Hi List,
Since when is Gmail inaccessible? I use it all the time. I did have
trouble with Google Docs though, so perhaps if the students are using this
application, they're having trouble. But I hate when organizations make
inflammatory statements about a company's universal inaccessibility in very
public forums that simply aren't true. Google's probably wondering why they
went to all the trouble to make their stuff accessible if prominent folks
like the NFB aren't giving them credit for it. Okay, off the soap box now.
Catherine Getchell
----- Original Message -----
From: "David hilbert Poehlman" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Tuesday, March 15, 2011 6:45 PM
Subject: [VICUG-L] Complaint: Google programs hard for blind students:
Complaint: Google programs hard for blind students
WASHINGTON (AP) A complaint filed Tuesday with the federal government
accuses New York University and Northwestern University of discriminating
against blind students by adopting Google e-mail and other programs that
aren t fully compatible with technology that translates written words into
speech.
The National Federation of the Blind has requested a Justice Department
investigation into the schools use of Gmail and other Google programs,
saying that requiring students to use them violates the Americans with
Disabilities Act. The Baltimore-based group is also asking other colleges
not to adopt the software until it s accessible to all students and faculty.
Given the many accessible options available, there is no good reason that
these universities should choose a suite of applications, including critical
e-mail services, that is inaccessible to blind students, said Marc Maurer,
president of the National Federation of the Blind.
Google said in an e-mail that it had a productive discussion last week with
Maurer on accessibility issues but didn t offer further specifics.
We left the meeting with a strong commitment to improving our products,
said Alan Eustace, Google s senior vice president for engineering and
research.
The federation said that some Google products are partially accessible to
blind users, but are difficult to use without assistance from a person who
can see the screen. With Gmail, for example, signing in is the biggest
problem, said Chris Danielsen, a spokesman for the blind federation. In the
Google Docs word processing and spreadsheet program, a lack of audible
descriptions makes the tool bars invisible to blind users, and text that a
user types is not always audible.
The group said there are also problems with Google Calendar, Google Groups
and other programs.
A lot of times the problem is that yes, theoretically, if you fiddled
around with something long enough you could make some of this stuff work
but the products really aren t designed to work with screen readers,
Danielsen said. It s an ease of use issue and there s no reason for those
barriers to exist.
Northwestern and NYU recently adopted the free suite of Google Apps for
Education for campus e-mail and other classroom services used by students to
collaborate on assignments. The blind federation says that a significant
number of U.S. colleges are outsourcing their e-mail to Google. In such
cases, Google often provides hosting services for campus e-mail.
Schools are covered by the federal law protecting rights of the disabled,
while Google may not have the same obligations with products it creates.
Last June, the U.S. Departments of Justice and Education issued a letter to
college presidents requiring schools that use Kindles and other e-book
readers in the classroom to make sure the gadgets have accommodations for
blind and vision-impaired students. The federal government examined the
campus e-reader technology after a blind student sued Arizona State
University over use of the Kindle and was joined by the National Federation
of the Blind and the American Council of the Blind.
Amazon.com Inc. announced changes last year to the Kindle to make it more
accessible for blind and vision-impaired users.
We re seeing so much very rapid adoption of technology at colleges and even
at the K-12 level that we re very concerned and very proactive about looking
out for situations where blind students are going to be affected, Danielsen
said
Online:
National Federation of the Blind - Google Apps Demonstration:
http://www.nfb.org/nfb/googleaccessibilityvideos.asp
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
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Subscribe: [log in to unmask]
VICUG-L is the Visually Impaired Computer User Group List.
Archived on the World Wide Web at
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Subscribe: [log in to unmask]
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