Your evaluator and dealer

by Kelly Pierce

How good is the person evaluating or selling the product? One way to minimize the problems associated with training, repair, reliability, and hidden costs is to choose an evaluator, trainer and dealer who is experienced and knowledgeable about blind computing. These can be different people or the same person. If someone other than the user is buying the AT, such as a state vocational rehabilitation agency, school district, or employer, an evaluation will likely be necessary. This is to find out if  the user can benefit from the AT and what specific skills, devices and training will be needed for the person to reach his goal in getting technology. Evaluations are often conducted when someone exercises legal rights found in the Rehabilitation Act, the Americans with Disabilities Act, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act, saying that adaptive technology will allow them do a job on par with the sighted or to fully participate in a public accommodation, such as a college career or academic program. Choosing the right product is just half the journey. Choosing the right person to turn dreams into reality is the other half.

Who conducts evaluations?

Generally, evaluators (or, people who conduct AT assessments) fall into four categories: rehabilitation engineers/technologists, vendors, therapists and consultants. People conducting evaluations vary widely in their skill level. Some are licensed, others are not.

Rehabilitation engineers/technologists use the principles of engineering design and application of adaptive technology for
people with disabilities. They may or may not have Master's degrees in rehabilitation engineering. A vendor sells equipment for a company or companies. Therapists are professionally trained and licensed in a specific medical discipline, such as speech, physical, occupational or rehabilitation therapy. In Illinois, these therapists must be licensed. A consultant can be a licensed therapist, a rehabilitation engineer, a really creative person or just about anyone. There are no licensure or educational requirements to hang out a shingle and declare oneself a consultant. Unless you ask about experience, training and credentials, you will not know.

Just having a license or degree does not guarantee that a person is an adaptive technology expert. Nor does the fact someone is a vendor or consultant preclude them from being an adaptive technology expert. It is important to ask about a person's credentials and experience before an assessment. Nevertheless, do not stop there.

Here are some questions you can ask to learn more about a potential adaptive technology specialist's skills and talent.

How long has the person been recommending this type of AT? How many devices of this type has the specialist recommended? Experience builds credibility, skill, knowledge, and familiarization with user needs. Evaluators and specialists work out better when they have been in the field for at least a few years and have recommended, installed, trained, and serviced many devices and assisted many users in a general AT area, such as blindness. Be wary of those who have serviced a limited number of individuals in the past year, unless they come with extremely high recommendations from very credible end users.

With what age range and/or disability type does the person primarily work? Some work with people in a particular age range or disability type, such as blindness. If you are a 35-year-old adult and the person has only worked with children up to this point, be wary. Likewise, if you have reduced vision and are quadriplegic and the person has only worked with blind individuals, additional expertise might be needed.

What is the track record? Do the recommendations represent a variety of manufacturers and devices? Learn about a person's track record from other blind computer users. Ask others that you know their opinions of the evaluator. Connect with user networks such as the Chicago Blind Computer User Network. Ask for at least three references of blind computer users that you can contact. Be sure that they have received similar services to yours or are using similar devices to what you will be using. If the specialist doesn't have any or says it is "confidential," look elsewhere. People with disabilities should be able to expect that adaptive technology specialists accept the same degree of performance checking as someone hiring a handyman or house painter. High-quality evaluators and adaptive technology specialist are well known and proud of their work. They will be happy to have you learn about it.

Before buying anything, check out the recommendations with other end users. One resource that can be quite helpful is the Internet. This is of particular importance if the person doesn't live in a really big town like Chicago with many sophisticated end users. There are more than 75 blindness-related electronic mailing lists, many on adaptive technology. End users, professionals, vendors and dealers answer questions and exchange information, ideas and solutions with each other daily. For a list of these with descriptions, go to http://www.hicom.net/~oedipus/blist.html. To obtain this list by
electronic mail, send an e-mail message to listserv@malestrom.stjohns.edu and leave the subject line blank.
In the body of the message type: get blist info. This file is more than 200 kilobytes in size. For just an index or listing of
all the mailing lists, send an e-mail message to the address above with the command "get blist short"

If the specialist may be called upon to participate in an ADA complaint, lawsuit, employer grievance, or IDEA appeal, you should anticipate that the other side would use past cases of the specialist to question the credibility of the expert. A long, proven track record of recommending devices that have been used successfully over time is the best defense.

Are people satisfied with the particular products recommended?
What kind of technology and products do others in a similar situation use? How independent are they with them? Finding
similar end users and talking to them will take time. Patience and personal education will translate into long-term success and avoid costly and irritating headaches when things don't work together.

Vendors sell the products they recommend. That is ok, many in the field do. Be careful with those who sell or are familiar
with products from only one company. It is in their interest to sell their particular product whether it works for the consumer in question or not. Use dealers that represent a variety of companies and recommend a range of products. How is the specialist meeting individual needs if he is recommending the same device for everyone? Were all of the people really that much alike? For example, the most popular scanning software for the blind, Open Book Unbound, did not support until recently the Keynote Gold speech synthesizer from Humanware, Inc. This recommendation posed limited flexibility to blind end users who may desire to add scanning capability to their computer systems. We will never find things like this out unless we ask, learn about the relationships the dealer has, and check out user satisfaction with the specialist, company and product.

If a school district or a state rehabilitation agency is paying for the evaluation, the evaluator should not be the one selling
the equipment. Also, if the evaluation might be used later in  contesting an IEP or in an ADA complaint, this can be cited as a conflict of interest and might damage the credibility of your case.

How can you help me after the sale? Realize that for success and independence, the end user is initiating and developing a long-term relationship with the adaptive technology specialist. Technology changes rapidly. New products are released daily. Existing products are upgraded regularly. Technology opens more and more opportunities for people with disabilities. What worked for someone in the past may not meet their needs now. Treating adaptive technology specialists like order takers or disposable agency bureaucrats will deny the end user of the tremendous benefits of a long term partnership.

Be mindful of the industry practice known as "stop and drop," and as the name implies, little followup happens after the initial sale. This can often happen when a consumer aggressively selects a local dealer solely on the basis of the lowest price for the product. However, for a product to work for most consumers, it needs to be setup, installed, and configured to meet the specific consumer's needs. Additionally, quality technical support and assistance is essential at the outset for a product to really work for the consumer in the long run. The lowest price is not always the best. The consumer is not simply buying a product but a relationship with a company and dealer. At some level, we get what we pay for.

Good evaluators and adaptive technology specialists keep customers and don't need to solely rely on product sales to earn a living. They have the talent to earn money through services such as training, installation, maintenance, and upgrades. They should know about products and services that they don't sell such as training tapes, books, online mailing lists, community college courses and other resources that assist the end user in learning and conquering the technology.

Adaptive technology specialists, evaluators, and dealers may be independent business owners or work for an agency or institution. Independents may be highly adaptable to individual needs and flexible in their services. They also may have little contact or exposure with the disability community beyond their job. Agencies are as good as the people that work there. Consider the strengths and experience of the person working at the agency, not just the strengths of the agency itself. Agencies can be biased too. For example, the largest Chicago blindness agency has a financial relationship with an Indiana-based producer of screen readers. Not surprisingly, this agency invariably recommends only the screen readers that it sells.

What assessment procedures does the evaluator use to arrive at a recommendation?

Will the user actually try the device? For how long? What outcomes or behaviors were observed during the device usage? If you have not used the device before, this is a must. The evaluation should go beyond a demonstration of how the adaptive technology works. It should include hands-on use of equipment and software in the actual situations and settings faced by the end user. If it doesn't work, it is convincing evidence not to purchase the device. If it works for the end user, it is a nearly irrefutable justification. A natural experience with a product during several weeks in the real world is far more convincing than the unnatural experience of a half-hour long highly structured evaluation at a demonstration center.

What standard does the evaluator use for his recommendation? Is it consistent with the legal standard in question? This is
important if an employer, state rehabilitation agency, or a school district is purchasing the adaptive technology, the
evaluator should be familiar with the standards and procedures in the Americans with Disabilities Act, the Rehabilitation Act as amended in 1992, and the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act. These standards may vary considerably from the professional opinion of the AT specialist or the preferences or desires of the user. What is best for the user may not be "appropriate" under IDEA, or "effective communication" under the ADA. Likewise, rehabilitation funding allows for devices "necessary for employment" and Medicaid will cover only those things "medically necessary." These are not complicated definitions to understand, but the At specialist should be familiar with their meaning and requirements. For assistance in obtaining a specific standard, contact a parent's group, ADA technical assistance center, or a blind computer user network.

Can the evaluator, trainer, or dealer use the device like the end user? People who sell, service, and evaluate adaptive technology products such as screen readers should be end users. Would you buy a car from someone who doesn't drive? Rarely do sighted evaluators, trainers, or vendors have the screen turned off when working with a blind end user. With the low expectations our society holds for people with disabilities, it can be difficult to understand what works, REALLY WORKS, for the end user if someone is not one himself.

Above all, trust yourself. Things that can't be described can mean a lot. You may feel difficulty in trusting the adaptive
technology specialist. You may feel that he really doesn't understand your needs or situation. He may speak only in
generalities and not specifics. He might be vague about the experiences of other customers. My experience finds that if the end user is uncomfortable or unsure about the adaptive technology specialist, blurred outcomes often result. It is better to wait and continue asking questions until one is comfortable then to move forward. Our feelings tell us a lot about ourselves. Use them to make the right choices.