[NFBCS] Accessibility for programmers

Sat Feb 29 19:24:32 UTC 2020

He did say it. And I can prove it. Nothing we have discussed is going to 
happen. There will be no wiki, no podcast, no social media, no advocacy 
on accessible apps. None of that is going to happen.

I'd be thrilled to be proven wrong. But I am not wrong.

On 2/29/20 1:13 PM, Kevin via NFBCS wrote:
> 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.
>>>
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>>
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>