Mobile Ministry Magazine

First off, let me say that this is not a knock on any of the presenters, or even Logos, but its something that was highlighted to me directly while at BibleTech that is something that needs to be address sooner rather than later (more like addressd yesterday instead of tomorrow if you get me).

I am speaking of the subject of accessibility - specifically for those with visual, touch, and auditory impairments to whom mobile and web technology should be making for a better life, but has really made them stand out more as "different."

I had a discussion with a person who works alongside the e-Sword project and one of the questions he asked me is if I had seen the Braille PDA. This PDA I had seen, but it had been many years since I had heard anything about it. Come to find out at BibleTech, this device - which was antiquated when it was origianlly developed - has not seen any development, nor has the price decreased.

$5000 device.

Really, folks can barely afford a $500 device in a consumer-driven economy, and now we have a need for accessible technology that is priced so far out of range that the argument that "no one is buying it therefore we don't need to develop it" is about as flawed as any.

I got a chance to play with this device (pictured), and I had to say that its a pretty neat device when you think about it. You "see" with your thumbs and the first 3 digits of your hands on each finger control the dots so that you can "read and write." It would have taken me some time to get used to it - because I cannot read Braille - but as an assistive technology device that can plug into just about anything, this was cool.

Yet where's the discussion in the Body on this aspect of mobile tech?

That night, I started thinking about that scene within the BibleTech lunchroom. All of us with our G1s, iPhones, laptops, etc., chatting away about what the other is doing to make information, connectivity, and more possible because of what's available to us. And yet, we weren't there addressing those people who had even more legitimate needs - people to whom rightfully deserve the Gospel and all its benefits presented to them in a "language" they can "hear."

"Not everyone who says to me, 'Lord, Lord,' will enter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who does the will of my Father who is in heaven. On that day many will say to me, 'Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?' And then will I declare to them, 'I never knew you; depart from me, you workers of lawlessness.' (Matthew 7:21-23)

It would be really sad to think that for all that I've tried to put my hands to do here, that it would mean absoutely nothing in the heart of my Lord. But in terms of that critique towards where BibleTech could and should have been more effective - talking about how technology is meeting the felt needs of HIS people - that was one area where I was left at the lunch table a lot more hungry than the food in front of me presented.

Maybe beyond what's possible, we can start building the conversation and action towards what's needed to be heard by all.

Labels: accessiblity, BibleTech, mobility