Hi Scott,
This makes perfect sense to me. For those who have not been on
the list as long as some of us, this topic has come up from time to
time in the past and, usually, is done so constructively and without
the accompaniment of fire starting to make it into an issue of global
economic proportions.
The idea that Greg Kearney has posed on a number of occasions,
which I think makes the most sense, is Apple appointing an
Accessibility "Guru" or "evangelist", or whatever title one would like
to utilize. This individual would have the job of both setting up a
central area where accessibility questions and support would be
addressed as well as arranging for demonstrations and presentations
for both blindness agencies and local Apple stores.. Greg, if he
wishes, can provide additional details, as I am really lumping it
altogether in a brief summary.
The other aspect to this is to try to be a bit more realistic
in ones ideas and expectations. Like any other retail store, Apple
stores hire local people looking for jobs and what such employees are
taught or what training they are given is probably not enough to cover
every product and every aspect of every product. If Richy is still on
the list, since he does work for an Apple Store in Alaska, he is
probably better suited to talk about this matter.
Should the staff know a little something about VoiceOver if a
blind person or other interested individual comes into the store
asking about it? Of course, but walk into any retail computer store
and ask questions about JAWS or Window-Eyes or even ask more technical
questions about specific mainstream software and you will have the
same results. And yes, since I have been involved in contracting hell
for the last fourteen months now, I can tell you that walking into a
plumbing store and asking the clerk specific questions a contractor
needs to know about does not garner one a ready answer. Believe me
when I tell you, knowledge about products being sold in a store,
regardless of how specialized that store might be, is not a given by
any means.
Take Care
John D. Panarese
Managing Director
Technologies for the Visually Impaired, Inc.
9 Nolan Court
Hauppauge, NY 11788
Tel/Fax, (631) 724-4479
Email, [EMAIL PROTECTED]
Internet, http://www.tvi-web.com
AUTHORIZED DISTRIBUTORS FOR PORTSET SYSTEMS LTD, COMPSOLUTIONS VA,
PREMIER ASSISTIVE TECHNOLOGIES, INDEX, PAPENMEIER, REPRO-TRONICS,
DUXBURY, SEROTEK AND OTHER PRODUCTS FOR THE BLIND AND VISUALLY IMPAIRED
AUTHORIZED APPLE STORE BUSINESS AFFILIATE
MAC VOICEOVER TRAINING AND SUPPORT
On Sep 22, 2008, at 5:31 AM, Scott Howell wrote:
THen Chris, what you and all the others out there who feel strongly
about this, is write to Apple. Yes, if you write a letter making
this a suggestion, then they will see that it makes good business
sense to make this option available or ensure their technical
support staff has more information on VoiceOver or it's covered in
training in greater detail. THis also holds true with the Apple
stores and hey, you always have the option of offering to come in
and talk to some of the folks at your local Apple store or any place
that sells a Apple products and volunteer to give them some basics
on VoiceOver. You could even write up a little set of basic
instructions and give a copy to your local store. Should you have to
do this? Of course not, does or would it make a difference? I bet it
would. The point is and don't take this the wrong way. You can sit
here on this list and yack about what Apple should or shouldn't do
or how they can improve themselves, but it's an entirely different
thing when you take some action and try to make Apple aware of these
things. SOmetimes you start at a local store, sometimes a note to
Apple Hq or [EMAIL PROTECTED] There are ways of doing
something and although I agree they shouldn't need us to push, but
remember it is a big company and things can tend to run quite slow.
Point is you gotta sqweek now and then to be heard, just like the
ungreased wheel.
Does this make sense?
