All About Access

As you may recall from my [March 8th article](http://blog.carrolltech.org/archives/12 “Another Google Access Issue: Visual Verification Systems”) and/or from [Darrell’s article on Blind Access Journal](http://nu7i.blogspot.com/2005/03/ask-google-to-unlock-visua_111012189804844249.html ” Ask Google to Unlock Visual Verification for the Blind”), Google uses a visual verification system to verify that people signing up for new accounts are really people signing up for new accounts and not automated systems seeking to exploit Google’s services. This system is also required to reset your password for your general Google account and, according to Darrell, your GMail account.

As you may have seen in yesterday’s article and subsequent comments, Yahoo has a visual verification system that requires new users to type the characters displayed in a picture in order to be approved for an account. The alternative Yahoo provides for users with visual impairments is a form through which you can request that a customer service representative call you—not as good as being able to access an audio representation of the picture immediately, like Hotmail provides, but still an indication that Yahoo cares about this issue.

[Darrell Shandrow](http://nu7i.blogspot.com/2005/03/ask-google-to-unlock-visua_111012189804844249.html “Blind Access Journal: Ask Google to Unlock Visual Verification for the Blind”) found another barrier to access at Google: visual verification to reset your GMail password. (more…)

On Friday my boss, Brian Charlson, suggested that I needed to do something fun this weekend. I have no idea how Brian could have sensed that I was feeling a little bit stressed. Unless, of course, it was my response to his asking how things were going. In retrospect, the answer should have been something like, “Fine, thank you, how are things going with you?” Instead, I provided him with a list of all the negative words that can be formed by rearranging the letters in the name of a particular software product we use. I love anagram servers!

Brian, you will be pleased to know that I rented a movie on Saturday, went snowshoeing today, and am about to go make mole—pronounced mo lay—enchiladas. For those of you not familiar with mole—mo lay—it’s a sauce made with Mexican chocolate and chile, completely devoid of burrowing animals and tasting far better than one might expect from a chocolate chile sauce. But I foolishly checked my email before heading off to the kitchen. The response from Microsoft was sitting there in my Inbox. (more…)

To Whom It May Concern:

What gives?!? Microsoft AntiSpyware is reminiscent of the early days of software development, back when users with disabilities were forever falling behind because new products—new Microsoft products—were not accessible. Products would come out and people with disabilities would wait. And wait. And wait. And wait. And it seemed that as soon as the makers of assistive technology products released a solution, out would come a new version of the mainstream product, and the waiting game would begin again. Happily, we’ve come so far from those dark days. Or so I thought…. (more…)