Hi Doreen,

The "hooks" to which you refer are created by a software product called
"MSAA" (Microsoft Active Accessibility)

The person you refer to might find that a visit to
http://www.microsoft.com/enable is worth while.

George Bell
Techno-Vision Systems Ltd 

> -----Original Message-----
> From: Doreen Yale [mailto:[log in to unmask]] 
> Sent: 17 January 2003 10:17
> To: [log in to unmask]
> Subject: MS ACCESSIBILITY ISSUES
> 
> 
> Hi all:
> 
> I have recently subscribed to an MS Office users list on 
> which most of the other subscribers are sighted.  However, 
> there is one person on that list, very dynamic, who is very 
> interested in MS accessibility issues.
> 
> This person is attending a big MS conference in February and 
> has asked me to canvas people on issues she might bring up to 
> the MS Accessibility team.
> 
> Now, it is my understanding that when building MS programs, 
> MS leaves "hooks" for screen reader manufacturers to "hang" 
> accessibility on.  If I am wrong on this assumption please correct me.
> 
> Now, if this is the case it seems logical that providing 
> hooks are being made available in this way the onus is on 
> screen reader manufacturers to provide good accessibility 
> solutions, right?
> 
> Therefore, I am requesting input on what, in your opinion, MS 
> could do better in this area.
> 
> One suggestion I have is that Safe Mode be somehow made 
> accessible - it is my understanding that currently this is 
> not so as Safe mode is reached before kicking into windows, 
> and therefore as screen readers load up after windows has 
> loaded, currently there is no screen reader available when 
> safe mode is entered.
> 
> If anyone has suggestions I would be happy to pass them on, 
> but if you could respond to me about this within the next 
> couple of weeks that would be helpful.
> 
> I look forward to some interesting discussion on this issue.
> 
> Best regards:
> 
> DOREEN YALE.
> 
> 
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> 
> 


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