate readings of Harry Potter. 0:13:25.446,0:13:28.710 And that is why [br]next month in Morocco 0:13:28.710,0:13:31.217 a meeting is taking place[br]between all the countries. 0:13:31.217,0:13:35.086 It is something that a group of countries[br]and the World Blind Union are advocating: 0:13:35.086,0:13:36.394 a cross-border treaty. 0:13:36.844,0:13:39.908 So that if books are available [br]under a copyright exception 0:13:39.908,0:13:42.112 and the other country [br]has a copyright exception, 0:13:42.112,0:13:44.478 we can transport those books [br]across borders 0:13:44.478,0:13:47.760 and give life to people [br]particularly in developing countries, 0:13:47.760,0:13:50.997 blind people who do not have [br]the books to read. 0:13:51.507,0:13:53.465 I want that to happen. 0:13:53.895,0:14:01.306 (Applause) 0:14:01.856,0:14:07.608 My life has been extraordinary blessed[br]with marriage and children 0:14:08.178,0:14:10.351 and certanily interesting work to do. 0:14:10.731,0:14:13.575 Whether it be[br]at the University of Sidney Law School 0:14:13.575,0:14:15.458 where I served a term as dean, 0:14:15.458,0:14:18.255 or now as I sit on [br]the United Nations committee 0:14:18.255,0:14:21.355 on the Rights of Persons [br]with Disabilities in Geneva, 0:14:21.495,0:14:25.676 I have indeed been [br]a very fortunate human being. 0:14:26.706,0:14:29.546 I wonder what the future will hold. 0:14:29.776,0:14:32.713 The technology will advance even further. 0:14:33.513,0:14:37.070 But I can still remember my mom[br]saying 60 years ago, 0:14:37.070,0:14:42.007 "Remember darling, you will never be able[br]to read the print with your fingers." 0:14:42.906,0:14:47.824 I am so glad, that the interaction [br]between Brailles for transcribers, 0:14:47.824,0:14:51.154 volunteer readers[br]and passionate inventors 0:14:51.384,0:14:54.621 has allowed this dream of reading[br]to come true for me 0:14:54.621,0:14:57.036 and for blind people throughout the world. 0:14:57.516,0:15:00.917 I woud like to thank [br]my researcher Hannah Martin, 0:15:00.917,0:15:02.763 who is my slide clicker, 0:15:02.763,0:15:04.023 she clicks the slides, 0:15:04.243,0:15:07.077 and my wife, [br]professor Mary Crock, 0:15:07.077,0:15:09.828 who is the love of my life [br]and is coming on to collect me, 0:15:09.828,0:15:10.973 I want to thank her too. 0:15:10.973,0:15:12.717 I think I have to say good bye now. 0:15:12.717,0:15:13.645 Bless you! 0:15:13.645,0:15:14.738 Thank you very much. 0:15:14.738,0:15:16.282 (Applause) 0:15:16.282,0:15:17.565 Hey! 0:15:17.565,0:15:18.627 (Applause) 0:15:18.627,0:15:19.537 (Laughs) 0:15:19.537,0:15:26.294 (Applause continuing) 0:15:26.294,0:15:30.865 Oh! Hey! 0:15:30.865,0:15:41.072 (Applause)