It is a shame that the same standard dos not apply to the sighted employees, who can cost a great deal more than we do.
Gary ----- Original Message ----- From: "Andy Baracco" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> To: "Braillenote List" <[EMAIL PROTECTED]> Sent: Sunday, April 11, 2004 1:19 AM Subject: Re: [Braillenote] loaner pool > Hi Lisa E. > > If that were the case, no blind person would ever get hired. Employers > don't hire blind people as it is because they fear the expense. If a blind > employer needed a screen reader, scanner with OCR, and note taker with > Braille display, and they had to buy two of each, I can pretty much state > with authority that very, very few blind people would be hired, except, > perhaps by the Federal Government. > > Andy > > At 03:16 PM 4/11/04 +1000, you wrote: > >Hi Listers, > >Lisa has a good point about whose users who are deafblind. My next > question would be aren't employers supposed to be responsible for providing > accomodations for people who are blind or deafblind or regardless of the > disability? Employers need to understand how important how vital > technology is to people who are blind or visually impaired. In my opinion > employers need to provide two pieces of technology in case one devices > breaks down. If they'd think about it they'd realize there other employees > have different ways of communicating they can write handwritten notes, my > can email something to the boss, they have different ways of communicating. > Why should the blind or visually impaired person be reduced to only one > way of communicating written language? I know I'm a big baby out here in > the tropics where getting technology for my job wasn't a problem since my > boss who is blind is in charge of the program where I work and we work with > kids who are blind. So having to f! > > ight for accommodations was not an issue for me. I just think employers > and employees need to sit down and come up with strategies to address how > the employee will handle the job if the technology is in need of repair or > something. It should not have to be the employee's responsibility to > figure out how he/she will survive without having the Braillenote. I think > often employers think if I buy this one device for thousands of dollars I > will have accommodated this person. They don't stop to think that people > who are blind can communicate in other ways through writing without just > using one piece of technology. It would be nice if PDI would establish a > loaner program but in the meantime Braillenote users and employers and > state agencies and schools everyone need to seriously think about how and > what they will do when the piece of technology isn't working. I think this > needs to be addressed before the device is even purchased. I didn't mean > to get off topic here I just w! > > ant to encourage people to think and it shouldn't be just us the Brail > >lenote users and the PDI staff having to think about this problem. It > would be nice if everyone could work together on this problem to help form > a solution. > >Thanks for reading. I'm not trying to start any major discussions or > anything I just wanted to share my thoughts. > >Lisa > > > > > >___ > >To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > >[EMAIL PROTECTED] > >To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > >http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote > > > > > > > > > ___ > To leave the BrailleNote list, send a blank message to > [EMAIL PROTECTED] > To view the list archives or change your preferences, visit > http://list.pulsedata.com/mailman/listinfo/braillenote >
