Recently I had the pleasure to meet the gentleman by the name of Steve Rogers.
Steve is passionate about cars and has recently started a business where he uses his great knowledge of automobile industry to help people find a good car and a good deal. Basically you tell Steve your budget and what type of car you are after and Steve will look through all car advertisements and find the one best suited for you.
While certainly an interesting service, what makes it really interesting is that Steve is blind. I met him in front of one of the stores in the Oxford street, London, asking if anyone could help him. We jumped in (Ervin was with me) and walked him to his destination while the most amazing story unfolded.
First thing Steve asks me as he grabs hold of my arm is 'Are you a Finnish rally driver?'.
I reply I am not, but actually I have just recently sent an email to a Finnish rally school to see if they would accept me. Coincidence is big especially as it proves that Steve and I share the same passion for old rally cars. Steve owns several of them and his friends drive him.
Steve worked for 30 years when the economic crisis took it's toll and they laid him off. So he had to find another business and he got the idea to help other people find the best car. He uses text to speech software to read the web and apparently his biggest problem is that one of the UK's leading car websites, Autotrader, recently included some javascript code that makes his software useless (is that breach of disability act anyone?).
Steve got his site up just today, and I thought it would be really nice if we can help Steve. Blog about him, write a comment or simple call him (especially if you are in the UK and really need to buy a car). Steve is real expert, I can tell you that.
Steve Rogers's Website: Alfa Rogers
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Posted in: Debate
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13 Comments
Very glad that you found my site Steve and happy to have you here :) I am sure your business will blossom as your passion for cars did.
Hi Vladimir,
Thank you so much for putting this on the net. It really is appreciated, and hopefully I might get one or two costomers now. Website up and running and flyers and business cards being printed as we speak. Just advertising and how to charge people to sort out now. Have ideas, but very nervous about both these things! But thanks once again, it really is appreciated, and please keep in touch with me on alfarogers@gmail.com
Take care, look forward to hearing from you,
Steve Rogers
I found this today: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maguire_v_SOCOG_2000
Its illegal for companies to have sites that do not work for disabled people. I think contacting Autotrader should solve the problem
It is amazing that such a guy could do this. But I'm glad he found something he enjoys doing!
Thank God for folks like Steve Rogers:)
All the best to Steve and his business - it sounds like a great service!
Has anyone emailed/called/contacted autotrader and told them their bad javascript coder is discriminating against people with disabilities and we'd like them to fix it?
Something tells me that they (like me) are simply ignorant of how to make javascript play nice with a screen reader and need some expert advice from someone like vladimir.
What an incredibly great coincidence for Steve to have met you (and you to have met him)!!
It's extremely poor of autotrader to hinder people's usage of their site, especially as Steve's usage of the site would be a great asset to them!
Thanks for sharing this story with us. Steve sounds like a very interesting guy. I hope that his new business does extremely well for him. He obviously knows his stuff, people would do well to tap into his expertise.
That's Great!! I would definitely like to contact Mr. Steve. I would really apperiacte the kind of service he is provided eventhough he is blind. It's relaly noticeable that what a man can do if he decide to achieve something. Here Mr. steve alone has a collection of 30 cars. Great Man... Saluting you.
Great Man.. Mr. Steve
That's Great!! I would definitely like to contact Mr. Steve. I would really apperiacte the kind of service he is provided eventhough he is blind.Great Man... Saluting you.
Yes, now a days everyone were fascinated about cars. Because cars are the luxurious thing on the earth for human being. Thats very good, providing a good deal for the better is nothing but a good news to the people who are looking buy a car at lower price.