Why it sucks to be visually impaired. (And why ZoomText is a scam.)
Okay so I literally just made this blog because I’m pissed off at the world this morning. Maybe it’s post-election anger or just from the literal tonnes of shit based around the election on Reddit. Like jesus I just want funny pictures. Anyway. As you probably don’t know but will soon find out. I’m visually impaired. I was born with basically no corneas and had to get them BOTH transplanted. Thankfuly my right eye accepted the donor cornea. But not my left eye. My whole life I’ve had a lower visual equity then most. I’m pretty much blind save for light and blur in my left eye, and my right eye has 20 / 100 vision. To make matters worse. Despite my young age a cataract has formed in my one good eye. Further worsening my vision to 20 / 400 - 20 / 500. But I’m not here for sympathy no no. This is called ‘Angry Opinions’ not ‘My Sob Stories’. I’ve learned to deal with my disability and instead take advantage of it. (Disability Grants for school, board a plane before most people, etc.) But believe me. I’m not the first person to take advantage of a disability. Enter ZoomText. Developed by AI Squared. It’s a magnifier/reader software for your computer. Think of it like the default windows magnifier-- But with more zoom settings, custom cursors, ability to change screen colors and all that neat stuff. It also has a built in reader. Which can scan documents (pdf. doc. web pages) and read it out loud. Now don’t get me wrong. This is all well and good. Seems useful for a guy like me huh? Nnnope. Not only does it cost $600USD for the magnifier and reader software. (There is a cheaper option that doesn’t include the reader. And an even cheaper option but that’s not the point.) BUT IT ALSO COSTS $50 JUST TO GET WINDOWS 10 SUPPORT. It’s not like it needs any special code to run on Win10. It lets me run it just fine for a 60-day trial. SO IF I ALREADY BOUGHT IT. WHY DO I NEED TO BUY WIN10 SUPPORT?! This isn’t even the worse part. Not only am I paying them to use their software. But I’m also PAYING them to SLOW MY COMPUTER DOWN. I’m not even kidding. Ever since I installed it, even if the program is closed it lags my computer to shit. When I’m typing it stutters and freezes for a second or two. THIS IS EVEN WORSE when the program is running. So basically I paid $860CAD ($650USD) in total to a bunch of money-milking, disabled-abusing scammers who not only lag my system down to shit. But also pay exuberant prices for a magnifying software that is otherwise BUILT INTO WINDOWS. Don’t get me wrong. Their Reader is pretty cool. And it has a speech synthesizer that is somewhat realistic. But I would NOT sell this for the prices it’s labeled as. Sadly this isn't new. Having close ties with some big names like CNIB and APSEA over the years, I've discovered that AI Squared is not the first company to take advantage of people with disabilities. Many companies making equipment from braille machines to hand-held magnifiers, to hearing aid and special keyboards. All charge out-the-ass amounts for these ‘specially designed’ equipment that costs them a quarter of the price to make. And all they did was increase the font size or ‘ooooo’ turn keystrokes into braille. Whoopty doo. I was lucky enough to receive the money via a grant as I mentioned earlier. But others are not so lucky and have to pay obscure prices just because they were born with a disability or were in an accident they had no control over. It sickens me that companies take advantage to the point I feel literally sick with disgust. I don’t know how to end this rant. But there you go. If anyone manages to read this then thank you for doing so. This blog will not be updated on a schedule, only when something comes up. TL;DR: Companies that sell equipment for disabled (handicapped, or whatever term you prefer) are evil scamming bastards who take advantage of their own clientèle.