There is a paradoxical relationship between technology improvements and accessibility.

On one hand, technology can and sometimes does help visually disabled people: synthesized access to talking newspapers, easy access to online music with speech synthesized catalogues, email reading/writing with speech synthesis, and a speech interface to hand-held GPS for blind orientation/navigation.

On the other hand, the 'technology heavy' nature of 21C lifestyle often disenfranchises the disabled. Examples include microwave cookers, mobile phones, iPods and 24-bit animated graphical user interfaces.

What should and can be done to improve the outcome resulting from this technological dichotomy?