Thanks for your comments James. Yes, I have long thought the access tech market is skewed towards education/access to work, but I don't want to divert discussion into that channel here. Just that the latest cool wiz bang and highly unaffordable gizmo inovation often gets the headlines, a case in point perhaps being the KNFB portable reader; a very good inovation and highly unafordable here and more so given the customary UK price hike, but the same could be said of much else in this category. I don't know that one can easily separate out leisure from the more necessary and boring stuff of life, such as work and dailly living. Improved communication and access to text matterial surely goes across the board. Maybe the winds of change are beginning to blow. B CAB and its official launch of the new line on newer stuff such as Freedom Box and Guide is what I'm pointing to here. A sort of division between the access to work lot and maybe the rest of us, or many of the rest of us. I didn't look into these as I tend to feel I can get more useful info these days from the net and various mailing lists, not to mention Podcasts. What I was focusing on as much as anything was the world of greater access to reading for those not in the computer world but who are, like it or not, going to face moving on from cassette and analogue radio, a change they will have to make terms with. As a potential supplier of material this is where I was coming from as much as anything else. From Ray I can be contacted off-list at: mailto:ray-48@xxxxxxxx -----Original Message----- From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx]On Behalf Of James O'Dell Hi A good range of opinion on this one. I think that in an environment of limited resources, there are always going to be concerns about their distribution between the various informal interest groups of blind people. I am a student who has received technology funded through the provision of educational support. This support from Local education authorities is obviously geared towards students, and in that sense I can see your argument that the distribution of support and equipment is lopsided. However, I've often felt that RNIB and some other VI organisations place too much emphasis on the "leisure market", particularly in the tone of some of their promotional and informational materials, their emphasis on early years learning, their choice of books to transcribe into alternative formats and the apparent obsession with making leisure activities such as digital TV and other broadcasting, holidays, museums etc accessible. This is probably a little unfair, as the "leisure market" probably represents the majority of blind people in the UK. But, equally, please don't assume that educational/ATw users of the charitable and commercial organisations exhibiting at sV have things all their own way. I am sure there are many improvements that could be made in all areas, and that the organisations are trying to strike a very difficult balance. James ----- Original Message ----- From: "kevin cussick" <kevin.cussick@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx> To: <access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> Sent: Sunday, July 23, 2006 1:23 PM Subject: [access-uk] Re: More Sight Village > Hi, > > I will agree they do seem to put allot of time and effort into talking > about Guide dogs and May be Carol is correct now I think about it it is > only once a year. > ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx ** and in the Subject line type ** unsubscribe ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the ** immediately-following link:- ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] ** or send a message, to ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq