[Electronics-Talk] Does where we shop impact accessibility of appliances?

[Gerald Levy]

No, controlling appliances via a smart phone is not a viable solution 
because most blind consumers do not own them.  Smart phones are too 
expensive for the majority of blind consumers who live on fixed incomes, and 
they have their own accessibility issues such as difficult to navigate touch 
screens.  It is unreasonable to expect a blind consumer to purchase an 
expensive smart phone, download the appropriate apps (a procedure which 
itself may or may not be accessible)  and learn how to operate it just to 
turn on and adjust his microwave or stove or dishwasher.  Besides, many 
blind consumers may have other physical limitations that make using a smart 
phone difficult to impossible.  Accessibility must be built into the 
appliances themselves.

Gerald



-----Original Message----- 
From: David Andrews via Electronics-Talk
Sent: Sunday, October 30, 2016 2:15 PM
To: Discussion of accessible home electronics and appliances
Cc: David Andrews
Subject: Re: [Electronics-Talk] Does where we shop impact accessibility of 
appliances?

There is one other variable, which I don't think
anyone has mentioned yet.  It can be good, or bad, or both.

We are seeing more and more devices that are
controllable by smart phone apps, either iOS or
Android.  The problems are, you have to have a
device that will run the right software, and that
software must, itself, be accessible. Given both
of these things, it offers another approach to accessibility.

Back in the early to mid 90's, at one of the
U.S./Canada joint conferences on technology, I
wrote and presented a paper calling on industry
to develop standards for operating a device, and
development of a universal remote
controller.  With phones, and various home
automation standards, we have pieces of this, and
hopefully we can take it further, and make it work for us.
\
Dave

At 12:59 PM 10/30/2016, you wrote:
>Here are my thoughts. 1.  Appliance manufacturers don’t have any idea 
>what we want. 2.  Even if they did, they couldn’t care less and whine 
>it’s to expensive to make something we can use. 3.  Only way to turn this 
>around is to sue every damn one of them in a class action because 
>otherwise, they just will never ever change. All the talk in the world 
>about publicity efforts will do no good at all because views against the 
>blind in society in general are getting worse, not better.  Fact is, 
>we’re starting to move backwards and we may have more and more of a 
>problem the longer we wait. Sent from my Mac, The Only computer with full 
>accessibility for the blind built-in Sincerely, The Constantly Barefooted 
>Ray, Still a very happy Comcast XFinity Voice Guidance, Mac, Verizon 
>Wireless iPhone7+ and Apple TV user! > On Oct 30, 2016, at 8:51 AM, Brad 
>Hodges via Electronics-Talk <electronics-talk at nfbnet.org> wrote: > > 
>Colleagues: > > > As some of you long-time Federationists may recall, a 
>number of years > ago I had the privilege of working at our National 
>Center. One of the > areas of research and advocacy I undertook was to 
>begin the exploration > of the state of appliance accessibility. I also was 
>pleased to have had > several articles published in the Braille Monitor. 
>Entitled "Crisis For > The Blind at the Big Box Store" they summarized our 
>understanding of the > issues and technology of the time. > > > Fast 
>forward more than a decade and I find myself prowling the isles of > big 
>box stores and other appliance departments once again. This time as > a 
>member who has an abiding interest in this topic. I intend to > collaborate 
>with the Technology Team at the Jernigan Institute, to once > again publish 
>a comprehensive survey of the appliance accessibility > landscape. > > > To 
>make a very long story short, most of what we observed in the early > 
>2000's still applies. So, what has changed? Why are things considerably > 
>more difficult now than they were in 2004? Is it time to establish > 
>standards for accessibility? Is government intervention necessary? Have > 
>our expectations for accessibility changed? > > > In posing these questions 
>I'm hoping to expand our scope of exploration > and to consider additional 
>forces and factors which contribute to the > bedeviling time we all have in 
>finding a microwave oven or washing > machine which we can use. > > > Yes, 
>I'm getting to the topic you expected after reading the message > header. 
>Yesterday I was shopping at my local JCPenney store. Low and > behold, what 
>did I find on the second floor but a very well merchandised > display of 
>major appliances from LG, Samsung and GE. Of particular > interest was how 
>unfamiliar many of the models were. I have been > tracking availability at 
>Lowes, Home Depot and Sears for many years. It > struck me, as I explored a 
>GE front loading laundry pare, which look > quite usable that something 
>which a mgr at Home Depot shared. The floor > space for appliance display 
>in the big box store is rented by each > manufacturer. Thus the choice of 
>which models are available for public > preview is controlled exclusively 
>by those manufacturers. > > > Do you suppose that one of the issues which 
>contributes to the state of > affairs is a re tale experience which only 
>includes a sampling of less > accessible or manageable products? Since I 
>believe it to be the case > that relatively few models in any manufacturers 
>lines is really usable, > the chances of those models not showing up in the 
>display space is > perhaps quite high. > > > In addition to the GE laundry 
>machines, I found an LG electric range > with beautiful burner turn knobs 
>on the front, and a back panel which > would appear to lend itself very 
>nicely to tactile markings. Several > over-the-range microwaves looked 
>promising, again to be used with > tactile indicators. A Samsung dishwasher 
>with 5 easy to feel buttons > also intrigued. > > > I'll return to 
>JCPenney, this time with a camera, an extension cord, and > my husband to 
>lend a hand and a pare of eyes. > > > Hope I haven't run to long here, but 
>there was a qualitative aspect of > the overall experience which I found 
>encouraging. I also trust that as > we progress in collecting our findings 
>and thoughts for a new Monitor > article that the collective experience of 
>this group will help inform > the conversation. > > > Brad Hodges > > 
>Huntington WV > > > >


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