[nfbcs] Some thoughtful writing on how to get accessibility and how to avoid not having it stop you from doing what you want to do

[Donald Winiecki]

For what it's worth:

As a phenomenological sociologist, a braille transcriber and a faculty
member in a College of Engineering, I would be very happy to collaborate
with individuals who have first hand experiences with respect to
accessibility/inaccessibility, to produce articles for Braille Monitor, and
perhaps even for submission to the Journal of Blindness Innovation and
Research, or other journals.

To clarify elements of my opening sentences, being a phenomenological
sociologist means that I pay attention to *the individual's experience as
an essential component of practice* in social settings, including learning
and working environments.

As a faculty member, I teach courses related to needs assessment, and
professional ethics and morality. Needs Assessments are systematic
processes undertaken in order to determine what has to be done to fix a
certain problem, or improve things to some degree. The idea of professional
ethics is probably pretty well understood in general.  I think they
dovetail nicely on the issues under discussion in this thread.

If you're interested in collaboration to this end, please don't hesitate to
contact me here or off-list at <dwiniecki at boisestate.edu>.  The range of
things that count for `collaboration` is huge, and includes reading and
writing with me, and even just telling me stories that describe your
experiences in minute, click-by-click detail with others or independently.

_don

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Don Winiecki, Ed.D., Ph.D.
*Professor of Ethics & Morality in Professional Practice*
Boise State University, College of Engineering
Dept of Organizational Performance & Workplace Learning (OPWL)
1910 University Drive, Mail Stop 2070
Boise, Idaho 83725-2070 USA
E-mail: dwiniecki at boisestate.edu
WWW: http://opwl.boisestate.edu
Telephone: (+01) 208 426 1899
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~d

On Mon, Sep 11, 2017 at 12:22 PM, Gary Wunder via nfbcs <nfbcs at nfbnet.org>
wrote:

> I write this to the computer science list, but feel free to pass it along
> to
> others if you think they may contribute. In a number of threads I read on
> this list and others, many of us are frustrated by the lack of
> accessibility
> we find in required software. We rejoice when president Riccobono tells us
> about a challenge undertaken and a company we have one over to
> accessibility. What sometimes goes unsaid and may be misunderstood is that
> we can't sue everybody all at the same time. So the question many of us
> tackle is how we get what we need while at the same time pressing for what
> we really want. The solution seems obvious: using a human reader while
> trying to engage the company in dialogue. But my experience of late is that
> this is not considered a legitimate way to react by accessibility
> evangelists who seem to characterize the use of a human reader as a selling
> out or breaking a sacred packed with others who want accessibility. Now I
> enjoy the philosophical debate that goes on here, but I hate it when people
> miss opportunities that could bring them good careers.
>
> All of this is by way of introduction, I am actually pandering. I am
> looking
> for thoughtful articles on the subject to appear in the pages of the
> Braille
> Monitor. How do we feel about a piece of software that is very usable once
> it is installed but cannot be installed by us directly because there is a
> button that the screenreader cannot identify labeled install. Would it be
> enough to dissuade you from using that particular piece of software, or
> would you use the software, tell the developer about his inaccessible
> installation process, and take the time to complement him on those things
> that work well? To what extent are we willing to use visual interpreting
> services in order to have access? Do we view these services as
> unacceptable,
> a temporary bridge until we get accessibility, or an absolute necessity as
> we are overwhelmed by kiosks, ziosks, and unattended food markets? If a
> service or a device is inaccessible and we use a visual interpreter, does
> it
> matter whether that visual interpreter serves us through artificial
> intelligence or biological intelligence?
>
> I know it is always easier to ask provocative questions than to come up
> with
> answers, but I would love to see the Braille Monitor explore these issues.
> We have done a bit on visual interpreting services, but I don't think that
> we have begun to say all that needs to be said about how to function in a
> world where accessibility is always a moving target. My preference is to
> see
> articles; I would settle for a healthy discussion from which one of us
> might
> create one or more articles.
>
> Thank you for reading the Braille Monitor, and thanks for considering being
> an active part of what goes into it. Let's make this topic something to
> write home about.
>
>
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