[Blind-Rollers] Potential Benefits of Super Lidar for Blind Rollers

Thu Feb 24 12:55:09 UTC 2022

Hello Shane, I floated your email to a friend who is a business 
strategist (with disabilities).  Here is the reply:

Unfortunately, this is the typical answer "we would like to pay people 
with disabilities but can't because of [insert excuse here]".  There are 
different ways to compensate but doesn't sound like they are offering 
anything.  At least that other company offered a meager gift card.

 From what I can piece together, it seems that Mediate has enough funds 
but it just isn't budgeted to compensate this user community. Mediate 
chose to pay for a team of five or six "community engagement managers" 
to find and convince members of the disability community to work for 
free or to sort through community exchanges to glean ideas.  Then 
Mediate sell those features and products back to us or profit in other 
ways.  Then they want more free ideas and free testing from us. The 
cycle continues as they spend those profits to find more ways to use us 
without compensating us.

Everyone with and without disabilities should work to change that 
business model and stop providing excuses to perpetuate it.  Is Shane 
willing to be a part of the solution?  There needs to be a shift of 
mindset at Mediate (and all other companies) so everyone benefits.  What 
if Mediate allocates part of that budget for a program that respectfully 
compensates people with disabilities' time, skills, and insights?  Then 
Mediate won't need a team to glean our ideas and convince us to work for 
free because there would be a line of people w disabilities ready, 
willing, and able to work with Mediate.

On Feb 23, 2022, Shane Lowe via Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:

> You have an excellent point, and as a blind person, I've seen that
> disparity in pay all too often.
> However, we are a small startup. We have very little funding to expand
> our team of developers, let alone pay an example price similar to
> $50.00 per hour. As much as I'd love to offer payment, We are
> currently too small to swing that without going under very quickly.
>
> On 2/22/22, Starry_sky--- via Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>> Hello Shane, there is no shortage of brilliant people with disabilities
>> who could work with you or other companies to design and test products.
>> The problem is that too many of these companies feel that we should work
>> for free.  There was a for-profit company that paid $50/hr for sighted
>> testers but then asked for Blind testers to spend half a day testing
>> that same app for one $20 gift card.
>>
>> What is Mediate offering to people with disabilities to help design and
>> test products?  Do we get paid an hourly rate or one price for the
>> project?  Do we get profit-sharing, royalties, and/or owner-rights for
>> any of our ideas that sell or get patented?  Let us know what the
>> collaboration expectations are.
>>
>> ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>>
>>> Date: Mon, 21 Feb 2022 10:36:30 -0500
>>> From: Shane Lowe <shane at mediate.tech>
>>> To: Blind wheelchair users list <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
>>> Subject: Re: [Blind-Rollers] Potential Benefits of Super Lidar for
>>> 	Blind Rollers
>>>
>>> Karen and all,
>>> That sounds intense, and I'm glad to hear that you're on the mend!
>>> When I reached out to the list earlier this year, I didn't receive any
>>> feedback, so we weren't sure how to proceed or if users were
>>> interested in working with us to design something.
>>> I would love to know how you envision something like this working, and
>>> we can go from there! :)
>>>
>>> On 2/18/22, Karen Rose via Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>> Well. Thank you :-)
>>>>
>>>> Karen Rose MFT/LPCC www.career-therapy.net
>>>>
>>>>> On Feb 18, 2022, at 11:17 AM, maureen Pranghofer via Blind-Rollers
>>>>> <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>>
>>>>> ?Hi Karen
>>>>> I'm in a power chair now but used a walker for a couple of years, Rather
>>>>> than leaning on my palms they put forearm troughts in the walker and I
>>>>> could lean on them with both arms and by extending one arm slightly use
>>>>> my
>>>>> can at the same time as I'm totally blind. It worked but was very hard
>>>>> on
>>>>> my shoulder because ultimately more weight went on my shoulder on the
>>>>> side
>>>>> where I was holding the cane. But it worked.
>>>>> Maureen
>>>>>
>>>>>
>>>>> -----Original Message-----
>>>>> From: Blind-Rollers <blind-rollers-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of
>>>>> Karen
>>>>> Rose via Blind-Rollers
>>>>> Sent: Friday, February 18, 2022 12:01 AM
>>>>> To: Blind wheelchair users list <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org>
>>>>> Cc: Karen Rose <rosekm at earthlink.net>
>>>>> Subject: Re: [Blind-Rollers] Potential Benefits of Super Lidar for Blind
>>>>> Rollers
>>>>>
>>>>> Is anyone here using a walker or roller tour? If so how are you doing
>>>>> that? I am being discharged from a physical rehab center after breaking
>>>>> my
>>>>> hip, and will need to use a walker or realtor for a couple of months.
>>>>> Would love any advice since I cannot attach my white cane to this
>>>>> device.
>>>>> Thanks for any help
>>>>>
>>>>> Karen Rose MFT/LPCC www.career-therapy.net
>>>>>
>>>>>> On Jan 26, 2022, at 12:06 PM, Shane Lowe via Blind-Rollers
>>>>>> <blind-rollers at nfbnet.org> wrote:
>>>>>>
>>>>>> ?Hi everyone,
>>>>>> My name is Shane Lowe, and I am the Community Operations manager for
>>>>>> the company Mediate. You may know of us as the developers of
>>>>>> Supersense and Super Lidar.
>>>>>> Part of what I do is work with users to turn user ideas into features
>>>>>> that are integrated into our apps, and a fellow member of this list
>>>>>> reached out to me about the potential benefits of a navigation app for
>>>>>> blind wheelchair users.
>>>>>> In case you don't know, Super Lidar is our navigation app which
>>>>>> translate the depth and distance analysis of Lidar into navigation
>>>>>> features for the blind. I'd love to learn more about how everyone on
>>>>>> this list would like to use mobile technology in your navigation
>>>>>> experience so that maybe we can make some improvements for Super
>>>>>> Lidar.
>>>>>>
>>>>>> I'm excited to hear what you think!
>>>>>>
>>>>>> All the best,
>>>>>> --
>>>>>> Shane Lowe.
>>>>>> Community Operations Manager @ Mediate Mobile (call or text): +1
>>>>>> 502-435-2671 Learn more at http://supersense.app
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>>>>>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> Blind-Rollers mailing list
>> Blind-Rollers at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/blind-rollers_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for
>> Blind-Rollers:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/blind-rollers_nfbnet.org/shane%40mediate.tech
>>