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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

Should pregnancy tests be "accessible" as a rule to the visually impaired?

31 replies

FudgeGirl · 16/04/2011 21:58

I have to be honest, I had my jaw on the floor listening to this (11 minutes in), AIBU?

www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b0105vtw/You_and_Yours_11_04_2011/

So should there be a buzzer in all pregnancy tests, so a positive or negative result is audible as well as a visible positive or negative, for the benefit of visually impaired women/couples?

OP posts:

Jux · 16/04/2011 22:10

Haven't listened to the excerpt.

First thoughts: I assume visually impaired people can get pg like the rest of us; I assume they'd like to be able to find out like the rest of us; if they buy a test then they have as much right to know the result as anyone else has when they buy one.

What does a visually impaired woman do otherwise? Wait until she's missed two periods and then wander down the doc's? Or get a friend to come round so the friend can tell her the result?

I think that every woman has as much right to piss on a stick as every other woman and that if an audible result is what is needed to make it workable then that's what should happen.

I'm sure there are lots of aspects to this that I haven't thought of but my headphones have disappeared and dh is watching tv so I can't listen to the clip. Where do you stand?

SoupDragon · 16/04/2011 22:13

Surely not all pregnancy tests need to have a buzzer so long as a version is available. Adding an audible alert to all tests would surely make them far more expensive.

ChippingInLovesEasterEggs · 16/04/2011 22:16

I agree with Soup, though I wouldn't mind if the regular ones went up a few pence to subsidise the other ones.

JaneS · 16/04/2011 22:18

Never thought of it - but if there's no version out there for visually impaired people that's pretty crap! I wouldn't mind at all if the price went up a bit to subsidize either - it's not as if you don't have the option of going to the GP if you're skint.

worraliberty · 16/04/2011 22:19

Yes what soup said.

To some of them but not all, due to cost.

Grevling · 16/04/2011 22:20

What would the alert be? A beep or "ding ding ding....jackpot!"

GwendolineMaryLacey · 16/04/2011 22:26

The negative could be the uh-uh from Family fortunes :)

squeakytoy · 16/04/2011 22:28

As there are digital ones, it shouldnt be that difficult to add sound to them. They are already ridiculously overpriced though.

Original poster

FudgeGirl · 16/04/2011 22:32

I can totally see that there may be a need for it. But to suggest that all tests should have an audible alert, I find wrong.

Presumably this suggestion is so a visually impaired woman buying any pregnancy test would know that it would be accessible to her.

However, surely there are many, many women who would be using a test and the last thing they would want would be for their result to be heard by anyone else - such as if they were using it in a public toilet or somewhere where an alert could be heard by a loved one.

OP posts:

JaneS · 16/04/2011 22:36

I'd have thought it'd be much easier if something clicked out of place to show the result - a tab flipping up or something like that? Though I doubt a simple 'beeb' would be terribly identifiable to listeners!

littleducks · 16/04/2011 22:38

When I was pg with dd I went to superdrug with a urine sample and they tested and gave me a result on a slip of paper for £9 ish, about the same price at the time as a branded pg test. I had been visually impaired i am sure they could have told me the result in their 'consulting room' so private.

With ds I admit I had downgraded to a poundland test but would that not be an option

breatheslowly · 16/04/2011 22:41

Saying that all tests should have an audible alert is like saying all alarm clocks should speak the time, but just like some products are tailored for people with visual impairment there probably should be a pregnancy test too.

BooBooGlass · 16/04/2011 22:42

Why on earth would you want all tests to have an audible alert though? With dd I was in a public toilet when I tested, I'd hardly have wanted a little fanfare

greenbananas · 16/04/2011 22:48

My local pharmacy does confidential pregnancy tests for a fiver (cheaper than many supermarket tests), although mine is a close-knit neighbourhood and I'm not sure I would feel comfortable being seen to ask for a consultation.

A 'private' option for the visually impaired would be great. Pregnancy tests are mostly ridiculously expensive, and an extra quid on top of what we already pay would not be terrible. (Those of us who are lucky enough to be able to squint at ridiculously tiny, tiny, barely readable results could still buy the budget £2 tests in Wilkinsons).

reallytired · 16/04/2011 22:48

I think its enviromentally unfriendly for all pregnancy tests to have an audible alert. Very few women are visually impaired. As BooBooGlass says many women do not want an audbile alert.

Surely women with a visual impairment could be provided with special testing kits free on the nhs if they are ttc.

EggyAllenPoe · 16/04/2011 22:48

i think there should be one test that says pregnant or 'not pregnant' - but it doesn't need to be all of them, as I don't want to have to pay more than £3.99 to POAS twice.

Shoesytwoesy · 16/04/2011 22:55

yep then they will charge a lot more for that test, anything that is for disabled people is over priced, at least if all tests had to be usable for people with sight problems everyone would pay more.

iggi999 · 16/04/2011 22:57

What reallytired said.
You get smoke alarms that have flashing lights for hearing impaired people, but that doesn't mean all smoke alarms have to have lights on them.

ChippingInLovesEasterEggs · 16/04/2011 23:23

shoesytwosey - does it not matter to you that not everyone wants their pregnancy test audible?

Shoesytwoesy · 16/04/2011 23:25

I was just pinting out that if they make a special one for visually impaired people it will cost those people more, that would be wrong imo

squeakytoy · 16/04/2011 23:28

yep then they will charge a lot more for that test, anything that is for disabled people is over priced, at least if all tests had to be usable for people with sight problems everyone would pay more

how many test are sold to blind people out of the number of test sold? I would say it is very unrealistic to suggest everyone pay extra.

CarnivalBizarre · 16/04/2011 23:39

How on earth did visually impared or hearing impared folk manage in the past? This is nothing more than a money making faddy things imo just like the digital pregnancy test - which certainly do not give an exact date as to how pregnent you are !!!!

Shoesytwoesy · 16/04/2011 23:40

CarnivalBizarre Sat 16-Apr-11 23:39:15
How on earth did visually impared or hearing impared folk manage in the past? This is nothing more than a money making faddy things imo just like the digital pregnancy test - which certainly do not give an exact date as to how pregnent you are !!!!

imo your right, it is all about making more money

CarnivalBizarre · 16/04/2011 23:41

impaired

CarnivalBizarre · 16/04/2011 23:51

can't believe she spelled pregnant wrong TWICE

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