Well I think access should be all and not just for sertain dissabilities.
Blind products should be called blind products.
Yeah I know thats really bad mouthing the blind
but accessable implies total access to everyone.
One issue with some of this is to make stuff
accessable for say the blind because say graphics
are not something we use we get rid of them and
then its inaccessable to the sighted.
I once decided to get some equipment that was
large print or at least invest in some and was
told by a friend that because it was for the blind, it was not nice.
I was quite mad at the guy but then I started wandering.
Is it because we don't see we disreguard what
others think of how our stuff looks?
If we are going to be fully accessable to all
that means being concidderate of all.
By making stuff accessable to us are we in
fact doing what the sighted do to us by making
their stuff unusable because of graphics and other things.
I know tech is getting closer but I do wander how
long it will be before we will seriously need to
think of dumping all blindness technology in favor of universal access.
I am not saying its all bad ofcause, heck I'd
like to use blind tech all the time but by doing
it I do wander if I am excluding myself from
normal life, and after all we are supposed to be trying to have that.
So I wander if we are being counterproductive.
At 08:39 PM 12/5/2013, you wrote:
Hi Dark:
Oh, yes. Any time something is developed for the blind, is marketed as
an access product, the cost is insane. Not because it costs that much
to actually make it, but because we are a captive minority market.
As you mentioned the novelty key ring finders only cost perhaps $5 USD
if that. In fact I use to have one where I could whistle and it would
start beeping to help me locate my keys. Since it was marketed as a
novelty item it was real cheap. I am sure if it was made for the
blind, marketed as a specialty item, I'd be looking at a key ring that
costs at least $50instead of $5 just because you can multiply the cost
by a factor of 10 being a specialty item.
I know when it comes to card and board games they definitely cost a
lot more than their mainstream counterparts. I think a deck of braille
playing cards is like $19 when a sighted person can go to Dollar
General or Family Dollar and get a standard deck for a dollar.
Something like Monopoly is about $50 for a braille set when a standard
Monopoly game is between $19 and $29 depending on if it is standard
Monopoly or a collectors edition.
However, I agree that even excluding material costs I don't think it
actually costs that much to produce accessible products. At least not
the cost we have to pay to get them from In dependant Living Aids,
RNIB, whatever. I know for a fact that the actual cost of making some
of those products is a fraction of what they actually charge for it.
Cheers!
On 12/4/13, dark <d...@xgam.org> wrote:
> Hi tom.
>
> Well while I agree on material costs, at the same time as you said yourself
>
> the markup is frankly insane on access products, because it's a captive and
>
> small markit manufacturers of accessible goods and providers of accessible
> services basically charge through the roof. I
think the worst I ever saw was
>
> a device composed of an infra red sensor and buzzer. The idea was you could
>
> put the sensor on an object or your seet etc, and press the buzzer to have
> it bleep so you could locate it at a distance by hearing.
>
> yes, a very handy device, ---- but not at
£350, ---- that is around 600 usd!
>
> Heck, I know very little about electronics but even I! could make a guess
> about how the circuites in those worked, and don't they sell novelty key
> ring finders that do the same thing for about 1£10?
>
> In fairness this isn't just with blindness, wheel chairs, hoists and other
> equipment for physically disabled people is just as ridiculous, also there
> are some accessible devices which aren't gougingly priced. I was quite
> impressed for example to find that the pen friend labelling system I use
> cost exactly £50 for the initial unit, and packs of 500 labels would cost
> another £7.
>
> Of course annoyingly the rnib won't
actually let you buy packs of just the
>
> size you want and only sells two basic selections, but there you go.
>
> Still this shows not everything accessible has to be insanely expensive,
> even if the raw materials will put the price up somewhat.
>
> Beware the grue!
>
> Dark.
>
>
> ---
> Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
> If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to
> gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
> You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
> http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
> All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
> http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
> If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
> please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
>
---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
---
Gamers mailing list __ Gamers@audyssey.org
If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to gamers-unsubscr...@audyssey.org.
You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at
http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org.
All messages are archived and can be searched and read at
http://www.mail-archive.com/gamers@audyssey.org.
If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list,
please send E-mail to gamers-ow...@audyssey.org.
