skyp -k.c.kitty
Begin forwarded message: From: JRAYL <[email protected]> Date: May 6, 2012 6:14:40 AM CDT To: [email protected], [email protected], [email protected] Subject: Re: [acb-l] Blindness and the Digital Divide Hi. Its not just the senior blind who are struggling with learning these new cebbl phones, computers and sCh. However, I can well imagine their struggle and frustration. My mother who has always been a bright person still cannot figure out or comprehend the cell phone and we've gotten her the simplest ones. The little mail station was a real challenge and as long as everything did exactly what it was supposed to do like clock works, she was fine. The minute anything went amiss, she was totally lost�and it eventally did which ended her mail station use far before it would have had too. It was sad because she really enjoyed sending email. And she would enjoy a cell phone / email again, but she simply cannot get past the learning curve, no matter how many times we've gone over it. Perhaps if someone were there hours on end with her, she might. But that's not a possibility, and so its not happening. It amazes me that the Karen's of the world don't seem to comprehend this, and push for thinking outside the box, ridding getting away from what _was working for people, yet, freely admitting they, themselves, aren't as tech-savvy about some things as they'd like to be so somefore just pay or trade off for others to do things for them. Wel, guess what? its not even quite that simple for others. So, what do you suggest? Mom _pay someone to make a cellphone call to her daughters to keep from paying the cost of a long distance phone call? Mom _pay for someone to make a cellphone call when she needs her transportation connection? Mom pay for a cellphone call in an emergency? Or just find a tradeoff? I'm glad I'm not asking some of you to do our "thinking", that's for sure. (Sigh)! Not everyone has, or even wants, cell phones and computers, and the thing that some of you still cannot seem to get through your thick little heads that you must think our there for decorative purpooses only is, cell phone / computer reception is _not _everywhere! You cannot _cannot connect to a cellphone everywhere you travel or go. There are many places you will _not make a cellphone call, nor will you have wireless or computer connection. I know, some you you never get out of your little boxes. That's fine. _Some of of do. And our cellphones do _not connect anywhere. Not even your Iphone. Sorry! Maybe a trackphone, but have you seen an accessible one? I hn't. There is no, or minimal, internet connection in these places. And yes! they _do hold conferences and all manner of these in these places. People live and work there. _People function quite nicely there. _People adapt. Its time some of of broaden your little minds to the world, not just your own little boxes that you live in while you claim so widebby that you think of of one�because you have no clue what that is. I'm all for forward movement, but that doesn't mean wiping out what is behind. Jessie ----- Original Message ----- From: Ken Metz <[email protected]> To: "'Karen Rose'" <[email protected]>, <[email protected]> Date: Saturday, May 5, 2012 10:28:22 PM Subject: Re: [acb-l] Blindness and the Digital Divide > > > > > Hi Karen. > > While I would normally agree with this subject to a point, I think you are > totally off base on this one. You and I can learn an iPhone and some computer > skills and have done that, but we can't expect that out of our 70, 80 and > 90-year-olds. Our senior blind must still be considered in ACB when we make > certain decisions. As a Rehab Counselor, I worked with many elderly clients > who may have more recently lost their vision who couldn't even operate a > phone any longer by themselves. I had a couple of clients who still had > hard-wired rotary phones in their homes and found it difficult to use the > touch tones. > > Some clients were just getting used to cooking or heating things up in a > microwave oven. Many didn't have cable or satellite TV because they couldn't > work a remote. > > So, you can't expect them to always learn what we've been able to learn. We > will be in a similar situation in years to come, and if not as severe, it's > only because we've grown with technology while many seniors have not. I'm not > saying that a lot of seniors don't use computers and things, but not the way > you speak of. Also, it's hard enough for us to always play catch-up when > screenreaders aren't always ready to utilize new programs. > > So, let's not push our senior blind folks aside. Instead, let's learn from > their experiencial wisdom. > > KEN > > From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Karen > Rose > Sent: Saturday, May 05, 2012 6:09 PM > To: [email protected] > Subject: [acb-l] Blindness and the Digital Divide > > I keep hearing about tell me, and the impact its loss will have on those of > us without easy access to computers. I keep hearing about inaccessible smart > phones, while the i-phone is fully accessible. > > Perhaps instead of working with Microsoft to restore a service whose time has > passed, ACB needs to be working to ensure that all blind people have access > to computers and i-phones or other accessible versions of smart phones. We > manage to have life-line programs through land-line companies, special and > very expensive-to-produce machines on which to play recorded books, etc., as > special, free technologies for low income people, including blind people. Is > there some reason that we can't work toward similar programs to address the > digital divide in our community? > > I often find myself saying to my primarily non-disabled career counseling > clients who are in their fifties and sixties that we can either progress with > technology and learn what's new, or we can choose to stay with what we know, > and consequently accept that we will become irrelevant in the workforce, roll > up, and die. It's a valid choice either way, but it's up to each of us to > choose. I think the same is true in the blind community with respect to > accessing things that were once available in a particular form. We can > either mourn the loss of our old ways of accessing information, or we can > choose to keep up. > > Karen > > _______________________________________________ > acb-l mailing list > [email protected] > http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-l Jessie Rayl, MA, LPC, ALPS www_pathtogrowth_org thedogmomffcc%frontier_com 304-671-9780 _______________________________________________ acb-l mailing list [email protected] http://www.acb.org/mailman/listinfo/acb-l
_______________________________________________ ATI (Adaptive Technology Inc.) A special interest affiliate of the Missouri Council of the Blind http://moblind.org/membership/affiliates/adaptive_technology
