[BlindMath] FW: Accessible applications for R

Wed Apr 3 05:29:25 UTC 2019

My reply to Cricket only went to her (by accident). It is forwarded for anyone else's interest.
Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: Godfrey, Jonathan 
Sent: Wednesday, 3 April 2019 6:28 PM
To: 'Cricket X. Bidleman' <cricketbidleman at gmail.com>
Subject: RE: [BlindMath] Accessible applications for R

Hi,

BrailleR was named for its visibility not the code. I couldn't think of any other word that would resonate with the general public as being synonymous with blindness. Some might ask why not just use "blind" somehow, but searches found this word appearing in numerous packages already, none of which had anything to do with blindness.

A braille display is always useful, but not necessary. I've tried to keep lines of text I generate short enough to fit within  a 40 cell display.
I hope that also keeps lines short enough for screen reading software to announce without overloading anyone's mental gymnastics.

A fairly detailed run through of many BrailleR functions and tools is in the BrailleR in Action text; I thought a link for that was on the page I suggested, but go to https://R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/BrailleRInAction

Btw: I struggle whenever a student decides to switch operating systems mid-semester, and that goes for blind students as well. Save this sort of adventure for the holidays. 

HTH
Jonathan

-----Original Message-----
From: Cricket X. Bidleman <cricketbidleman at gmail.com>
Sent: Wednesday, 3 April 2019 6:09 AM
To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
Cc: Godfrey, Jonathan <A.J.Godfrey at massey.ac.nz>
Subject: Re: [BlindMath] Accessible applications for R

Hi Jonathan and all,

Thanks for the suggestions. I can't get Linux because since I'm already taking stats, I don't have time to learn an entirely new operating system. I also don't plan on pursuing stats much further, so I think it would be better to stick to Windows.

Jonathan, you referred me to your page, which has informationa bout the Braille R project. It's very helpful, and I downloaded the Use R
2016 zip file, and installed the Braille R library. I was looking through your tutorial files, and it looks like there are a few demonstrations of various concepts. What I couldn't find, though, was a guide showing how the Braille library works, whether a Braille display is necessary in order to use it, etc. Was that somewhere else on the site? Thanks!

Best,
Cricket

On 4/1/19, Godfrey, Jonathan via BlindMath <blindmath at nfbnet.org> wrote:
> Hi Cricket,
>
> RStudio has never been accessible. I have discussed the problem with 
> their staff at all levels every year for perhaps the last six years, 
> maybe even more. I've had discussions with the CEO, the Chief Data 
> Scientist, various technical developers, and numerous sales team 
> members. I like all of the people from RStudio I've talked with, but 
> until such time as they make a definite plan to fix the access issues, 
> we won't see much change. Life without RStudio isn't that bad though.
>
> A common reason for wanting to use RStudio is the excellent tools for 
> writing R markdown documents. These are just text documents though 
> that get processed into very accessible HTML files. The process can be 
> done using ordinary R without RStudio. Your course tutor should know how this is done.
>
> R is accessible. Please visit
> https://R-Resources.massey.ac.nz/BrailleR
>
> I have been showing blind people how to use R for about ten years. I 
> use R almost daily, mostly by way of writing R markdown documents. I 
> do so using an ordinary old text editor and my own text editor that is 
> full of useful shortcuts etc.
>
> HTH
> Jonathan
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: BlindMath <blindmath-bounces at nfbnet.org> On Behalf Of Cricket X.
> Bidleman via BlindMath
> Sent: Tuesday, 2 April 2019 4:02 PM
> To: Blind Math list for those interested in mathematics 
> <blindmath at nfbnet.org>
> Cc: Cricket X. Bidleman <cricketbidleman at gmail.com>
> Subject: [BlindMath] Accessible applications for R
>
> Hi,
>
> I'm currently starting a statistics course, in which we are learning 
> R. I just installed R Studio and unfortunately, it does not seem to be 
> accessible with either JAWS or NVDA. Do you have any suggestions as to 
> applications I could use instead, or workarounds for this? Thanks so much!
>
> Best,
> Cricket
>
> --
> Cricket X. Bidleman (she/her/hers)
> Stanford University | Class of 2021
> BA Candidate | Communications
> Accessibility Consultant | Stanford University Computer Science 
> Communications Intern | AIRA Secretary | California Association of 
> Blind Students (CABS)
>
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--
Cricket X. Bidleman (she/her/hers)
Stanford University | Class of 2021
BA Candidate | Communications
Accessibility Consultant | Stanford University Computer Science Communications Intern | AIRA Secretary | California Association of Blind Students (CABS)