[nfbcs] Commercial IT Blindness Accessibility Issues

Sat Jun 14 02:29:17 UTC 2014

We are a minority that transcends any other majority or minority group in
the world, but it seems they want to stick us in a corner and forget about
the blind.

A tax incentive could be a possibility. After all, the government is able to
control people and companies already with the different credits and
deductions allowed. Pretty much why they don't want a flat tax rate with no
deductions or credits.

Unfortunately we are too small of a group to hurt the bottom line of large
companies like Microsoft or intuit if they don't make programs the way we
feel they should.

If we could take matters in to our own hands and start developing and
marketing software that is accessible, that could help. 

Michael

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Freeman via
nfbcs
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 12:27
To: 'Mike Jolls'; 'NFB in Computer Science Mailing List'
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Commercial IT Blindness Accessibility Issues

There aren't enough of us to warrant corporations listening to us unless
there are substantial legal and financial penalties meted out if they do
not.

IMO we are truly beginning to experience the real meaning of being a
minority which we've maintained since our founding.

Mike Freeman

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Jolls via
nfbcs
Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 8:41 AM
To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Commercial IT Blindness Accessibility Issues

I still contend that private corporations would not want to do this.  While
the corporation I work for does (because of law) provide accomodtions for me
.. accessible software for my workstation ... they DO NOT put much effort in
making their software accessible. 
If this was done at the corporate level, there would probably have to be a
department whose sole purpose was to develop the components that other
developers would use and call that would make the regular systems
accessible.  But at least with the companyI work for ... they are so
focussed on "getting the projects done yesterday" and "making that profit
line" that I don't think they'd do it unless there wer incentives or a law
that forced the issue, or both.  I think the last 36 years that I've worked
here speaks to what they want to do .. and nothing has been done to make
their systems accessible.  They do what they have to as far as purchasing
accessible accommodations, but beyond that, you're on your own.

While I do agree with your philosophy that it would be "another opportunity
for government mishandling" ... I'm just not sure I see the private sector
doing this ... at least not wide-spread. That's why I said have an entity
that is solely focussed on accessibility so that the company doesn't have to
incur the cost.  I suppose another way to do that would be for the
government to give tax incentives to corporations that make their software
accessible.  Now you have less government involvement, but you're talking
money to these corporations.  If my theory is right, then they'd listen.

Other comments?

> From: mbaldwin577 at gmail.com
> To: mrspock56 at hotmail.com; nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> Subject: RE: [nfbcs] Commercial IT Blindness Accessibility Issues
> Date: Fri, 13 Jun 2014 09:18:32 -0500
> 
> LOL, another government department. The government can't get much 
> right now, why would this be any different. It is better to add jobs 
> to the private sector, not to the government.
>  
> Government involvement would best be done with a simple law that makes 
> it mandatory for software companies over a certain gross sales level 
> to make their software accessible. Also have guidelines for receiving 
> an exemption on certain software. Example, it would not be necessary 
> to make software that truck drivers use in their truck to enter log 
> data accessible with screen readers.
> 
> The big issue would be how to define accessible. 
> 
> Michael
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Jolls 
> via nfbcs
> Sent: Friday, June 13, 2014 08:28
> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Commercial IT Blindness Accessibility Issues
> 
> Here are some thoughts about how to make accessibility in computer 
> software a reality
>  
> 
> 
> 
> I believe we have seen, given the track record of most corporations, 
> the lack of interest of most corporations in providing accessibility 
> in their products.  It all comes down to the dollar.  There are some 
> exceptions such as Apple, but for the most part I think the business 
> views the investment of money in making their computer software 
> accessible as counter-productive to their profit margin.  Therefore, 
> they don't do it.  And if they do, they do minimal work so that they 
> can legally say that they have fulfilled the requirement.
> 
> 
> Since private industry has shown this track record, my thought is that 
> if we want accessibility in the software we use, such work needs to be 
> funded through the government.
> Perhaps a solution would be to have a government agency whose sole 
> function is to provide programmers that can work on accessibility 
> issues.  These individuals would work for the government, get paid by 
> the government, but would be loaned out to major corporations (Oracle, 
> IBM, etc) to work with the product engineers to make the products 
> accessible.  In this way the corporations would not be impacted by the 
> cost of doing such development to a large degree.  There would be some 
> impact because the accessibility programmer would have impact on the 
> design of the product, and the product engineer would have to make 
> changes according to what the accessibility engineer requested.
> However, the cost incurred by the corporation would be minimal.  There 
> would of course have to be a standards organization in the government 
> that would analyze the requirements of such accessibility programming 
> to define what standards should be in place.  Then the accessibility
programmer would use those standards in their programming.
> You might also need to have blind and visually impaired testers that 
> would test the software to make sure it met the standard.  Of course, 
> this function might be automated if the software systems were 
> correctly
set up.
> 
> 
> I think without such an infrastructure setup, you're simply going to 
> see more of the same that is currently going on.
> 
> 
> Please comment.  if
> you think my line of reasoning is valid, how do we get this going?  
> Talk is cheap.  How could the blindness advocacy organizations help to 
> make this a reality?
> Putting feet on this would help solve the problems.  Personally, I'd 
> love to have a job like this.
> 
> 
> Your comments?
> 
> 
>  
> To: gui-talk at nfbnet.org; blinux-develop at redhat.com; nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> Date: Thu, 12 Jun 2014 20:08:09 -0500
> Subject: [nfbcs] Commercial IT Blindness Accessibility Issues
> From: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> 
> Folks,
>  
> I have attached a four page paper which I would like to submit to the 
> Braille Monitor.  I have also pasted the note below my signature.
> Please let me know about any errors.  Thanks.
> --
> Title:  Commercial IT Blindness Accessibility Issues
> Author: Louis Maher (ljmaher at swbell.net, 713-444-7838)
> Date:   June 12, 2014
>  
> In a modern commercial environment, several blindness-related 
> accessibility issues remain.  Generally these issues can be grouped 
> into lack of access
> to: graphical user interfaces (GUIs), graphically displayed data, and 
> mathematically-based books and journals.  I will focus primarily on 
> the effects of not being able to access GUIs.
>  
> Bit Locker Encryption
>  
> In Microsoft Windows seven, Bit locker encryption is a Microsoft 
> system for encrypting all the information on a computer's hard disk.
> At power-up time, the user enters a personal identification number
> (PIN) and then the login proceeds.  The PIN dialog screen is 
> completely inaccessible.  While my HumanWare Brailliant Braille 
> display will beep when the pin dialog opens, if I make a mistake 
> entering the pin, then I cannot recover from this error.  I must 
> power-off
my machine, by holding down the power button, and try again.
> Often when a machine is abnormally stopped, it goes into a memory scan 
> screen or setup screen.  All these pre-login screens are inaccessible, 
> even to Microsoft narrator.  For this reason, a blind user cannot turn 
> on their own machine if they make a Bit Locker PIN entry error.  The 
> only way out is to go find a sighted colleague who can enable the 
> blind employee to login into their own computer.
>  
> The Linux Graphical User Interface (GUI)
>  
> Linux allows for computers, built out of many processors, to solve 
> large problems.  For this reason, most of the hard science problems 
> are addressed using the Linux operating system.  A commercially 
> popular version of Linux is distributed by Red Hat 
> (http://www.redhat.com/).  Currently my company uses Red Hat version 
> 5.7.  Due to the need for an operating system to work well with all 
> the company's applications, and the need for a company to have a 
> stable operating system, operating systems, within a company, change 
> slowly.  An employee's desire to use company software, insures that 
> the employee must use the company's operating system.  For this 
> reason,
the blind employee cannot choose which operating system they wish to use.
>  
> Graphical user interfaces allow users to use a wide variety of 
> applications with ease.  The GUI allows most of the parameters in an 
> application to use defaults. Only a few parameters within an 
> application need be set.  Also context sensitive help allows the user 
> to rapidly find out how to set those parameters.  GUIs also allow a 
> user to string many processes together into a dataflow so that complex 
> tasks can be setup rapidly.  For these reasons, the GUI has conquered
computer space.
>  
> Character-based (also called command-line) interfaces are widely used 
> for computer programming and system administration, and have provided 
> many blind individuals with excellent career opportunities.  While the 
> character-based interface for Linux is wonderfully accessible, the 
> Linux GUI is not.  Based upon work by the now-bankrupt Sun 
> Corporation, the Orca Linux screen reader is available in open source 
> packages (https://help.gnome.org/users/orca/stable/).  Orca is not 
> automatically distributed with commercially popular Linux systems, and 
> employees must go through a long risk-assessment process to have it 
> added
to their systems.
> Orca also accesses the Gnome desktop (http://www.gnome.org/)while most 
> commercial organizations would prefer to use the KDE interface 
> (http://www.kde.org/).  Also since there is no commercial organization 
> caring for Orca, there is no guarantee that it will work for any one 
> application.  People who work on Orca development, due it out of love 
> of computer science, and as an effort to improve the world.  The 
> developers work on what interests them, and on what they can find time 
> to
accomplish.
> Also, Orca can only give access to programs running on the user's machine.
> It does not allow users to logon to other remote machines using GUIs.
>  
> The Linux Graphical User Interface (GUI) Remote Access Issue
>  
> Linux GUI remote access represents another class of accessibility
problems.
> As mentioned above, Orca can only give access to programs running on 
> the user's machine.  It does not allow users to logon to other 
> machines using GUIs.  In modern industrial settings, the blind user 
> will be sitting in front of a Microsoft Windows based machine.  The 
> user can have complete character-based access to Linux through 
> programs such as SecureCRT 
> (http://www.vandyke.com/products/securecrt/).  However, the blind user 
> is going to have to access several remote computers, using graphical 
> user interfaces, to get their work done.  While limited 
> character-based work around exist for some of these applications, in 
> general, the blind user will have to have their sighted counterparts 
> do
this part of their job, thus reducing the flexibility of the blind employee.
>  
> Java
>  
> Java (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/index.html) is a 
> programming language, supported by Oracle, to make applications 
> portable on more than one operating system.  The blind access Java 
> applications through the Java Access Bridge (JAB) (for Windows 
> (http://www.oracle.com/technetwork/java/javase/tech/index-jsp-136191.h
> tml),
> and for Linux
> (http://linux.softpedia.com/progDownload/Java-Access-Bridge-Download-2
> 4104.h tml).  I have found that most Java programs are not very 
> accessible due to the developer's unawareness of the need to write 
> accessible code.
>  
> Graphically Displayed Data
>  
> Often commercial Linux packages generate plots to help the user 
> analyze the data in their processes.  These plots are generated by 
> GUI's buried deep in the commercial packages.  If the plots could be 
> generated, and sent outside of the commercial application which 
> generated them, then they could be sent to Braille printers for 
> plotting.  Without GUI access, the blind user cannot generate the 
> plots,
nor bring the plots to the outside world.
>  
> Mathematically Displayed Books and Journals
>  
> The news is a little better on the display of mathematically-based
material.
> If the blind user can contact the author of a book, and if the author 
> is willing to share their source files, then the blind user can read 
> the
book.
> The best way to get this book would be in Microsoft Word format where 
> the author would have used the Design Science mathematical equation 
> editor, MathType (http://www.dessci.com/en/), to write the equations.
> MathType makes mathematics in Microsoft word completely accessible.  
> Another accessible mathematical language is Latex 
> (http://www.maths.tcd.ie/~dwilkins/LaTeXPrimer/).
>  
> Mathematics on the web is still not reliable since bugs in the 
> Microsoft Internet Explorer versions 10 and 11 have kept math from 
> being displayed.  I have heard that the Apple Safari browser can 
> display math, but an accessible version of the Safari browser is not
available for the Windows platform.
>  
> GUI Solution Issues
>  
> It is unclear how to approach the Linux GUI issue.  If a blind user 
> wishes to install Orca on a Linux workstation, the user will have 
> several
issues.
> 1. The blind individual will have to have a sighted individual install 
> the software because the Linux GUI environment is inaccessible out of 
> the
box.
> Secondly, to be efficient, the blind user will need a Braille display.
> Braille drivers are not part of the standard Orca package, and 
> separate software must be loaded for Braille displays.  Thirdly, only 
> system administrators will be allowed to load software on company
computers.
> Lastly, bringing new programs into the environment requires risk 
> assessments which can add months to introducing new software.
>  
> I am fortunate in that my company will purchase any accessibility 
> system that exists; however experimenting with unknown solutions is 
> very tedious and slow.  Due to the size of commercial organizations, 
> it can take up to two years to upgrade the operating systems of 
> computers.  Also, if a blind user installs Orca on one machine, the 
> user has not achieved much, for the user cannot access other remote 
> GUI-based processors, which contain the programs an employee will 
> need.  Lastly, stand-alone work stations are rapidly disappearing from 
> our commercial environment. Our company is experimenting with remote 
> graphic servers (RGS)
> (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Remote_Graphics_Software) which are 
> centrally-located graphics servers which are used remotely by 
> windows-based users.  Perhaps remote GUI accessibility can be built 
> into
such systems.
>  
> Conclusions
>  
> Both government and non-government blind employees are struggling with 
> accessibility because currently no one is insisting that these systems 
> be accessible.  If the government would follow its own rules, then the 
> accessible solutions would be available to all.
>  
> --
>  
>  
>  
> Regards
> Louis Maher
> Phone 713-444-7838
> E-mail ljmaher at swbell.net
> ---
>  
> 
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