Hi Damien, You and Dark are absolutely right that cost of producing braille material and using braille is far beyond the means of any average blind person. That is definitely one of the leading causes of why braille is dying out among the blind community. Its just too high to be practical for someone on a fixed income. Unless this changes braille probably will become a minority skill for blind users world wide.
As you pointed out a braille writer is extremely expensive. I believe here in the USA a braille writer costs about $850 last time I checked, and all it does is write braille. For that kind of money I can buy a brand new laptop, put NVDA on it, get Microsoft Office, and throw in a printer too for the price of that braille writer. So the cost of the specialized braille writer really isn't cost effective now that computer technology can be purchased at a mere fraction of what it cost 20 years ago. That's not even considering the cost of a decent braille printer these days. I haven't priced braille printers in a while, but seems to me I paid about $2,500 for the one I used in high school and college. Regardless of the actual price tag I have never gotten enough use of it to really have been a worthwhile investment. That's not even considering the cost of a ream of braille paper which is much more than a ream of print paper. The wireless Focus 40 braille displays from Freedom Scientific, which I really like, start out at $2,795 USD. That's not exactly pocket change for the average blind computer user, and I doubt I would have considered buying one if I didn't use it for programming. Bottom line, as everyone agrees braille displays aren't cost effective for the average blind computer user. There just isn't any incentive to pay that kind of money when speech output will do most of the time. Of course, this argument might apply to any kind of specialized tech in general. I remember in the early 1990's, perhaps 1992, I got my first Braille N' Speak. At the time they were going for $2,500 round figures. While that sounds extremely expensive you need to remember that a laptop with Windows 3.1 on it would easily go for $2,000 without Jaws for Dos, Jaws for Windows, and a hardware synthesizer. When you added in the adaptive software and the hardware synthesizer a person was looking at $4,000 to $5,000 for an accessible laptop computer. So in that light a Braille N' Speak was very cost effective at the time. However, the laptop I purchased this fall only cost me $325, NVDA cost me nothing, and we don't use hardware synthesizers any more so with tax and all I got the new laptop for under $400. That's a huge difference in price, and one reason something like a Braille N' Speak probably wouldn't sell today for those kinds of prices. Cheers! On 8/7/12, Darren Harris <darren_g_har...@btinternet.com> wrote: > Hi tom > > I agree with dark in that the cost of braille devices is still way beyond > the average person's means. Basically braille is being killed by the price > tag attached to it. > > Take a brailler for example, they are about £400 or something like that > anyway. they aren't portable, they're clunky, noisy and these days quite > flimsy if what I'm told of the new moddles are true. You can't use them for > anything other than writing, so basically you're paying all that money for > a > 6 pronged pen. > > As for braille displays, they are just as expensive. Using out of date > technology with an absolute ridiculous price tag and as for maintenance > costs? Is it any wonder braille is dying? > > > > --- > 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://mail.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://mail.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.
