Kenneth, try real hard to answer this one question: If the rest of us can shop
online, whether independently or with help, why can’t you? If you lack the
computer skills, learn them. There are plenty of willing helpers in the blind
community. As for me, I usually get help to shop online, but I have done it
sometimes. How come you’re the only one with these weighty problems? Quit
whining and find a way to work it out.
Details
Heres what happened to me. I have lived alone since the year 2000 when I first
got my Gateway with windows 98 and jaws 3.50. Every site I went to required a
membership to use the site. When filling out the form at the bottom there was a
picture with crap one is supposed to type in the boxes below. There would be no
phone number on the site to call for help and a lot of sites had their e-mail
rigged the same way. When I could get the e-mail to work some of them wouldnt
answer or their answers wasnt helpful.
Wal mart has the add to shopping cart button out of reach of the keyboard.
Amazon has their site so convoluted that I cant follow the trail without help.
Im a human not a rat, I dont run mazes. About four years ago I got someone
from Amazon on the phone and tried to buy and download an mp3 file. After
buying the file no way of starting the downloading could be found. I have gone
back and tried to buy something from Amazon with both of my computers, the Xp.
And the windows 7 with no results. (Im running jaws 17 demo on the 7 computer)
When I moved to my new house I had an electric cook stove and needed a heat
spreader pad to go under my glass coffee pot. Not being able to find one in the
local stores I called Amazon and was told that they had one but they couldnt
sell it over the phone. Well that screwed that, I had to get me a different
coffee pot. The electric company sends me my bill buy e-mail which is nice of
them because their site is so confusing I cant handle it. Its like digging
for ones mail in the dumpster.
About 8 years ago AT and T wanted me to start paying my phone bill on line so I
went to their site and tried to set up my account. I couldnt get it done so I
called At and T and asked for a lineman who was already paying his bill on line
to stop in and help me when he was in my area. I was Told by AT and T that they
couldnt do that and why didnt I get a friend to help me. I told them that my
friend wasnt the one who wanted the money, they were. The next time I paid my
bill with my Visa card over the phone AT and T had put a $5 extra charge on
paying over the phone with plastic! That little act earned them a call from the
Public Utilities Commission.
Visa did everything possible to force me to get help from a sighted person to
set up the Internet account thus compromising my Security. Visa couldnt leave
their site alone and kept on changing things until I was finely forced off of
the site. I have a Discover card now.
Theres a lot more but why belabor the point, I think you get the idea. I tried
one last time to get the open drive software to work just before I downloaded
my e-mail. It was the same old story you need a user name, OK button and no
edit field to put anything in. I have been to the open drive site with both
computers logged in with ourplace@xxxxxxxxxxxxx password audioldies and tried
to use copy and paste nothing selected or when I press the right mouse button
to start a download the site offers to let me download an html file. Like
everything else Im locked out.
The only site where I can download anything is the bard talking book site,
everything else is shut out. Thats why I dont believe it.
I have witnesss who can testify to my fruitless struggles with an Internet
system that doesnt work.
This is the reason that I wrote that Article and why I send it to as many
people as possible to let them be aware of the problem that they are going to
face when they get old and their eyesight starts to get dim.
Government Regulation of the Internet is coming, Lets all pull together and get
something useful done before these sighted people do something stupid that
shuts all of us out.
(I talked to three different Wal Mart centers in three different states with no
results, from a company that is pulling in about 240 billion dollars that is
expected as they dont care about us).
Kenneth Atkins
Virus-free. www.avast.com
