Wow, John, you hit the nail on the head as it were. I'm sure we'll
take a bit of heat, but some of you just haven't been around long
enough to understand fully the history and if you do understand,
you'll appreciate where we were verses where we are. Honestly, I've
been doing this computing thing for over twenty years and although I
make no claims to be an expert, I've seen a lot, done a lot, and dealt
with a wide variety of people. Of course I'm limiting this to
computers, but even as John has pointed out, even going to a local
plumbing store, you can encounter the same issues.
On Sep 22, 2008, at 12:45 PM, John Panarese wrote:
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,
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