one major advantage of hard copy over electronic delivery of text( in whatever form) is that as of January 1 electronic delivery( e books etc.) will attract a 20% vat sir charge, hard copy is zero rated for vat at present. just my pennies worth ATB Shaun On 22/01/2015 13:48, Karl Proud wrote: > I guess that some people do see the printed word as old tech, certainly the > school my kids go to seem pretty obsessed with tablets etc. I'm afraid that > I am one of those blind folk who do consider braille old fuddy duddy > technology, but then again I'm wrong about most things. > > Karl > > > > > On 22 Jan 2015, at 1:33 pm, Mike Ray <mike@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxx> wrote: > > > The RNIB now seems to be run by suits with little or no grasp of what > the customers really need. > > In a world where everything is being dumbed-down to a lowest common > denominator what we are now seeing is charity bosses who see little else > than the bottom line. How they got to that bottom line is of little > importance to them. Just making the expenditure smaller and the income > bigger seems to be an end in itself now. > > And no doubt one of the things that is pared to the bone to make the > bottom line look better is training for customer facing staff and > expenditure on what is seen as old technology. And sadly Braille is > perceived by sighted folks, and a lot of blind folks now too, as old > tech. Although presumably sighted folks don't regard reading printed > words as old tech. > > > > >> On 22/01/2015 13:16, Clive.Lever@xxxxxxxxxxx wrote: >> Hi Dave, >> >> Don't get me on my soap box about this one. Cynically, I sometimes wonder >> whether the more they can dissuade congenitally blind people from blocking >> their resources with loads of braille, the more they can concentrate on >> their pet subject: "sight loss". If they tell customers as a matter of >> course that braille copies will cost loads, take ages or generate boatloads >> of paper, they will get the answer they nudged their customer to give: "Ok >> then, I'll have an audio version". Then they will say: "more and more people >> are using audio and fewer are reading braille, so Braille's on its way out". >> Whooppee! They won't have to devote resources to it. Is there such a thing >> as "Lowp! (the opposite of hype), or of demoting rather than promoting a >> service? I encountered similar problems when I was asking for computer >> manuals as far back as 1982, so sadly, your tale leads me to think nothing >> has changed, except that the Institute sometimes appears to be suffering >> from sight loss itself.. > .i >> t's lost sight of the ball! I've usually found that a rough equation stands >> me in good stead: Two-and-a-half to three braille pages for every a4 side of >> dense print in a pretty standard font size. So, when I read the original was >> 96 pages, I thought "300's going to be nearer the mark. I read on, And >> surprise, surprise! >> >> Best, >> Clive >> >> -----Original Message----- >> From: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx [mailto:access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx] On Behalf Of >> Dave Sheridan >> Sent: 22 January 2015 12:37 >> To: access-uk@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >> Subject: [access-uk] RNIB, how inefficient are they? >> >> >> >> I recently received a Plextalk pocket portable daisy player as a present. >> The kind person who gave me this enquired about braille instructions and was >> told that they could do this but they would be about 600 pages. The person >> accepted that audio instructions would suffice. After receipt of said player >> I rang to ask for braille instructions and was told the same thing. I asked >> for the braille copy. Interestingly the audio contents goes up to page 96 so >> I was a little confused why this would translate to 600 braille pages. I've >> just received the instructions in 3 volumes totalling just under 300 A4 >> pages. Clearly those people providing potential customers with information >> should be well informed and clearly they are not: >> >> To add to this a friend of mine who took out a subscription to the talking >> book service has been perplexed by RNIB sending books which don't appear on >> the list she supplied them with. This has occurred twice now within a short >> period of time, firstly with books she hadn't ordered appearing on a pen >> drive sent to her and since then having changed to disc she has been sent >> other titles not ordered by her. Having experienced this myself over some >> considerable time before I was blunt with them I I do wonder why their >> customer service is so poor. As you have to ask for braille instructions >> these days you would think they would give good information and not try to >> put you off getting them to do the job they are there to do. >> >> Dave Sent from my iPhone** To leave the list, click on the >> immediately-following link:- >> ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] >> ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: >> ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >> ** and in the Subject line type >> ** unsubscribe >> ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the >> ** immediately-following link:- >> ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] >> ** or send a message, to >> ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq >> >> ** To leave the list, click on the immediately-following link:- >> ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=unsubscribe] >> ** If this link doesn't work then send a message to: >> ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx >> ** and in the Subject line type >> ** unsubscribe >> ** For other list commands such as vacation mode, click on the >> ** immediately-following link:- >> ** [mailto:access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx?subject=faq] >> ** or send a message, to >> ** access-uk-request@xxxxxxxxxxxxx with the Subject:- faq > -- *_PRIVACY IS A BASIC RIGHT - NOT A CONCESSION _* https://www.eff.org/deeplinks/2014/11/when-time-comes-we-need-be-ready-fight-tpps-secret-anti-user-agenda