advocating stereo when some are incapable

[P3D Peter Abrahams <telscope@xxxxxxxxxx>]

George gave a highly partisan presentation on the value of stereo in
technical applications.  The audience included some very successful workers
who were stereo blind, and some who found the slides to be uncomfortable.

>I am wondering:  DO I INSULT those people by telling them how
>important stereo is?  These people have lived all their lives
>and have a successful career, WITHOUT stereoscopic vision.
>.... One young fellow left in the middle of the
>presentation.  Later he told me that he was getting a
>headache.

I think you have to deal with these issues in your introduction, even if
that somewhat 'pulls the rug out' from under your thesis.  Open the talk by
noting that there is an auxiliary to the audience's field of endeavor that
uses stereo imagery.  It can be highly effective, but there is a small
percentage of the population who are incapable of stereo vision, and a
small percentage who find these presentations to be uncomfortable.  Say
that, in spite of these notable problems with the technique, the
effectiveness of stereo is such that the audience should consider its use.  
If you avoid these issues, or are unaware of them; you can bet that the
post-lecture discussions will deal with them, and just one person
complaining of headaches will undermine all your advocacy.  If you've noted
that (3% ?) of the population gets headaches, this will be less of a problem.

Finally, we are somewhat hypersensitive to handicaps these days.  If you
were an advocate of running as an exercise, would you be concerned about
people with bad knees feeling left out?  Or should a music lover tone down
his enthusiasm because some are tone deaf?  Everyone has some handicaps &
some abilities.

_______________________________________
Peter Abrahams   telscope@xxxxxxxxxx
the history of the telescope, the microscope,
    and the prism binocular


------------------------------

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