[NFBCS] Accessibility for programmers

Sat Feb 29 19:13:20 UTC 2020

I don't think anybody said that if you don't attend convention you have 
no say.

On 2/29/2020 2:06 PM, Jack Heim via NFBCS wrote:
> Brian, you missed the point.
>
>
> The people on this list have been expressing some real needs and it 
> just so happens that the NFBCS is uniquely situated to do something 
> about them. There is an opportunity here. The NFBCS could be so much 
> more than just an email list and an annual meeting. If that is going 
> to happen, you have to choose to make it happen.
>
>
> Admittedly, that is your choice. But can you understand that it is not 
> helpful to tell me that the rules of the NFB are such that I have to 
> attend the convention to have a voice? A typical person's reaction to 
> that is not going to be, "Well, if those are the rules, okay then." 
> The NFB starts every press release talking about how big and 
> influential it is but it makes no attempt to represent the vast 
> majority of blind people who never attend a convention. Ask any member 
> of the NFB about the ACB and they will dismiss it as meaningless and 
> ineffective. True enough. But to me, all that means is that the NFB 
> has that much more of an obligation to represent me. If the NFB isn't 
> going to do this -- nobody is. So when you say that I have to attend 
> the convention or I have no say, that is the same as telling me that 
> the NFB is broken.
>
>
>
>
> On 2/28/20 2:50 PM, Brian Buhrow via NFBCS wrote:
>>     hello list members.  This is Brian Buhrow, current president of the
>> NFB in Computer Science, chiming into this topic.  Although I'm 
>> coming into
>> this discussion rather late, I have been following it and, like 
>> Steve, I am
>> excited to see folks interested in working on some of these 
>> accessibility
>> issues.  Since a lot has been covered in this thread, I'll try to 
>> address
>> some of the points I've seen in this discussion and, perhaps, clarify 
>> where
>> I think we are as an NFB division and what my vision is going forward 
>> for
>> the division.  For those of you following this thread and 
>> contributing to
>> it, if there are particular points you think I've missed in the below
>> paragraphs, feel free to point them out in the discussion that's sure to
>> follow  this message.
>>
>> 1.  For those of you who don't know me, I'm a long time NFB member 
>> who has
>> worked in the IT field for the past 25 years.  My expertise is in the 
>> field
>> of Unix/Linux system programming and  networking, both in writing client
>> and server software, as well as building and maintaining local and wide
>> area IP networks.  I also have a good deal of experience building and
>> maintaining VOIP telephony networks and services.  For purposes of 
>> computer
>> access, I am totally blind and rely completely on braille and/or speech
>> output to gain access to the systems I work on.  Because I use a 
>> variety of
>> equipment, I use a variety of access technologies.  I'm proficient with
>> VoiceOver for iOS, NVDA under Windows, a long time user of Jaws, and,
>> thanks to Mike Gorse, another member of this list, the Yasr program 
>> under Unix.
>> It has long been my experience that creating access solutions which 
>> enable
>> me to do my work have required thought, creativity, a lot of trial and
>> error, much frustration on my part, and, some assistance from my 
>> colleagues
>> and co-workers.  As someone mentioned up thread on this list, I'm 
>> certain
>> that I've missed opportunities in my career due to lack of 
>> accessibility,
>> or my inability to think of a viable access solution, or just an 
>> assumption
>> on my part  that I couldn't do this or that.  Getting "backwatered" 
>> in the
>> IT field is a constant problem for everyone who works in it, and it is a
>> particular problem for blind individuals, myself included. Still, with
>> that said, my career has been a rewarding one that has allowed me to 
>> enjoy
>> life, participate in a variety of exciting adventures and to join the
>> society of my friends and neighbors as a first class citizen. The NFB 
>> and,
>> by extension, the NFB CS division, has been a key element of that 
>> success
>> because they gave me access to the likes of Steve Jacobson, Curtis 
>> Chong,
>> Curtis Willoughby, Lloyd Rasmussen, Jim Barbour and John Miller, not to
>> mention a vast array of other mentors and friends who could not only 
>> teach
>> me a bit about how to do what I wanted, but who lead by example by 
>> doing it
>> themselves.  I hope that overview will help inform the comments I have
>> about particular issues in this thread that I'll mention below.
>>
>> 2.  As Steve pointed out, the NFB CS Division is made up entirely of
>> volunteers.  That means the things that get done in the division are the
>> ones folks find interesting to work on and which can be scheduled in
>> available time.  To that end, regarding the topic of an NFB CS web 
>> site or
>> wikipedia, I think David Andrews said it best.  It's not hard to build a
>> web site or wikipedia pages, but maintaining them and their relevance is
>> very difficult over time.  A complaint I saw in this discussion was that
>> folks didn't know how to find the kinds of information they were getting
>> once they asked on this list.  Since this list is archived and since 
>> there
>> is a web site where the archives are  stored and accessible, it seems 
>> that
>> maybe what we should think about doing as a division is figuring out 
>> how to
>> funnel folks to that archive so they can find the answers folks have
>> provided on this list.  As an example, Nicole provided a nice summary of
>> the solution to her 3270 emulation software problem.  There is not a 
>> real
>> need, in my mind, to complicate the process of geting the word out to 
>> other
>> folks by asking her to write a formal wikipedia page explaining her 
>> fixes.
>> Rather, a simple page explaining that we have this list and the best 
>> terms
>> to type into Google to harvest what it has to offer seems like the quick
>> and easy way to leverage this list as a valuable resource.
>>
>> 3.  As to the issue of accessible certification testing, I do see 
>> this as a
>> barrier to job entry and, as such, I think it is something the division
>> should try to address.  I do not have the bandwidth or enough 
>> familiarity
>> with the details of the problem to take the lead to work on this issue.
>> However, if there are folks who are willing and able to work on this 
>> issue
>> and to cary it forward, possibly to formal actions, I'm willing to
>> facilitate that work and help bring it to fruition, either by advocating
>> for it on the national level, or by writing letters to appropriate
>> individuals or agencies, or some combination of that and other 
>> means.  Write
>> me off list if you are willing and able to work on this issue and we'll
>> figure out what steps need to be taken to get things moving.
>>
>> 4.   As an NFB national division, our business meeting, must, by
>> definition, be held at the NFB national convention.  That doesn't 
>> preclude
>> us from holding other meetings throughout the year, but our official
>> business meeting is at the NFB national convention.  That said, 
>> beginning
>> last year, we began offering the ability for folks to join the 
>> division on-line,
>> allowing them to reep the benefits of NFB-CS membership.
>> Browse to:
>> https://web.nfbcal.org/nfbcsreg
>> to sign up as an NFB-CS member.
>>
>>     Today, membership gains you the right to receive a copy of the
>> recording of the 2019 NFB-CS meeting held in Las Vegas last summer.  In
>> future, it will entitle you to access the archive of recordings from our
>> past meetings.  If you attend our business meeting, it gives you the 
>> right
>> to vote.  If you are interested in working on any of the issues I've
>> outlined in this e-mail, it would be my preference, but not a 
>> requirement,
>> that you join the NFB-CS division as part of starting inon the work.  In
>> that way, you will be more officially connected with  the division if 
>> any
>> of the work becomes formal.
>>
>> 5.  Again, as Steve pointed out, most of the NFB-CS board monitors and
>> participates in discussion on this list.  Curtis Chong, our most recent
>> past president and current treasurer, recently posted a treatise on the
>> virtues  of upgrading Windows to Windows 10 and trying out the new
>> Microsoft Edge browser.  Steve Jacobson, our vice president, regularly
>> contributes insightful comments on various ongoing discussions. Jeanine
>> Lineback, one of our board members, posts job postings for various
>> accessibility related positions.  I send out meeting related 
>> announcements
>> regularly, and also try to contribute to discussions where I think my 
>> input
>> might be helpful.
>>
>> 6.  In my mind, as I said earlier in this message, the real value to our
>> division is the knowledge and experience of its members.  This 
>> mailing list
>> extends that knowledge and experience further because it includes many
>> people who have a lot of experience but who are not officially 
>> members of
>> the Division.  I know some folks would like us to cater more toward 
>> people
>> who are working in the computer science or IT fields.  I understand that
>> and have tried to move our agendas at our annual meeting in that 
>> direction
>> by including at least one panel or topic of interest to folks working in
>> the computing profession.  last year, for example, Tom Moore gave an
>> excellent talk on how to build and maintain AWS networks and servers 
>> with
>> nonvisual tools.  However, I don't see a lot of value in splitting our
>> resources into two lists, those discussing computer sciencey issues and
>> those asking general accessibility questions.  The truth is, access
>> technology being what it is, complicated, buggy and a moving target,
>> every blind computer professional I know has, at one time or another, 
>> been
>> reduced to a neophyte user by a piece of buggy access technology, a 
>> buggy
>> application, or just forgetting the magic sequence of commands or 
>> gestures
>> to do a particular task with a particular ap from time to time. As such,
>> my feeling is that we can all learn from every question that comes up on
>> this list and for those of us who are more sophisticated, we can provide
>> our own filtering if there are things we don't want to follow on this 
>> list.
>> I, for example, have a very strong knowledge of Unix/Linux, systems
>> programming and integration, networking and VOIP systems. However, my
>> knowledge of Windows is definitely not as complete.  Therefore, I 
>> value the
>> Windows questions that come up on this list because they teach me 
>> things I
>> didn't know.
>> Also, to that end, if there are things folks want us to work on as a
>> division, I'm happy to entertain a discussion and potentially embark 
>> on the
>> work, but I need your help to do it.  So, when you think about 
>> suggestions
>> for the Division to work on, also try to think about how we might go 
>> about working
>> on them in a sustainable manner.
>>
>>     Thank you for taking the time to read this missive.  I hope it helps
>> clarify how I see the Division.  In the mean time, let's see if we 
>> can move
>> some of these ideas in this thread forward, shall we?
>>
>> -thanks
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> -Brian, President, NFB in Computer Science.
>>
>> _______________________________________________
>> NFBCS mailing list
>> NFBCS at nfbnet.org
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
>> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
>> NFBCS:
>> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/john%40johnheim.com
>
> _______________________________________________
> NFBCS mailing list
> NFBCS at nfbnet.org
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/listinfo/nfbcs_nfbnet.org
> To unsubscribe, change your list options or get your account info for 
> NFBCS:
> http://nfbnet.org/mailman/options/nfbcs_nfbnet.org/kevinsisco61784%40gmail.com 
>

-- 
This email has been checked for viruses by Avast antivirus software.
https://www.avast.com/antivirus