[acb-hsp] Cost Prohibitive Technology and the Cultural Impact

[Mmorrowfarrell at aol.com]

" But they aren't the only ones who lose out. Corporations that might 
benefit  from the skills that many blind and low vision people have, also lose 
out. If  they wish to employ blind people they are hit with an enormous tariff 
in the  form of very-high-priced screen readers and training. They may 
require major  applications to be customized for accessibility. Thus a blind 
employee might  cost his or her employer more than twice the wage paid, when 
the support systems  are counted. For large corporations this may not seem too 
significant; but for  small employers – the people who employ more than 60 
percent of all workers –  the costs can be prohibitive. The result is 
evident with blind people everywhere  underemployed both in total numbers and in 
positions held.  
There is a cultural impact as well. Because sighted citizens don't 
regularly  encounter blind citizens in responsible positions in business and 
commerce, they  have a tendency to think of the blind as not competent and that 
shows up in  patronizing attitudes. For the blind person there is a continuous 
war being  waged against his or her self esteem. They have to work hard not 
to think of  themselves as second-class citizens. " 
Entire Article:   _http://www.accessibilityisaright.org/objectives.html_ 
(http://www.accessibilityisaright.org/objectives.html) 
 
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://www.acb.org/pipermail/acb-hsp/attachments/20120802/31a31b93/attachment.html>