[Blindmath] Math Accessibility petition text, any ideas/suggstions?

[Michael Whapples]

Hello,
The thing I would suggest to what you have suggested as text would be to 
try and suggest good/effective/compelling access to mathematical 
content. To a certain extent just saying access to this content may lead 
to the reply "mathplayer works with our screen reader and so you can 
read the content, we don't need to do more".

Michael Whapples
On -10/01/37 20:59, Birkir R. Gunnarsson wrote:
> Hey folks
>
> Following up on our discussion last week I wanted to gage your ideas
> for a text you feel justified and righteous about signing with regards
> to better math accessibility through your favorite screen reading
> software.
> Once we have a text we are happy with the petition can be created,
> either with help of my good colleague Tim, who did the WayFinder
> petition or, if he is too busy, I used a site called
> www.thepetitionsite.com.
> I am not sure if creating a petition there is accessible (I can get
> sighted help) but signing it was no problem (the only accessibility
> issue was that the sign/submit button has no label, but it is the only
> button on the page, also error messages are not displayed, I left a
> field blank to test this).
> They also ask for address and email and try to trick you into
> automatically participate in another survey for a "good cause", but
> unchecking the chex box before submitting takes care of that.
>
> So, what about a potential text?
> I can start by suggesting (and this is not partiularely great but it is a start)
>
> "Though screen reading has come a long way in many ways, such as
> online functionality and compatibility with the latest and greatest
> entertainment programs, there has been precious little development
> with regards to math accessibility in recent years.
> Better accessibility to mathematical information such as formulas and
> equations, via speech or refreshable braille, can often mean the
> difference between success and failure for those who want to study
> math and use it as part of their careers.
> A lot of academic studies have been conducted to research better
> accessibility to mathematics, but , for the most part, the results
> have failed to make their way into any of the major screen readers.
> With a wider adoption of standards such as MathML for web pages and
> other electronic documents, we now have an opportunity to access math
> in new and reliable ways, but it is up to the screen reading software
> we use to interpret such information and relay it to us in a reliable
> and consistent manner.
> Therefore, we hereby express our interest and hope that your screen
> reading company will take a closer look at the needs of professionals
> who rely on being able to use mathematics in their daily lives. Your
> math accessibility features will definitely strongly influence our
> purchasing decissions with regards to Assistive Technology in future.
> "
>
> Feel free to alter this text or suggest an entirely new text to
> replace it, but definitely I hope you participate and we can create
> something together.
> Thanks and be well
> -Birkir
>
>