[Blindmath] Calculus, Mathematica, and the Macintosh

[I. C. Bray]

Ron,
You continue to lurk & post whenever you want.
Offering help, appreciated or not, is better than not offering it.
Ian.


----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Ron Stewart" <ron at ahead.org>
To: "'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'" 
<blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 10:04 PM
Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Calculus, Mathematica, and the Macintosh


: Good evening again,
:
: I apologize if anyone took my comments as a rant. That was not my intent 
but more a reflection of my typical direct and no-nonsense style. Yes I did 
express my frustration on this topic.  I will go back to my normal lurker 
status, and not bother you all further.
:
: Ron Stewart
:
: -----Original Message-----
: From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Sina 
Bahram
: Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 8:46 PM
: To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
: Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Calculus, Mathematica, and the Macintosh
:
: Kyle,
:
: I just wanted to thank you for your kind feedback on this list and for the 
efforts that at least some of us know you are undertaking to improve 
accessibility from within. Try not to let rants like the below that 
reference a decade's old complaint discourage you from the accessibility 
work you undertake regularly.
:
: This is not to say that said complaint is either illigitamet or 
inaccurate, but simply that some of us recognize the difference between a 
helpful individual with "research Programmer" in their title and an 
individual, say Stephen Wolfram, who the company is named after, and who the 
below rant might be better served at being addressed to.
:
: Since the food for thought was already offered, and quite bitter, we'll 
call this one dessert for 2014:
:
: To affect change, it might behoove us not to attack programmers and 
researchers who already agree with us and are in the process of offering 
what help they can, but instead address our valid complaints towards those 
who are able to bring about the strategic and comprehensive change necessary 
to facilitate a universally designed focus.
:
: Take care,
: Sina
:
: Twitter: @SinaBahram
: Website: http://www.SinaBahram.com
: Blog: http://blog.SinaBahram.com
:
:
: -----Original Message-----
: From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Ron 
Stewart
: Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 9:15 PM
: To: 'Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics'
: Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Calculus, Mathematica, and the Macintosh
:
: Good evening Kyle, I appreciate your hard work and am not meaning to 
criticize your personal efforts but enough is enough.
:
: The issues of accessibility in your company's products were brought to 
their attention over a decade ago, and for the most part they have done 
nothing to address them.  I know the student you wrote it for and he is 
extremely technologically proficient, the typical student is not. This is 
reflective of the ongoing issues with the major vendors in this space in 
regard to accessibility. How does this kluge allow for equivalent access. 
The typical student in higher education does not know how to work from the 
command line most don’t even know what that is.
:
: Just some food for thought in 2014. To  be commercial viable your 
company's products as well as that of all the major vendors need to be 
equivalently accessible for all users. It should not have to be documented 
through your support channels it just needs to happen.
:
: Ron Stewart
:
: -----Original Message-----
: From: Blindmath [mailto:blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Kyle 
Keane
: Sent: Thursday, January 23, 2014 6:15 PM
: To: blindmath at nfbnet.org
: Subject: Re: [Blindmath] Calculus, Mathematica, and the Macintosh
:
: Hi Andrew,
:
: I work at Wolfram Research, makers of Mathematica. Please email or call 
the company to let them know that you are blind and want to use the product, 
this needs to be documented through mainstream support channels. There is a 
contact form at http://www.wolfram.com/support/contact/email/ or you can 
call them at 1-800-wolfram (1-800-965-3726).
:
: There is a command line interface to Mathematica (also known as a kernel), 
here is a link with information. If the contents of the output seems strange 
try wrapping your code in the function InputForm[], e.g. 
InputForm[Integrate[x^3],x]. You can also run the following code before 
doing anything else "$Post=InputForm", which will apply the function 
InputForm to all outputs before displaying them.
: 
http://reference.wolfram.com/mathematica/tutorial/UsingATextBasedInterface.html
:
: I also have a program that I wrote that allows Mathematica to be used from 
any accessible text editor. I wrote it for a physics grad student at Harvard 
who is blind. Email me at kylek at wolfram.com and I'll send the program to you 
with instructions. I'll make sure that you get the resources that you need.
:
: Sincerely,
: Kyle Keane, PhD
: Research Programmer
: Education Software Technology
: Wolfram Research Incorporated
: 217-398-0700 ext. 5220
: ----- 
: This message and any attachments may contain confidential or privileged 
information. If you are not the intended recipient please destroy and notify 
the sender. Message and attachments copyright © 2014, all rights reserved. 
Any unauthorized dissemination, distribution or copying is strictly 
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:
:
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