ITD Offers to Host an Orca User Group
This morning I received an email from Joe Lazzaro, Manager of the Assistive Technology Group at ITD in response to my earlier post. With Joe’s permission, I am posting his reply:
I read your blog entry regarding Orca with great interest. As you know, we’re setting up an assistive technology testing lab here at the Commonwealth’s Information Technology Division. Moreover, we’ve established an Assistive Technology Group, and I’m honored to be its first project manager. The Assistive Technology Group is under the umbrella of the Enterprise Applications Bureau, which is responsible for developing software applications and deploying information technology for most of the Commonwealth state agencies, so we’re in a good place to make positive change with the development of information technology to make sure it’s accessible. The Group is responsible for testing all ITD applications for accessibility, including web sites, web applications, software applications, and even documents. We’re inserting language into procurements to inform vendors bidding on state IT contracts that accessibility is a major component that must be met. We will also be looking at legacy applications to determine how to repair accessibility issues.
The Assistive Technology Group is currently reaching out to stakeholders in the disability community for feedback while we do the lab build out, and form the new group within ITD. I would like to offer ITD as a place for the Orca users group to meet, discuss new ideas, and expand the technology. We could also work with the emerging open source software packages and their integration with Orca, and it would be a good learning experience for us all.
ITD is at One Ashburton Place in downtown Boston, and is close to the Park Street MBTA Station, which would make it easy for people to get to our facility.
As a blind person, I’m interested in a very personal way about Orca and Open Office, as it’s free software that has the potential to help literally tens of thousands of persons with vision and other disabilities. I don’t have to tell you how expensive most assistive technology is, and open source software has great potential to significantly close the digital divide for persons with disabilities on fixed incomes. With a free screen reader, free office suite, free web browser, persons with disabilities can live, work, and learn more independently, and without breaking the bank.
We are also interested in hosting other user groups focusing on assistive technologies from both commercial and open source providers.
If folks want to contact me directly, my voice phone is 617-626-4410, and my email is Joe [dot ]Lazzaro [at] state [dot] ma [dot] us. The ITD web site is www.mass.gov/ITD.
This is great: Now we have a meeting place. Thanks Joe!!