Re: Telephone headset for blind individuals who work with screen reading soft...

From:
Date: Fri, 4 Apr 2003 10:31:35 EST

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 writes:

> >I find it to be quite unbelievable that a braille
> >display can cost $10-$15k and keyboards can be $500
> >just for special keys for poor motor skills. Are
> >the peizo parts for braille terminals THAT expensive?
> 
> It's not the common parts.  It's the costs of design,
> manufacturing, marketing, etc. a product with a limited
> market -- those costs have to be spread across fewer
> units than mass-market products.  It's the same reason
> a Twiddler2 costs what it does.  And, sadly, HMDs.
> 
> >How does anyone afford assistive tech?
> 
> Many ways:
> It's more important than other things they could buy.
> 
> It may be purchased by a company as part of a reaonable
> accomodation of a disabled person per the ADA (in the
> US).
> 
> Covered by insurance as part of rehabilitation?

I think insurance and other fund providers are a major reason for the 
inflation. This is because most adaptive tech is covered by insurance, 
Vocational Rehab, the school board, or other disability-specific charities. 
This supplemental money source artificially increases the amount most 
mid-class people are willing to pay. Also, these funders (especially gov't 
sources) make adapt equip dealers jump through so many hoops, and take so 
long to pay, that the dealer feels he has to charge more just to make such 
hassles worth the effort.

For example, when I recently needed to replace my 11+ year old motorized 
wheelchair (I don't have insurance), my only source of funds was Medicare, 
and we had a hell of a time finding a dealer that would even consider doing 
business with me. Most said it wasn't worth the headache. One guy wanted me 
to pay cash up-front and let Medicare reimburse me personally. Even if I 
bought the cheapest chair capable of meeting my needs, that would cost me 
$9-12,000. Well, someone online eventually referred me to a place that was 
willing.

If you want to see evidence of this inflation for yourself, try dropping in 
on a dealer online. Take a look at what they charge for onscreen keyboard 
programs (available elsewhere for free), text-to-speech, and X10 compatible 
environmental controls.

-Jonathan

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<HTML><FONT FACE=3Darial,helvetica><FONT  SIZE=3D2 FAMILY=3D"SANSSERIF" FACE=
=3D"Arial" LANG=3D"0"> writes:<BR>
<BR>
<BLOCKQUOTE TYPE=3DCITE style=3D"BORDER-LEFT: #0000ff 2px solid; MARGIN-LEFT=
: 5px; MARGIN-RIGHT: 0px; PADDING-LEFT: 5px">>I find it to be quite unbel=
ievable that a braille<BR>
>display can cost $10-$15k and keyboards can be $500<BR>
>just for special keys for poor motor skills. Are<BR>
>the peizo parts for braille terminals THAT expensive?<BR>
<BR>
It's not the common parts.  It's the costs of design,<BR>
manufacturing, marketing, etc. a product with a limited<BR>
market -- those costs have to be spread across fewer<BR>
units than mass-market products.  It's the same reason<BR>
a Twiddler2 costs what it does.  And, sadly, HMDs.<BR>
<BR>
>How does anyone afford assistive tech?<BR>
<BR>
Many ways:<BR>
It's more important than other things they could buy.<BR>
<BR>
It may be purchased by a company as part of a reaonable<BR>
accomodation of a disabled person per the ADA (in the<BR>
US).<BR>
<BR>
Covered by insurance as part of rehabilitation?</BLOCKQUOTE><BR>
<BR>
I think insurance and other fund providers are a major reason for the inflat=
ion. This is because most adaptive tech is covered by insurance, Vocational=20=
Rehab, the school board, or other disability-specific charities. This supple=
mental money source artificially increases the amount most mid-class people=20=
are willing to pay. Also, these funders (especially gov't sources) make adap=
t equip dealers jump through so many hoops, and take so long to pay, that th=
e dealer feels he has to charge more just to make such hassles worth the eff=
ort.<BR>
<BR>
For example, when I recently needed to replace my 11+ year old motorized whe=
elchair (I don't have insurance), my only source of funds was Medicare, and=20=
we had a hell of a time finding a dealer that would even consider doing busi=
ness with me. Most said it wasn't worth the headache. One guy wanted me to p=
ay cash up-front and let Medicare reimburse me personally. Even if I bought=20=
the cheapest chair capable of meeting my needs, that would cost me $9-12,000=
. Well, someone online eventually referred me to a place that was willing.<B=
R>
<BR>
If you want to see evidence of this inflation for yourself, try dropping in=20=
on a dealer online. Take a look at what they charge for onscreen keyboard pr=
ograms (available elsewhere for free), text-to-speech, and X10 compatible en=
vironmental controls.<BR>
<BR>
-Jonathan</FONT></HTML>

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