[Athen] Your opinions on keeping old AT

[Heidi Scher]

Congratulations, Debee!  Maybe there is hope for me after all! LOL!

Heidi


On Wed, Jul 24, 2019 at 12:26 PM Deborah Armstrong <
armstrongdeborah at fhda.edu> wrote:


> The idea of putting labels on stuff that isn’t in your office is so

> obvious and so important; I need to make sure I’m doing it consistently!

> Had I done this some things I didn’t want tossed would have remained!

>

>

>

> I’ve faced the bear and my office is all neat again. Kept lots of

> commercially produced tactile graphics and modern Daisy players. Tossed all

> old Braille, in-house produce tactiles, CD-based daisy players, weird

> cables that no longer fit anything  and parts to things that broke a long

> time ago.  I think real hoarders give up and can’t cope, so I must only be

> a fake hoarder!

>

>

>

>

>

> *From:* athen-list <athen-list-bounces at mailman12.u.washington.edu> *On

> Behalf Of *Heidi Scher

> *Sent:* Monday, July 22, 2019 8:36 AM

> *To:* Access Technology Higher Education Network <

> athen-list at u.washington.edu>

> *Subject:* Re: [Athen] Your opinions on keeping old AT

>

>

>

> I love reading all the purge stories!  I do a similar process to what

> Robert described.  Unfortunately,  w can't use the 2-year rule as we often

> go more like 5 years between students who may need to use documents

> requiring the PIAF and sometimes even braille. The main items I keep are

> those big-dollar items - embossers and PIAFs, portable braille displays (as

> long as they can still connect and work with a computer), portable

> magnifiers. If it's less than $500 to replace and I haven't used it for 3-5

> years, it goes. I do put labels that say "before disposing of this item,

> please ask Heidi" on things that can't stay in my office.

>

>

>

> Heidi

>

>

>

>

>

>

> +++++++++++++++

> Heidi Scher, M.S., CRC

> Associate Director - AT

>

> *she, her, hers*

>

> Center for Educational Access at the University of Arkansas

>

> 1 University of Arkansas, ARKU 209

> Fayetteville, AR 72701

> 479.575.3104 phone

> 479.575.7445 fax

> +++++++++++++++

>

>

>

>

>

> On Wed, Jul 17, 2019 at 6:57 PM David Andrews <dandrews920 at comcast.net>

> wrote:

>

> You might be able to find homes for some stuff.

> In Minnesota our Tech Act program, called STAR

> recycles obsolete technology, and gives stuff to

> people who can use older technology.

>

> There are a number of projects that collect

> Braille for African countries, and others.

>

> It is work, but it may ease your conscious.

>

> Dave

>

> At 10:21 AM 7/17/2019, you wrote:

> >Content-Language: en-US

> >Content-Type: multipart/alternative;

> >

> >boundary="_000_61C6DD490FBB3D43A1AA33BF158ED7AF032C13EE84MB2FHDALEARN_"

> >

> >Curious about others' opinions here.

> >

> >Over the years I've had a variety of deans,

> >supervisors, bosses. Each time we switch to new management priorities

> change.

> >

> >One boss will want us to spend money when we

> >have it and buy as much equipment as possible.

> >Another boss wants to clean out and throw away

> >everything we haven't used in a few years. One

> >boss worries about accommodating every student

> >while another boss only worries if a student complains.

> >

> >The current management is on a massive cleanup

> >canpaign so everything I don't want to see

> >thrown away has migrated to my office. I have

> >piles of stuff we "might need" someday but

> >haven't used in a while. Before I could stop it

> >a thirteen-volume Braille textbook was thrown

> >away that was only used one quarter. Last year

> >they nearly threw away my PIAF machine because

> >nobody had seen me using it – but I resurrected it in time.

> >

> >So when the cleanup started I grabbed stuff. Now

> >I can hardly move I’m so – ‘er’ stuffed with stuff in my office!

> >

> >But maybe like some previous bosses, I myself am

> >a hoarder. Maybe I need to just say goodbye and move on.

> >

> >I email other departments asking if they want

> >some wacky thing, like a Braille atlas of the

> >world or an ancient but still working CCTV and get no response.

> >

> >I surplused three perfectly working Braille

> >embossers a few years ago simply because I no

> >longer had convenient parallel or serial ports.

> >I couldn't take it home because that would have

> >been stealing but it was probably broken up for

> >scrap metal. And just yesterday I threw away all

> >our CD-based Daisy players because nobody has

> >requested one in at least four years.

> >

> >I do tend to hoard because it  has served me

> >well before. One of my friends still uses a

> >large-print French-English dictionary, a massive

> >thing I found at a flea market for a dollar. No doubt some school

> surplused it.

> >

> >When I lost my job at TeleSensory, they were

> >literally throwing Braille displays and Optacons

> >in the dumpster. My husband and I snuck back

> >after dark and loaded them in to our car. I gave

> >away the Optacons to very grateful users and still use those displays

> today.

> >But I was young and poorer then; I’m not going

> >to grab stuff that doesn’t belong to me, yet I hate to see it thrown out.

> >

> >Do you others tend to hang on to obsolete

> >technology in case it might be needed? Or do you

> >toss it out because after all you don't have space and don't want to

> hoard.

>

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