No there isn't

Now that doesn't mean you loose heart.

www.coolblindtech.com has a lot of the new tech coming out to keep you updated.

I don't have any advice to get you into the research jobs though.

You may get some luck joining your tech group and groups your blind organisation generally has if you want something to do.

Your blind organisation or other groups may have opertunities to studdy things.

Going round the various groups and sites associated with blind and looking for testing opertunities works to.

But if you want to get into the real stuff, the serious government top secret stuff, its better if you find someone allready in the system.

Now sometimes those guys will release information on what they are doing.

But its usually 2-5 lines.

Ie, a general overview of who that whatever is and what its part of, and that they are testing for whatever they are doing and are looking for people to participate in this test.

Your next port of call is to email their whoever is responsible for doing the test usually its a test professor or test director under another boss who you never see and don't need to.

After that you get a blurb that basically tells you in more detail what it is.

However, thats really as far as it gets via email, concent forms and stuff can be via mail and any serveys are done off site.

However if you do say you want to go, though not crucial, I do recommend where possible you speak to the person doing the tests either over the phone or in person to see what it is, you can get a lot of information that way and if they trust you you may get more tests.

Finally, once you rock up to the lab where its done, you get the documents as above, then a blurb on the test and what it is in more detail.

Then you do it maybe get a report, and get payed.

In my case the payment is transport, cash and a meal, but it can differ.

You rarely if at all see anyone else in the team bar the test director and the person you are doing the work for.

I have been a test pilot for 5 or so years but most people are lab rats and get payed minimal, 50 bucks or so.

If you manage to get high enough you can make 100 pluss dollars an hour but you are expected to solve problems and test things including but not limited to spontanious tests that are not on file of the initial test you got in your email.

In most cases, though generally you get what you read and if it takes longer and or if there are problems you do get overtime etc.

Everything is usually quite safe, but if something screws up in most cases you wouldn't know if it does or not but you can get more if it happens, you won't know the conditions even if a pilot like me but even so.

One warning though, any serious physical testing takes a lot out of you just doing it and its not everyone's cup of tea and testing is not all the time.

Is there an organization/foundation that is focused on assistive technology research and development, devices prototyping, improved device and computer software for people with disabilities.  For instance, were products like the Sunu band, Buzzclip, JAWS, NVDA, Window Narrator, Be my eyes, Aira, Seeing AI, WeWalk etc etc. funded by grants the same way something like LUXTURNA was in part funded by FFB? Its clear that Foundation Fighting Blindness excels in fundraising and fund allocation in clinical trails, medical research funding, medical prosthetic areas.

You can try saying that its harder even for normal ableboddied people to get a job at the best of times.

Even in new zealand some jobs can be underpayed for what they should be my brother who is an enginier knows this its not all golden for normals either.

Unless you are extremely qualified or lucky its unlikely you will be able to just do 1 job without investments or something and even then.

I for example tried the normal channels to get work, papers, so called blind organisation job lists and advisers as well as government and other agencies.

If you want to know in more inpolite ways how bad I faired there is enough on the audiogames forum and in some of my blog posts and stuff I wouldn't  deem it appropriate, but high burnout among agents, the inability to transfer data about, untimely or bad equiipment, and other things that involved a pritty much non progress pushed me fully against getting any job through any mainstream medium though I am on job search sites and did complete my cv such that it is.

Word of mouth and putting it out there you want a job doing something, will let people know you are interested but not necessarily a job, if you have a good family then thats good to not everyone does though.

And while in new zealand you can earn a reasonable wage without loosing benifits, in some other countries, uk and maybe others earning cash over a certain ammount means no benifits for you which could mean that you have to do things all yourself.

With the event of opensource screen readers and the ability to run mainstream devices, its possible to live I think if you earned enough maybe.

But actually blindness or other ability specialised tech costs a lot from jaws to your orcam to other thiings.

And its almost impossible to justify buying any of this stuff.

I have been trying to bring forward an understanding of just how minimal the payment is to those with disabilities.  And, and how those with disabilities face the everyday expectation that low pay is "enough" is such a barrier for those with disabilities to earn a real living wage.  

Also, I think employment statistics hide this because simply being employed "counts"; but one can be employed and still starving to death if they aren't making enough money to pay the rent.  Much less the hundred plus dollars it takes in special transportation to get to the place where they earn that 50 dollars.

I have been saying these things, but I'm not sure I'm being heard, because I myself don't have a disability -- yet -- old age is hitting fast!

Would you mind if I shared your comments here to others, in the hopes of at least increasing the pay for guest speakers?  They may listen to someone with experience facing years of low pay, as you have faced.  

Sharon Austin

Online Accessibility Specialist

813-257-3249

---

From: chat@nvda.groups.io <chat@nvda.groups.io> on behalf of Shaun Everiss <sm.everiss@...>
Sent: Wednesday, April 10, 2019 7:21:37 PM
To: chat@nvda.groups.io
Subject: Re: [chat] Assistive technology research and development

 

ATTENTION: This email originated from outside of the organization. You may see messages with a UT from line (xxx.ut.edu) but they are being transmitted through an external email system. Do not open attachments or click on links unless you recognize the sender and know the content is safe.

No there isn't

Now that doesn't mean you loose heart.

www.coolblindtech.com has a lot of the new tech coming out to keep you updated.

I don't have any advice to get you into the research jobs though.

You may get some luck joining your tech group and groups your blind organisation generally has if you want something to do.

Your blind organisation or other groups may have opertunities to studdy things.

Going round the various groups and sites associated with blind and looking for testing opertunities works to.

But if you want to get into the real stuff, the serious government top secret stuff, its better if you find someone allready in the system.

Now sometimes those guys will release information on what they are doing.

But its usually 2-5 lines.

Ie, a general overview of who that whatever is and what its part of, and that they are testing for whatever they are doing and are looking for people to participate in this test.

Your next port of call is to email their whoever is responsible for doing the test usually its a test professor or test director under another boss who you never see and don't need to.

After that you get a blurb that basically tells you in more detail what it is.

However, thats really as far as it gets via email, concent forms and stuff can be via mail and any serveys are done off site.

However if you do say you want to go, though not crucial, I do recommend where possible you speak to the person doing the tests either over the phone or in person to see what it is, you can get a lot of information that way and if they trust you you may get more tests.

Finally, once you rock up to the lab where its done, you get the documents as above, then a blurb on the test and what it is in more detail.

Then you do it maybe get a report, and get payed.

In my case the payment is transport, cash and a meal, but it can differ.

You rarely if at all see anyone else in the team bar the test director and the person you are doing the work for.

I have been a test pilot for 5 or so years but most people are lab rats and get payed minimal, 50 bucks or so.

If you manage to get high enough you can make 100 pluss dollars an hour but you are expected to solve problems and test things including but not limited to spontanious tests that are not on file of the initial test you got in your email.

In most cases, though generally you get what you read and if it takes longer and or if there are problems you do get overtime etc.

Everything is usually quite safe, but if something screws up in most cases you wouldn't know if it does or not but you can get more if it happens, you won't know the conditions even if a pilot like me but even so.

One warning though, any serious physical testing takes a lot out of you just doing it and its not everyone's cup of tea and testing is not all the time.

On 11/04/2019 11:01 AM, Jeffrey McFarland wrote:

Is there an organization/foundation that is focused on assistive technology research and development, devices prototyping, improved device and computer software for people with disabilities.  For instance, were products like the Sunu band, Buzzclip, JAWS, NVDA, Window Narrator, Be my eyes, Aira, Seeing AI, WeWalk etc etc. funded by grants the same way something like LUXTURNA was in part funded by FFB? Its clear that Foundation Fighting Blindness excels in fundraising and fund allocation in clinical trails, medical research funding, medical prosthetic areas.