hi all
First and foremost, this is going to be a long email, so if you don't
have time, save it for another day. This is not going to be a rant, I've
posted enough of those. I'm beginning to wonder whether I'm the cause of
the negative perceptions blind people have about linux accessibility. I
switched to linux 5 years ago in august of 2011, and ever since then
I've been advocating for it's use. I seem to have gotten very little in
the way of interest. I'm beginning to wonder if it's my attitude that's
driving people away. I'm blind, and so I depend on assistive software to
use my computer. Because of that, I take a harsh view of products or
software that is not designed to be accessible, at least to some degree.
You'll often find me on irc ranting about some manufacturer or other
because they didn't design their ... oh, coffee maker, microwave, smart
phone, etc to be usable by a blind person. I used to think I had good
reason for this, because the blase answer I'd get from companies when I
asked why they didn't design their products for use by the blind were
usually something like "meh, most of our consumers (they love that word)
can see, so it's just not worth the effort." Nothing gets me on my soap
box faster. It's as if you're saying to me"there aren't enough of you,
so deal. We're sorry you're blind, but go to your local government
agency for a special device." It's what drew me to linux. An open source
operating system that anyone could improve. Anyone meaning me. Wonderful
idea. And yet the attitude is all over the place hear. Sighted
developers who make applications tend to have similar responses,
although instead of "we don't care" it's "we don't know how the
accessibility stack works" This is sometimes followed by implications
that windows or apple is so much easier, but I'll skip that whole rant.
That also gets me on my soap box. The urge to improve the software to
make it accessible conflicts with my very strong one to yell at them for
not understanding the basic fact. To whit, I need accessibility. If I
don't have it, I can't use their program, period. I've lost my temper a
few times on this list and on others because I'll eventually get to a
point where I just can't hold it back anymore. Usually this comes after
a long stint of bug filing, or listening to the "accessibility
developers are limited" reasons for why bugs linger. I'll touch on that
later. That's not how I should be. I need help from people who, although
you guys fight occasionally (I've seen some heated ones hear) you manage
to get along. I have trouble with that. I became a member of fedora
because you guys care about free as in freedom software, and you really
care about accessibility, something not all linux communities do care
about. I came because a lot of the gnome developers are hear, and I want
to make gnome as accessible a desktop as I can. This is where the
limited accessibility resources come in. I'm well aware of that. It's
why I took on filing bugs for the gnome, mate and cinnamon desktops, to
try and help. But to be blunt, I'm utterly sick of hearing the old "we
don't understand the accessibility stack" reason to simply let bugs
linger. I want to fix it. But the right way, instead of ranting which is
my first urge, because that accomplishes nothing. What is hard about the
atk/at-spi stack? Is it complex? Is it lack of documentation? My goals
for linux are to make it better. I've heard things like "it will take a
big influx of money from some company to make any real progress in linux
a11y." I flat out do not believe it. It may help, but it's not critical.
Plus, the idea of having to tell a company reasons why they should care
about accessibility turns my stomach. They shouldn't need an incentive,
they should simply do it because people need it. I need help. I need
some ideas on how to make developers want to improve
accessibility,rather than making them feel obligated to fix them, which
I understand it usually disinclines them to do much of anything. I may
have to get over my "you have to make your thing accessible" attitude,
which is part of what I need help with. I do think products should be
made accessible, but saber rattling (which is what most of the blind
organizations like to do) has short term results but often makes
developers not want to help. "They'll just sue me if I don't make it
accessible, so why should I bother" is another response, although blind
organizations focus nearly exclusively on windows and apple, so a linux
developer has never said this. I seem to have the right ideas, making
linux better, but I'm wondering if I'm going about it the wrong way. I'm
not in the slightest bit interested in windows or apple, my focus is
strictly on linux accessibility, although that doesn't mean I'm hostile
to windows developers either. I try to be curteous, only slipping up if
we get into a "my OS is better than yours" fight, which thankfully is
rare. I seem to be fighting an unwinnable battle. I want more
accessibility developers. I want community help. People who don't need
orca or magnification using it every once in a while to navigate the
apps they use, which might be different than the ones I use, to fix
accessibility problems. I want more accessibility developers not because
the ones we have aren't good (they're amazing) but because there's just
too much that needs to be done for them to handle it all. And yet we go
back to the incentive thing. "why should I care about linux when people
use windows or mac. I'll focus on that" "no one cares about open source
it's all about the money" "I'm not blind so I don't need it" Nothing
pushes my buttons faster than those kinds of comments, although the I
don't need it comment isn't too bad. I can't think like a business
person. I think in terms of how usable a piece of software or hardware
is. Not in profit margins, market share, public relations, etc so the
very idea of trying to convince someone to care about something that is
absolutely essential to me is ... I can't process it. Google is one
example. I'll shorten the whole chrome rant, but it's a prime example.
Here's a company that makes it's money off of linux and open source.
This company is saying "yeah we really should make a native atk and
at-spi interface in chrome so orca can navigate it, but that's just too
much work, so hear. Install our chromevox addon which, by the way only
works with our special text to speech voice to navigate the web." It
goes back to the idea that blind people can't use the same software as
everyone else. Back in the eighties and nineties this was the thing to
do. You're blind, you need a several thousand dollar device to do basic
things like use a calculator, make notes, keep a calendar, etc. Now for
the most part we can use the same software other people use. Which is
why I have the firm belief that an application should be usable with
whatever screen reader the user has set up, with their voice settings.
The idea of having to install an addon just to be able to use an
application just doesn't sit well with me. This would be midigated
somewhat if those apps that did this would autodetect when accessibility
is enabled on whatever platform you're on and autoinstall it, but they
don't. My whole thing against chrome isn't because it's nonfree software
(although I don't like that much) but because of the addon thing. For
some reason, addons that improve accessibility are completely ok, but
having to install one in order to use something isn't. Is that wrong? Am
I the cause of all the "linux isn't accessible" stuff I hear parroted by
the blind people who don't use it that I come into contact with? I had a
very near miss with windows 10 this past december. I became so
discouraged by the amount of work I have to do to keep linux
accessibility working that I nearly switched. Fortunately linux is just
... it's the community, as well as the amount of stuff I can do with it
for free and all of it open source that kept me hear. So I'm determined
to make a new start. What can I do better? Is my passion for linux
wrong? I seem to get into fights with windows or apple users a lot, and
somehow they happen out of the blue. One minute I mention casually that
I use linux, and the next i'm defending linux against attack. They
usually end with me throwing down the gauntlet and thinking in my head
at least "fine! I'll show you. I'll make linux more accessible than your
apple and prove to you that open source is usable and viable." I'm so
confused I don't know whether that's the right way to handle things or
not. It's why I've been kind of silent in the fedora community lately.
My passion hasn't dimmed, but I've been trying to avoid getting into
situations where I'll yell at well meaning people. I'll close with this.
I need as much help as you guys can give me to be a better community
member. Am I asking too much when I ask gnome developers, or application
developers for that matter to use a screen reader or magnifier with
their application before release to catch accessibility bugs? It seems
reasonable to me, but maybe I'm off? And to mathias as well. I sincerely
apologize for my tone in that last email. I was at one of my
discouragement points,where the amount of work seemed overwhelming. It's
why I'm asking for help.
Thanks for reading
Kendell Clark
