I know absolutely nothing about the original problem that generated
this thread, but in general, I have concluded over the years that
blind folks tend to immediately assume that they are being snubbed
or otherwise discriminated against. In many, if not most instances,
it turns out not to be true at all. I see all sorts of complaints
like this on various lists, and having used the same service or
what ever, and having never had a similar issue, I have to conclude
that something else is at work. I always come back to the same
thought, regardless of what some folks believe, being blind is a
heck of a lot more than a nuisance. Many occasions/situations in
life will prove to be much harder to accomplish, if not close to
impossible, simply because we are blind; no kidding folks, that is
the way it is. It ain't good to be blind, no matter how you look at
it.
Happy Thanksgiving to all!
Alan R. Downing
Phoenix, AZ
-----Original Message-----
From: Chris G [mailto:[email protected]]
Sent: Thursday, November 26, 2009 4:27 AM
To: Tom Fairhurst
Cc: [email protected]
Subject: Re: Verizon Snubs Needs of Blind and Visually Impaired
Customers
Hi,
It's not screen readers, it sounds like the rep was not familiar
with general windows terminology. IE buttons, list boxes etc. The
general sighted community just has no clue what controls are and
what they are called. They just know where to click. I was on the
phone with a sighted consumer and this person had no idea what a
menu bar was. Told them to click the tools menu and they were like
huh? I sure can understand the frustration of the original poster,
but, maybe asking the rep how he got a job in cust service might not
have been the best way to go about it.
Chris
On Wed, 25 Nov 2009 18:20:15 -0600
"Tom Fairhurst" <[email protected]> wrote:
Issues like this one occur routinely for many of us. It was
correctly
pointed out that the problem, itself, may not be Verizon's. However,
apparently, they did a very poor job of trying to help their
customer. If front-line representatives are not familiar with a
subject matter, they should try to get help. Frankly, if no one at
Verizon is familiar with screen readers, they need to be educated.
----- Original Message ----- From: donald E. Bowen, Jr.
To: GW Micro Support List
Sent: Wednesday, November 25, 2009 12:11 PM
Subject: Verizon Snubs Needs of Blind and Visually Impaired
Customers
Hi,
After a very frustrating morning with Verizon.com , I am writing
to you
all as a form of therapy.
I managed to register an online account with them this morning
and when
trying to complete an online payment came across an inaccessible
Submit button I could navigate all around it but could not get
focus on it. I finally had a sighted individual look for me. The
button was there. I asked the sighted person to put the mouse pointer on it
but not to click.
He did.
Window Eyes announced graphic
I took over with the numpad mouse controls but could not
navigate away
from and then back to. Well, I was able to move away from, just not
back to. Oddly, not even the jump to graphic navigation command
would take me back to the Submit button.
I gave up, asked my son to go ahead and click on it for me. He did.
The payment confirmation screen loaded.
I then called the Verizon e-services center.
John O'Niel, the telephone support agent who answered, said he
did not
know what a control was, He did not know anything about links,
buttons, drop down boxes or list boxes or what a screen reader was,
nor did he have any idea what to do. When I asked him how he got a
job as a telephone support agent for Verizon e-services, He then
hung up on me.
I called Verizon and asked for the legal department. The clerk
who
answered there said, with disdain, when I briefed her on the reason
for my call, "please hold" and transferred me to Customer Service.
If Target, and other commercial web sites can be successfully
sued for
Publishing an inaccessible web site, surely a utility company is
under some sort of obligation to provide an accessible web site.
Thanks for letting me vent. And by the by, anybody have a clue
how I
can submit my payment to Verizon? Besides a paper check or paying a
service fee for pay by phone?
Sincerely,
Donald E. Bowen, Jr.
Music for Sight
SKYPE ID: musicforsight
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