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


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