I have to side with Kelly about corruption in Chicago. I spent 18 years there
growing up and the police openly solicited bribes the whole time I live there.
I am always amazed how and why an agency would be willing to spend tens of
thousands of dollars or more to defend their position on access when it can be
resolved so inexpensively. I was recently involved as an expert witness in a
case where a firm failed to provide accommodation to an employee who worked for
them for twenty years. Rather than spend an amount of under $10,000 they were
spending well over $100,000 in legal fees to defend their position that this
would have been an unreasonable accommodation. The opposing counsel asked me
incredulously in deposition if I could justify this enormous expense while they
chatted at hundreds of dollars per hour about the minscule details of this case
for hours on end. What appears to be unreasonable to me is why fight when
accommodation makes so much more sense, costs less and helps someone out. I
guess I would have to go to law school to figure this one out.


At 10:18 PM 12/24/98 -0600, Kelly Pierce wrote:
>On Sun, 20 Dec 1998, Hawke wrote:
>
>> In reading this article, it becomes plainly clear that the NFB is not
>> abiding by the tenants of its original charter (that is: to provide
>> beneficial services and a voice for the blind).
>
>Kelly:
>
>Many blind and visually impaired persons are forming and participating in
>vicug's and user networks in their own local communities because they
>feel that the large nationally-based and inwardly focused organizations of
>the blind, and the large government and social service buracracies are
>unable to address their needs regarding access to technology or information
>in their local community.
>
>Hawk:
>> The situation, as described below, smack of collusion (or conflict
>> of interest) between the NFB (its members) and the City Public
>> Library system. Thus, it seems to me, that these members of the
>> NFB, as employees of the Library, should not be allowed to testify
>> in this case.
>
>Kelly:
>It is one thing to scream collusion.  It is quite another to prove it.  Be
>assured that we will point out the conflicts and have our ammunition
>against these guys ready, as they will against me.
>
>Proud:
>> Now, this is a far cry from the model here in Phoenix. Here, we have
>> accessible equipment in most branches, the head of "special service"
>> is totally blind, and hardware upgrades are in process.
>>
>> Incidentally, the blind person in question here, is NOT a member of the
>> NFB. He is the head of the City of Phoenix Public Library Special
>> Service office.
>
>Kelly:
>That's great to hear.  Your library spends its funds on equipment.  Mine
>spends it on lawyers who shout "personal preferences are not
>accommodations" and "unfunded mandates."
>
>Proud:
>> However, I digress. It seems to me that the problem with the chicago
>> Public Library system is this: Someone is pocketing the money and not
>> providing services needed. Oh well, this is just my opinion.
>
>Kelly:
>That is not a novel idea here in Chicago and such information arouses
>little interest.  Somehow we have grown to expect that from our
>government.  In the last eight years, more than half of the 50 members of
>the Chicago city council have been forced to leave office because of
>corruption charges, usually arising from sleezy federal investigations or
>newspaper reports.  when we can stand together, we can demand
>accountability more effectively.
>
>kelly
>
>
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>

Marty Tibor
1 Stop Speech Recognition and Adaptive Technology Synapse
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toll-free 888-285-9988
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Providers of adaptive and assistive technology solutions.
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UNIX, mainframe and Mac speech recognition
http://www.synapseadaptive.com/joel/default.htm
Synapse hosts the Dragon NaturallySpeaking Unofficial Information Pages


VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask]  In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
 VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html