[Diabetes-Talk] Accu Chek Guide.

Mon Jan 14 17:04:10 UTC 2019

As a division, DAN doesn’t have staff. DAN has a board. I think we’ve learned a lot from this list, where people have tested technology, implemented work-arounds for the lack of accessibility (or haven’t been able to), and shared them with us. The reason the NFB needs to get serious about this is because there are currently two (that I know of) Continuous Glucose Monitoring systems that are, at least minimally, accessible through iPhone or Android apps, but none that are accessible in stand-alone manner, as they are for sighted people. Several of our participants on this list have found ways to use these units and also insulin pumps, with sighted assistance or by memorizing functions that do not provide useful feedback. None of these “solutions” is a solution, and none demonstrates the accessibility we need as blind people with diabetes to care for ourselves accessibly and reliably without assistance.

I keep making the point to the NFB that accessibility of these devices and other medical devices is, or will be over time, a life-or-death issue, and blind people will die because something they’ve worked around will malfunction, or because a device that could prevent major health crisis or death simply won’t be available to us. Even now, however, this issue, while it will be addressed at Washington Seminar this year, will be discussed in conjunction with home appliances and other items, as though all are of equal importance. And the timeline for working through this issue in the proposed Act is quite long, considering how long we’ve known this is an issue and the amount of work that has been done on it. The proposal is for the work to take three years—more with the passage of legislation and making of rules, etc. Meantime, work on the devices that make diabetes care much more useful continues for sighted people, without regard for blind diabetics.

Sorry—I’ve been following this thread, and I just had to say my piece! I am pleased that we have people like Veronica and Bridgit and Jamie, and others who constantly strive to make the available inaccessible devices useful to blind people. But this will never be the best answer, and it leaves us discussing, almost constantly, whether this device or that device is usable by the blind and why or why not. And it keeps the answer being “not really.”

Sandi

Sent from Mail for Windows 10

From: Jude DaShiell via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Monday, January 14, 2019 9:12 AM
To: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-Talk
Cc: Jude DaShiell
Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] Accu Chek Guide.

If D.A.N. doesn't have working familiarity with VoiceOver and TalkBack,
and an accessibility specialist on staff, we're on our own. On Mon, 14 Jan
2019, Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-Talk wrote:

> Date: Mon, 14 Jan 2019 09:32:04
> From: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter via Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
> To: 'Diabetes Talk for the Blind' <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Bridgit Kuenning-Pollpeter <bkpollpeter at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] Accu Chek Guide.
>
> As far as the NFB "testing" devices, as of now, when it comes to medical
> equipment, likely it will rely on a group like DAN to do this. Neither the
> NFB or KNFB are in the business of dealing with medical devices. The NFB has
> drafted legislation supporting accessibility with medical devices, but last
> I knew, it dropped that portion of the bill. A year ago, give or take, HQ
> was asking us for personal experiences on the lack of accessibility with
> diabetic devices, but I don't know if anything came of this; I've not heard
> anything further.
>
> Bridgit
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Diabetes-Talk <diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Doula
> Jarboe via Diabetes-Talk
> Sent: Sunday, January 13, 2019 11:24 PM
> To: Diabetes Talk for the Blind <diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Doula Jarboe <doula.jarboe at gmail.com>
> Subject: Re: [Diabetes-Talk] Accu Chek Guide.
>
>   Here's what I can tell you about my use with the guide.  It says in the
> app that you need someone from your clinic to help you set it up.
> Which my Diabetes educater did.  She had to enter the code, because I was
> too slow and it kept timeing out on me.  As for doing the testing, I've been
> able to do it on my own.  Most of the time anyways.  And I'm sure I've lost
> Bluetooth connection because I don't carry the meter with me.  But it
> records the date and time when I do a reading and it get transerred.  Keep
> in mind though, that I am an Android user, so don't know how this will work
> with an Iphone.  There were a couple times where it got hung up somewhere
> else and didn't automatically do the transfer.  And I did need a sighted
> person to fix that for me.  As for the NFB testing things for accessibility,
> isn't there a specific committee right now for dealing with medical
> equipment?  Also, this is a consumer organization.  If you want something
> done, you either have to do it, or talk to the right people to help you do
> it.  That's just how it is.
>
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>
>
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