Hey everyone and I’m Scott Savoy of the Sterling Creations team bringing you greetings for the first week of February
It is a typical winter’s weekend coming up and I am hoping that our president Donna J. Jodhan can interest you in one of her favourite peeves.
It’s all about the self-checkout challenges.
Give this one a read and let us know what you think.
Write to us at info@sterlingcreations.ca
Here’s wishing you a great weekend.
The Self-Checkout Dilemma
by Donna J. Jodhan
It seems as if every time that there is a break through in technology that enables mankind to benefit from a terrific way to do such things as increase the bottom line of companies, enhance convenience for customers and consumers, find ways to decrease or take away jobs from employees or even to give the mainstream person to carry out their daily shopping more easily and affectively; this all goes to directly affect the lives of persons with disabilities.
How so? I humbly submit that the increasing use of self checkout kiosks and terminals is going to have a very serious and adverse affect on the lives of persons with disabilities, seniors, and those who prefer to deal with a Human being rather than interacting with a machine.
There are those who will vehemently argue that this is all in the name of evolution and rightfully so but as someone who is vision impaired I along with many others are now being forced to ask for sighted assistance to complete our transactions at such places as the supermarket, airport, electronics stores, dollar stores, and a growing number of other locations.
True it is that these self check out kiosks and terminals are greatly helping to cut down on line ups, time spent in the above locations, and much more but let us think about how it is also greatly affecting the lives of those said groups mentioned above.
Each time that I as a vision impaired customer visit any above, I now need to depend on a sighted person to help me cash my merchandise. These machines are still not accessible to me so that I can input my own transactions and then receive the total of my purchases. I cannot interact with a live person and if I do not go with a sighted friend or family member then I am in big trouble if I am unable to find a live person at the cash register or a customer service rep in the store or supermarket or at the service desk to help me.
Believe it or not; this world is not just made up of the technical savvy! It is also made up of a majority of persons who are struggling to use self check out kiosks and terminals
Using a so-called app to check prices is almost impossible for those who do not own an I device let alone those who are technically unable to use an app. In short, this circumstance needs to be addressed. This landscape is made up of several facets and variables. Evolving technology, those who are not being considered, those who are being left behind and those who are being completely ignored.
It is a landscape of many mountains and hills and I can only urge those decision makers, developers, and designers to take time to consider the above. This means that all levels of Government here in Canada both federal and provincial along with companies under these two umbrellas need to put on their thinking caps and work with Canadians with disabilities to make this a better experience for everyone.
Just my two cents for today.
To learn more about me as an ward winning sight loss coach and advocate visit www.donnajodhan.com
