[blparent] Interesting story

[Robert Shelton]

I had a very different experience.  When I walked into the AT&T store, the
person who helped me knew about VO and handed me a phone that was talking.
She also made sure I had time to explore the phone and its features as much
as I wanted.  I must have fiddled with the thing for an hour, and there was
no pressure.  The whole emphasis was to make sure I was comfortable with the
technology.  It was an enlightened response to a customer with special
needs.

-----Original Message-----
From: Jeri Milton [mailto:jjmilton at cox.net] 
Sent: Thursday, January 24, 2013 9:49 AM
To: 'Blind Parents Mailing List'
Subject: [blparent] Interesting story

This has been bubbling in my mind ever since my husband and I purchased my
IPhone at the cell phone store inside the mall. Is it just me? I guess I
should have been sure of what I was talking about before I went in there. 

 

So while we were expressing interest about the IPhone, I mention that I'm in
touch with other blind people who use the IPhone and who use it quite well,
using speech. At the time, I didn't realize myself, that the speech was
already in the phone, our friend Voice Over. So, the gal behind the counter
had her interest peeked by this and she began looking it up on line. She
told me she couldn't find any apps for this. Silly me, thought at the time,
that it was an app. Ok, so we go over to the other counter where you
actually buy a new phone. We asked the gentleman the same question about the
speech. Naturally, he assumed I was talking about Surrey. I corrected him,
letting him know that nope it wasn't Surrey. He had no clue what I was
talking about. Ok fine, we purchased the IPhone, because I knew that I would
get in touch with you all here, and I would find out what speech app was
used. 

 

So, yesterday we had to go back to the ATandT store, because my husband's
phone was on the frits. I couldn't wait to tell them about Voice Over being
the speech that I was looking for. Well, when I told the same gentleman from
the week prior that it was voice over, his reply was, "Oh ya, I know about
voice over." Are you serious? He knew about it. So, we told the other person
at the other counter. Oh yes, he knew about it as well. I guess what it
amounts to is that while they knew about voice over, they didn't put it
together with speech that is already in Apple products that is a great
assistance for blind or low vision users. Shouldn't as sales reps, they know
this? I asked them if they had other blind or quote unquote visually
impaired customers and they said they had. Mostly, I guess for sited folks,
voice over is a great annoyance. 

 

Anyway, it really irked me. I guess it shouldn't surprise me. Really, why
would they know right? Ug, thanks for letting me get this off of my chest.
Smile. 

 

Jeri