I have to admit that the announcement about MobileAccessibility coming
to Windows 8 phones is a major disappointment to me.
what I've learned from messages on the Android list is that some people
like MobileAccessibility because it's simple, so there isn't much of a
learning curve. I don't think Android is inherently difficult to learn,
but it's different, and MobileAccessibility is what blind people are
used to: lists and small numbers of commands. I don't really get the
appeal because, as someone else so beautifully put it, MA gives blind
people access to a feature phone at smart phone rates. What I do get,
though, is that, while the blindness community clamors for off-the-shelf
accessibility, many blind people aren't willing to meet mainstream
accessibility efforts halfway by learning to work with mainstream
solutions, providing constructive feedback to whomever needs to hear it,
and mobilizing advocacy groups into pushing for guidelines or best
practices.
My preference is for Windows to keep working on Narrator. It really has
come a long way in Windows 8 and feels very much like a real screen
reader. It's not quite ready for on-the-job action, but it's close, and
it's probably good enough for smart phone use. Why Microsoft thinks
MobileAccessibility on Windows 8 phones is a better solution than
Narrator is beyond me.
My other concern is that Windows 8 users will have an experience similar
to Android users. When people call AT&T, Verizon, etc., about Android
accessibility, what they usually get is information about
MobileAccessibility for Android, not about Android accessibility itself.
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
http://listserv.icors.org/archives/vicug-l.html
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