Workers at FEMA worry that demanding disaster survivors access services using email could shut out people without internet connectivity from receiving government aid.
Name a reason your grandfather can’t afford what I’m talking about. Housing subsidies exist. Disability exists. Social security exists. Free phones exist. Hell, you exist. I help hundreds of people a week get access to benefits that are free to them, which help them live. It’s not a luxurious life, to be sure. But it’s a lot better than most poor people from other countries. And we all pay for it with our taxes. The real crime is that it should be paid for many times over with corporate taxes, for which there are loopholes.
Old people have lots of difficulty with technology. Not all of it is because they are luddites. They lose mental faculties as they get old and have trouble remembering how to do things. Their eyesight gets bad so they can’t read tiny screens. I’ve always felt that there is a market for bonded employees to provide tech concierge services for old folks that have difficulty navigating things in the modern world.
I help elderly clients too and I’m aware of all those problems. We get them aides that can facilitate their shortcomings when it comes to technology. Solutions are available; all it takes is the will to enact them. People here are being very pessimistic about what’s possible.
To an extent I agree that we should find ways to lower barriers to tech for elderly citizens. I think that in this country the sad reality is that limited finances will be directed to other priorities like food and shelter. When disaster strikes then these vulnerabilities become clearly exposed.
And to an extent, I agree that adding barriers to disaster victims is entirely unnecessary and counterproductive; I simply meant to point out that it’s not discrimination to expect people of virtually all stripes to be able to handle email access, at least in America. I’ve worked with people who have all varieties of disabilities. Only in extreme cases is it reasonable to expect a person to not be able to handle basic instructions that can help them circumvent technological barriers. If the blind can do it, what are we really talking about here? In my experience, it’s 9/10 times the lack of will, and that is probably the toughest barrier of them all.
No, I’m not, and I’m adamantly against it, but those nets are not yet completely dismantled, and the actions of this twat of a president do not disprove my overall point. America still has better safety nets than most countries in the world.
Tell that to my 90 year old grandfather.
Name a reason your grandfather can’t afford what I’m talking about. Housing subsidies exist. Disability exists. Social security exists. Free phones exist. Hell, you exist. I help hundreds of people a week get access to benefits that are free to them, which help them live. It’s not a luxurious life, to be sure. But it’s a lot better than most poor people from other countries. And we all pay for it with our taxes. The real crime is that it should be paid for many times over with corporate taxes, for which there are loopholes.
Old people have lots of difficulty with technology. Not all of it is because they are luddites. They lose mental faculties as they get old and have trouble remembering how to do things. Their eyesight gets bad so they can’t read tiny screens. I’ve always felt that there is a market for bonded employees to provide tech concierge services for old folks that have difficulty navigating things in the modern world.
I help elderly clients too and I’m aware of all those problems. We get them aides that can facilitate their shortcomings when it comes to technology. Solutions are available; all it takes is the will to enact them. People here are being very pessimistic about what’s possible.
To an extent I agree that we should find ways to lower barriers to tech for elderly citizens. I think that in this country the sad reality is that limited finances will be directed to other priorities like food and shelter. When disaster strikes then these vulnerabilities become clearly exposed.
And to an extent, I agree that adding barriers to disaster victims is entirely unnecessary and counterproductive; I simply meant to point out that it’s not discrimination to expect people of virtually all stripes to be able to handle email access, at least in America. I’ve worked with people who have all varieties of disabilities. Only in extreme cases is it reasonable to expect a person to not be able to handle basic instructions that can help them circumvent technological barriers. If the blind can do it, what are we really talking about here? In my experience, it’s 9/10 times the lack of will, and that is probably the toughest barrier of them all.
Are you unaware that this administration is rapidly eliminating all those social safety nets you mentioned?
No, I’m not, and I’m adamantly against it, but those nets are not yet completely dismantled, and the actions of this twat of a president do not disprove my overall point. America still has better safety nets than most countries in the world.