Good day:

Rant? shouldn't be a problem.  If we all think alike, then a discussion
list isn't of much use.

Here in Canada we have a national agency that provides various services
to people with vision loss or vision impairments.  They have a corporate
set of software standards.  This is OK, because it is usually more cost
effective when organizations standardize on software.  This is from the
perspective of licensing, maintenance, training, etc.  Now when such an
agency starts to push their standards on the people whom they provide
services, this is where I have serious issues.

I have no studies backing up my statement here, but I seriously suspect
that many of us that rely on adaptive technology fall into the same
statistical model as people who use a software suite such as Microsoft
Office.  Ninety percent of the people use ten percent or less of all the
available features.

Adaptive software, such as screen readers, are becoming very powerful.
Yet how many of us can honestly claim to use more than a handful of
specific screen reader options?

I digress, so back to my original statement; I think that people need to
be given a choice.  many people whether they can afford it or not,
should not have to pay a substantial amount of money for software that
is most likely more than what they want to use a computer and is, in my
opinion, priced way to high.  Yes there are those that qualify for
funding to cover the cost and there are those whose employer will cover
the cost as well.  Often the number of people who have to cover the
costs themselves are overlooked or may be discounted as insignificant, I
don't know the reasons why.

It is encouraging to see that there are more options available that do
not cost as much and some do not cost anything at all.  It is admirable
that there are people with the talent and skills to make these options
available.  The down side is that they don't have the support of a
national agency to provide training for people whose only option to
access technology is to find something that is a fraction of the cost of
the big players in the game or the ones that do not have any costs at
all.

Apple is building in some accessibility features into their OS.  I have
no experience with it, therefore I cannot say how effective it is for
those of us not able to see the screen.  I will toss the question out
there: should it be the responsibility of the operating systems
developers, like Apple and Microsoft, to ensure that accessibility is
built into their products and those that run on their platforms?

There does seem to be a movement along the open source market where
there are options as well.

Vic

Pereira Family


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