[Blindtlk] Fwd: An Open Letter to Oracle on the Topic Of Accessibility

[David Andrews]

>
>Subject: An Open Letter to Oracle on the Topic Of Accessibility
>From: Joanmarie Diggs <joanmarie.diggs at gmail.com>
>To: gnome-accessibility-list at gnome.org
>Date: Sun, 07 Feb 2010 15:19:23 -0500
>
>Hi all.
>
>I sure thought I CC'ed this list on something I sent to the Orca list.
>Apparently I did not. Sorry! Below is the original message.
>
>Any way this could get pointed to on http://www.planet-a11y.net/ and any
>similar "planets"?
>
>--joanie
>
>=====================
>Hey guys.
>
>For what it's worth, I just wrote a blog entry on Oracle's decision. "An
>Open Letter to Oracle on the Topic Of Accessibility" can be found at:
>http://bit.ly/oracle-a11y
>
>For the sake of convenience, here is the text of that entry:
>
>Dear Oracle:
>
>You don't know me, so please permit me a brief introduction: I'm Joanie.
>By day, I'm an assistive technology specialist working with individuals
>who are blind or visually impaired. By night, weekend, and holiday for
>almost four years now, I've been a GNOME community contributor working
>primarily on the Orca screen reader, a project led by Sun's
>Accessibility Program Office.
>
>Working with the engineers at Sun, both inside and outside of the APO,
>has been an honor for a variety of reasons, not least of which is our
>shared common belief: Access isn't a privilege; it's a right. Towards
>that end, Sun Microsystems strived to ensure that ALL users have access
>to software and information.
>
>Does Oracle plan to do the same?
>
>Sun Microsystems believed that these things shouldn't be denied to those
>who aren't employed, or who don't live in the "right" country, or who
>don't speak the "right" language, or who cannot afford to purchase
>thousands of dollars' worth of access technology.
>
>What does Oracle believe?
>
>Through its significant, ongoing contributions to the GNOME desktop, Sun
>Microsystems has made computer access possible for many individuals with
>disabilities, from all walks of life, all over the world.
>
>Will Oracle embrace the opportunity to continue this important work?
>
>My assumption was yes. In fact, I was feeling quite hopeful. After all,
>the past few years have been hard on Sun. But with Larry Ellison's
>promise of increased investment in the Sun brand, and Oracle's strong
>commitment to accessibility, things would finally be turning around: If
>one under-funded APO could accomplish everything that it has, what could
>the two combined and properly-funded APOs achieve? At the very least
>we'd be able to finally get a handle on all of the accessibility
>challenges facing GNOME 3.
>
>I was wrong. :-(
>
>Last week, Oracle laid off two more members of Sun's already-decimated
>APO. One of those let go happened to be both the Orca project lead and
>the GNOME Accessibility project lead, Willie Walker. I truly hope this
>was an oversight on Oracle's part, and one that will be rectified very
>soon. Because if it is not, and if no other company steps forward to
>continue this work, the accessibility of the GNOME desktop will become
>the open source equivalent of an unfunded mandate, doomed ultimately to
>fail.
>
>Oracle's decision threatens to leave many individuals with disabilities
>around the world without access to a modern desktop environment. I find
>that tragic.
>
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