CES '08 and Accessible Tech

Give me the 150" plasma tv any day!  I bet the captions are easy to read. :)

hi poindexter, well i like that new camera that they will give you instead of a scope to take tests in your body. it seems alot easier and less painful and more accurate. :) xoxo

oops i forgot to say that you swallow the camera :)xoxo

No, it has not been invented yet. If one can see my avatar they will see that the wheels appear up off the ground. Well, that is because a gust of air is released and all one has to do is push the wheels forward slightly to float forward and if one pushed the wheel backward slightly, the chair floats backward. To stop, simply switch off and the chairs settles to the ground. Well, if one is alert, they would realize that the force of air would take a large battery to produce and probably would be too heavy to lift off the ground. But, in my world it would prevent bumps that cause me to have muscle spasms, and it would allow me to move over soft ground without digging up the earth or getting stuck as I often do. Well, not so often now, I just gave up going into the yard. Ni

No, it has not been invented yet. If one can see my avatar they will see that the wheels appear up off the ground. Well, that is because a gust of air is released and all one has to do is push the wheels forward slightly to float forward and if one pushed the wheel backward slightly, the chair floats backward. To stop, simply switch off and the chairs settles to the ground. Well, if one is alert, they would realize that the force of air would take a large battery to produce and probably would be too heavy to lift off the ground. But, in my world it would prevent bumps that cause me to have muscle spasms, and it would allow me to move over soft ground without digging up the earth or getting stuck as I often do. Well, not so often now, I just gave up going into the yard. Ni

As a former industrial designer and developer of consumer electronics and digital appliances I know better than to go looking for accessibility in the products showcased at CES. As a disabled person I am painfully aware of the complete lack of consideration demonstrated by the products produced by the cosumer electronics and IT industries. It is really a solid measure of the corporate culture in the US that this continues to be the case despite years of advocacy and innovation by insiders like myself. If you have a physical disability you may not be as bothered by the disregard of 'Universal Design Principals' in such products. But if you have a sensory or cognitive impairment you really hit the wall of exclusion whenever you need to adjust the temperature, change a channel or withdraw cash from an ATM. Please noter that I have singled out the good old USA in making this comment. While you may not see the accessible products developed in Japan and Europe at CES, in fact these countries have government initiatives, regulations and research/development grants which insure that product developers in these countries are on track to meet the needs of their growing population of aging and disabled citizens. So, when these companies come to the CES Show they don't want to be out of step with the US market and they leave the accessible products at home. I discovered the predjudice I encountered when -- as an otherwise successful entrepreneur I proudly announced my development of assistive technology products targeted to the needs of disabled people. I had assumed incorrectly that my corporate colleagues would understand the good business opportunity such a market would represent. The corporate culture knew better -- insisting that "those people have no money" and, "their is no market there". I would reply, "Why not let me share with you what our validated market research has revealed and then you can tell me what you know". That was in 1990 and in the interviening years since things may only have worsened. I licensed my technologies to Europeans and Japanese companies and went on to use the insights I had gained to design other mass market products and services in the telecom and IT industries. A lifelong advocate for the rights of disabled people, throughout my career I used my contacts and influence to attempt to encourage the companies in the consumer electronics, IT and telecom industries to apply Universal Design Principals in the products we created. No such luck. The same kind of corporate greed responsible for the impeding financial destruction of our economy and the decline of the standard of living in our beloved country, views disability as having nothing to do with their business or products. As my progressive vision and hearing loss continued over the years I have discovered that even devices or software applications that I once was able to use are now impossible. Often this is because new designs abandoned old style interfaces (i.e., telephone keypads replaced with on-screen icons, new graphical treatments of previously simple menus). It is 20 year old testosterone-filled men who design the cell phones that require a paperback book-sized owner's manuals -- despit the fact that customer feedback indicates people don't read the manuals and do not know anything about the features of such peoducts! In my own experience I have 'fired' cable and satellite TV companies for changing the attributes of their set top boxes and thereby making them inaccessible to me. They do this desite the provisions of Section 255 of the Telecom Act which stipulates that all such devices and related services must be accessible. I have used this argument and have had to file FCC complaints in order to be released from service contracts -- with the result of no enforcement by the FCC of such obvious violations of the law and, with legal departments of such companies who have refused steadfastly to release me from such obligations. So, despite the fact that you can scrape up a couple of accessible gizmos at CES, this entire industry does virtually nothing to embrace our needs as disabled customers. What can be done? We should get wheelchairs, blind, deaf and other disabled people to gather in protest  in order to draw attention to the stupidity, inappropriateness and illegality of the corporate policies and practices of the major players in this industry. In my opinion, we will only achieve inclusion when we are recognized for our mass market potential. Disaboom's commercial and market-oriented approach is positioned to help acdcelerate thechanges we are seeking in corporate culture of CES companies.  Along with this we can organize an action that would draw CES into the critical media spotlight. Imagine the impact on companies introducing their hotest products at this once a year preemier event -- and having all the media attention captured by unhappy by unhappy customers making clear their dissatisfaction with the company and its' products for failing to build in accessibility. After trying for years to make headway against the rising tide of disrespect by this huge and lucrative industry we should take the gloves off and make them bleed. If anyone is interested in joining me in protest at CES 2009 let me know. I will try to write more on this subject at a later date.    

As a former industrial designer and developer of consumer electronics and digital appliances I know better than to go looking for accessibility in the products showcased at CES. As a disabled person I am painfully aware of the complete lack of consideration demonstrated by the products produced by the cosumer electronics and IT industries. It is really a solid measure of the corporate culture in the US that this continues to be the case despite years of advocacy and innovation by insiders like myself. If you have a physical disability you may not be as bothered by the disregard of 'Universal Design Principals' in such products. But if you have a sensory or cognitive impairment you really hit the wall of exclusion whenever you need to adjust the temperature, change a channel or withdraw cash from an ATM. Please noter that I have singled out the good old USA in making this comment. While you may not see the accessible products developed in Japan and Europe at CES, in fact these countries have government initiatives, regulations and research/development grants which insure that product developers in these countries are on track to meet the needs of their growing population of aging and disabled citizens. So, when these companies come to the CES Show they don't want to be out of step with the US market and they leave the accessible products at home. I discovered the predjudice I encountered when -- as an otherwise successful entrepreneur I proudly announced my development of assistive technology products targeted to the needs of disabled people. I had assumed incorrectly that my corporate colleagues would understand the good business opportunity such a market would represent. The corporate culture knew better -- insisting that "those people have no money" and, "their is no market there". I would reply, "Why not let me share with you what our validated market research has revealed and then you can tell me what you know". That was in 1990 and in the interviening years since things may only have worsened. I licensed my technologies to Europeans and Japanese companies and went on to use the insights I had gained to design other mass market products and services in the telecom and IT industries. A lifelong advocate for the rights of disabled people, throughout my career I used my contacts and influence to attempt to encourage the companies in the consumer electronics, IT and telecom industries to apply Universal Design Principals in the products we created. No such luck. The same kind of corporate greed responsible for the impeding financial destruction of our economy and the decline of the standard of living in our beloved country, views disability as having nothing to do with their business or products. As my progressive vision and hearing loss continued over the years I have discovered that even devices or software applications that I once was able to use are now impossible. Often this is because new designs abandoned old style interfaces (i.e., telephone keypads replaced with on-screen icons, new graphical treatments of previously simple menus). It is 20 year old testosterone-filled men who design the cell phones that require a paperback book-sized owner's manuals -- despit the fact that customer feedback indicates people don't read the manuals and do not know anything about the features of such peoducts! In my own experience I have 'fired' cable and satellite TV companies for changing the attributes of their set top boxes and thereby making them inaccessible to me. They do this desite the provisions of Section 255 of the Telecom Act which stipulates that all such devices and related services must be accessible. I have used this argument and have had to file FCC complaints in order to be released from service contracts -- with the result of no enforcement by the FCC of such obvious violations of the law and, with legal departments of such companies who have refused steadfastly to release me from such obligations. So, despite the fact that you can scrape up a couple of accessible gizmos at CES, this entire industry does virtually nothing to embrace our needs as disabled customers. What can be done? We should get wheelchairs, blind, deaf and other disabled people to gather in protest  in order to draw attention to the stupidity, inappropriateness and illegality of the corporate policies and practices of the major players in this industry. In my opinion, we will only achieve inclusion when we are recognized for our mass market potential. Disaboom's commercial and market-oriented approach is positioned to help acdcelerate thechanges we are seeking in corporate culture of CES companies.  Along with this we can organize an action that would draw CES into the critical media spotlight. Imagine the impact on companies introducing their hotest products at this once a year preemier event -- and having all the media attention captured by unhappy by unhappy customers making clear their dissatisfaction with the company and its' products for failing to build in accessibility. After trying for years to make headway against the rising tide of disrespect by this huge and lucrative industry we should take the gloves off and make them bleed. If anyone is interested in joining me in protest at CES 2009 let me know. I will try to write more on this subject at a later date.