infectedwithnyanites:

mamoru:

Their Bionic Eyes Are Now Obsolete and Unsupported

These early adopters found out what happened when a cutting-edge marvel became an obsolete gadget... inside their bodies.

IEEE Spectrum

yet another horrifying story about disability tech companies taking the money of disabled people and then abandoning them. this one is about $150,000 eye implants. company went bankrupt, many patients are now without vision again and unable to remove the implants without risking their health, but having the implants in is also extremely dangerous and makes it impossible to get life saving MRIs. the company responsible did not even think to contact its patients when it was going out of business and ending support. people have devices in their brain that now do nothing except potentially kill them. there is nobody who offers replacement parts for these devices, any maintenance, and people are having their implants break without any support to fix or remove them.

fuck these companies. fuck this shit. it keeps happening. these fucking companies make products for disabled people, offer them hope, take their money, then bail. even if bailing can fucking kill people and if they used up all their money

this is why tech startups cannot replace healthcare overhauls, better benefits, more funding, and more studies. expensive, temporary technology is not the answer to accessibility. it is not feasible and it is not safe.

there is zero accountability and shit like this is always happening.

It should be illegal for a private company to offer medical services which require constant upkeep and then abandon their disabled customers this type of service should be the sole domain of the government alone because thats the only long term reliable provider and any companies now doing this have a responsibility to uninstall all their patients hardware free of charge if they’re ever closing down shop or the individuals that run the company should be imprisoned.