Our next ‘jewish invention’ myth comes from Rabbi Stephen Wise of Ontario, Canada who claims on his website – which is itself part of a book/pamphlet he authored – that jews invented cell/mobile phones for the blind.
He writes that:
‘Helping the Blind: Project RAY developed a series of cell phone apps helping blind people to become more independent, such as an app to find their destination while walking down the street, and another app to make sure the right medication is taken when needed.’ (1)
Once again Wise’s wording here is frankly deceptive as he is presenting the ‘RAY’ phone – ‘Project RAY’ is the Israeli company’s name incidentally – as if it was the pioneer of this technology for the blind which is complete and utter nonsense.
The first dedicated cell/mobile phone for the blind was invented and launched as a commercial product by Telefonica in Spain – in cooperation with the Spanish organization advocating for the blind ‘ONCE’ (‘Organizacion Nacional de Ciegos Espanoles’ lit. ‘Spanish National Organization of the Blind’) in March/April 2004. (2)
While Nokia introduced special apps – such as ‘TALKS’ and ‘Mobile Speak’ – on their Symbian cell/mobile phones between 2003 and 2005 to allow the phone to be used by the blind. (3)
With the launch of the first popular smartphone – the iPhone – Apple introduced an app called ‘VoiceOver’ to in 2009 in order to allow the blind to also use their new product. (4)
The ‘RAY’ smart phone was merely an adaptation of this existing technology when it was launched in 2013. (5)
So, no cell/mobile phones for the blind are not a ‘jewish invention’: they are a Spanish one!
References
(1) https://reformjudaism.org/israeli-inventions-work
(2) http://http//www.iblnews.com/varios/movilciegos.doc also see https://we-make-money-not-art.com/mobile_phone_for_blind_people/
(3) https://afb.org/aw/8/1/14407
(4) https://abilitynet.org.uk/news-blogs/voiceover-iphone-turns-10-and-turns-blind-access-11
(5) https://acblists.org/g/Oregon-L/topic/project_ray_and_audin_mobile/79870706
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