You need to temper the marketing hype some of you generate in order to decrease people's frustration with you and your products when they don't work as expected. Many rehab agencies, employers, and reporters seem to think that, if you give a blind person a computer, he or she can do anything, and there are any number of vendors who are willing to sell us that computer and software, whether or not it is appropriate for a given task. We have seen, time and time again, that mastery of basic skills, like the use of Braille and a long white cane, is the most important factor in coming to work competitively and living independently. People also need to understand that not all assistive technology works with all software applications and that, to use it optimally, a person is going to have to make an effort to learn about the technology he or she has obtained. Further users will have to keep updating their skills, knowledge, hardware, and software.
Vendors can help by being more realistic about how they portray their products and their benefits.
While a majority of blind and visually impaired people don't want something for nothing, I think there is still a sizable minority that do. They seem to have a chip on their shoulders about being blind and expect to get reduced-cost or free products and services simply because they are blind. Ultimately we must pay for what we get, or we will get nothing. In the beginning, or at least in the 1970's, adaptive technology companies tended to hire their own sales staffs. Many of them also tried to offer a range of products so that any customer could meet a variety of needs with that one company.