At the Braille 21 meeting in Leipzig in September I made a proposal to the gathered braille producers and librarians. I suggested that braille production should be democratised by putting tools into the hands of consumers who could choose to scan and produce their own books or wait for the fine products of the braille printing houses.
I thought this would be particularly welcome to that vast majority of blind people who do not work and have the time to produce for themselves.
I thought a member of the audience rather gave the game away when he said: “But if your proposal goes through, half the people in this room would lose their jobs”.
Naturally, the debate was deeply divisive, pitting the two alternatives against each other – the curse of dichotomy is particularly oppressive in the disability sector – until I pointed out that what I was proposing was a market in braille with different quality and modus operandi at different prices. In food retail we’ve largely opted for self service but it doesn’t stop us going to an expensive delicatessen.
This brought me to the whole subject of services and markets. The disability sector – I know this is a gross generalisation – was born out of well intentioned philanthropy where goods and services were supplied to people with disabilities with no choice and with no money changing hands.
Strangely – and you might argue that this is a blatant case of doing the right thing for the wrong reasons – the Government’s initiative on personalised budgets puts it ahead of the disability sector.
The sector’s reaction to these proposals has been instructive: first, there is an almost universal assumption that all disabled people are poor,
Secondly, this assertion is not supported, particularly with a breakdown of acquired disability and occupational pensions.
Thirdly, there is a terribly wasteful tendency to prescribe appliances by brand rather than generically; and, finally, I have heard the rather shameful argument that people are not capable of making their own decisions.
The talking iPhone, the listening iPad and cheap digital photography are only the beginning of the shift away from assistive technology to the generic market.
The next important development will be simplifying tools to accommodate the cosmopolitan market where English will be almost everyone’s second, not first, language and this will be of enormous benefit to people with learning, cognitive and developmental difficulties.
The tactile gesture of the iPhone will soon be complemented by the ability to read physical gestures and then facial expression. And all this will be supplied by the generic market.
As for services, the new market situation will at least generate a plurality of suppliers and an increase in competition. The sector argues that this will lead to a reduction in quality by which, I think; it means that the market will not be able to supply a Rolls Royce service.
True, but one aspect of quality that the sector frequently ignores is the ratio of cost to reach; my definition of quality is a family car that is fuel efficient and only needs an annual service. I hope that the market will deliver more standard, low cost services, perhaps accorded kite marks by specialist agencies.
The core fallacy of the specialist, professionalised approach is that disability is a cause rather than a series of concrete problems.
Far too much energy has been spent on issues such as the medical versus the social model and the need for adequate representation by people with disabilities on boards and commissions. Consequently, not enough energy has been spent on solving practical problems.
Personally, I don’t want to sit on the board of any major retailer but I’ll move my custom if the quality of the goods and services falls.
Half a century since main-streaming entered our vocabulary it is, too often, still rhetoric. I’ve just been in Scandinavia, the cradle of mainstreaming, where they are building massive residential rehabilitation centres.
I suspect we would do the same if we had the money but, as we don’t, the economic downturn might force us to do the right thing at last.
Kevin Carey is Chair of RNIB (www.rnib.org.uk), and Director of humanITy (www.humanity.org.uk)