Presented by Chrissie Cochrane
Airs Sundays at 18:00 UTC, repeated Mondays at 11:00 UTC and Tuesday at 05:00 UTC
Chrissie and Wally debate the big and the small issues of the day, and tell it like it is.
On this week's Attitude Test we ask the simple question, are we seeing the end days of the stand alone screenreader, such as JAWS and Window-eyes. With Apple putting a screenreader in many of their products, as part of the system, is this the way things will eventually go?
Our main subject this week will be: We all, I'm sure, agree that one of the greatest inventions that have bennifitted society, especially the disabled, is the home computer, and its spin-off the internet; but are these tools in danger of making us a more fragmented society. We can now all stay in our own homes and talk to the world, but is that the same thing as face to face communication, and getting out and seeing people? Are social networking sites like Twitter and Facebook helping or hindering us in society, why is it that people on Twitter for example often trivialize things to the degree that they tweet that they're going to have a cup of tea or something like that? It's now perfectly possible to re-invent yourself and have a totally new identity on the internet: is this a good thing?
In the second half of the show, we'll be discussing whether, in these days where Governments are cutting services and shedding jobs in large quantity, should we rely on the charitable sector to pick up the pieces. For example, should Government relinquish social services and leave it to the charities? Should services for blind people be only on a charitable basis or do the Government have an obligation to help their less fortunate citizens?
It is with deep sadness that we mourn the passing of one of our newest, yet one of our best broadcasters here on the Global Voice, John Cottrell, known to all simply as JC. We will be devoting the entire show to peoples' memories of this unique broadcaster, and in so doing, we can give you the opportunity to share reminiscences of JC, who worked on several radio stations throughout his broadcasting career.
This week, as our main topic, we'll be asking a very simple, but very complicated question and that is should we talk to terrorists? Are we really getting anywhere with the way Governments are reacting? Is it time to find a new approach to the whole terrorist issue?
This week our main subject will be the future of the media.
We'll be asking questions such as, do newspapers have a real future. do we have too many television channels and not enough content? what's the future of recorded music? what is the future of radio, both terestrial, sattelite and internet? and where do all these things converge? and any other interesting aspect on the media you care to bring up.
Over the months that we've been broadcasting the Attitude test a trend has come to our notice. If we have a subject like JAWS, Window-Eyes, or anything blindness related we get tons of calls from people wanting to voice their opinion, yet if we have a more general subject, even
if it is something that affects us all, we get few calls, if any. Suggestions we receive for subjects also tend to be blindness related.
This leads me to wonder if we consider ourselves blind
first, and people second. What are your views? Am I getting it wrong in thinking this way? Why do blind people get so obsessed with blindness issues over and above anything else that may be of equal significance to the whole of society?
On this week's Attitude Test we look at crime and punnishment. We ask the basic question should the punnishment fit the crime? Should life mean life? We hear a lot about prinsoners' rights, but what about those of the victim?
In this edition, as our main topic, we discuss the ever-increasing problem of companies that just don't, or won't respond to their customers. How many times have you gone to a company's website to find out the name of the person you need to speak to as you have a question concerning their product? How many times have you phoned a company only to get an automated menu and no human being on the other end? What can we, as customers do to get better service from these companies?
On this edition of The Attitude Test, we'll be looking at the subject of employment for blind people.
In these days when many countries are struggling out of one of the deepest recessions we've known in the last 40 or so years, when it's hard for sighted people to get work, how can we as blind people survive in the working environment? What can we do to get jobs if we're unemployed? What are the possibilities of training? Are there new and different jobs blind people can do? How do we find out what's out there, and how do we network?
In this special edition of The Attitude Test, Chrissie and Wally take apart the week's news and invite listeners to do the same. We'll also discuss the future of Braille with our special guest Ivy Temple, a strong advocate for Braille.