Despite the references to hiring which have been in various ACLs
for years we have never been able to find a commercial hirer that
made the process viable. Awards Officers cling to the idea because
it sounds more just (why give a brand new PC to someone in the
closing weeks of their course?). We try but always find the same
thing. Hirer's are not interested in periods shorter than about six
months and even in that timeframe have to retrieve at least 90% of
the purchase value (we all know how quickly standards blossom
and the disappear). Also they are not interested in hiring out very
basic kit, so hire costs are high anyway and a basic machine
would be cheaper bought outright.
Some years ago we tried allocating dedicated word-processors as
a cheaper option, but students wanted to run PC software and
clearly couldn't do this. Then our supplier, HiGrade, came to the
rescue with a very basic, no frills, but still very useful PC with
printer packaged as The Scribe and costing virtually the same as
the better dedicated WP system. The purchase price was well
below any hire option during the time available. It's logical and
saves the problems of administrating hire agreements (which LEAs
don't want to know about).
The specific case mentioned by Alex Larg, where voice input
software was specified, does raise a totally different issue. A
solution is not a solution if the timeframe available to implement it
is too short. I would argue that equipping someone with voice input
at this stage of the final year is going to be counter-productive
since it will require too much training and familiarisation to be of
any value- and for many dyslexics won't work even then. The
student may believe they want it, it is up to us to point out it won't
work.
I've had students asking for the whole IT solution as late as Easter
in their final year. My offer then is to give rapid access to the
NMHA and implement human support solutions which can be
operarable and useful in a fraction of the time.
Dave Laycock
Head of CCPD
Computer Centre for People with Disabilities
University of Westminster
72 Great Portland Street
London W1N 5AL
tel. 0171-911-5161
fax. 0171-911-5162
WWW home page: http://www.wmin.ac.uk/ccpd/
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