The summer of 1980 I read my last paperback novel. It was Stephen King's Salem's Lot. Some time in the mid '80s I stopped reading magazines. The last time I remember reading a newspaper was in 1986. Although I can still read to a limited extent using a Closed Circuit Television (CCTV,) I do only for work, since it's more difficult, and too slow to read for enjoyment. It's as though I stopped growing even in retrospect. Using screen enlargement software, and a CCTV, I can still do my job, but my eye-sight is getting worse, to the point that I won't be able to do my current job in the way I now do, and will require speech output on each terminal I need to use. The tools are available to me, and that greatly improves my chances of surviving in today's or any other workforce in history. There is an incredible amount of competition in assistive/ adaptive technology. Everything from the CCTVs to speech output for computers, calculators, clocks/watches, and even scales, can be found at the "Closing the Gap" conference. All this competition has greatly improved the ability of the blind to lead independent productive lives. It doesn't come cheap though. Because of the limited market, and heavy competition, most adaptive equipment, and software is quite expensive. Without help from the government, charitable organizations, or other benefactor, the needed equipment, software, and training, is out of the reach of most blind people. We are also a few years behind everyone else. From what I've seen, voice output for Windows(tm) has just within the last couple of years gotten to the point of being practical, and how long has 3.1 been out? I don't mean to sound negative, because I'm really not. At this point, I'm really positive about the future. I just have no idea how I will fit into it yet. I have been using speech output since I got my first SLIP account 3 years ago. All I had was Gopher, Telnet, FTP, and E-Mail clients, but reading with large print soon proved to be far too slow, and so I started using voice output. The technology was readily available to me, but that's another article. After I discovered Multi-User Dungeons (MUDs,) and my new-found reader, I wasted most of my first 3 years on the internet mudding. Now, after changing ISPs twice, and learning to use LYNX, I have turned into an information sponge. I just can't get enough. It started when my brother told me to check out TIME magazine. They have a text-only version which I bookmarked right away. I read it in it's entirety in about 3 hours. With Switchboard.com, I no longer need directory assistance. At Bibliomania.com, I can read from a large selection of public domain books in html. I read 2 to 3 books per month. All the links to publications that are on my home page, are sites that I visit on a regular basis. Most, I read in their entirety, and when I've caught up on my reading then I get to surf, or play StarMUD. The advances in technology have been coming so quickly that we all have a difficult time keeping up, and guessing what technologies will last, and which will be forgotten, leaving us with a closet full of obsolete stuff. This is compounded for the blind, or anyone who has a disability which requires special equipment or software to use computers. It is a very difficult task to find and learn how to use the tools that are available, and when the core technology changes (i.e. graphic interfaces,) we are back to square one. Every time a webmaster decides to try out Netscape's frames, I get rejected with some message about getting a frames compatible browser. The World Wide Web Consortium guidelines for html should be required reading for all webmasters. Especially the sections concerning accessibility. If anyone wants to see my pick for the best example of a text-only alternative, take a look at TIME's. I know, I'm sounding negative again. but it's really just my uncertainty, and frustration showing. I'd rather think of it's like complaining about road construction. We all hate dealing with detours, but we are all better off for it in the end.