Access technology offers people with disabilities adaptive tools to use computers, smart phones and other devices. I am a blind Catholic professional with experience in academic political science. I also have training and program management experience in access technology; helping other blind and low vision users solve difficulties with their devices. As I have engaged with AI and Faith, I have noticed that the community has few current links with the conversation around accessibility, and I hope this article will begin to change that.
I will be focusing on the types of access technology I know best: screen readers and dictation. Screen readers (known as text to speech) allow the user to hear the device talking to them. Screen readers usually require the user to have some level of comfort with keyboarding or use of a touch screen. Dictation (known as speech to text) allows the user to talk to the device. Users can optionally receive a vocal response during the dictation process. To better understand the difference, note that for an iPhone, Siri is entirely voice activated while Voice Over requires the use of a touch screen by the user. Smart phones have built-in settings which allow more seamless integration of screen readers and dictation than is present on computers, for those who have a high comfort level with them (Voice Over for Apple, and Talkback for Android). Blind users often use a combination of screen readers and dictation when using AI. Because AI applications often have their own dictation abilities which also offer voice feedback, there are more options for those less comfortable with screen readers.
I hope that future articles by others more qualified will delve into access technology issues with other disabilities; adaptations for those who cannot use their arms, closed captioning for the deaf and hard of hearing, magnification and contrast for those with low vision, and bioethics issues around artificial body enhancements and Neurolink.
History of faith and accessibility
One of my reasons for interest in the conversation between faith and accessibility is that faith has already played a major part in uplifting people with disabilities; in particular, advancement for the blind. Technology originally for the blind has greatly impacted technology for all, as detailed in a great chapter of Andrew Leland’s book Country of the Blind. Louis Braille (1809-1852), the blind inventor of the braille reading code, was a devout Catholic who used his invention to create a larger library of sheet music for blind church organists. Religious groups took a leading role in producing and distributing braille books throughout the twentieth century, including the Xavier Society (of which I am a board member), the American Bible Society, and the Theosophical Society. Braille’s ingenuity and his attempts to develop an early version of the typewriter tested the boundaries of language and technology. Audio books, which were initially produced for the blind, are now used by many sighted readers, and many early audio books were religious.
Image description and faith
One of the lesser known uses of AI is its ability to describe images. You can share a picture or an inaccessible file with an AI application and it will provide information about what is in the image including any discernable text, along with the ability to ask further questions and share the image with another application or another person. The more common AI tools can describe images, but many of us in the blind community prefer to use apps built for the blind, including Microsoft’s Seeing AI and the blind-founded Be My Eyes. These apps predate the development of what most people think of as AI; Be My Eyes started off as an app to call human remote volunteers, while Seeing AI initially focused on reading labels; but they both received major updates in 2023.
The use of image description to benefit people of faith are numerous: from gaining a practical orientation of a sacred space, to providing a better understanding of religious art than blind people have had before. In my experience, AI applications can correctly identify the names of religious items, but continued collaboration is necessary to make sure models do not contribute to subtle misinterpretations.
Research and writing tools
Accessible AI tools allow blind users to research questions about religious doctrine, scripture, history, prayers, and current events, whether for personal study or professional work. The most common AI tools like ChatGPT and Gemini have accessibility teams which use WCAG and ARIA accessibility standards. One of these is the use of headings, especially for computer users. If I press the “H” key on my computer, I can move between my prompt and the various sections of the AI’s response. Buttons to copy, share, or download a file are also relatively easy to find.
I have used AI to shorten the process of finding traditional Latin mass propers that I sing in my Church choir. As for writing, I have found ChatGPT’s ability to generate a prayer plan based on a particular faith to be helpful. Of course, like anyone else, screen reader users need to avoid pitfalls of AI-driven research that come from asking the wrong questions, and hallucinations.
One project that needs further work is making sure smaller apps designed for a particular religious viewpoint are accessible. Many of them, in my limited experience, are mostly navigable but could use improvements for better user experience, especially making certain elements more clearly labeled.
Where do we go from here? Bridging Ethics and Accessibility
I will conclude by noting that like any other group, blind people (and the smaller group of blind people who identify with a religious faith) will have a variety of opinions about AI. Some of these are influenced by our life as blind people, but also come from our other deeply held personal and intellectual commitments. As a young father, I want to limit my children’s exposure to AI at an early age, primarily because it contributes to a preexisting problem of too much time spent in the virtual world. I am concerned with over-reliance on AI among students and others who need to continue developing their skills in critical thinking and various content areas. I think we should encourage our religious leaders to avoid using AI to write sermons; rather, it should be used for background research only.
Accessible AI has opened the world of information to blind people, in some ways building on the successes of search engines and human curated projects like Wikipedia (which I was an admin for when I was a teenager). I do not want accessibility to be the reason that someone does not use AI, even if it is for a purpose I personally disapprove of.
I look forward to continuing the conversation; I’m happy to receive emails (covich7@gmail.com) and LinkedIn messages with any thoughts, especially about improving religious apps.
Views and opinions expressed by authors and editors are their own and do not necessarily reflect the view of AI and Faith or any of its leadership.
