[Nfbmo] Fw: [nfbmi-talk] does google apps discriminateagainstblind?

Tue Mar 22 22:36:04 UTC 2011

Funny you should mention that, Shelia, I received this note this morning 
after I had posted my previous message.

Android Access: TalkBack Refreshed.

1 Android Access: TalkBack Refreshed.

The latest enhancements to TalkBack now brings Android
Accessibility to devices
without a physical keyboard.  Many of these enhancements also
improve the overall
TalkBack experience on all devices.

1.1 Highlights.

* New TalkBack Keyboard.

* On-screen talking keyboard enables text entry via the touch
screen.

* Text review provides spoken feedback when moving the cursor by
character,
word, sentence, or paragraph.

* Virtual D-Pad for navigating the Android user interface.

* Global TalkBack commands enable one-click access to oft-used
commands.

1.2 TalkBack Keyboard.

The TalkBack Keyboard is an Accessible Input Method (Accessible
IME) that when
activated enables you to enter and review text via the touch
screen.  To use this
feature, you need to first activate the TalkBack keyboard via the
Language and
Keyboard option in the Settings menu.  Next, customize the
TalkBack Keyboard to
taste via the TalkBack Keyboard Settings option --- here, you can
customize
additional features including auditory feedback as you type.
Finally, open your
favorite editing application, long-press on an edit field, and
select TalkBack
keyboard as your default IME.  Note that you need do this only
once; once the
TalkBack keyboard has been made the default, it persists across
reboots.

1.3 Entering Text On The Touch Screen.

TalkBack keyboard is an on-screen keyboard that supports touch
exploration along
with synchronized spoken and auditory feedback.  This means you
can now enter
text when using devices that don't sport a physical keyboard.

But wait, there's more here than meets the finger at first touch.
Once you have
activated the TalkBack Keyboard, you can switch the keyboard
among three states
by long-pressing the volume up/down buttons:

Hidden.
The TalkBack keyboard is not displayed.

Navigating.
You get access to an on-screen virtual D-Pad, along with Back,
Home, Search, and
Menu buttons.

Typing.
An on-screen qwerty keyboard.

My preferred means of using the keyboard is to turn on auditory
feedback from
within TalkBack Keyboard Settings, as well as having SoundBack
active.  In this
mode, you hear keys as you explore the keyboard along with an
auditory icon;
picking up your finger types the last key you explored.  Typing
produces a
distinctive key-click.

The on-screen keyboard occupies the bottom 1/3 of your screen.
While entering
text, explore and find the top row, then move above it to hear
what you have
typed so far.

1.4 Reviewing Text By Character, Word, Sentence Or Paragraph.

You can now navigate and review text by character, word, sentence
or paragraph.
Use a two-finger tap to move forward through these navigation
levels; a
two-finger double tap moves in the reverse direction.  Once you
have selected
your preferred mode of navigation, you can use Up/Down on the
physical
track-ball/D-Pad, or alternatively, flick up or down on the
virtual D-Pad to
move forward or backward through the text being reviewed.

Note that text review works when the TalkBack keyboard is in
either/navigating/
or typing mode; personally, I find it less error-prone on
keyboard-less devices
to first switch to navigating mode when reviewing text, since it
is easy to
inadvertently enter spurious text otherwise.

1.5 Using The On-Screen Virtual D-Pad.

Placing the TalkBack keyboard in navigating mode provides an
on-screen virtual
D-Pad --- this is especially useful on devices that do not have a
physical D-Pad
or track-ball on the front of the device.  When active, the
virtual D-Pad
occupies the bottom one-third of the screen, and fast-flicks in
that area has
the same effect as moving with a D-Pad or track-ball.  Tapping
anywhere within
the virtual D-Pad is the same as clicking with the track-ball.

The corners of the virtual D-Pad also provides Back, Home, Search
and Menu
buttons --- these are especially useful on devices that lack
explicit physical
or capacitive buttons for these common Android actions.  You can
explore the
virtual D-pad by moving your finger around the D-Pad area;
crossing the top-edge
of this area provides haptic and auditory feedback that can be
used as an
orientation aid in finding the virtual buttons on the corners.

1.6 Global Commands.

In addition, selecting the TalkBack Keyboard as your default
input method
enables a set of global commands that can be accessed from your
physical
keyboard --- eventually, we will make these available via the
soft keyboard as
well.  Here are a list of the current commands:

Command Description Key.

Battery Speaks the current battery level menu + B

Time Speaks the current date and time menu + T

Connectivity Speaks the connectivity state of each connection:
WiFi, 3G, etc
menu + O

Repeat Repeats the last TalkBack utterance menu + R

Spell Spells the last TalkBack utterance menu + S

These shortcuts are listed in the Accessibility Preferences
application where
they can be edited.  You can choose between menu and search for
the modifier, and
any letter on the keyboard for the letter.

1.7 Summary.

All of these features work on Android 2.2 and above.  In
addition, TalkBack makes
WebView accessible in Honeycomb - look for a separate
announcement about
accessibility enhancements that are exclusive to the Honeycomb
release in the
coming weeks.

Source URLs:
http://groups.google.com/group/eyes-free/browse_thread/thread/a4e
4251126a22797/
http://eyes-free.blogspot.com/2011/03/talkback-refreshed-accessib
le-on-screen.html

----- Original Message ----- 
From: "Shelia Wright" <sbwright95 at att.net>
To: "'NFB of Missouri Mailing List'" <nfbmo at nfbnet.org>
Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 4:17 PM
Subject: Re: [Nfbmo] Fw: [nfbmi-talk] does google apps 
discriminateagainstblind?

> Wouldn't  the android phones be covered though under the Twenty-First
> Century Communications Bill?
> Shelia
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org [mailto:nfbmo-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf
> Of fred olver
> Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 9:52 AM
> To: NFB of Missouri Mailing List
> Subject: [Nfbmo] Fw: [nfbmi-talk] does google apps discriminate
> againstblind?
>
> To bad they couldn't have included the Android group of phones since in 
> some
>
> cases most of the apps for this operating system and the phones appear to 
> be
>
> somewhat less than accessible operating system also developed by google.
>
> Fred Olver
> ----- Original Message ----- 
> From: "joe harcz Comcast" <joeharcz at comcast.net>
> To: <nfbmi-talk at nfbnet.org>
> Sent: Tuesday, March 22, 2011 9:03 AM
> Subject: [nfbmi-talk] does google apps discriminate against blind?
>
>
> The following article is forwarded to you by the DBTAC-Great Lakes ADA
> Center (
> www.adagreatlakes.org)
> for your information:
>
> Does Use of Google Apps Discriminate Against the Blind?
>
> BY David Zax
>
> March 16, 2011
>
> Google's tools don't easily translate into synthesized speech or Braille.
> Now the National Federation of the Blind has issued a federal complaint 
> with
>
> the
> Justice Department, alleging that university use of Google Apps for
> Education amounts to discrimination.
>
> The National Federation of the Blind (NFB) has filed a federal complaint
> with the U.S. Department of Justice's Civil Rights Division concerning
> colleges'
> use of Google Apps. The NFB claims that since Gmail, Calendar, and Docs
> contain "significant accessibility barriers" for blind people who use
> technology-converting
> websites into speech or Braille, for educational institutions to outsource
> to Google is tantamount to discrimination.
>
> Marc Maurer, the NFB's president, minced no words in a statement issued
> yesterday:
>
> Given the many accessible options available, there is no good reason that
> these universities should choose a suite of applications, including 
> critical
> e-mail services, that is inaccessible to blind students. Worse yet,
> according to recent data more than half of the American higher education
> institutions
> that are outsourcing e-mail to third-party vendors plan to deploy this
> suite, even though they know that it cannot be used by blind students. 
> Nor
> can
> these universities claim ignorance of their legal obligations, since the
> United States Department of Justice and the United States Department of
> Education
> have specifically warned all university presidents against the adoption of
> inaccessible technology.  The National Federation of the Blind will not
> tolerate
> this unconscionable discrimination against blind students and faculty and
> callous indifference to the right of blind students to receive an equal
> education.
> We urge these higher education institutions to suspend their adoption of
> Google Apps for Education until it is accessible to all students and
> faculty,
> not just the sighted, or to reject Google Apps entirely.
>
> Northwestern and New York Universities, which have adopted Google Apps, 
> are
> specifically named in the complaint. Many other universities, including
> Brown,
> Notre Dame, Arizona State, Utah State, and the University of Southern
> California, use the technology. Those are just a few out of the many big
> names from
> a Google site touting its Apps for higher education. For each university,
> there is a blurb of praise from the relevant information officer or
> technology
> chief. Many have YouTube testimonials shilling for Google Apps; here's one
> (posted back in 2007) from Northwestern's Wendy Woodward, Director of
> Technology
> Support Services:
>
> In the Northwestern case study featured on the Google page, Woodward is
> quoted as saying, "We are gaining tremendous service advantages at 
> literally
>
> no
> cost to the university."
>
> If universities have been using Google Apps for years, why has it taken so
> long for a complaint like this to emerge? I put the question to the NFB, 
> and
> the federation's Chris Danielson responded to say that this was a "last
> resort":
>
> "We have grown increasingly concerned with the rapid adoption of various
> technologies by educational institutions in the past few years. There are 
> a
> lot
> of pieces to the puzzle, from inaccessible e-books and e-book readers to
> course management systems to products like Google Apps. We tackle these
> problems
> as we become aware of them and as we have the resources to do so. We do 
> this
>
> through a combination of direct advocacy in the academic community; 
> through
> direct contact and collaboration with technology companies to help them 
> make
>
> their products more accessible; and, as a last resort, through civil 
> rights
> complaints or litigation."
>
> He sees a more just future ahead, even if it may take legal action to help
> get there:
>
> "Our ultimate goal is to make institutions aware that they must obey the 
> law
>
> and treat their blind students and faculty equally, and to make companies
> who
> are entering the education arena understand the needs of blind students so
> that they can design their products in a way that serves all students, not
> just
> the sighted. Technology has the potential to truly level the playing field
> for the blind and others with disabilities, but if not properly designed 
> and
> implemented it will put us further behind than we have ever been. With
> respect to Google, we have been advocating for better accessibility for 
> some
>
> time
> now but results have so far been unsatisfactory. Meanwhile, universities
> have continued to adopt Google's technology even though the accessibility
> issues
> are obvious--at least if an institution bothers to investigate the matter,
> which too many do not do. (As a contrast, George Mason University did
> investigate
> the accessibility of Google Apps and decided not to use it.) As a result 
> we
> decided to take the action we took yesterday. Hopefully it will result in
> improvements
> in Google Apps and other educational technologies, as well as cause
> universities to factor accessibility into their consideration of new
> technologies."
>
> Google's gambit to win the hearts and minds of educators across the 
> country
> had been going very well up until now, it seems. In at least one state,
> Oregon,
> Google Apps for Education is open for use to public schools throughout the
> entire state. The NFB's complaint is a reminder that even companies that 
> we
> think of as the most forward-thinking appear to be far behind when
> considering those with disabilities. Advocates for the deaf recently 
> claimed
>
> that hikes
> on Netflix rates amounted to a "deaf tax," since not all streaming content
> has subtitles.
>
> Neither Google nor Northwestern immediately responded to e-mail requests 
> for
>
> comment. We'll update when they do.
>
> Source:
> http://www.fastcompany.com/1739337/does-use-of-google-apps-discriminate-agai
> nst-the-blind
> (long URL and may appear on more than one line in the message.  Copy and
> paste the entire URL into your browser)
>
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