Tech support: now even more fun than ever

The following dollop of techno-esoterica partially answers a question that was recently posted on a blindness related email list about accessibility and MyChart and an iPhone and a Braille device

Quoting from an email:

After a lot of research, this is what I have learned about using Braille Note with an iPhone to access MyChart:

Any pairing issues with Braille Note or Braille Note Plus – contact Human Ware 800-722-3393. Select the option for technical support. They will walk you through the steps for proper pairing of the device with an iPhone.

The Braille Note devices use Voice Over to generate the braille display to your terminal. If you are having issues after pairing your device, Apple Support must be contacted. Human Ware will only assist with the pairing. The Disability Contact number for Apple Support is 877-207-3930.

Do not bother to try to contact MyChart support to assist you with these devices. They have no information and no ability to assist. The only issues that MyChart support with assist with are logging in for the first-time or if you have lost your password and telling where on the screen you can find certain types of information. I have contacted some accessibility people at (my healthcare workplace) and this is as far as I have gotten on this issue

> MyChart works well with screen readers, Voice Over by itself and magnification using the three -finger double tap method.

RantWoman in her life has done a LOT of tech support. RantWoman lives in what might be a tech-support fantasy world. In RantWoman's fantasy world, any random user of MyChart for any random healthcare system MIGHT be able to call the same tech support everyone else calls, describe their problem and, if the person answering the call cannot answer, be forwarded up the tech support food chain. Granted the number of people accessing MyChart with accessibility tools is probably small relative to the total number of users, but the number is not 0 and also is probably greater than 1.

This question had already passed one of RantWoman's accessibility screens: do other users of the same tools and the same system report similar problems. In this case several blind iPhone users say MyChart works fine for them. At this point, RantWoman encouraged the person raising the question to contact the manufacturer of the Braille device.

However, an even more customer-service oriented reader, a user of accessibility tools with MyChart for both work and personal matters went a step further and looked up the contact info for the specific device manufacturer. RantWoman realizes that search engines exist and work fine with accessibility tools. However when a caller to tech support is already frustrated and grumpy, it is indeed a very nice courtesy if the tech support person they call can look up the contact number. Even better: an interested tech support person could listen in on the conversation, learn details and then share their learning so the next person in their organization who gets such a call has a shorter path to getting the end customer help.

Just sayin.