Love this article about how some (overpriced) assistive devices can be replaced by more affordable technology.
Accessible technology is more mainstream now and more folks have the ability to use it. This leads to further development and research - which as we know was not the norm in the past with those very expensive products, some of which didn't change for years. Compared to that, changes today are lightning-like quick.
2 comments:
Interesting article Ruth...as with any product developed with the "disabled" population in mind cost can be prohibitive, but as soon as a similar product is made to be used by the masses things become more cost effective.
This is one area where disability legislation proved effective: Apple built screen reading into Mac OS X because it could not be used in certain government departments in the USA unless it was accessible. Windows had the Jaws add-on, Mac didn't, so Apple went better and built it in, and many blind people now prefer Macs to Windows with Jaws (the cost of a Mac is less than the combined cost of a Windows PC and Jaws). Dragon is available for both platforms, and its revenues are not dependent on disabled users, but even so, it is still popular with them despite Windows now having speech recognition built in.
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