[nfbcs] Helping a software engineer keep his job

Sun Oct 19 04:22:00 UTC 2014

I have several thoughts on this thread. First, to address the question of
which operating system should be learned, I would say whatever operating
system is already being used. Learning a new operating system is going to be
confusing and harder for a blind person than a sighted person. Also, if a
company uses primarily one operating system, it is usually advantageous to
use whatever operating system that is. If they don't use Windows as the
primary operating system, they might prefer that people not be using remote
access from Windows to access files via mounting.
Second, in regards to which operating system to use in general, I say
different strokes for different folks. Often, we like best whatever we
learned first. I learned Windows first. I tried a Mac for a while, but, in
spite of my best efforts, found that I could not adjust to the VoiceOver way
of doing things. I have not tried Linux but plan to in my infinite spare
time (joke, I don't have infinite spare time).
Finally, in regards to ssh, I have found that Cygwin works better with JAWS
than PUTTY. However, there are still several things that don't work that,
JMHO, Freedom Scientific should fix, such as JAWS reading commands not
working, JAWS being off a character or more when reading, JAWS reading the
entire line if you are editing in the middle of a line, and cursor routing
on a Braille display not working. Besides that, I have found most other
features, such as reading what is inserted when autocomplete with tab is
used and reading what is printed on the screen.

Nicole

-----Original Message-----
From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of John G. Heim via
nfbcs
Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 4:41 PM
To: Mike Freeman; NFB in Computer Science Mailing List
Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Helping a software engineer keep his job

This is just so typical of you, Mike. Whenever anyone admits to struggling
with their disability, you tell them to shape up or get out. I find your
attitude abhorrent and it's the embodiment of everything that is wrong with
the NFB. Thank goodness people like you are being shoved aside. 

On Oct 18, 2014, at 12:07 PM, Mike Freeman via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> Mike:
> 
> With all due respect, why do you keep insisting upon a standard for 
> what time a blind person should spend to achieve a "normal" output -- 
> presumably meaning the same as that of one's sighted colleagues? The 
> blind, as with everyone else, are human beings with all the variability
that this implies.
> I submit that while the Department of Labor can come up with 
> statistics for how much work a particular job should entail, such 
> statistics are meaningless when dealing with the blind because there are
so few of us.
> 
> You answered your own question: WHATEVER IT TAKES! If you, the blind 
> person, can tolerate this, well and good. If not, you can either 
> improve your skills or go into some other profession.
> 
> This is no different than it is for anyone else, given the array of 
> talents and capacities -- or lack thereof -- that we all manifest.
> 
> Mike Freeman
> 
> 
> -----Original Message-----
> From: nfbcs [mailto:nfbcs-bounces at nfbnet.org] On Behalf Of Mike Jolls 
> via nfbcs
> Sent: Saturday, October 18, 2014 5:06 AM
> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
> Subject: Re: [nfbcs] Helping a software engineer keep his job
> 
> I am curious as I read these replies about what a blind person should 
> learn to get up to speed on being efficient, how spending extra time 
> on the job to compensate for a slower rate comes into this solution?  
> How much extra time outside of a normal 40 hour week should a blind 
> person expect to spend in keeping up, or getting the necessary skills 
> to be able to keep up.  The obvious answer of course is "whatever it 
> takes" ... but I'm curious if there is any consensus as to an average 
> time a blind person should expect to spend each week working to stay 
> even with normally sighted counterparts.  Fifty hours a week?  Sixty
hours?  This time spent can be doing whatever ...
> learning new things ... spending extra time on project work ... whatever.
> What should a blind or visually impaired person's expectation be to 
> this question?
> 
> As many of you who frequent this list may know, I'm a partially 
> sighted IT guy.  I already know I'm a slow reader.  I already know I 
> only read about 50% of the rate of a normally sighted person.  
> Everything in my job as a Windows GUI/Database application person 
> requires me to see or read.  This means just about every task is 
> affected by my slower rate, and therefore in my mind the only answer 
> ... unless I find some different super guru faster method of taking in 
> the information ... or some way to auto-generate the code I write 
> (meaning less time to do it)... is to spend more time per day to
compensate for my slower rate.  I use Jaws and while that's helpful, it's
> not a cure-all.   There are many times that I fall back to using my vision
> and I know that's not the best thing to do.  Using icons, having to 
> read things on the screen because the screen reader can't do it.  It 
> all adds up to extra time.
> 
> In some ways it might be better if I was totally blind because it 
> would force me to use non-visual techniques.  When you have sight, you 
> naturally go back to it.  It's really hard to break old habits.
> 
> One thing I get from this topic is that many of you are NOT in a 
> Windows GUI environment, but rather in a text based command line 
> environment.  Perhaps for blind people, one answer to mitigating the 
> "extra time" is to not do a job that will require you use your vision 
> so much ... such as the UNIX and LINUX environment you guys talk 
> about.  If I'm hearing you right, there you're in a text based world and
perhaps that's better.
> 
> But no excuses here.  I'm just saying that because of the slower 
> vision rate, I have come to the conclusion that I will have to spend 
> extra time per week to compensate for the rest of my life.  I'm just 
> wondering if that's been your experience as well and if there is a 
> consensus as to the average number of hours per week blind people 
> should expect to spend?  Just this week I spent about 60 hours ... I'm 
> having to learn some new technologies and still do my normal job.  It 
> means spending a couple of hours a night after work doing that.  
> Personally, I'd rather be with the wife enjoying my evenings, but I have
to maintain the workload and still learn the new stuff.
> Where I work they want results and the bottom line is that they don't 
> care what you have to do.  They just want it done.  I just don't see 
> any alternative unless as I say there's some new way to allow me to do 
> the work more efficiently in less time.
> 
> Oh, and a question about a comment made in this thread.  Someone 
> mentioned using a variety of tools to get your job done ... including
human readers.
> I'm wondering if the blind professional has to pay for those readers 
> out of his or her own pocket, and what the cost of that service runs?  
> I sure don't see my company wanting to support that kind of service.  
> As I see it, they'd say ... "everyone else has stuff to do and they 
> need to be doing their job ... just deal with your job and get it done".
> 
> Thanks for listening.  I'm just a guy trying to get things done so I 
> can stay employed until I retire.  At that time, I'm thinking of 
> devoting myself to working in the AT community ... maybe trying to 
> help future blind programmers.  In the world where I work, it's pretty
brutal.
> 
>> To: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> Date: Fri, 17 Oct 2014 10:47:55 -0500
>> Subject: [nfbcs] Helping a software engineer keep his job
>> From: nfbcs at nfbnet.org
>> 
>> Several days ago I was contacted by a software engineer who is going
> blind.
>> He uses the Linux operating system, and what he really needs is a way 
>> to efficiently do the things that are required of him as a programmer 
>> for Lockheed Martin. His employer seems to be willing to get him any 
>> equipment that might help him in his job, so they have gotten him 
>> Zoom text, the K1000, and I think they have even purchased several 
>> copies of JAWS for Windows for him to use on several computers. Of 
>> course all of these are based on Microsoft Windows, and what he 
>> really needs to interact with is a Linux box. He has figured out a 
>> way to do some terminal emulation that
> lets
>> him use screen reading technology, but all of the workarounds really 
>> make
> it
>> difficult for him to do what once was efficient.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Do any of you have ideas about how to help him? My impression is that 
>> he
> is
>> smart, motivated, well regarded by his employer, but at his wits in 
>> as to how to do his job and to meet the deadlines that are being 
>> offered. He is monitoring this list and will appreciate any comments 
>> that people care to give. I will be monitoring the list, but I will 
>> be on vacation and rather out of touch for the next ten days or so. I 
>> thank all of you for thinking about this and giving him your best ideas.
His name is Graham Mehl.
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Warmly,
>> 
>> 
>> 
>> Gary
>> 
>> Linix operating system
>> 
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