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

[Annette Carr]

David & Andy, I'm going to respond to both or your messages in this one e-mail.

Andy,  I agree with you that making a specific model of anything that is targeted toward people who are blind or any group of people with a disability is not the direction to go.  Beyond the points you have presented, people with disabilities deserve choice just as consumers without disabilities.  Universal design is the direction we should be heading.  Why should a household have to replace a perfectly good appliance because a member of that household has acquired a disability.  With people living longer, we are seeing an increase of age related disabilities.  Today's aging population want to maintain the independence at the highest level possible, and that means access to the latest and greatest features available.  The current state of appliances is sending the message that people with disabilities of all ages are not a valued member of society.

David,  I do believe that there is a place for mobile device access, but in my opinion it is not in the home for access to those products that are used for daily independent living.  Not everyone can afford a "Smart Phone", or the plan to support it.  If we are forced to become dependent on our mobile devices for 24 hour access to every aspect of our lives, once that mobile device runs out of power, breaks, is misplaced, or becomes out of date, accessibility is lost.  I do think there are many opportunities where mobile devices can provide access to things in the community.  This could provide users with the ability to customize their access to meet their specific needs without the owners of the product or service having to understand the specific needs of every type of disability .  A move in this direction would begin to protect the privacy of people with disability as they would not have to disclose their disability.

Annette

-----Original Message-----
From: Electronics-Talk [mailto:electronics-talk-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of 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 > > 
>> >


_______________________________________________
Electronics-Talk mailing list
Electronics-Talk at nfbnet.org
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org
To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for Electronics-Talk:
http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/electronics-talk_nfbnet.org/amcarr1%40verizon.net