New Linux PDA For Blind People

[Janina Sajka]

Who said 35 million? The figures from AFB say 10:
http://www.afb.org/Section.asp?SectionID=15

And, they go on to say that of these only about 1.3 million are legally
blind. 


As for your rationale, let me ask you this? If it's so possible, how
come no one has done it? 

Lorenzo Taylor writes:
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> Competitive pricing with mainstream devices is in fact possible.  Last I
> read, only about a week ago, there are around 35 million blind and
> visually impaired people just in the United States.  And there are much
> more around the world.  The reason that only tens of thousands of
> assistive devices are sold is because the price is too high for
> 34,950,000 people to be able to afford to buy them.  Secondly, it is
> totally unnecessary to design the hardware from the ground up in most
> cases just to accomodate a relatively small group of people.  The
> hardware is not the problem most of the time.  It's the software.  And
> with all the free and open source software out there now, it is very
> easy to reprogram a mainstream device to be more than suitable, and in
> fact fun for a blind or visually impaired person to use at very little
> if any cost increase over the comparable mainstream device.
> 
> And if it is such a challenge to make an assistive device for a disabled
> person in mass production even though mainstream hardware could be used
> for this purpose, then it is time for the mainstream device
> manufacturers to dive into the assistive technology pool and make
> software that works on the mainstream hardware that they use so that
> there is little if any increase in cost of production.  Apple did it,
> and now every Mac has a screen reader built right in, so that a visually
> impaired person pays not a penny more than a sighted person does for the
> same computer.  Yes, Microsoft should include JAWS with Windows, and
> Nokia phones should include Talx at no cost to the consumer.  It can be
> and in fact has been done with similar products, and should be done with
> all products.  As for things like braille displays, instead of about 20
> companies competing to produse 10,000 each and charging as much as a
> small car for their products, 1 or 2 companies should be producing 50 to
> 100,000 units and selling them for an affordable price that a person on
> a disibility check or who works at a workshop could afford to pay and
> still buy food and pay the bills.  It may be speculation, but I think
> they would find that if the price of their device was affordable for
> everyone, many, many more people would buy it and they could mass
> produce a lot more devices at a lower cost.  Basically, the relatively
> low demand for assistive technology doesn't drive up the price.  Rather,
> the prohibitive price drives down the demand.
> 
> Lorenzo