[nfbcs] Independence with a Price Tag

Wed Feb 3 22:34:09 UTC 2010

I would really like to disabuse people of these social darwinistic 
principles. There's nothing moral or practical about social darwinism. In 
other words, there's nothing moral or practical in requiring blind people to 
buy their own accessible devices.

The only legitimate reason to demand that blind people buy their own 
accessible devices is that it may give them incentive to improve themselves. 
If you give someone something, they are less likely to appreciate it. That 
much is true but it only goes so far. I doubt that there is really a huge 
problem in this country with blind people getting lazy because the 
government bought them a speech synthesizer or note taker. You're not going 
to see blind people saying, "Heck, now that I have this Pac Mate I have 
every thing I could possibly want. So why should I bother going to school or 
getting a job?"

When society helps the disabled, we all win. We are all better off because 
of the laws that required builders to put accessible bathrooms in buildings 
and to add wheelchair ramps and wide doors. People in wheelchairs are now 
much, much more an integral part of our society than they were before the 
laws requiring those things were passed. It "normalized" being in a 
wheelchair. Now people in wheelchairs are just like everyone else. And our 
society is much, much better for it.

Why should the government buy blind people accessible devices? Because it 
works and its the right thing to do.

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "qubit" <lauraeaves at yahoo.com>
To: "NFBnet NFBCS Mailing List" <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 8:23 AM
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Independence with a Price Tag

> You know, I am of the opinion that if possible, and especially if a blind
> person has a job, that that person should try to purchase adaptive 
> equipment
> him/herself rather than ask someone else to do it -- that is unless it is
> something like a $10000 braille display, but even then, that is less than 
> a
> sighted person would spend on a car, and therefore assuming you are 
> working,
> it shouldn't be impossible to buy.  And if you do buy it, you are free to
> move to another state and take it with you.  If the state buys it, it is
> actually their property.
> I agree wholeheartedly that the price tag for adaptive equipment is
> ridiculous.  But consider the expenses that most people have who are
> sighted -- they might have some other less apparent disability, or they 
> may
> be supporting a large family plus some relatives, or they may just be 
> normal
> persons who drive inexpensive cars because the luxury ones are too pricy.
> A braille display doesn't require gas and costs less than even a used car.
> Anyway, my latest "car" was the Book Sense.  It is pretty expensive for a
> glorified mp3 player, but it does what I need and is accessible.  In a
> perfect world everything would be accessible, but who ever heard of a
> perfect world?
> I'm going to get a lot of use out of this little gizmo.
> Anyway, I hope I don't ruffle too many feathers.  Even when I was a "poor
> student" I still bought my own cctv's.  This was before the ADA -- I 
> didn't
> want a prospective employer to think they'd have to pay $3000 upfront for 
> me
> to work for them. So I came with all the equipment I needed.  If the
> government and the employers are friendlier now and willing to buy
> equipment, that is great, but there is something to be said for
> independence, when you can get it.
> I do think the knfb reader was priced a little high to start with.  I 
> bought
> it after it was out a year, and it was still over $2000 (if I remember
> correctly).  Since then it has come down to a cell phone app that runs on
> many phones and the software is sold separate from the phone.  I think the
> price should come down.  For one thing, there is competition in the market
> now.    And the knfb reader (I discovered one day) surprisingly doesn't
> distinguish case -- so if you snap a picture of a password, it can't tell
> you if the letters are capitalized.  I have been lobbying for this but 
> have
> met with strong resistance from the developers.  But that's just my 
> personal
> pet peeve.
> But if you want to join my bandwagon we can all lobby for a less expensive
> product that distinguishes upper and lowercase letters.
>
> Happy lobbying.
> --le
>
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "Mike Freeman" <k7uij at panix.com>
> To: <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Wednesday, February 03, 2010 5:19 AM
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Independence with a Price Tag
>
>
> Joe:
>
> You're crazy! (grin)
>
> Mike
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: "Joe Orozco" <jsorozco at gmail.com>
> To: "'National Association of Blind Students mailing list'"
> <nabs-l at nfbnet.org>
> Date: Tuesday, Feb 2, 2010 21:24:32
> Subject: [nfbcs] Independence with a Price Tag
>
>>
>>
>> Dear list,
>>
>> I'm continuously appalled at the price tags associated with adaptive
>> technology.  While you're in college you might receive assistance from
>> your
>> rehab agency to purchase equipment.  You may get some assistance after 
>> you
>> find a job, but inevitably there comes a point when the expense comes
>> directly from your own pocket.  I wonder how many people have had to
>> settle
>> for outdated technology because they simply cannot afford it.  But, 
>> that's
>> the thing.  I'm only assuming there are tons of people who cannot afford
>> this technology.  I'd like to lead a campaign to call public attention to
>> this monopoly, and, I'd like to hear your thoughts on whether or not you
>> think me crazy.  If my assumption is wrong, I'll keep my views to myself.
>> If there is a high number of people unable to tap into emerging software
>> simply because they cannot pay for it, I'd like to hear from you.  I
>> understand the technology itself costs a lot of money to develop.  Yet, 
>> it
>> seems more of the price boost is owed to extravagant government contracts
>> that allow the few players to charge something like $6,200 for a device
>> that, despite its best advertisements, does not perform completely on par
>> with its mainstream counterparts.
>>
>> At this time I have only a vague idea for a strategy.  Yet it's something
>> I'm willing to build up if the need can be clearly identified.
>>
>> Looking forward to your input,
>>
>> Joe Orozco
>>
>> "A man who wants to lead the orchestra must turn his back on the
>> crowddd0-comMax Lucado
>>
>>
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>>
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