Wow. well, thanks for making it personal, there. Appreciate that, but not so much. What *I* personally have a problem with, since you brought it up, is anything that raises the barriers that sight imposes between blind and sighted persons, instead of lowering them or making that barrier meaningless. If this is a white cane versus a black or tan or whatever cane, fine. If it a GPS app that has a cheaper price but has a sub-level for blind people, designed by blind people, then I think that's a better way to go than reinventing the wheel of GPS apps for the blind, charging them and only them or their agencies more, and relegating the blind to their own separate portion of the market. Apple has shown by example that this is not necessarily the result for blind people who use technology. Many sighted companies--certain US-based airlines spring to mind--merge to provide a more complete range of services--why couldn't this be a more feasible approach to a GPS app that is universally accessible? The same argument you use when you say that "one company making devices universally accessible does not make the industry standard," is used all the time to keep whole countries from "going green," by switching to alternative energy sources.
As for your comparison to canes, I guess you haven't been to any page selling canes or their accessories lately--if so, you'll find a large list of said accessories visually designed for matching with your shoes, hand-bag, golf bag, whatever. And, just to clear this up, I'm a 23-year veteran with four guide dogs' lives worth of service to my credit, I've lived all over the US in every conceivable environmental and mobility situation. I'm just very lucky to be a "basic black," wearing type individual, so I haven't had to accessorize my black lab much. Oh, and they have tons of guide dog harness accessories, not to mention the usual run of silly doggie booties and sweaters and the lot. You say that "Some things are just better when they are done with the blind person in mind," I have to ask, "Who is doing these things?" a sighted overlord? Things done with me in mind have almost killed me too many times to count, sir, and if you must know, it is things done with me and my good in mind that I have a huge objection to. So should every thinking person. Mark BurningHawk Skype and Twitter: BurningHawk1969 Home page: Http://MarkBurningHawk.net/ -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the "VIPhone" Google Group. To search the VIPhone public archive, visit http://www.mail-archive.com/viphone@googlegroups.com/. To post to this group, send email to viphone@googlegroups.com. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/viphone?hl=en. --- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "VIPhone" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to viphone+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
