Donna,
I am an assistive technology specialist for Minnesota State Services for the Blind and have been with them for 17 years. Over the past two to three years we have purchased a number of MacBook Pros and a few iMaccs. And, none of our counselors object to purchasing Macs so long as they receive a recommendation for it from one of us in the tech department. We would be more than happy to assist if we can. By the way, we do have a trainer certification test designed in-hous by members of our team that are blind Mac users that have to be passed with a score of 80 percent or better in order for us to contract with them to train our clients on the Mac. So, if it helps, please feel free to have your rehab folks contact me at [email protected] or our Chief Technology Officer, David Andrews at [email protected] From: [email protected] [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Donna Goodin Sent: Thursday, April 11, 2013 6:08 AM To: [email protected] Subject: Re: Convincing rehab services to purchase a Mac Hi all, I haven't had time to respond to everyone's individual messages on this topic, but I want to thank all who have posted. You all have raised some great points, and given me a lot to proceed with. Thanks for taking the time to pass along your thoughts and experiences. Best, Donna On Apr 10, 2013, at 7:48 AM, Richard Ring <[email protected]> wrote: I have read the responses to this inquiry with great interest. I would like to add a few thoughts. First, how well does this student know the Mac? The rehab agency for which I once worked would want to know this. The reason? It is fairly likely that the rehab agency in question doesn't have qualified personel that would assist in technical support issues. Next, if in fact this student's future employer uses the Mac, that would be a huge step in the positive direction. I do agree that the Mac is fairly easy to learn, but rehab agencies (at least Oregon and definitely Iowa) would want to insure that agency personel wouldn't have to provide ongoing tech support. This costs money, and they tend to purchase the same tools for everyone. I know, whatever happened to client choice? I have seen Macs get purchased, but I must admit that the justification needs to be thorough in nature. That's enough for now. Oh, one more thing, the rehab folks may flat ask what a Mac will do for this student that a Windows machine won't? You can have an off day, but you can't have a day off! ---The Art of Fielding Sent from my Mac Book Pro [email protected] On Apr 9, 2013, at 8:44 PM, Donna Goodin <[email protected]> wrote: Thank you, Gigi. I'm not sure much of this will carry much weight, for the reasons I just explained. but I'll try and get them to talk to Texas. Someday these idiots just have to move into the 21st-century. Best, Donna On Apr 9, 2013, at 5:51 PM, Eugenia Firth <[email protected]> wrote: Hi there Although the cost may be a good justification to rehab, I think the second option of the employer wanting training and use of Apple products is an even better argument in this case. You might want to also get the employer on this as well, if it's possible. What they say means a lot. Also, if they get the three-year warranty with the Mac, then they can be given the accessibility number so their consumer can call it. They will probably love that part. They will want to slam the case closed as soon as they can. You might also point out that other states, such as Texas, have in fact bought Macintosh computers for certain consumers. See if you can talk the counselor into calling the Chris Cole rehabilitation center in Austin, Texas to talk to them about that. Regards, Gigi On Apr 9, 2013, at 5:31 PM, Eric Oyen <[email protected]> wrote: I haven't done so myself, but it is possible. The 2 justifications that can be used are: 1. lower cost of ownership (as accessibility is included) 2. Greater included feature set for the cost involved (built in camera, bluetooth, wi-fi, firewire, USB 2.x or greater, full apple repair support, minimal training cost and plenty of supported hardware options). now, getting an equivalent windows machine involves the acquisition of the machine, additional hardware, cost of the operating system, SMA for jaws ($250 per year), jaws itself ($890 for 2 keys), hardware only support from dell, etc. the cost of the windows machine is actually higher on a total cost of ownership basis than a mac would be. also, voiceover on the apple doesn't require a yearly SMA and OS upgrades are inexpensive. cost of macbook pro with mountain lion OS: $1500 low end cost of dell laptop with windows 7, MS Office 2012, jaws, SMA an equivalent hardware options: $1900 low end. believe me, I use both here and I much prefer the macbook over the windows machine for sheer usefulness. the best justification that can be made to VR is the cost. the 2nd best is that the employer requires training and use of apple products in their office environment. outside of those, I don't have a clear idea how to convince VR to cooperate. -eric On Apr 9, 2013, at 11:50 AM, Donna Goodin wrote: Hello all, I am trying to advocate for student who is having difficulty getting rehab services to purchase a Mac for her. I would be interested in hearing from those of you who have gotten rehab to purchase a Mac. How did you go about convincing them to do that? Best, Donna Sent from my iPhone -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "MacVisionaries" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/macvisionaries?hl=en. 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