Joseph is a father of three children and a widower for the last several years. He is also a refugee from Liberia, fully dependent on public assistance…and blind. I was recently given the opportunity to work on Joseph’s laptop which was running Windows XP and the JAWS screen reader. The problems stemmed from some sort of corruption within his file system that would bring him to a “blue screen of death” on every boot up.

After hours of troubleshooting it became apparent that the file system was so corrupt nothing could be done but wipe out the hard drive and start over. That seems a simple enough, right? Guess again. This laptop was donated by an advocacy group with all of the software already installed – including the JAWS screen reader. Joseph does not have backup copies of the software.

When I inquired about purchasing a new copy of JAWS I was astounded to learn that the price for the Standard Edition was USD $900! I don’t have that kind of money lying around and neither does Joseph. Much to his dismay I couldn’t offer him much hope except to install Ubuntu Linux instead of Windows and provide him with a free screen reader program.

It’s all working out as well as can be expected, but Joseph now has to learn a new OS and screen reader. While I’m all in favour of using Linux over Microsoft Windows, I can certainly understand his frustration. It’s difficult for anyone to learn to use a new system but exponentially so for someone who’s blind.

That leads me to an obvious question: why is JAWS so obnoxiously expensive? It seems as though this obvious price gouging really comes down to greed. The fact is, the majority of those who purchase JAWS are government agencies and other social service groups. This reality gives the makers of the software the opportunity to charge excessively high prices knowing that government will pay for it.

I’ll admit that I’m a capitalist. But businesses have some responsibility to be a little bit more reasonable in how they treat their customers. The average blind individual is not going to have the funds necessary to purchase JAWS. And quite frankly, there’s no justification for it. If we’re going to push for computers for the disabled we should probably push to make them affordable as well.

Articles and posts written on the Laptop Repair blog represent those of the author and not those of Laptop Repair UK Ltd or CircuitUK Limited.

I’ve written quite a few columns in the past denouncing the use of laptop computers in schools, particularly among younger students. I have long held that providing laptops for every child is counter-productive to the learning process and should be avoided at all costs. And while I still believe that on a large scale, I must give credit where credit is due. A recent report coming out of Los Angeles, California reveals three separate schools that have shown a marked improvement in student performance since moving to an e-learning model.

The three secondary-level schools were part of a pilot program launched by the Los Angeles Unified School District to see whether or not they should consider investing money in a program to provide a laptop for every student in the district. All three did exceptionally well including Melrose Magnet, which saw an astounding 14% increase in overall student performance.

But there’s a catch.

Unlike so many other schools giving laptops to kids, the three at Los Angeles schools attached some pretty heavy strings to theirs. First of all, the laptops could not leave the school grounds. Secondly, only the software needed for educational purposes was installed. Third, the laptops had no access to the outside world via an Internet connection. With these three strict conditions in place the laptops became learning tools to be used strictly within the confines of an educational program. It doesn’t surprise me that student performance increased as a result.

We are living in the electronic age, there’s no denying that. And since children seem to come naturally wired to use computers well, it should be no surprise that the controlled environment provided by the California pilot program was so successful. But that tightly controlled environment is where most other schools fall down. When laptop use is not controlled it’s easy to install things like Internet access, web browsers, games, and the other things that distract kids from education. When not tightly controlled, kids also have a tendency to be extremely careless with their computers.

In the end, I still think laptops do not have a significant place in the classroom. Billions of people received a perfectly adequate education long before the advent of the electronic age. Using laptops in schools carries with it far too many disadvantages to outweigh the few advantages. As far as I’m concerned, I’ll stick with pen, paper, textbooks, and blackboards.

Articles and posts written on the Laptop Repair blog represent those of the author and not those of Laptop Repair UK Ltd or CircuitUK Limited.