Below is Mr. Motschenbacher's reply to my message, and below that the 
original message I sent.  I sincerely hope this works out well and doesn't 
turn out to be mere lip service.
We'll see, won't we.

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>Subject: RE: Yaesu equipment and accessibility for blind amateurs
>Date: Tue, 12 Sep 2006 09:27:06 -0400
>From: "Motschenbacher, Dennis K7BV" <[log in to unmask]>
>To: "Gary Lee" <[log in to unmask]>
>
>
>Dear Gary,
>
>Thank you for your message.  I do not yet work for Yaesu - actually I
>have not made out to California yet.  However, I hope to be there and
>reviewing the situation in a couple weeks.  I will be sure to look into
>this situation, Gary, and get back to you.
>
>Best regards,
>Dennis Motschenbacher K7BV
>
>-----Original Message-----
>From: Gary Lee [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
>Sent: Monday, September 11, 2006 3:18 PM
>To: Motschenbacher, Dennis K7BV
>Subject: Yaesu equipment and accessibility for blind amateurs
>
>Sir:
>
>My name is Gary Lee, and I am a blind Extra class amateur.
>
>I recently heard about your new position with Vertex Standard, and would
>
>like your help in trying to change the aparent attitude of this company
>toward the blind ham.  I will illustrate below.
>
>At the Dayton ham fest this year I stopped by the Yaesu booth to inquire
>
>about the ft-817 tranceiver.  I am largely a qrp operator, and this rig
>would answer well for a general purpose travel radio.
>I asked  to speak with someone who was very familiar with this radio.
>My
>purpose was to see about sitting down with that person and the rig to
>see
>if there were work-arounds to allow the blind user to operate it.
>I was then routed to Mr. Chip Margelli (pardon the spelling).  The
>response
>from both he and the other rep, Carrol, was to use all their efforts to
>disuade me from even considering this purchase.  Frankly this was a
>very
>disappointing experience, experience, and has only served to convince me
>
>even more that Vertex Standard doesn't care to have our business.
>
>For an amateur radio manufacturer to display this attitude is very
>disconcerting.  As has been noted in many QST articles the ham
>population
>in the U.S. is steadily aging.  With age usually comes reduced vision,
>motor dexterity, and other problems.  It would seem to me that making
>equipment more friendly to disabled users would be an excellent
>marketing
>strategy for the future.
>
>Finally, I will conclude with an illustration of the complete opposite
>of
>this attitude.  Several years ago I wrote Wayne Burdick of Elecraft
>concerning the use of the k2 by a blind individual.  This contact not
>only
>yielded the krc2 with optional access firmware and cw readout of nearly
>every item on the k2 display, but the release of the kx1, and the
>subsequent public promise from Wayne that all their future rigs would
>have
>at least cw access to all visual display functions.  This from a small
>american company with obviously smaller development resources than
>Vertex.  Also, Kenwood and Icom have demonstrated some commitment to
>access
>with many of their recent offerings, and at least for Kenwood, access
>has
>steadily improved since the mid 1980s.
>
>I ask that you please take these comments and observations to the
>correct
>people at Yeasu.  In my experience, many blind hams have expressed
>interest
>in Yaesu equipment in the past, but when they have tried to deal with
>Vertex Standard on access issues they have consistently encountered
>outright resistance to any consideration of accessibility.
>
>I am available, and quite willing to work with anyone at Vertex Standard
>on
>rectifying these problems.
>
>Sincerely,
>Gary Lee
>kb9zuv
>
>
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>
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