Hello:
I am a sighted user of Microsoft Money - currently using Money 99. I
have tried navigating with only the keyboard - it cannot be done. There
are some buttons in a few of the dialog boxes that the tab key will not
take you to, no matter how hard you try.
Regarding Quicken, on April 17th, the Attorney General of the State of
Connecticut held a press conference and put up the following press
release on his site:
http://www.cslnet.ctstateu.edu/attygenl/press/2000/health/blind.htm
"Attorney General Richard Blumenthal today was joined by Dr. Marc
Maurer, President of the National Federation of the Blind (NFB), in
announcing agreements with four companies -- HDVest, Intuit, H & R
Block, and Gilman & Ciocia - - that provide on-line federal income tax
filing services to make their Internet sites accessible to the blind.
The four companies have agreed to work with the Attorney General and the
NFB to change the coding for each of the five websites in question --
hdvest.com, turbotax.com, e1040.com, hrblock.com, and taxcut.com -- to
enable blind individuals to access the sites. According to the Attorney
General, the changes will greatly improve the ability of blind
individuals to access the sites through the use of standard screen
reader programs, which can translate screen information to Braille or
computerized speech formats.
These code changes will include implementation of recommendations by the
World Wide Web Consortium, an international organization that works to
develop universal standards for HTML coding. HTML is the computer
language used to create and design websites. It allows users to move
from page to page within and between websites.
"The blind should have equal rights and effective access in traveling
the Internet's information highway. Disabled Americans should not have
to reinvent or reassert such basic rights in the new Information Age,
just because the means of access now is a computer rather than stairs or
sidewalks," said Blumenthal. "Filing tax returns electronically is one
example -- but only one -- of essential access that should be
guaranteed. Rights must be protected -- kept real, not virtual -- even
in this age of new technology."
"Blind people can and do make extensive use of computer programs and the
Internet, so naturally we are thrilled these companies have decided to
work with us to ensure that their sites are accessible to the blind,"
said National Federation of the Blind President Marc Maurer. "The world
of technology is constantly growing and changing, however, so this is a
first step in a longer journey."
Each company's web site was recently listed on the Internal Revenue
Service's official web site as an on-line partner for the purpose of
electronically filing federal income tax returns. Each site, however,
proved inaccessible to the blind upon testing by the Attorney General
and the National Federation of the Blind. The Attorney General and the
NFB alerted the four companies that their web sites were in violation of
Title III of the Americans with Disabilities Act, which requires public
accommodations to take reasonable steps to ensure accessibility to
individuals with disabilities. The four companies have issued written
assurances that they will work with the Attorney General and the NFB to
make their web sites accessible to the blind in time for the 2000 tax
season."
End of press release
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
We can only hope that Intuit will continue this commitment by making
their software accessible as well.
--
Kathleen Anderson
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
URL OSC: http://www.osc.state.ct.us/
URL ACCESS: http://www.cmac.state.ct.us/access/
John Mattioli wrote:
>
> Greetings folks,
>
> Last Sunday, on ACB Radio's Main Menu, I began a series I'm calling "Making
> Sense of Your Dollars." This series was prompted by a recent VIBUG meeting
> here in the Boston Area. At this meeting a large number of blind folks
> showed up for my demonstration of Quicken Deluxe 2000.
>
> Intuit Corporation, the makers of Quicken, have shown remarkably little
> interest in adapting Quicken, QuickBooks or TurboTax to make them more
> accessible. Many blind people feel that these programs are inaccessible and
> therefore they (the programs) don't seem to have much of a user community
> among blind users.
>
> Yet I, and several others like me, am using Quicken every day. I pay my
> bills electronically, keep my check register balanced and reconciled with
> the bank (also electronically) and track stocks and mutual funds using
> Quicken. Additionally, I use many of the calculators whenever I have
> questions.
>
> I'd like to encourage all to catch Making Sense of Your Dollars during Main
> Menu or in the archives at http://www.acbradio.org and to join the e-mail
> list I've created for discussion of Quicken's use by blind people and the
> show. To subscribe to the list send a blank e-mail message to:
>
> [log in to unmask]
>
> I am not a QuickBooks user so cannot comment on it's accessibility. Last
> time I looked at TurboTax it was highly inaccessible but that was years ago.
> Quicken, on the other hand, I find quite accessible. I hope to show others
> a little of what I know and learn from others exactly why the program isn't
> accessible to them!
>
> On the other hand, Microsoft IS a company that claims to jump hurtles to
> make their software accessible. Last time I looked at Microsoft Money it
> was extremely difficult to use! This was also years ago, so perhaps things
> have changed here also. If there's interest in the subject of money matters
> perhaps the scope of Making Sense of Your Dollars can be broadened in the
> future. There's certainly much to discuss!
>
> Why not join in?
>
> John
>
> VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
> To join or leave the list, send a message to
> [log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
> "subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
> VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
> http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
To join or leave the list, send a message to
[log in to unmask] In the body of the message, simply type
"subscribe vicug-l" or "unsubscribe vicug-l" without the quotations.
VICUG-L is archived on the World Wide Web at
http://maelstrom.stjohns.edu/archives/vicug-l.html
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