RE: Baseline capabilities

Lisa,

	You have made a point which I agree begs the question of whether
distributing old technology to those who need to be running the new stuff
is helpful or not. The expense of bringing an old system up to current use
may approach the cost of a new, up-to-date system. A few years ago the
state of Virginia set up a program to recycle old state dept. equipment to
the schools. Nice idea, but the stuff received was worthless and had to be
replaced by new stuff. All the distribution did was whet the appetite of a
few adventuresome folks, and fill up dumpsters all around the state. 

I do not think that one can generalize disabled people as having a greater
percentage of old technology than the rest of the population. For one
thing, the distribution programs are few and far between and the
distribution is in the dozens not the thousands. For another the recycling
of old equipment tends to benefit the giver more than the receiver. 

				Anne

At 11:11 AM 10/19/00 +0200, Lisa Seeman wrote:
>
>First let me apologies for standing in the way of consensus, and for
>generalizing within this email.
>
>It seems to me that the guidelines are intended as a generalization, for
>people with impairments, and as a generalization, such people are often
>unemployed or at in a lower wage bracket.
>
>Now in our area we have a service, were distribute old second hand computer
>equipment, to people would benefit from it (I have about six or seven
>keyboards cluttering up my living room, a monitor under the bed...).
>Typically is used by people who are suffering from a condition that is
>preventing them from attending work, can continue working from home.
>Unfortunately all of these computers have old systems on them, win32 stuff,
>and do  not have the memory to run the latest system - even if it is
>available for free. Having spoken to people running similar programs in the
>US, this situation is again, typical.
>
>It seems to me that we are basing our baseline capabilities around what you
>see in well financed offices, or what well employed people have in there
>house, but not around what is typical for the people for who the guidelines
>are intended, who are often home based, using second hand five year old
>systems.
>So back to the "what 80% of people use" syndrome, is this 80% of the general
>public, or s this 80% of our end user public. And anyway surly what these
>guideline are about are the 20% are people too.
>
>L
>
>
Anne L. Pemberton
http://www.pen.k12.va.us/Pav/Academy1
http://www.erols.com/stevepem/Homeschooling
apembert@crosslink.net
Enabling Support Foundation
http://www.enabling.org

Received on Thursday, 19 October 2000 07:28:58 UTC