[Diabetes-Talk] Be My Eyes and Accessible Pharmacy Seminar

[Alan Lemly]

Hi Dotty,

I have to totally agree with your comments. I'm not sure their goal was
obfuscation but whenever the primary intent is to sell a product or service,
obfuscation will certainly be part of the process. This meeting was clearly
not designed for the blind community except to garner additional customers.
And they clearly weren't interested in answering any questions about how the
blind community actually use Prodigy meters. It would be so nice if someone
explaining something would consult with a blind person to provide the best
words to use to communicate with a blind audience. That Prodigy rep could
have done a much better job of describing how to insert a test strip
properly had she not been sighted.

And they clearly weren't going to answer any questions that would make their
products seem undesirable. I posted a question about getting a reading of
297 on my Prodigy Autocode this morning followed by a reading a few seconds
later of 239 on my Prodigy Voice or a difference of 58 points. They did talk
about the lack of use of control solution but then did not explain how to
actually use it and its purpose in verifying the validity of your test
results. I realize I probably should already know about control solution and
how to use it but I'm one of the guilty ones they referenced about this lack
of use. I had to go find a Prodigy Autocode user guide and read how to use
control solution. But the short answer is that sighted help is needed
because you have to compare the result the meter gives you in the control
solution test with some tabular values provided on the container of test
strips. I believe the short answer to my situation is that my Prodigy
Autocode is ready for the trash can. Too bad I didn't get the details on how
to get one of their free ones. Fortunately, I have an extra one that came
from somewhere that I've never used and I have a sighted brother that can
help me set it up. I still like the Autocode because I can upload its
readings to Diasend for printing reports for my doctor. However, I can't
caution folks enough to get a meter that provides accurate results. I had a
low blood sugar incident during last night's sleep because of a high reading
before bed that I suspect was many points higher than my actual blood
glucose level. I woke and the muscles in my legs weren't actually working
right due to this low but fortunately I was able to get to the refrigerator
for some orange juice.

I appreciate all the helpful comments folks are providing here about getting
an accessible meter that provides accurate results. 

Alan Lemly

-----Original Message-----
From: Diabetes-Talk [mailto:diabetes-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of
Dorothea Martin via Diabetes-Talk
Sent: Friday, February 12, 2021 1:40 PM
To: diabetes-talk at nfbnet.org
Cc: Dorothea Martin
Subject: [Diabetes-Talk] Be My Eyes and Accessible Pharmacy Seminar

Hello, Everyone,
I don't usually pan events but I must tell everyone who missed this seminar
that it was a marvelous feat of obfuscation. You would expect that people
from Be My Eyes would have given some indication of the currently
inaccessible devices they are learning to help us with, but nothing doing.
They just praised Prodigy and Accessible Pharmacy. I expected that the
people from Prodigy would say something about some upcoming version of their
accessible meter, but if there is to be one, we still haven't heard about it
even after the seminar. Then, they avoided the question of how to get blood
onto the test strip, though it appeared in the chat more than once. Finally,
about the advertisement of a free accessible meter to those who attended the
seminar, guess what? They are offering us a free AAdvocate No-Code meter, a
device about as accessible as other semi-accessibles. What one? Oh, and I
almost forgot. The question of Prodigy's low accuracy ratings was never
mentioned? Skating, anyone? I know where you can rent some ice skates cheap.
Dotty Martin

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