The Power of a Truly Low Cost Laptop for People in Need and Their Caregivers
by Janine M Lodato ~|__ Oo\_ [EMAIL PROTECTED] (mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]) In a recent article in www.technologyreview.com , Dr. S. Simeonov (_www.polarisventures.com_ (http://www.polarisventures.com/) ) eloquently argued that if information technology (IT) is provided to people on the full time basis then their productivity explodes. Also their quality of life improves significantly to which, as a disabled person I can personally attest. This is especially true for people who are on the wrong side of the digital divide: they do not have quality IT capability. A significant size subgroup of these people without adequate IT capability are the 100 million people who are mostly homebound: the frail elderly, chronically ill and the disabled. This population sector is the fastest growing segment due to the aging of the baby boomer population. There are 44 million informal caregivers (family and friends) in the USA who attend to the 100 million people in need of care-giving. The combination of these two groups account for roughly half the population of the USA. It is the same ratio in the populations of the group of ten developed nations. What these people need is a simplified version of the MIT Media Lab's (Dr. Negroponte's lab.) 100 dollar laptop. Now called OLPC: one laptop per child. Currently priced at 150 dollars but it will come down with volume. It runs a very simple software called XO, offering a simple browser, email, meshed network and the capability to automatically sign up and log into the Internet and the Web. This simplified and easy user interface is called Sugar developed under Linux by _www.RedHat.com_ (http://www.redhat.com/) . Also please look at the _www.laptop.org_ (http://www.laptop.org/) web-site for greater details of the OLPC XO laptop capabilities.. While, of course, the XO laptop can connect to any server on the Internet, it should also be supported by local community based server portal we would like to call AbleryPortal offering the desired applications. The AbleryPortal is equipped with a gesture recognition enhanced high performance voice recognition system thus the end user could simply use their voice and a few gestures. We call this the Signalish system and have developed it over a period of time: details are available upon email request. No Windows, please, only Linux. Windows is insanely unreliable, maddeningly complex and criminally expensive, that is what is wrong with Windows. All applications will run in Webtop style (like _www.youOS.com_ (http://www.youos.com/) ) on a group of servers offered by the local government such as the AbleryPortal. These Webtop server capabilities could also be offered by the courageous companies who support Dr. Negroponte's project including AMD, Google, eBay, Red Hat etc. The 144 million people mentioned above also need a political voice and political support by any political candidate, with courage and foresight. The XO laptop connected to the AbleryPortal capability would allow these needy people to voice their political needs. The 08 presidential election could be just perfect. A perfect platform for the independent political group: _www.unity08.com_ (http://www.unity08.com/) . Of course the small businesses who employ caregivers would also support such enlightened campaign supported by this very large voting block. We also need a tax break for businesses, especially for small businesses, when they hire and retain an informal caregiver as an employee. Businesses already have a tax break when they employ a disabled person. The same or similar tax break should be given to the business which hires informal caregivers or who already employ such caregivers. If a politician candidate for a major office would create and push through the legislation which would provide a tax break to the employers of caregivers, it would assure that such politician or candidate certainly would be supported by much of the above 144 million population segment: the combination of the informal caregivers and the people who are in need of care. What a campaign issue, indeed! The US Department of Labor predicts that by 2008, 54 percent of the work force will be involved in caring just for an elderly person making doctors' appointments, handling emergencies, giving transportation, buying and cooking food, all the basic functions of life the elderly person has difficulties to perform. But the informal caregivers who are also full time employed have a major problem; not everyone is able to manage the conflicting demands of working and care-giving. A MetLife study reported that 16 percent of employees who perform as caregivers quit their jobs and 13 percent retired early in order that they could provide care-giving to the people in need. This study found that the average life-time loss per such person was an estimated $ 566 thousand in lost wages, $ 67 thousand in lower pension benefits plus $ 25 thousand loss of Soc. Sec. benefits. Also, many of the employees who are caregivers get passed over for promotions and are the first ones who are eliminated when a downsizing of the business takes place. These problems of the employees, who are also serving as caregivers, could be almost eradicated if the employers of caregivers would let their care-giving employees to perform tele-work style for some or much of their workload. About only one in four businesses offers employees who are caregivers such advantages as flexible hours, telecommuting, paid leave in case of emergencies and compassionate understanding. The legislation which would support the employers of the caregivers could also include a double or increased tax break for the employer if the business would allow the employees, who are involved in care-giving, to perform most of their work with great degree of flexibility such as telecommuting and flexible time. One potential use of such tax break would be to supply the caregiver employee with a high performance Linux based, safe and reliable, laptop so they can perform their work from anyplace including the home of the needy person they are performing the care-giving for. So let us organize a strong campaign for the independent third party online convention, or the convention of the democrats, followed by an election campaign in each of the 50 states and then onto the Presidential elections, which could include in their platforms the special tax break for the businesses who employ and appreciate employees who are also dedicated caregivers. Janine M. Lodato P.O.Box 838 SAN ANDREAS, CA. 95249-838 ~|__ ( o )\_ ************************************** See what's free at http://www.aol.com.
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