[nfb-talk] Perfume company makes labels accessible and no one is complaining.

[MARSHA R WALLEN]

Now take this company neither group is argueing about this and these
labels do nothing for employment but is anyone boycoting the company who
was willing to make braile labels?  Some in either group would say it is
a waste of time and it may well be but it is sure nice to pick your own
scents.

Robyn
 
L'Occitane leading the blind
 
By Michal Lev-Ram, Fortune
 
The French beauty company is pioneering products and programs for the
visually impaired. And therein lies a tale.
 
November 21 2006: 12:40 PM EST
 
(Fortune Magazine) -- ON A VISIT to one of his company's boutiques in
1996,
L'Occitane en Provence founder Olivier Baussan noticed a blind woman
sampling perfumes. After marveling at the intensity with which she
inhaled
the scents, Baussan vowed to make his company's bath and body products
accessible to visually impaired consumers.
 
L'Occitane was soon adding Braille labels to a few of its packages. A
decade
later, Braille labels now adorn most products, from lavender body scrubs
to
shea butter hand creams, sold in L'Occitane's 650 stores worldwide. The
company also runs a summer perfume school for visually impaired teenagers
near its headquarters in Manosque, France, and has donated proceeds from
limited-edition products (such as a holiday candle in 2005) to charities
for
the blind.
 
Its initiatives help create a bond with visually impaired buyers, who
often
have a more refined sense of smell than sighted people. "It's about
accessibility and making our products available to all," says Baussan.
 
With some ten million visually impaired people living in the U.S. alone,
Braille labels better inform a small but significant population of
consumers. So why aren't more companies following L'Occitane's lead?
Maybe
because it costs money: Experts estimate that adding Braille labels costs
L'Occitane 4 to 6 cents per package.
 
Carl Augusto, CEO of the American Foundation for the Blind, says he knows
of
just one other brand worldwide - French winery M. Chapoutier - that has
decided to label its products in Braille. "Our hope is that L'Occitane
will
influence other companies to follow suit," he says.
 
But the company has done more than change labels. In 1998, Baussan
launched
its perfume school, in which visually impaired teenagers are flown to
France
for a weeklong workshop. The students learn the history of fragrance
making
from a blind French perfumer and are trained to concoct their own scents.
 
"Usually we have to beg companies to make their services and products
available to the blind," Augusto says. "But Baussan, well, he did it just
because he thought it was a good thing to do."
 
To learn more about Braille, living with vision loss, and the American
Foundation for the Blind, visit afb.org
 
 
http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/fortune_archive/2006/11/13/839316
8/in
dex.htm?section=money_latest